Post 6 of Study: Hebrews 1:3

 The second part of Hebrews 1:3 and into 4 is about Jesus’s work. “When He had [by Himself] purged [our] sins, (He) sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels. . . “

Purged is an interesting word. Its easy definition is “cleansed, which is more than “cleaned up” or “forgiven.” It’s a much deeper meaning. At my college, we use a term that bugs me a lot, but it remains. If a student doesn’t pay their bill (or have financial aid pay it) by a certain date, they are “purged” from the rolls. We just say “purged,” which makes my blood pressure go up. It confuses the students too.

My point is that “purged” is a very strong word. “Removed from the rolls” would be sufficient; I guess the other word is used to denote the seriousness of their situation. Purged is also used when one vomits up poison. It’s been used by evil governments to get rid of, by jail or execution, the dissenting elements in a society.

So purging doesn’t just mean He made sure we were forgiven. The nature of our sin state needed more than the type of human forgiveness we are used to: “I forgive you, it’s ok.” It was not OK. Sin infects the world, the planet, the race; the spiritual and the physical. Purging means a violent reaction that changes the internal state.

You can take of that what you will. Just don’t see “purged” as “oh, Jesus died for my sins, la de da, now it’s all good, let’s move on.”

That He then sat down means more than that stage of His existence was over. It’s about authority and position, going back to “appointed Heir of all things.”

What I hope to communicate in these rather frail posts, which I don’t know if anyone really reads them (although I’d like to), is we forget on a daily basis whom we worship. It’s not the guy with the pretty, light brown, long hair looking up at the heavens in that maudlin painting you see in some churches.  The writer of Hebrews hits us “upside the head” as we say in the South with the reality of the scheme of redemption, right from the first verse. I challenge you to memorize these four verses. Bible memorization is helpful. It’s not the end all, but it does give you a foundation.