It’s a no-holds-barred type of argument. It comes out of the gates quickly and hits hard. It’s unrelenting in its rapid fire delivery of the facts. If it were being backed by an orchestra, as each example is given, the music would get louder building to a crescendo . . . the implications evident . . . the conclusion un-mistakable . . .

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.  
                                                                            (Hebrews 1:1-4 ESV)

Faith was fading for a number of these believers . . . questions were entering in . . . the temptation to go back to the old ways was, for many, increasing . . . and so the writer to the Hebrews comes out hard and comes out heavy in his letter. And he hits at the core of the gospel . . . he shines the light on the foundation of salvation . . . he starts by re-connecting the dots . . . it would all come down to what they believed about the Person known as Jesus of Nazareth.

The books of history would record the simple facts and data that, for most of His life, Jesus was a little known son of carpenter . . . that He surprisingly exploded on the scene when He was thirty and turned Israel upside down with His teaching and the signs and wonders that accompanied His claims about the kingdom of God . . . that the religious establishment was quick to put Him on their “most wanted” list for His blasphemous claims that He was Son of Man, the promised Messiah, the Son of God . . . that He was crucified on a Roman cross . . . that He was buried in a rock hewn tomb . . . and that His body disappeared. Them’s the facts . . .

Cue faith . . .

Did He simply die on a cross or did He make “purification for sins” . . . did His body mysteriously disappear or did He rise again, as He said He would, and ascend to heaven to sit down “at the right hand of the Majesty on high”? Was He “just Jesus” . . . or is He the Son by whom God is speaking to this world in these last days? Was He “just a man” . . . or, as He claimed, is He in fact the Son of Man . . . Heir of all things . . . Creator and Sustainer of all things . . . the radiance of God’s glory . . . the exact imprint of His being?

Was He just another human being . . . or was He God in flesh . . . superior to any and all created beings, superior even to angels? To which of the angels did God say, “You are my Son (1:5) . . . Your throne, O God, is forever and ever (1:8) . . . You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning”? Answer: None! Implication: He is superior and above all things . . . His name is not just another . . . His Name is the most excellent of names!

And when that is settled by faith . . . following just becomes the Spirit-infused, supernatural thing to do. The questions find answers . . . the temptations to go back or to give up are told, “Get behind me!”

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  
                                                                                (John 6:68-69 ESV)

O’ that we would see Jesus . . . and know afresh that Name that is above all names! Amen?