…but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son!!

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.
Hebrews 1:1-2

These opening verses of the letter to the Hebrews are a stirring reminder to us (as they surely were to the original recipients of the letter) of the blessed advantage given to those living in the new dispensation. Whereas the people of God who lived before the advent of our Lord were spoken to at many times and in many ways, we who have come afterwards have the infinite privilege of the entire revelation of God—specifically the revelation in Christ Jesus! Whereas before, God’s children knew times of longing for some new word from him, we have the Word incarnate preserved in the scriptures. In those many centuries before the first century of our Lord, men always had to discern which prophets were truly from the Lord (if there were any at all in their lifetimes) and which were pretenders. But we have a more sure word of promise, the life, death and resurrection of Christ and the closed canon of his holy word. If we are tempted to think that it is difficult to be a Christian in our time, let us ponder what it would be like to have lived in the previous dispensation! What it would have been like for Joseph, dragged into a foreign land, separated from the covenant community of Jehovah, surrounded by unbelieving heathens, without any written word of revelation to guide him, and with all things seeming to work against him? Who of us possesses the faith to withstand such a trial? Let us thank God daily for the gift of his full and precious word, so readily available in our day and age! And let us resolve to drink deeply from that pure and undefiled fountain, the living word of God.

The manuscript pictured here is one papyrus leaf from the P46 codex. It is, in fact, the beginning of the Letter to the Hebrews! (If you look closely you can even read the relatively clear Greek script.) This codex, a collection of the Pauline epistles, is the oldest extant portion of the New Testament, dated to sometime in the 3rd century AD. Originally consisting of 104 leaves, the surviving 86 are currently housed at the University of Michigan and the Chester Beatty library. Since it was purchased in the early 1930s from Egyptian antiquities dealers, we unfortunately have no archaeological context in which it can be placed. Nevertheless, it is a remarkable specimen! (Isn’t it just tantalizing that our earliest extant example of Pauline writings includes the Epistle to the Hebrews?)

Rationale

Perhaps, before I post any real postings, it would be appropriate to briefly summarize my thoughts on why this blog exists. The fact is: I don’t have time to get too heavily involved in the Christian blogosphere. I have a short list of blogs which I read daily, but beyond this, time does not permit me to engage the material with comments or other forms of dialogue. If there is one thing I have learned about the blogosphere, it is this: the blogging world is a giant time-eating monster. Along with the many benefits that accrue from the blogging phenomenon comes the very real danger of spending inordinate amounts of time in return for very little profit. The blogosphere is not always the best way to redeem the time. Since I can’t afford to make my presence felt throughout the blogosphere, I doubt many bloggers or others will find their way to my little blog—a tiny bit of plankton floating in a vast sea of blogwater. This doesn’t trouble me much. To run with the metaphor—as it takes many individual plankton to form one cetacean meal, so I will be satisfied if my blog is merely one small part of the bloggish meal that leads a man or woman to glorify their creator. I hope that I at least (if nobody else) will benefit from the creation of my posts. I anticipate that they will be few. Hopefully, by God’s grace, they will be good.