The Living Word
INTRODUCTION:
Two days ago, we celebrated Christmas. December 25th is the day in which we commemorate an event that happened more than 2000 years ago, we remember when the pre-existent Son of God was born in a small town in Israel to become the Son of Man. Whether December 25th was the actual day of His birth is not important, the fact that God became man through the virgin birth is of enduring and incomparable importance. Unfortunately, for millions of people, Christmas means little more than decorations, gifts, parties, cards, Santa Claus, family, and friends. This year without a doubt was a very different Christmas, no parties and less or no time together with extended family. I said last Sunday that I believed many decorated early this year to remember happier times in years gone by.
But now that Christmas day has come and gone, and as the decorations are stored away for another year and life begins to return to the new normal, what does the birth of a Child to a lowly maiden of an insignificant people in an obscure village where a feeding trough had to be used for a crib because there was no room in the guest room for the young couple mean for those of us living in the 21st century? This is what I want us to look at this morning, and to answer this question we will turn to the book of Hebrews. Before turning there let’s pray and ask God to speak to us this morning through His Word.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Open your Bibles, I do hope you have your Bibles with you, open them to Hebrews 1:1-4, our passage for this morning. Please, stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along in your Bible while I read.
Hebrews 1:1-4,
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.” (Hebrews 1:1–4, NASB95)[1]
GOD SPOKE LONG AGO (Hebrews 1:1)
The author of Hebrews begins this book by telling us what happened long ago and whenever we look back long ago, we must begin with God. God was the One Who was there at the beginning of time, He was there before time began, His existence has always been and stretches into eternity past. The author beginning with God moves forward into time and says that He spoke long ago to the fathers, specifically this refers to the forebearers of the Israelites, to whom this book is addressed. He says, God spoke to them through the prophets in many portions and in many ways. God spoke to humanity.
Think about that fact for a moment, eternal God has spoken to us. The utter magnitude of this fact, that God has spoken to us, can only be understood when we recognize the gulf that exists between the greatness of God and the total depravity of man. David must have understood this great chasm that exists between God and man when he wrote in Psalm 8:4, “What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:4, NASB95)[2]
God did not need or have to speak to us. He was not obligated to do so; He had no debt to pay to us that would have required Him to speak to us. It should completely boggle our minds that God should stoop down to speak to man, God is so far above us. The very fact that He speaks to us at all is utterly amazing and is evidence of His love and His grace. Imagine for a moment if God had not spoken, if He had not spoken how could we know Him. Imagine the darkness man and woman would be consigned to had God never spoken. We would be no better off than the wild animals. I know that David declared in Psalm 19:1 that the heavens declare the glory of God and all that He has created declares the work of His hands, but if we are to know Him personally and intimately, He must reveal Himself to us, He must speak. The fact that God created us as relational beings with the capability of understanding His speech, the ability to receive His revelation and then to enter into a deep and intimate relationship with Him is the very thing that makes man more than just an animal, that gives man his dignity, nobility and worth and sets us far above and apart from the animal world.
God spoke to us long ago through the prophets in many portions and in many ways, some prophets received a lot of prophecy, some a little, some He spoke to in visions and dreams, some in direct revelation and as Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:20-21, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20–21, NASB95)[3] What God spoke through the prophets in many ways and in many portions was incomplete and fragmented and at times only temporary, but always pointing to something better, something perfect. This is how God spoke to us long ago. The tragedy of this is that for the most part man has chosen not to listen to what God spoke, but for those who have chosen to listen to God’s Word, they have found answers to their questions, a solution to our problem. Because God has spoken there is a hope for our end. With that being said, it is one thing to understand that God has spoken; it is quite another thing to comprehend the final agent of God’s communication to us.
GOD HAS SPOKEN IN HIS SON IN THESE LAST DAYS (Hebrews 1:2)
The author now switches from long ago to these last days and he writes, “[God]…in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…” (Hebrews 1:2a, NASB95)[4] Long ago, in Old Testament times, God spoke through prophets, during this age, these last days, He has spoken through His Son. Understand the contrast that is being made here. The prophets were God’s servants and they spoke what God told them to speak. Now He has spoken through His Son, One who has a family relationship with God the Father. If what was spoken by the prophets, God’s servants, was important, how much greater importance should be attached to that which has been communicated through God’s Son.
The author of Hebrews goes on to show us how much more important God’s Son is than the prophets. Continue down through this verse and into the first part of verse 3. God describes who His Son is, this One that is the incarnate Son of God. First, God through the author of Hebrews says that God the Father has appointed Him heir of all things. This refers to that fact that God’s Son became a Man, for it is as Man that He will rule a redeemed universe in righteousness. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is the One who will inherit all that the Father has, everything there is belongs to Jesus Christ. But the author immediately adds, “…through whom also He made the world.” (Hebrews 1:2b, NASB95)[5] And this brings us face-to-face with God Himself, God the Creator of all things. It is the same Person who made the universe who will rule over it. This word translated “world” is plural in Greek and might better be translated worlds or universe. In other words, the author of Hebrews is declaring that God the Son was the agent of creation. John said this same thing, in our Scripture reading this morning, he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1–3, NASB95)[6] Not only is Jesus Christ heir of all that exists and will rule over it as a Man, He is also Creator God of all that exists.
As God’s final spoken Word to the world Jesus Christ reveals God the Father to us. We established last Sunday from Philippians that the Son of God is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. All three are co-equal and co-eternal. When the Son became incarnate, He was the same Person that He had been from eternity. By His incarnation He took humanity into union with Deity and became Son in a new sense as a man born of a virgin. He became the God-Man, fully God and fully Man. As the God-Man He revealed God the Father to us. The author goes on to tell us that Jesus Christ, God’s Son is the radiance of His glory. This phrase speaks of something which fully presents the glory which is in something else. As light make us know what the sun is, so as we become acquainted with the Lord Jesus in the pages of the Gospels, we learn what God is in all His fulness. Not only is He the radiance of His glory but also the exact representation of His nature. In other words, the Son is just like the Father, Jesus and the Father are one. To know the Son is to know the Father. Jesus said in John 14:7, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” (John 14:7, NASB95)[7] To know Jesus is to know the Father because Jesus Christ is God Himself come down to earth in the flesh, reconciling the world to Himself. God became Man, and this for our redemption.
He who was crucified through weakness was the One who, at that very moment, was upholding all things by the word of His power. Not even for a moment did He stop holding His creation together. He spoke creation into being by the word of His power and He continually upholds it by the word of His power. This One, the Creator and Sustainer of all things stooped down in grace to make purification for sins! What God has spoken in His Son is complete, perfect, and eternal and because that revelation is found in the Scriptures, we need nothing more, nothing less, and nothing different than the Word of God to direct us to the peace and safety found in Jesus Christ.
THE SON SAT DOWN (Hebrews 1:3)
When you encounter tribulation and trials in your life, and you will, Jesus Christ alone is a safe, calm, and protective refuge. The psalmist understood this when he wrote in Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1, NASB95)[8] All that mankind needs is found in Jesus Christ. All that you need is found in Him, for God has spoken in His Son. When God spoke to us in these last days in His Son His communication included a revelation of His holiness and justice. It also revealed mankind’s sinfulness and lost estate. If that was all there was, if there was no way out, if God diagnosed our problem of sin but gave no remedy, then our situation would be one of utter despair and hopelessness.
Praise God that is not the case, it is true that we are utterly sinful, and God is perfectly holy, so a huge gulf or chasm does exist between God and man. Again, praise God that He has bridged that chasm in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ has provided the remedy needed for our sins to be forgiven and to be justified by God in the righteousness of Christ. Listen to the end of Hebrews 1:3, “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3b, NASB95)[9] As we learned last week Jesus Christ took on human flesh, was born of a virgin, went through all the stages of life for one purpose, to die on the cross making purification of sins, dying as our substitute so that we might live. The author of Hebrews says that after He had done this He sat down. This is amazing, the fact that Jesus sat down has some staggering implications. Let me explain.
The temple that stood in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus would, by today’s standards be a multi-billion-dollar building. But of all its furnishings it had no chair. It took more than forty-six years to build. Its size was immense, its architecture amazing, its furnishings superb. Even so, it had not even one chair.
The temple was intimately associated with the Jewish people and their worship of God. In the beginning, when God had brought them out of Egypt, He had instructed Moses to construct the Tabernacle as a place of worship and where the Levitical priesthood could serve God. About 500 years later the Tabernacle was replaced by the Temple built during the reign of king Solomon, that temple was subsequently destroyed by the Babylonians. The temple was rebuilt in the days of Ezra and eventually expanded and beautified by Herod the Great.
From the time when the Tabernacle was first erected to Jesus’ day, a period covering 15 centuries, the priests of Israel, the sons of Aaron never sat down as they performed their priestly duties. They never sat down because their work was never done. There work was never done because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. The blood of bull and goats could never satisfy the righteous requirements of a holy God. That blood simply covered sin, and pointed to a greater, most perfect sacrifice.
The contrast that is seen here is crucial. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He Himself had purged our sins through His substitutionary death as the greater, most perfect sacrifice did what no other priests could do—He sat down. The sacrifice had been offered, the work was done once and for all. The holiness of God was satisfied perfectly and eternally. There was no more work to be done. Last week we saw that the birth of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion are eternally and inseparably linked.
“It is finished!” (John 19:30b, NASB95)[10] was His triumphant cry and the now resurrected and ascended, Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, forever enthroned at the place of honor and authority at the right hand of His Father; “having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.” (Hebrews 1:4, NASB95)[11]
CONCLUSION:
“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:8–11, NASB95)[12]
In these last days, did you know that you were in the last days, they began on that first Christmas morning. “In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son…When He had made purification of sins, He sat down…” (Hebrews 1:2-3, NASB95)[13] This message of redemption began when the Son of God was born one glorious night in the little village of Bethlehem more than two thousand years ago.
Because He was born; right will defeat wrong; hope will defeat despair; light will defeat darkness; and ultimately, the Seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head and defeat Satan. As you begin to put away the Christmas decorations this year and as we return to the new normal, and everyday after that, let us rejoice in the wonderful Gift of Jesus Christ so freely given to us from our Father in heaven on that first Christmas morning so long ago.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.