People in our world on a journey of discovery asking life’s big questions:

Why am I here? Is there a God? What is life about?  Who has the power to help me where I need help? What is God’s plan for my life? Where can I fine true meaning? Will there be an end to my suffering? What happens when I die?

The book of Hebrews was originally written to a group of persecuted Jewish Christians and has been secured and kept for us today as well.

Like us, they were asking those big questions, because life was very hard.

And so this letter was written; with a clear message:  The answer to all of our questions is JESUS.

Because Jesus is greater than: fill in the blank.  Jesus is greater than anyone, anything, any idea, any authority, any king, any priest, any prophet, Jesus is simply greater.

And we’ll see that theme developed as we work through this book. Some of us have been attending church a long time. We know basic theology. We know how to navigate a potluck. We might even be able to pray the Lord’s Prayer in the King James.

But I’m often amazed at little Christian know about Jesus.

Let’s dive into verse 1

¹ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, Hebrews 1:1 (NIV)

God Has Spoken

We don’t really know who wrote Hebrews, but the author starts with a big picture statement to begin building their case.

Long ago God spoke many times.

When we read that, it immediately raises some questions.

Who Did God Speak To?

This letter is written by a Jewish author to a Jewish people. And so they write, “our forefathers.” And any good Jewish man or woman could have immediately pulled up some famous examples.

• God spoke to Abram saying “Go to the land I will show you.”
• God spoke to Jacob and said, “I’m changing your name to Israel.”
• God spoke Moses in a burning bush.
• God spoke to Adam and Eve, Sarah. He spoke to all kinds of people.

And when we read the Bible we might get the idea that God spoke directly to everyone, but that’s not true.

Most people heard God speak through prophets and priests. And that’s what vs. 1 tells us. But an important question to ask is

Why Does God Speak To Us?

Lots of reasons! We could suppose God has things he wants us to know.

• At times he spoke to his people to encourage them.
• At other times he spoke words of correction/judgment to them.
• He spoke giving them instructions about how to live.

It’s essential to realize that God has spoken to people then and to us today because He wants to know us and be known by us.

Our God is a personal God, that wants a personal relationship with us. That’s why he spoken to us, he not a mystery. He’s not a concept. He isn’t distant and unavailable.

That’s why He’s spoken! Imagine if God had remained silent?

• We wouldn’t know who we are.
• We wouldn’t know who God is and what he thinks!
• We would know right from wrong.
• We wouldn’t have the Scripture.
• We wouldn’t know how to pray!
• We wouldn’t exist because God spoke the world into existence.
• There wouldn’t be hope for hurting people.
• There wouldn’t be a place to take our doubts and fears.
• There would be no expectation of anything greater to come if God had not spoken.
• We’d be empty, alone, afraid, and without faith.

And there are many who live like that right now.

They need to know that God has spoken, and hear what he has to say!

If God spoke many times and in many ways to the Old Testament people.

What did he say?

How could we summarize all that was said in the Old Testament?

He made Promises. Every Old Testament book was pointing to something that was coming. Every prophet had something to say about what God was doing.

Even the Old Testament worship anticipated some new thing that God was preparing…the people in the Old Testament knew…that what they saw wasn’t all that God had in mind.

The prophet Jeremiah was told of a new Covenant, a new day promised by God.

and verse 2 tell us what you’ve probably already guessed.

2a And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.

When we hear final Days we start thinking about end times.

But final days or last days in your Bible simply refers to the time from Christ’s ascension to his return.  We are in the last days, or final days. We have been in the last days since Christ ascended into heaven.

The Old Testament people were living in the days of God’s promises…when he was preparing people for something new.

The writer of Hebrews says the waiting is over. God has spoken again, to us, with something new to say.

What Has God Spoken To Us? The Final Word.

The Old Testament is about promises and the New Testament is the fulfillment of those promises. In the Old Testament God spoke many times in many ways, in the New Testament God spoke one message through one messenger….Jesus Christ.

We’re going to see several “then and now” comparisons in the book of Hebrews.

And what we’ll discover is that everything God promised in the Old Testament was fulfilled in persona and work of Jesus Christ.

That means that Jesus is:  a big deal.  In these final days, God has given us the final word, and it’s a word about his Son, Jesus.

Notice,

Seven Facts About Jesus.

In verses 2-3

²  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Hebrews 1:2-3 (NIV)

1. Christ Owns Everything.

He is the heir.  God has given him everything as his inheritance. People don’t always know what their inheritance will be until someone dies. And then they learn that they got a toaster, their sibling gets the sports car, and the cash.  Jesus made off a bit greater than that, he actually gets everything. Everything on earth, everything in heaven, he gets it all.

Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.  He owns it all and secondly He made it all.

2.  Christ Created The Universe.

God created the heaven’s and the earth in Gen 1:1.

Then in Gen 1:26, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.”

Why did God use the plural to describe himself?  God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t just suddenly appear one day, he has always been.

Jesus is part of the mysterious union that we call the Trinity.

The Jews that received this letter knew that God created the universe. When the author named Jesus as creator they immediately understood the implications. Jesus is God.

And it keeps going.

3. Christ is the Radiance of God’s Glory.

I got my dad one of those really bright LED flashlights for Christmas.

One of my kids started shining the light in people’s faces.  And you know what they said, “that’s bright!”  What is bright? Is it the bulb or the beams of light?

No one asks that question.  No one says “that bulb is way too bright and it’s sending bright beams into my eyes…because the bulb and the light are technically different but practically one in the same.

And so it goes with Jesus. God is glorious and the Son radiates the glory of God. It is truly one of the mysteries of our faith.

4. Christ is the Exact Representation of God.

Think about everything we know of Jesus.  He never sinned, ever. Not one time. He never wavered on what is right and wrong.  He was loving and peaceful and kind. He was passionate about truth and bold when he taught it.

He was completely fair, beyond temptation, all-knowing and all powerful Who does that remind us of? God.

If you were to go to one of the US mints in Denver or Philadelphia, you’d see where they manufacture coins.  They have coin molds that determine how each coin will look.

The words that are on your coins, the pictures, all of it is determined by the mold.

When they put the raw material into the mold of a penny, it will come out with a picture of Lincoln on it.  They’ve never taken a copper penny out of the Lincoln mold and seen Washington’s face. Because coins express the exact image of their mold.

And in a similar way Jesus displays God’s character in every way.

Once the apostle Philip said to Jesus, show us the father.

John 14:9 “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”

5. He Sustains Everything.

This echoes the apostle Paul’s thoughts in Colossians 1:17 where it says that Jesus, “holds all creation together.”

Not only is he the creator, he’s the sustainer.

6. Cleansed Us from Our Sins.

In the Old Testament there was a High Priest that served in Israel.

One of his jobs was to offer what they called the sacrifice of Atonement every year.  Leviticus 16 describes the ceremony that high priest went through to cleanse the people of Israel from their sins. So when the Jewish recipients of this letter read that Jesus cleansed us from our sins, they noticed something; Jesus is being identified as our high priest.

7. He Is Seated at The Right Hand Of God.

If I were tell you that a quarterback will be “under center” today few of us would think that the center is sitting down on the quarterback.

Under center is a term that we use to describe the QB position.

When you read in the NT that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God, it doesn’t mean that God always sitting down, and that Jesus is always sitting down next to him.

For the ancient readers this was king talk. And when they read this they knew that Jesus was being presented as a King.

Some of the commentators think that there were Christian Jews reading this letter, but that there were also Jews who were still trying to understand who this Jesus was.

And the author makes a compelling case for Jesus in this opening. In the past God spoke through prophets, but Jesus greater than the prophets.

In the past God spoke through priests, but Jesus is greater than the previous priests. He is the highest of the high priests!

In the past God spoke through kings, but Jesus is greater than the all the other kings. He is the King of Kings.

And just to drive the point home, verse 4 says…

This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.  Hebrews 1:4

Our Bible is the record of what God has spoken.

God has spoken in the past…and it was all pointing to Jesus.

God has spoken in these last days…it’s all about Jesus.

But this is where it gets personal for you and me.

The message about Jesus isn’t just for somebody.  It’s for you. Our journey of faith is about Jesus and our life has forgiveness, meaning and purpose because of Jesus.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

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