Hebrews 1:1-4 Long ago, at
many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 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. 3 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, 4 having
become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more
excellent than theirs.
One
of my favorite books, in the Bible, is the book of Hebrews. There is much
disagreement as to who might have written this book. I am sure it was written
before A.D. 70. The writer begins with a description of Jesus as God’s means of
communication with man. God had spoken to man throughout history. Paul assured
us that God did not leave himself without a witness at any time. (Acts 14:17)
In Paul’s introduction to Romans he stated, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of world, in the
things that have been made.” (Romans 1:20)
Mankind
is clearly without excuse. No one can claim they never knew there was a God. No
one has ever had to convince a small child that God exists. That information
seems to be programmed in. Every society on earth has had in their history some
concept of “god”. We are all born with
some kind of awareness of spiritual beings. That concept does not have to be
taught it is simply to be accepted.
Instead,
the anti-God people will make every effort to reprogram people so that they can
sin and not feel guilt. If God is not there then there is no “right” or
“wrong”. There is only situational ethics that you have to work out for
yourself on the spot. I am here to tell you, and the Bible has always been
ready to tell you, that God is there and he is not silent. We need to recognize
that…
God has spoken in many ways. In Numbers 22:28-30 we find an interesting
story. There was a man named Balaam who was some kind of witch doctor yet he
seemed to also have a contact with God. He was asked to place a curse upon the
people of Israel by the king of Moab. After much negotiation he set out to find
a way to curse Israel. As he went along his way his donkey stopped and turned
aside. When that happened Balaam beat the donkey. A second time the donkey
stalled and pushed Balaam’s foot against a stone wall. So he struck her again
and got her going. The third time she just lay down. Then the Lord opened the
mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you
have struck me these three times?” 29 And Balaam said to the
donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand,
for then I would kill you.” 30 And the donkey said to Balaam,
“Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day?
Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”
That
is one example of God speaking to mankind through an animal. I think we have
learned lots of things from animals even though they probably have not spoken
to us. Sometimes just their body language or the look in their eyes can speak
volumes. We find another example in…
1 Kings 19:11-13. Here
we find Elijah running away from the queen, Jezebel. This is after he had
defeated God’s enemies in a great contest. Now, some 40 or 50 days later,
Elijah has been challenged by God to explain himself. Elijah whined, “I am the only one left”, God’s answer
was, “Go out and stand on the mount
before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong
wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the
earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the
fire the sound of a low whisper. 13 And when Elijah heard it,
he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the
cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here,
Elijah?”
Here,
we find God speaking through weather and natural conditions. If we will but
listen “The heavens declare the glory of
God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)
Hebrews
tells us “Long ago, at many times and in
many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,” throughout history
God has spoken and now he speaks…
By His Son. The
one who existed with God forever and is clearly, himself, God. John 1:14-18 tells us And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full
of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried
out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me,
because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we
have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given
through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No
one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made
him known.
This
is a very powerful passage of Scripture. First of all, Jesus is identified as
the Word who became flesh to live among us. Second, he brought glory from the
Father to the earth. Not only that, but he brought grace and truth into the
world in human form. Then John clearly identifies him as “God”. The best
translation of verse 18 is shown here in the ESV: “The only God, who is at the Father’s side,” not the only son who
is at the Father’s side. The writer of Hebrews is in complete agreement with
John the apostle. Here, right in the beginning of the book of Hebrews, Jesus is
presented as fully divine. The exact imprint of his nature could easily be translated
as the duplicate of God the Father. For those people who go around door-to-door
saying that Jesus is not really God we have John’s Gospel clearly, repeatedly,
presenting him as God. We also have Titus 2:13 “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” and 2 Peter 1:1 that tells
us of “the righteousness of our God and
Savior Jesus Christ.” And, Romans 9:5 speaking of the Jewish people, “To them belong the patriarchs, and from
their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.
Amen.” Not only was Jesus eternally God but he is clearly identified as…
The Creator of the world. We’ll
look back to John’s introduction. John
1:2-3 He was in the beginning with
God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was
not any thing made that was made.
Not
just existing in the beginning with God but also creating everything. Without
him nothing was made that has been made. Long before time began (and I really
don’t understand how that can be — time beginning I mean) Jesus existed as the
Son along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The concept of the Trinity is
hard to grasp but I would like to briefly explain it so we can see the roles
played by each person in the Godhead.
The
clearest explanation of the Trinity was given by Jonathan Edwards, America’s
greatest theologian. Edwards explained that God, existing forever and perfectly
understanding himself had as it were an exact image and representation of
himself ever before him in actual view. That image of himself we know as the
Son. Since he existed as a perfect duplicate of the father the second person of
the Godhead had an energy force flowing between the two. And Edwards words,
“There is God and the idea of God, if it be proper to call the conception of
that that is purely spiritual an idea.” All of this occurred before anything
else existed. God the Father contemplated God the Son and the energy that
flowed between them takes on a personality as the Holy Spirit.
Now
this explanation is way too simple but it helped me a great deal in the
understanding of the Trinity. If you really want to know more about it I can
get you an article that contains Edward’s comments on the subject.
As
the creator of everything…
Jesus is the heir of
everything. Our supporting passage is found in Colossians 1:15-20. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And
he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And
he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in
him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and
through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of his cross.
Again
we see that Jesus is the perfect duplicate “image” of the invisible God. He
existed before all things and consequently created all things.
It
doesn’t matter where those things existed in time or space they are all created
by him. Heavenly things such as angels and spiritual authorities and earthly
things such as the animal world, humans and all the rest of creation.
Verse
17 tells us that he is the “glue” that holds everything together. Jesus
represents the force of gravity physically and spiritually binding all things
together. Paul wants us to be very clear on the subject. Not only is Jesus the
Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, but He was the container — if we can
call Him that — of everything that is God while he was on the earth.
When
Jesus was taken, questioned, scourged and condemned to the cross all of God
existed in him while simultaneously existing throughout the universe. This was
a choice of God the Father before the world was created. Its way beyond my job
description to understand what this is really saying. I have to be completely
dependent upon God through his word to understand these things. Since the
Godhead existed in Jesus Christ the suffering he endured and the blood he shed
was necessary for our salvation. Since all of God existed in him Jesus is…
The reflection of God. Paul
picks up the theme in 2 Corinthians
4:3-6. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are
perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded
the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we
proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your
servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine
out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Again
we see that Jesus is the “mirror image” of the Father. An image that the lost
world must see in order to understand salvation. Our enemy, Satan, who roams
the world looking for those he can devour, takes every action conceivable to
keep mankind from recognizing the God who loves them and who gave his only Son
for them. It seems that in American society a larger number of people than ever
cannot see “the point” of Jesus. Throughout the New Testament we see that understanding
Scripture needs moral and spiritual abilities rather than intellectual ability.
You
see God must enable a person to be persuaded of the gospel or they will never
understand and believe in him. So our prayer needs to be that this creator of
the universe will bring his light into the darkness, even into the heart of men,
thereby allowing the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
to exist.
God
has spoken in many ways but the most important way is by his Son the creator of
the world and the heir of everything. The one who came into the earth as the
image of God is also…
The One who cleanses us of our
sin.
John picks up the theme for us. 1 John
1:5-10 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God
is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have
fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us
from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a
liar, and his word is not in us.
The
very reason that Jesus came into the world, according to his own words, is “the Son of Man came to seek and save the
lost.” (Luke 19:10) His life was not to demonstrate God’s goodness, though
it certainly did, his life purpose was to bring as many as possible into his
kingdom. To do this Jesus had to provide a way for man’s sins to be cleansed.
The Bible is very clear that “without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Hebrews 9:22)
“When we confess our sins he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” I am so grateful that John used exactly the
words he used here. Now I realize that the Holy Spirit guided him in providing
the correct word formulation. But I’m so glad to see the pronouns “us”, “we”,
“our” because this includes John. You see, John was — so far as we know — the
last living apostle. John was perhaps the closest of all Jesus’ disciples. He
referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. What a wonderful thing it
would be to be a personal friend of the Lord Jesus, the Christ!
Yet
with all that personal relationship John still recognized that “if we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves,” (1 John 1:9) John confessed himself to be yet a sinner in need
of cleansing. So Jesus who came to seek and save that which is lost laid down
his life in payment for our sins. Not for our sins only but for the sins of the
whole world. Jesus came into the world to radiate the glory of God and to pay
for the sins of mankind.
He
was born of a virgin who descended from David the king. He was raised in the
household of a man who also descended from David the king. He walked on earth
as a man and was tempted in every way we are yet without sin.
Now He sits at the right hand
of God. Let’s see what Paul had to say about it in Romans 8:32-34. He who did not spare his
own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously
give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s
elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ
Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right
hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Jesus
did not go, empty-handed, into heaven. He entered the Father’s presence with
his own blood and presented it, once for all, as our faithful high priest.
Having presented the proof that he paid the price for our sins, Jesus sat down
at the right hand of God and now is our mediator who intercedes for those who
believe. We do not have some copy of the original sacrifice. We have the
original sacrifice which is Jesus’ blood offered to cover our sin. Not just the
sacrifice of the lamb or a goat we have available to us the sacrifice of the
image of God. Jesus is the one who brought the light of God into the world. We
need to be among those who reflect his light. In exactly the same manner…
The
moon has no light of its own. All the moon’s light comes from the sun. In the
same way we have no glory of our own. All the glory of God that we have comes
from Jesus Christ in us. God’s glory is the reason why we were created, (Isaiah
43:7) When the Bible speaks of our sin we are told that we fall short of the
glory of God. (Romans 3:23) The only hope we have of God’s glory is Christ in
us. (Colossians 1:27) Are you ready and willing to allow Christ to rule in your
life so that you bring glory to God? The only hope we have is to put our full
faith in Jesus.
All
scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version.
2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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