Hebrews 1:1-4 Jesus Christ: The Final Word WC McCarter
Introduction
You will notice that, for the book of Hebrews, there is no
formal introduction as in a letter. There are no greetings, there are no
prayers, and no name is stated for the sender or the recipient. For this
reason, many have called this a sermon. We actually do not know what man wrote
this book or to whom he was writing it. Many suggestions have been made for the
sender and recipient. It is reasonable to believe that Apollos wrote it to congregations
in Rome Rome
From the beginning of the sermon, the author dives head
first into the deep end of theology and doctrine. These believers had heard the
Gospel and believed; now they needed to mature in it. The same is true of us
today. You have heard the Gospel. You have believed it. Now there is a great
need for you to spiritually mature in the faith you heard from the beginning.
This is called discipleship and sanctification. Discipleship is to leave the milk of the word behind in order to
move on to solid meat. It is to press on in your learning. The Christian life
is not about hearing and believing in the beginning only. It is to become a
life-long learner of Jesus Christ, an eternity-long student of the great I AM. Sanctification is the process of
becoming holy. In the beginning of your Christian life, when you first believed
and were united to Christ, you were placed in a position of holiness “in
Christ.” God the Father looked at you and said that you are holy. Now, for the
rest of your life, the Lord calls you to move toward actually becoming holy.
This is called progressive sanctification. God has called you holy, now you
must become holy. The book of Hebrews will help us, encourage us, warn us, and
equip us to press on in discipleship and sanctification. There is much to learn
and apply to ourselves.
In today’s sermon, there is one thing that you need to know
from the passage: Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the final word. He is God’s
final revelation. The first four verses make up one long sentence in the Greek
New Testament. This one long sentence is written to demonstrate how God has
always been a speaking God, but now His speaking is complete. His final word
has been spoken. The final revelation has been made manifest. The Word has put
on flesh, dwelt among us, purged our sins, and has sat down at the right hand
of the Majesty on high.
READ Scripture- This
is the Word of God
The Speaking God
(1-2a)
God is not a silent God. He has not remained in a heavenly
place, far away from His creation. He has constantly spoken and revealed
Himself. From the beginning, God spoke the worlds into existence. He spoke and
heaven and earth were created. He spoke and light came into the world.
God spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. He
revealed himself to our ancestors long ago. He did so at various times and in
various ways. The Old Testament covers much of human history, especially in
relation to the formation of the Jewish people. It was written over a long
period of time as well. Think, also, about the variety of ways that God
revealed Himself in the Old Testament period. He did so by dreams, visions,
mighty acts, appearances, commands, promises, and more. As glorious as those
revelations and events were, they are now seen as incomplete when compared to
the final revelation that has come through the One who is Son.
Descriptions of the
Son (2b-3a)
The Son is heir of all things. The Son has entered into the
fruition of His Sonship as heir of all things in His heavenly place. To be Son
and Heir is to fulfill a role. In that role, our Lord became flesh, was
obedient on earth, offered Himself for sins, and is now exalted. This is what
it means to be the Son of God which is why He is unique.
The Son made the worlds (universe). The One who is heir of
all things is the One who made all things. The word “worlds” can also mean
“ages.” He is the Creator of the ages. As Creator, He is sovereign over all
things.
The Son is the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the Son
is the express image of the Father’s person (the exact representation of His
being). “Brightness” means “radiance.” This is a great picture of how Christ is
the full revelation of God. It is not a reflected glory. He IS the glory of
God. He is not like the moon which is a mere reflection of the sun. He is the
radiance of the sun. To be even more exact, no one has ever actually seen the
sun, but we have seen the radiant beams of light which emanate from the sun. No
one has ever seen God, but Christ has made Him known. Christ has shown us God.
When you see Him, you see God. When you hear Him, you hear God. When you
worship Him, you worship God. “Thus the Son is a perfect ‘imprint’ of the ‘very
being’ of God” (Cockerill, 94). Together, these two phrases, “. . . preserve
the distinctness of the Son while affirming that the finality of his revelation
is based on his identity with the God he reveals” (Cockerill, 94).
The Son upholds all things by His powerful word. The One who
is heir of all things is the One who has created all things. He is the same One
who sustains all things. The wording actually tells us more than His sustaining
work. He is the One who directs the ages. He is orchestrating all things to
bring them to their intended purpose, God’s purpose. His ultimate purposes are
to make purification for sins and return to rule with His people in a restored
and cleansed kingdom. “Bearing all by His powerful word” is a phrase referring
to deity.
The Son’s Work is
Complete (3b)
The Son’s mission on earth was to purge our sins, to make
purification for sins. “Purged” means “cleansed.” He intends to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness, to remove all of the pollution of sin, and to remove the
barrier between humanity and God. He completed that mission and afterward sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He has done what we cannot do.
He has paid the price for sin that was far too lofty for any of us to pay. The
debt is clear. The wrath of God is satisfied for all those who are in Christ.
He has borne the penalty for our sins as our substitute.
Better than the
Angels (4)
Christ has always been far better than the angels, but
“became” much better in a new way when He sat down after completing the plan of
redemption. As great as you may think that the angels are, Christ is far
greater. The author of Hebrews begins his letter (sermon) by declaring that
Jesus Christ is far better than the angels. The Jews of the first century had
an obsession with angels much like our culture today. Angels are considered
awesome beings, superior, elegant, authoritative, and much more. However great
you may think angels are, the book of Hebrews says, Christ is considerably more
excellent.
Conclusion and
Christian Application
(1) The entire
letter to the Hebrews was written with one reason in mind: to encourage
Christians who were faltering in their faith. It is a call to endure. Those
Christians in the first century were facing brutal persecution from the Jews
and later even the Romans. The message they needed to hear was that they had
made the right choice by coming to Christ. We need to hear the same message
today. No, we have not faced the same persecution that they did, but this world
is alluring. But listen, the truth of the matter is that God has spoken in
these last days by His Son. We do well to listen. If not, we are only building
up wrath for ourselves for the last day.