Hebrews 1:2
28 April 2024
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 1:2).
So we dealt last week with the first part of the argument that is being established right at the beginning of the book of Hebrews. If we note in verse 1 of chapter 1, long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. Now this is what we dealt with last week as we took time to consider that God speaks in the time of the Old Testament. And we noted many different times and ways in which this happens from Genesis as we go all to Malachi and we considered also the nature through which prophets spoke as mouthpieces of God. Now all of this is established to contrast where we come today to the time of the last days in verse 2. So the argument that is built is to take us to something which is greater, something which is better. And we come to focus our attention not only this week but, in the weeks to come, and what will be months and years to come, unpacking the glory, the richness, the beauty, the majesty of the Son. The first argument reaches its climax in verse 2 when it says, but in these last days He has spoken to us, there's the contrast, by his Son, Jesus Christ. Now as we come to begin launching into this today dealing with verse 2, the glory, the supremacy, the might, the power, the majesty of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, when we make declarations such as the declaration that Jesus Christ is our Lord, that Jesus Christ is our Master, that Jesus Christ is our King, have we begun even to comprehend the significance of such declarations? Because what we have the opportunity to do right here in this series is to unpack with greater precision the depth and the weight of such a declaration to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. This verse that we're going to be dealing with not only reveals that it is God speaking through this Jesus Christ Lord that we declare, but we also see in just this one verse the authority of the Lord and the all-encompassing, never-ending reality of who this Lord is. When we see that Jesus Christ is the one who has authority over all things as the heir and when we see that He is the one who created the world. So we're going even deeper into the complexity and yet the glorious weight and majesty of who the Son of God is, the one that we declare Lord, the one who is the Savior of our lives. Now, brothers and sisters, this is something that we should be hungry for as Christians. Things that matter in our lives are things that we should pay careful attention to, that there is an even greater attention to detail and so when it comes to the opportunity that we have in a book like Hebrews to start to unpack all the more the complexities of who the Son of God is, the one that we worship, this is something we should be hungry for and yearning for. When we recognize the proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord and we see that this is not simply something that is personal to me but it may not be true to people out there, but when we actually recognise the absolute all-encompassing nature of it for everything that we see, this is something that we pray we would understand with such depth and precision and so as we come then to verse two there are three staggering and wondrous points that we're going to be drawing out. The first of which is the closing climax of the argument that began last week that in these last days our God has spoken to us by his Son. We'll be dealing initially with that and then we're going to consider the authority of Christ as the heir of all things and then we'll draw out the reality of Christ being the one who created the world. We'll be dealing with God speaking to us in this time. We'll be dealing with God having all the authority in giving this to the Son and we'll be dealing with the creating nature of who Christ is as the one who is before all things. There is a lot to draw out.
So we come then to this first aspect of the verse, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. Now in Galatians 4:4 this is described as the fullness of time when it says, but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth His Son born of woman born under the law. Now why would Paul in Galatians chapter four describe the time of Christ coming as the fullness of time? Well let's just quickly draw out the comparison between when God spoke in the time of the Old Testament and now as God speaks today. If you'll notice from what we drew out last week it says at many times and in many ways God spoke. But notice what it says in these last days. It says that He has spoken to us. That's it. There's no declaration of many times many ways. No there is a focus. There is a honing in on one specific thing on one specific person. Again, we also can note that in the Old Testament times God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. That is plural, and we considered some of these different times in which God spoke through these prophets. Now we're coming to the last days which we're noting in Galatians four is described as the fullness of time and it is by His Son. Not by His Son and a heap of other prophets and then we'll expect further revelations across time. No it is now we see in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. And we also noted last week that there is something progressive in what God reveals in the Old Testament. When we consider the covenants which are established with, first of all, Adam and then we consider with Noah and Abraham and then with Moses, as we move through the Old Testament something is being progressively revealed, and it is pointing us to something which is glorious. Something which is greater. Something which is better. Yes, it is Jesus Christ who is the Son. And therefore, it is described in Galatians 4 for these last days as the fullness of time. Why is that? Well we consider in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ at the time of His transfiguration which we've drawn out recently in both Exodus and 2nd Corinthians 3. We see in chapter 9 verse 35 and into 36, and a voice came out of the cloud saying this is my Son, my chosen one, listen to him. And when the voice had spoken, where have Moses and Elijah gone? Well, we see Jesus was found alone. Jesus Christ is left. Now this is what's striking all the way through the book of Hebrews, with all the angels, the prophets, the priests, the kings, with all the types and shadows, in all of the times and ways, God spoke. It fades into comparison as we now look to the Son to Jesus Christ. As we see this climax to just the very opening of the book and how significant this is. It's almost whetting our appetite for what is to come. We are now being introduced to this revelation of the Son, the way by which God, Yahweh, speaks by His Son. And so a big question would be well who is He? Who is the Son? Now we're just going to briefly address this because even in the next couple of verses we're going to be unpacking it further, but it is important just to make reference to this crucially as we begin to deal with the doctrine of the Son of God. Because being clear about who and what we mean and understand by the Son is absolutely fundamental for even what we're going to be drawing out for the rest of today. Because if we get this wrong then we're already going to be veering off into outright error.
If we take for example in other religions or even cults and sects within Christianity itself there is a fundamental confusion about the very issues that we're dealing with in these opening verses where people maybe would argue within, whether it's Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, or even within Islam, or elsewhere. Well, Jesus is not what you Christians would claim He is, not truly God and fully man. Maybe yes, He was a great prophet, or He was the Son of God, but there are limitations to such a declaration. There are therefore limitations to absolutely everything in understanding who this Son is. Well, in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 3, when Melchizedek is compared to Jesus, it says he is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. Melchizedek points forward to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who is truly God and lived fully as man. And in verse 3 when we get to it next week, we're going to be considering in greater depth the significance of the incarnation. But, brothers and sisters, to understand that this is who we are speaking about, this is what we are to understand regarding everything that will be unpacked in the book of Hebrews, is absolutely essential.
By the fact that this is how God has decreed that He would speak to us today, through this Son, that makes it so significant and of vital importance to us. But, all the more so, when we realise who this Son is. When we realise who this Son is, as the one who is God Himself. As the one who is the God-Man, who lived on this earth. As the one who lived a life that was entirely like us in living in human flesh, but unlike us was without sin. When we realise that it would be through this one man, Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate, that we have our only and our absolute and entire hope. Brothers and sisters, the significance of what we are drawing out is crucial because this therefore is how we understand every aspect and ounce of our existence. When we think in Jesus Christ the one who God speaks through this very day that He is the one who came to seek and save the lost. This means that God speaking through Jesus, it is salvific. When we think that Jesus Christ came to give us the example with which to follow, this is instructive. When we think that Jesus Christ came, and in His attitude, in His action, in His posture, it was literally perfection. This is what we can understand of what awaits in glory. From past, present, future, God speaks in these last days through this Son. The one who has entirely and gloriously made the way of salvation, made the example to follow, and given us the hope by which we stand and live our lives. To know that this is our instructive means by which we live. We come to then unpack the doctrines that follow, because this is the argument that's established right at the beginning, the contrast between when God spoke, to now the fact that He speaks through the Son, and then the following declarations begin to unpack the authority, the might, and the majesty of this Son. In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son and then we go on to see whom He appointed the heir of all things.
Whom He appointed the heir of all things. Now the term heir, to be an heir of something, is to be the possessor of something that has been given to you, by usually a father, a person of an authority of a previous generation, it's passed on to you. And here we come to this doctrine with regards to the Father: God the Father giving an authority, giving this possession to the Son. So there's something entirely and absolutely authoritative over what Christ now has. Now you might be thinking well if Jesus Christ is God, does He not already have all of this authority?
Now we're going to begin to address the nature of Christ's authority before He came to this earth in our third point, but what we have to understand with this point here, that He is the appointed heir of all things. He gets this authority, this heirship if you like, because of what He has done and what He has secured in coming to this earth. So, therefore, when we think about this, a plan before the foundation of the earth, which is the salvation of God's elect, His chosen people, it is through the coming of the Son and by a work that He would do, He would then get a possession for Himself. It's very important to understand the weight and magnitude of this, because this is within the eternal realm. This is what has been sovereignly decreed in the Godhead, and this is when we see the revelation of one true God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and it being the plan of the triune God that the second person of the Trinity would become a man, whilst truly being eternally always God. Now this is weighty doctrine, brothers and sisters, but we need to understand this in order to make sense of how Christ then is being appointed the heir.
Because when we see, even from the beginning of the Bible, everything has been building up towards this, even when we consider in Genesis, that it would be through the Seed of the woman that the redemption of God's elect, the buying back of God's chosen people would take place. If we consider the nature of God setting apart a chosen people in the Old Testament through His covenant with Abraham; a promise which would come to fulfilment by the promised Seed taking the curse of the law on that tree for His chosen people. We're dealing with what God said in the Old Testament now reaching its fulfilment in Jesus Christ, when we see in Galatians 3:13 and 14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” - so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Now we're drawing this out to see the contrast of when God spoke in the Old Testament to now how He speaks through the Son. And when He spoke in the Old Testament, through Abraham for example, it was pointing forward and preparing for what Christ would do, what Christ would secure. And so it was by His own volition that Jesus Christ in living a sinless life would lay it down by being this curse on the tree. What is this curse? The curse of the law that you and I deserve to face. What does the law reveal? It reveals that we are unworthy undeserving and condemned before the most holy God. That is what God says to His chosen people in the Old Testament and now we come to the New Testament where God now speaks through the Son. And what is He speaking through the Son? That He has an absolute victory by the death that He died on that cross, by His blood being shed on Calvary. What is being won here? What is being won? His bride, the bride of Christ. Jesus Christ in laying down His life for His church and in being buried in a tomb and then rising from the dead; it is the victory cry and the living hope of the Christian today, because God speaks to us by His Son, His Son who is not lying in a tomb, His Son who is risen victorious. This is victory language; this is triumphant language that we have before us. And what is the triumph? What is the victory of the Son of God? Well, we see a crucial foundational aspect of it here in this verse, that He is now because of this victory appointed the heir of all things. Everything is now given to the Son because of what He has secured, because of what He has done by His death and resurrection. He is the risen Lord, and it's why in Romans 11:36 it says, For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory for ever. Amen. This is the declaration of the Christian today, that we can declare Jesus Christ is Lord, that Jesus Christ is King, and we know this in the absolute authoritative sense, because Jesus has control and possession of everything that exists: all land, all water, all nations, all buildings; Jesus is Lord of it all. That is what we mean and that is how we can understand He is the heir of all things. This is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings that you come to worship in this place, that you will worship tomorrow morning in your workplace. Jesus is Lord today; Jesus is Lord tomorrow; Jesus is Lord forevermore. Now this authoritative nature is true in the personal sense as well. If we think for example in texts like Romans chapter 6 when it talks of us being slaves to righteousness, our Lord has a judicial and authoritative ruling over your life. You are His possession as the church of Jesus Christ. And as we noted when we were in Exodus, there is nothing wrong with slavery if you worship a perfect master, and Jesus Christ is that perfect master and we are slaves to this glorious King. And this is something that the enemies of the word of God are enraged by when we declare there is an absolute authority and Jesus Christ is it. We're in a nation, we're in a time when people want to emphasize how free they are, free to be respectful of whatever people decide and choose to be, think, say, or act. But, let's be abundantly clear, there is more freedom in the highest maximum security prison in the world, in the most restrictive country in the world, than the man who is enslaved to sin which will lead to death. Jesus Christ is the absolute authority and it should strike fear into the heart of our enemies, because our enemies are seeking to do that which is dishonouring to the living God, to the Lord of it all, to the one who now we see is the heir of all things. This is what we're fighting for as born again Christians, the authority, the dominion, the power, the rule, the glory, which belongs to Jesus Christ and we declare that He is Lord and we do so in an unwavering God-glorifying manner. This is what it means when we read that He is the heir of all things.
One other thing to draw out which was briefly mentioned at the start and that is also that we are considered co-heirs with Christ. Now even before we consider this in any greater depth, think about everything we've drawn out over these past few minutes. Think about the authority that Christ has for us to be described as those who are co-heirs, how humbling that is, brothers and sisters. But that's what we see in Romans 8 verses 16 and 17, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we also be glorified with Him. Now there's an exhortation and a challenge there with regards to suffering for our Lord as co-heirs, but also note a crucial distinction between Christ's heirship and ours. Christ is the possessor of all things which is His inheritance, by His divine nature and because of His completed work. Our inheritance is not by our completed work, it is by grace. And that is the difference, Christ is the Son of God by nature of who He is. For He is truly God; we are called sons, we are called fellow heirs by way of adoption. You have a seat at the table of the Lord in glory because you are now part of the family of God, because Christ has been given this authority. He is that authority, and you have the blessed privilege to share in that as the born-again Christian. As the one who has repented of your sin, believing in your heart, and confessing with your lips, that Jesus Christ is Lord. That means something every single day of your life. It is transformative to the way you think, act, and live. It is all-encompassing, because Jesus Christ is all-encompassing over every aspect and ounce of your being and your life. Because He is the heir, the possessor of it all. Jesus Christ is Lord.
Now we come to the third point and the first thing that we may have a question over given how emphatic and how thunderous and mighty this point is, we go on to read through Whom also He created the world and we may first wonder, well hang on a second, wouldn't it have made sense to focus on Jesus creating the world first and then we get to the heirship, a bit more of a systematic structure? Well, in this instance, the structure being in the word of God is perfect and the reasoning that we can see here is that this last point is adding even more weight to the declaration that God now speaks in these last days by the Son, the one who is the heir of all things. This is now added to give weight and substance and foundation to understanding who it is that we worship: the Messiah, Christ Jesus, Lord and Savior of your life, Lord and Savior of the lives of every believer, Lord of all things. He also is the one who created the world.
Hebrews 1 verses 2 and 3 and Colossians 1 verses 15 to 20 have a lot of rich and glorious and weighty overlap. So, it is no accident that we are going to go here this week, and we will be making reference to it next week, when we begin the first half of verse 3. Colossians 1 from verse 15 verse 15, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 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. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.
Now, some of the glorious truths contained in this passage we'll be dealing with when we come to: He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, that's in verse 3. But there is also a foundation here, which is established, namely, if we see at the end of verse 16, all things were created through Him and for Him. Through Him and for Him! Understand this, brothers and sisters, that the Son of God is not a creation of God, for He is God. And the language of firstborn that we see in verse 15 means that He is eternally begotten of the Father, as we saw from that reading in Psalm 2. And in becoming a man by becoming nothing, Philippians 2:7, taking the form of a servant, and being born in the likeness of human flesh. This was something that was planned, as we noted, before the foundation of the world, because Christ's existence is eternal. When we contemplate the authority that Jesus Christ has now, that He is forevermore the heir, we need to realise that He was in the beginning, He exists eternally. He is the great I am that we see back in Exodus chapter 3. That before time began, I am, when time ends, I am, and Jesus Christ is the great I am. And this is why for Whom creation is ascribed and then established; we see that it is language which is attributed to the Son, because He is preeminent. As it says in Colossians chapter 1 verse 18, and this means that He is first and He is central. He is above and beyond all things. And so we can have no doubts that the one that we call Lord hasn't grown into the role, He is Lord by nature, by who He is eternally, and by what He has done gloriously. This is what we are unpacking when we see through Whom also He created the world. Now, brothers and sisters, we're only dealing with verse 2 here, but already we're beginning to establish the weight of the argument as to why it is fundamentally crucial to understand who Jesus is. Even in our own church, we have had people come and visit who have been confused about this doctrine, people who have openly said I do not believe that Jesus Christ is God. How can we possibly make sense of the argument that is being built just here at the very beginning of the book of Hebrews? How can we make sense of the all-encompassing authority that Jesus has as heir of all things? How can we make sense of one who is described as having created the world? This is not language that is attributed to a demigod or an assistant of God, this is language which is only attributed to Yahweh! And this is who Jesus is. And to know who Jesus is, and to know that by what He secured He has an authority built upon His absolute victory in and over this world. What joy this can bring our souls this very night, brothers and sisters.
We considered at the beginning to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord is a weighty declaration. And just as we go through verse after verse, just in these opening stages of the book of Hebrews, with every point He is the heir, He created the world, He is the radiance of the glory of God, He is the exact imprint of His nature. As we build a clearer and clearer picture, a deeper and deeper understanding, to proclaim Jesus as Lord is something we can do with a rejoicing that can compare to no other thing, because He is Lord over all of your life. The life which now belongs to Him, by the salvation you have, by His blood, by the victory you have over sin and death, by the hope that you have of an eternity with Him in glory, everything is saturated in and built upon who Christ is and what Christ has done. And His is the absolute authority. He is the Lord over all things. And it is the joy of the Christian, of the church of Jesus Christ, this very night to proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is King. This city, Jesus is Lord. This country, Jesus is Lord. This government, Jesus is Lord. The highest, most-powerful influential people doing outright wicked things right now, Jesus Christ is Lord! This is our boast; this is our hope; this is our everything. Let's fight for this; let's be ready to die for this, because Jesus Christ is Lord.