God Has Spoken

Introduction

Well, first of all, I want to thank Michael for skipping a song. It’s a time factor. It’s not because that song wasn’t important to sing, but we’re sort of under time constraint in this 9 o’clock service because if we run too long with it, then that sort of affects our Bible study at 10 and our worship at 11. So it’s more critical at this hour that if we’re going to have at least even a 30-minute, 25 or 30-minute lesson that we sort of kind of watch the clock and get started. I thank Michael for observing that and making it so we could get up this at this point in time. Glad you’re here, and I see a few visitors with us this morning. We certainly welcome you to be with us.

I’d like to encourage each of you to take your new testaments and open to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. The first three verses in Hebrews chapter 1 will really serve as the text and theme for our study in this hour. If you were here at the 9 o’clock when Tommy Babiera read these three verses, you may remark or observe how that the book of Hebrews, or the letter called Hebrews, is unique in its opening.

1. The Superiority of Jesus Christ

In fact, Hebrews starts right in the middle, you might say, of its theme. God, who in various times in various ways spoke in time past to uh to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son. God has spoken by his son. And then the theme you might say of this letter has to do with the superiority of Jesus Christ. Why listen to him? What’s the real point and theme of the Hebrew letter? Obviously, as I said, it does not does not begin by saying to whom it is written, but we know it as the letter called Hebrews, because as you read through the letter and all, you recognize that it is an epistle to encourage Jews or Hebrews to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s been some 30 years or so since that great day of Pentecost, when about 3,000 souls obeyed the gospel, were baptized into Christ and were added to the Lord’s church. Perhaps some of those have gone back to their home and other places, but the church at Jerusalem has stayed there. And over this period of 30 years or so, you might say, well, they’ve gone through a lot of different kinds of trials. In fact, by 30 years’ time, perhaps some of them already passed away. Others, maybe a new generation has arisen. It’s time within the 30-year period. But in all, these who have stayed in Jerusalem, no doubt, have had some struggles. We know they’ve had some financial struggles because there have been letters written like 1st and 2 Corinthians and raising support for the poor saints that were even in Jerusalem.

In Judea, Acts 11. Jerusalem was a city in Judea. So we we know that they had some financial strains, but also you can imagine the temple being in Jerusalem. That these new Christians now are cut off from what you might say is basically the social life.

Family ties have been cut off because now they’re no longer considered as a faithful Hebrew, but rather as a Christian who has obeyed the Lord and follows the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s the temptation, perhaps to fall away. Or even to return to being a good Jew, like maybe their friends and family are. Discouragement was easy to come by. I’d say even in our day, while we may not have that same kind of temptation to go back to Judaism, we are tempted to be like the world around us, our friends and neighbors. For the most part, the world today doesn’t think about coming to worship at 9 o’clock on Sunday morning or at all on Sunday. We live in a generation where the popular thinking is come on, enjoy life today.

Go to a ball game, go to a movie, let’s go out and do something recreation. Let’s let’s have fun instead of making Jesus Christ our Lord and King. We certainly face those kind of temptations. But if you’d lived back at the time this letter was written, particularly, you would have observed how that really come again. And you know, when we obeyed the gospel, we thought that was going to be soon. And time has passed and he hasn’t returned. Some of our folks have died, maybe some of our parents have already died. What about that? And so, with all these things in their mind, they needed to hear andor read this message that pointed out the superiority of Jesus Christ. In fact, as you go through the letter, you observe by chapter 3 how that Jesus Christ is superior to Moses.

Moses, the great prophet of God, through whom God gave the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses. But the writer argues in chapter 3, verses 3 to 6, that Moses was but a servant in the house of God. Jesus is the Son over the house. We are the house, in fact, the scripture says, so those who are the people of God, the church, the living God, Jesus Christ is head over all things of the church. So you can see the argument there. Moses was a great man, but he was not as great as Jesus Christ. Frankly, you get into chapter 7 and you see that he talks about the previous. How that even Jesus Christ, the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, is of a greater priesthood than the Levitical priesthood.

In fact, it argues that even as Abraham, who would be the father of the Levites, Abraham paid tithe to Melchizedek. And if Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, it’s a higher priesthood than the Levitical priesthood. Again, the superiority of what Jesus Christ, who he is, and what he is doing. He is a priest forever. He doesn’t die like the Levitical priests. In fact, he offered himself once for all time. Doesn’t have to continue to offer sacrifices like the Levitical priest had to do. And then even ultimately, you get into chapter 8, and he talks about the covenant. How that the new covenant, Jesus Christ, has given us a better covenant, established upon better promises. And so the covenant, the law of Moses, and the covenant that the Jews had through that, it was great, it was given by God, but when you talk about the covenant through Christ Jesus, it is superior with better promises.

2. God Has Spoken at Various Times in Various Ways

So you see through the book, uh a reoccurring theme in various ways, that with Christ, don’t turn away from him. Don’t turn back to Moses and turn it back to the law of Moses. It was good in its place and time, but it served its purpose. And now with Jesus Christ, we have a superior law. We have a superior covenant, we have a superior Lord, Jesus the Christ. But as you start really in these first few verses, you notice even in verse 1, God starts right there. Here’s the here’s the point that you might say, or the word you might say, that ties both Jews and Christians together. God. God, who at various times, that is, in many portions and in various ways, or in many ways, has spoken to the fathers by the prophets.

But hath in these last days spoken to us through his son. I say right off here for all of us who may be talking to people who from time to time say, Oh, you know, I believe the Bible, but it’s full of myths, and I don’t know that it’s really the word of God. That’s a common thought about people who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. They want to argue like the Bible really cannot be trusted. And I say most people who argue that way prove their ignorance of the makeup of the Bible. Right off, if God has spoken in various times in various ways, what do you mean by that? The reality is when we look at the Bible, it has unity in variety, and you need to learn this argument and recognize the truth of it, that it was written by about forty men over a period of some sixteen hundred years.

They could not have gotten in the same room and talked about what are we going to write now. In fact, about eight men wrote the books of the New Testament, the 27, and that would leave something like about 32, those 39 books called the Old Testament. There’s no way they could confer together. Indeed, they lived in different countries. Some of the Bibles written in Palestine, some of them written in Babylon for that matter, or Greece, even Italy. So it was written in different places and and really with different languages. The Old Testament basically written in Hebrew, and some Aramaic. The New Testament basically written in Greek. They didn’t speak altogether the same language or live in the same time, and they no doubt had different backgrounds.

Why, there were some who no doubt were shepherds, some who lived in the country area, some who really served in the palaces of the kings. In fact, there was Isaiah, who certainly probably was related to the king during his period of time and lived in the city, you might say. Amos, a prophet contemporary with Isaiah, was a country person. That says they didn’t even have the same opinions about day-to-day matters of life. No more than a group like us here would have different things that some like better than others like. We have different things, but what unites us is the faith in Christ. And these forty different men, though they had different backgrounds and maybe different opinions, what united them is the fact that they were inspired by one mind.

They were inspired by God. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the men of God may be perfect completely, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. And even as the Apostle Peter reasoned in 2 Peter 1, that no prophecy came by the will of man. For no prophecy is by man himself, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. That is the claim of the Word of God. And certainly it is proven over and over that if a book was, you might say 66 individual letters or books written by about 40 men over a period of sixteen hundred years doesn’t have contradictions in it.

3. In These Last Days Spoken to Us by His Son

It had to come from one mind. And that is the mind of God as it claims. But furthermore, when you look at this opening of Hebrews, what is really argued by the writer is that, yes, God has spoken in time past by the prophets to the fathers. How many times do we read even in the scriptures? God spoke in various ways. He had angels that appeared to Abraham and spoke to him. Daniel had vision. In various ways, at various times, God spoke to the fathers in times past. But then his argument, in these last days, he is spoken unto us by his son. In these last days, it is important that we understand that even what the writer was saying is that you and I now look to Jesus Christ as the lawgiver, as the one through whom we must understand God’s scheme of redemption.

That Jesus Christ is the one through whom God now speaks to us. In fact, that had been foretold. For that matter, what would happen in the last days? You may recall how Daniel and Daniel chapter 2, for that matter, in verse 28, and again in verse 44 spoke about a kingdom that would be indestructible. A kingdom that would stand forever would be established in the last days. Isaiah in chapter 2 and Micah in chapter 4 spoke about how in the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house would be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations would flow unto it. Again, the prophet spoke in the last days this would these things would occur. Even Joel, a prophet who spoke how in the last days the Spirit would fall upon men.

And young men would see visions, and old men would dream dreams, and so forth, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would reveal God’s word that allowed men to call upon the Lord, and whoever would call upon the Lord would be saved. Interestingly, Joel’s prophecy about what would occur in the last days was quoted by Peter in Acts chapter 2. And there Peter in verses 16 and 17, as much as he said, This is that. This is what Joel spoke about would occur. And it was as, of course, on that day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit had fallen on the apostles. And as they began to preach the word of God, so it was that the outpouring of the Spirit in these last days, periods, I believe, of a time in which you and I now live.

Last days, you say, well, it’s been 2,000 years since that time. And indeed it has been. But if you look as God counts time, he doesn’t do it like we do. We recognize there was a period of time, we sometimes in teaching the Bible how it’s made up, there’s a period we call patriarchal period, where God spoke indeed directly to the fathers who in turn taught their children the time of Noah, the time of Abraham. But then there was the period of the Mosaic period, where God spoke through Moses and gave the law of Moses. But we understand as we put together the Bible that that law came to an end. It was figuratively speaking, nailed to the cross, Colossians 2, 14 through 17. And so now what we have is the new covenant.

God speaks to us through Jesus Christ. And in these last days, he speaks to us by his Son. Last days, well, actually, the Bible speaks about the last day. We’re in a period of time that Jesus even said in John chapter 5, he spoke how that their time would come when all who are in the grave should be raised. Those that have good done good unto the resurrection of life, those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. In John chapter 5, 28 through 32. Yet in that same text over in John chapter 6, he spoke, Jesus speaking, said that he would raise up those who believed in him on the last day. So the Bible speaks about last days, a period of time in which we now live.

The gospel being preached to all the world, given men opportunity to hear and believe in the Lord, and to obey the gospel, scheme of redemption. But then there will come that day of a resurrection. All in the graves will hear his voice and will come forth. And on that last day is the time in which God or Jesus indeed promised there would be everlasting life given to those who believe in him. But you know, back to the theme in Hebrews chapter one. Not only does he speak about time past and last days, he then goes on to say in verse 2, in these last days spoken to us by his son, notice whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son, today I have begotten you. And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. But when he had again bring the firstborn into the world, he says, Let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire? But to the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain. They will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak, you will fold them up, and they will be changed. But you are the same. Your years will not fail. But to which of the angels has he ever said, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies, your footstool. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? As you read what is now described as the chapter one of Hebrews, you can see how that even after this beginning, right in the middle, you might say, of his thought and theme of the book, he then goes on and expands. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is he that we should listen to? Why would we look to him instead of back to Moses?

4. Heir of All Things, Through Whom He Made the Worlds

When all of our friends really are doing that, and they’re going to the temple, and we know that law had been given by God. Why not go back to that? The Hebrew writer says, Here’s why not. Look who Jesus Christ really is. In fact, in verses two and three, there are some seven different attributes of Jesus Christ that should thrill our hearts when we think about who is Jesus? Who is it that is our Savior? Who do we look to as the one who speaks to us God’s will? Well, first of all, he’s described as the heir, as the heir of all things. What does that mean? Well, to be an heir, one has to be a son. And first of all, that really declares who Jesus really is.

He is the Son of God, the only begotten. In that sense, we hear sometimes people say the one and only Son. I don’t agree with that. I believe I’m a son of God. But mine is by adoption. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. In Psalm chapter two, verses seven and eight, the scripture says, I will declare the decree, the Lord has said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. What is he promised to the Son? Even the nations, and the ends of the earth for his inheritance. We see that probably explained more when we come to Philippians chapter two.

When the apostle there says, Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery, or considered it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bond servant, coming in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the cross. And then that passage goes on to say how that though though he emptied himself, God highly exalted him, gave him a name above every name. That the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Who is Jesus? Yes, he’s the Son of God, but God has made him heir of all things, and all shall bow to him and confess his name. In fact, he goes on to say in Hebrews 1, that through him God made the world. Now think about that for a moment. Who is Jesus the Christ? Well, he is the one by whom God made the worlds. That does not mean the Father wasn’t involved. The Father indeed, who carried out no doubt, had the plan of God even through and from eternity. Yet the scripture clearly, in passages like in John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, starts off again, and you might say, in its theme, when it says, In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God, and then listen, all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Jesus Christ in the beginning. Well we know, even in the Genesis account, Genesis 1 26, in the plural form, let us make man in our image. So I believe the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all really involved at the time of the creation, but it’s through Jesus Christ that things were made. Our friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses want to tell us that Jesus Christ Himself was really first created by the Father, and then in turn he then formed the worlds. But that just doesn’t follow with the language of the Bible. That Jesus Christ Himself was not created as an angel first who became the Son of God, but rather he was from eternity.

5. Brightness of His Glory, Express Image of His Person

In fact, in Colossians chapter 1, in verses 16 and 17, the writer there says, by him, speaking about Christ, all things were created. Now, if he created all things, would he be involved in the all? Logically, thinking about it. That means that Jesus Christ was already in existence. He himself, having the nature of God, was himself eternal. But he is the one by whom all things were created, notice, that are in heaven and that are on earth, that are visible, material, and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. Pretty clear, isn’t it? Jesus Christ, heir of all things, through whom God made the worlds. The honor of Christ Himself to the Father. He is the brightness of his glory.

The glory of God, who from eternity formed and planned that world in which we now live and the hope we now have. Jesus is the brightness of his glory. In fact, if you’re reading the English Standard Version, the scripture calls him the radiance of his glory. And the New American Standard Version uses that same term, the radiance. Today we may talk about it, I don’t think it’s shining yet, but we hope the sun will come out. Well we mean the sun will come out. Well, you don’t look directly at the sun, you can without injuring your eye, but you know the sun rays, the relationship of the rays of the sun to the sun itself. Tell us what the sun is like. Jesus Christ is the one who expresses.

In fact, the very next thought is he is the express image of his person. Again, the English Standard Version says he is the exact imprint of his nature. The New American Senator says he is the exact representation of his nature. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, would you like to know what God is like? John chapter 1 says no man has ever seen God in any time. But Jesus Christ declared the Father unto us. If you want to know what God is like, then take a look at what Jesus did and what he represented. The mercy that Christ would have, the compassion that he had, but also the righteous indignation. Yes, when the money changers needed to be thrown out, he raised his temper, you might say, righteously.

Or even against the hypocritical Pharisees, whited sepulchres, just hypocrites. He spoke pretty plainly to those who were false religious leaders. False. You know, Jesus didn’t say it doesn’t matter what you believe. He very clearly said it does matter. And if you want to know what God is like in the matter of serving him, is it matters? Jesus is the express image of his person. John 1 and verse 18, where he said that no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared him. And then later in this same letter in John chapter 17, Jesus was praying unto the Father shortly before he was arrested and then later crucified. And in John 17, beginning in verse 24, he says, Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me.

For you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me, and I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them. There’s a thought of the Son of God Himself as He prayed unto the Father. The express image of the Father. Well, not only as we read a moment ago from Colossians chapter 1 and in verses 16 and 17 that says that by him all things were made, but listen to him in Colossians 1 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible, invisible, where the thrones are dominions, principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.

And verse 17, he is before all things, and in him all things consist. In fact, Colossians 2 in verse 9 says, in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I think sometimes thoughts like that are very hard for us to comprehend. People ask questions about the nature of God, and I’d say, Well, I think there are many things about God that are incomprehensible for mortal minds. And yet what we can know, clearly stated, is that he was from eternity, and through him all things have been created. And by him there is the promise and hope of everlasting life. And for that reason, we continue to serve him. But we know of a God and the Lord and King of kings, who says, yeah, there are things that matter.

6. Upholds All Things, Purged Our Sins, at the Right Hand

And it does matter what we believe and what we do and practice. Time was going to get me, so I have to say not only did he was he the heir of all things, these through whom he made the worlds, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person. But notice the Bible says, through him he upholds all things by his word. Not only did he create, but they say he upholds them. How things stand in place. We have no control over such things as gravity, do we? In fact, if gravity ceased, we’d be in trouble. Or the rotation of the earth in relationship to the sun and the moon and the stars. No control. We think we’re pretty smart. But really, the things that really make life sustained in this world as we know it continue on, we have no control.

We’re glad to see and know each day the sun will arise and said at night and the moon and the stars will come out. We’re glad for this world in which we live, but who upholds it? Scripture says it’s through the word of the Lord. Power of Jesus Christ. You want to turn away from him? You want to ignore him.

To understand by the word of his power, we continue ourselves to exist in this world and with some kind of substance that we know we can depend upon. But most of all, he purged our sins through his blood. He entered himself, came to this world, lived as a man, tempted as men in all points as we are, yet was without sin. And only through him can we have by his blood redemption, paying the judicial price. We who have sinned, the price of sin is death, spiritual death, and separation from God, but we can be redeemed.

Now I don’t believe God has a literal throne on which he’s just sitting there. God is spirit, the Bible says. But as we understand the position of honor, we understand that God, who is the one the one of majesty, yet Jesus Christ, as though in the position of honor, is seated at the right hand. And in fact, in passages like Ephesians 1, that says that speaking about the power of God, which you wrought in Christ Jesus, when he raised him from the dead and set him in his own right hand in heavenly places, listen, far above all principality, power, might, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And God hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who filleth all in all.

Conclusion

We ought to guard our hearts that we not fall away, that we not neglect so great a salvation, which is in chapter 2. Lord willing, we’ll talk about that next week. But as in Hebrews, the scripture speaks in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 25. See that you not refuse Him who speaks. If you’re not a child of God, I hope you’ll stop and think about who it is you are rejecting. The Son of God, the one who’s heir of all things, by whom God made the world, etc. Don’t be a person who would turn back, reject him, or turn away from him. You have a Savior. Glorify Him in your life. Let’s close with a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we are grateful for your love.

Love of a people who are really unworthy. And yet you’ve loved us when we were unlovable. You’ve sent your only begotten Son, through whom we have that hope of life everlasting. We thank you for your grace. And we pray that you’ll help us to be people of faith, that indeed we might be saved by grace through faith. That one day we, that last great day, we’ll be raised to enter that eternal kingdom, heaven itself. Help us now in our worship today, in our Bible study, that all things will be done unto your glory and to your honor. Keep us and save us family. For we humbly pray in the name of the Christ. And amen.