Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 through
4. It's hard to find a quitting
place here because the Apostle delves into the subject with
great vigor and with many truths in comparison. But in chapter
1 verse 1 through 4 for our subject of the morning, God speaking
in or through or by His Son. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by 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 of the majesty
on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Verse 2, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his son. Now perhaps the
very first thing for us to do in using this text and this subject
is to seek to determine a few matters concerning this very
rich epistle found in our New Testament, such as these questions. Number one, what was the purpose
and the intent of the apostle in writing these things. What
was the situation at that time that called it forth and that
made it necessary? And then secondly, what was the
state, what was the condition of the people to whom it was
first and foremost intended. Were they Gentiles? Were they
pagans and of that sort? Were they Jews? Were they Jews
that had embraced either in whole or in part the gospel and a profession
of Christianity? And then thirdly, we would ask
the question, the answers here in this book, what is the main
subject that is carried throughout this Hebrew epistle? What is
the one theme in it that is never lost sight of by the author or
the apostle. It is clear that the epistle
is applicable under the Jew and under their situation as being
caught, as it were, between Judaism and Christianity in that time
frame. And not only Jews in general,
as we say, but especially to a certain class of Jew, those
who had to a degree embrace the gospel and Christianity but were
still holding on to Judaism, and some of them very tenaciously. Or in some cases, there were
those Jews who were tempted to forsake the gospel either for
the sake of the rituals of the old, or from persecution, or
from threat, and return again to full-fledged Judaism. Now the apostle, therefore, makes
it clear that to abandon the gospel, to abandon Christianity
after an embrace of it, would be a fatal apostasy on their
part. If they did that, there is no
more sacrifice for sin. There is no other way for sin
to be forgiven and sinners to be saved. For there is no proper
sacrifice for sin except that that God has appointed and that
Christ has made. And what's more, the shadow of
that great desolation hanging over their nation was like a
cloud over their head, that a threat of ruin upon the nation had been
announced to them, first by John the Baptist, and then, of course,
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and the prophets of God out of the
old covenant. Then, as for subject content,
the epistle draws out the great excellency of Christianity because
of Christ over that of Judaism because of Aaron and the priest. And on account of the excellency
of Christ over all the person and all of the things that we're
connected with, or that made up a part of the mosaic or the
old economy. Thus we find that the major part
of the Hebrew epistle is consumed with a contrast between the two
economies, or as the Puritan Owen put it, the apostle intending
a comparison between the mosaic law and the gospel, unquote. Now, the contrast is made in
verse 1 and in verse 2. And if we may, let's read it
again to refresh our minds and let it be imprinted upon our
mind. Look at it. God, who at sundry
times and in diverse manners or different ways or different
degrees spake in time past under the fathers by the prophet. That was God's manner of speaking,
of revelation, of making himself known under the old economy. But the second verse, hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, and he's a dignified
one, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and so forth.
Now, the apostle raises the bar very high in introducing the
subject in the epistle, that is, by comparing the two revelations,
that through Moses and that through Christ. The two ways, both of
them, were ways of worship that had been ordained by God and
made known unto men. The first thing that he grants
is that God is the author of both economies. They have both
God for their author. He ordained them, both of them,
and therefore that stand. And for God spake to the fathers
by the prophet in time past, that is, in olden time, in ancient
days. in days that are gone by. But
now, on the contrary, hath he spoken in these last days, in
the consummation of the ages, in the fullness of time that
he has appointed, He has spoken unto us in, by, or through his
son. But notice in verse one again,
the way that he puts it. When God spoke, and that was
long ago, it was of old. It was in earlier ages. It was in ancient time, if we
may say it that way. Then notice the medium of his
speaking. He spoke unto them how. He spoke
unto them by the prophets. Now these were called inspired
men of God, holy men of God, as they are called in the New
Testament, who were sent and who spoke in the name and the
authority of the God of heaven. He spoke unto them, or he spoke
through them, unto the people. God in that time spoke unto the
people by the prophet. He spoke unto them early. He
spoke through Noah. He spoke through Enoch who was
a prophet. He spoke unto Israel by Moses
and David and Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel,
and the minor prophets as we want to call them. God spoke
to the fathers, that is to the Jewish father, to the people
of God of old by the prophet and he did that both in oral
speaking and in written scripture. And to them was committed the
oracles of God, as Paul said in Romans chapter 3. Then let's
notice the manner of his speaking. At sundry times and diverse manners. By the way, I agree here with
the writer John Brown, that though at times God spoke to the fathers
himself, in an audible voice, and the people, or the prophet,
heard that audible voice. And yet, in our text here, the
meaning of his having spoken to them is by making known unto
the prophet his word, his will, and his way, instructing them
who then went and instructed the people. making the mind of
God the way of worship known unto them, teaching them the
way of worship, communicating unto them spiritual matters and
spiritual doctrine. And notice in our Bible, at least
in the King James, it said, at sundry time and in divers manners. Now, in many portions, in many
different ways is the meaning, I think. Even in types and in
shadows did God speak unto them in old time. Different way. The
priest, the sacrifice, the tabernacle, the temple, the holy day, and
all of those things, God was speaking unto them and preparing
them for the school of Christ. This God did long ago and unto
the ancient. Now then, let's look at the antithesis,
and that is a contract. While both revelations have this
in common, that God is the author of one as well as the other. Both of this manner of revelation
were from God as their author. In one he spoke through the prophet,
in the other he spoke in his very own son. Now the differences
here as we look at our two verses are one, the time long ago and
then now are in the end of the age. Secondly, we notice that
one was in many parts. It was drawn out, it was elongated,
God speaking to the people of old. It was stretched out, but
the gospel revelation was made at one time by one person. Then number three, the persons
to whom God spake. the ancients, those of old, and
then the people of another time, at the time of the appearing
of our Lord. And then, fourthly, let's notice
the chosen instruments of the two revelations. Number one,
the prophet. Certainly these were eminent
people and men chosen and empowered and sent of God. But the second,
God's own son. He sent his son into the world. He sent his son incarnate in
the flesh. He assumed human nature as he
came into the world. He sent his only begotten son. He sent the son of his love. He spake unto them in or through
his son. That is, he made revelation of
himself in the son. For as the son came, we will
soon learn he is the image of the father. By the way, I thought
it was kind of interesting and helps us perhaps along our way
that these two manner of dealing with the human family and especially
dealing with the Jew are clearly given in parabolic form in that
wonderful parable of the vineyard found in Matthew chapter 21 and
verse 33 through 41 and the following application in that place in
verse 42 through verse 46, in that the householder, remember,
he let out his vineyard, and at the first, and for a while,
he dealt with those husbandmen by means of his servants. He sent his servant to receive
the fruit of the vineyard. And they beat them, they killed
them, and ill-treated them, as you know. And then at last, he
said, I will send my son. And he did. And he sent his son
unto them, the husbandman, that he might receive the fruits of
the labor And of the vineyard, and what did they do? They grabbed
the son, they seized him, cast him out of the vineyard, and
they slew him, or they killed him. For the Jews ill-treated
the prophets of God. We learned that in Matthew chapter
23, 34 through verse 39. They did not always listen. They ill-treated them. They beat
them and such like. And then, when the sun came,
they killed the prince of life, and they were destroyed. And
that's set out in that parable of the vineyard. However, in
our Hebrew passage, the emphasis is on the contrast between the
manner of the two revelations, as well as the degree. And they
had to acknowledge that the revelation had been by parts and by degrees
over history, and that it had never been shut off until the
time of Messiah, and when Messiah came into the world. though it
stood in the sacred scripture. When God resumed speaking unto
them, having not spoken, you know, from Malachi in the close
of the Old Testament, when revelation commenced again according to
the promise of God that it would, when John came to prepare the
way of the Lord, as a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye
the way of the Lord. Then God spake again in the most
magnificent fashion of ever, and that was by his son. Now consider a point, if you
might. What incentive to hear him and
what authority does he have that he might speak unto them unless,
number one, he came in the authority and the name of God the Father.
If he did not come in name and authority of the Father, who's
to hear him? And number two, unless he came
in harmony with the Old Testament scripture, unless prophecy is
met and fulfilled in this person of the Lord. For they were such
as testified of him. John 539, the scriptures testify
of me. He is the prophet that Moses
spoke about in Acts chapter 3, 22 and 23. He is the virgin born
one of Isaiah 7 and verse 14, and the suffering servant that
Isaiah portrayed in Isaiah chapter 53. He is the one that when he
came into the world, would tell them all things pertaining unto
the Father." John 4 and verse 25. He's the one anointed of
the Lord to preach that Isaiah spoke of. Chapter 61, verse 1
and 2, and fulfilled in Luke chapter 4, And verse 16 through
21, as the Lord read from the scripture and said, this day
is it fulfilled in your very ear. And by the way, this revelation
made in Christ is the fullest ever made. It is the fullest
revelation God ever has made. It is the fullest revelation
that will ever be made in the world. And it will never be superseded. It will never be abolished, this
revelation that is made in Christ. And it will never be modified. It stands as it is revealed. It is etched in stone, as we
sometimes say. And they are liars who come with
a claim of an improved revelation from God in addition to that
which we have in Christ and in the scripture. There will never
be another gospel, at least not another gospel, that is true
and declares the way of salvation. Then we should remember at the
time of the writing of this Hebrew epistle, there were those Jews
who were halting between two opinions. That is, between Judaism
and Christianity. Their temple was still standing
at that particular point in history. Their priests were still going
back and forth and in and out at the temple and offering their
sacrifices, which could never take away sin. They were offering
their daily sacrifices, and the Sabbath day was still being kept
and observed in the synagogues and so forth. But all of this
would soon come to an end and would give way to gospel worship
and the revelation made in Christ, by which there would be a better
and a more perfect and a more spiritual system of worship for
the people of God. Owing to one thing, or should
I say one person, and that is the dignity and the eminence,
yea, the deity of the one by whom God has spoken. That is the one by whom the revelation
is made. is none other than God's own
Son. And note in the second verse
of our text, if you will, it says there, whom or by whom God
has spoken. Notice in the third verse, in
reference to that one, who being, and in the last half of verse
three, He himself, referring to that one that God has seen. Now, where can we find a passage
that more exalts the Lord than these verses that we have settled
on this morning? And it is certain that the reason
here for this great and high exaltation of the sun is in order
to establish the superiority and the excellence of the new
covenant over the old. Consider the weight of the apostle's
word in telling the Jew that the only way that the only way
to be saved is by that crucified son of God who died at the cross,
and God has spoken unto us by him. It means, as John Brown
again wrote, quote, God had spoken by one equal partaker of his
own infinite nature." That's what the author is saying. God
has spoken. He has spoken in his Son, and
that Son is equal partaker of the divine nature. Then as we
read the following statements, declare the dignity of the one
by whom God has been pleased to speak unto them. Not just
a prophet, not a gifted or a wise teacher common and ordinary among
men. No, he did not send a social
worker, did not send a community organizer to speak unto the people,
but he sent one absolutely equal with God in every way. He was God manifest in the flesh. This one that God sent and has
spoken by was actually God manifest in the flesh. He that has seen
him has seen the Father. He that has heard him has heard
the words of the Father. John 14 and verse 9. For he and the Father are one. John chapter 10 and verse 31. "'I and my father are one,' was
the claim of our Lord. And the Jews had a hissy fit
and considered that blasphemy when they heard those words of
the Lord." Now, concerning the Christ Jesus and the Jew, there
are two shocks for them as a result of their errors about Messiah,
about the Great One, the servant of God. Number one, the one that
they killed was Messiah and was raised again from the dead and
is exalted into heaven at the right hand of God. You see Peter
declaring that in the second chapter of the book of Acts.
Secondly, the Messiah was and is very God and a partaker of
the divine nature. He's a member of the Godhead. He is a sharer equally with the
Father and the Spirit in the divine essence. Now, the sonship
of Christ transcends that sonship of either the angels or the saints
of God, who are sometimes called the sons of God. for the sonship
of Christ is sameness of nature and sameness of being, as well
as having the full measure of the divine attributes and perfection. He has all of them residing in
him that resides in the Father. And they are not restricted to
the humanity of the Lord, but having the full measure of divinity. He is very God, having come down
from the Father. Now the author wants us to consider
some of the honors and the dignity and the excellency and the perfection
that are inherent in this son by whom God has spoken for he
surely is imminently qualified to be the spokesman of the Most
High God. Two such things are mentioned
in the end of the second verse as we move along. A. Whom He,
that is, God, has appointed Him heir of all things. He has spoken unto us in His
Son. whom he hath made or appointed
heir of all things. I think we have to say, with
the good old author John Gill and others, that this respects
the appointment of him as mediator of the covenant between God and
men. The new and the better covenant
has him as its mediator, as the incarnate son. This mediator
between God and man is also the great high priest of that covenant. He has not been made heir because
of the death of any, as we usually in human affairs receive the
inheritance upon the death of the one that is bequeathing. but he is made heir by divine
appointment, for as God had a natural dominion as mediator, therefore
the son administers the covenant and the father Having put all
things in his hand and given all judgment over Into his hand
you'll read that John 5 22 through 30 as our Lord claimed all judgment
in his power you read again in Ephesians 1 and verse 22 he has
put all things under his feet and has given him to be head
over all things and under the church these things speak of
the dominion and of the lordship and of the sovereignty of christ
and it is extensive of all things as we read in that but then be
look again in the end of the verse by whom also he made the
worlds. Not only is he appointed heir
of all things, but he is the one by whom he made the world. And in these few words, the apostle
elevates even more the person by whom God has spoken, adding
force to his argument. For the excellency of the revelation
made in Christ by ascribing unto him actual creation, by whom
he made the worlds. Now those enemies, those deniers,
those perverters of the deity of Christ would twist these words
so that they have it saying that Christ is not directly himself
the creator, but only as an instrument or a recipient of creation. Others claim it refers not to
the old literal creation, but that it refers to the new creation,
that is, the conversion and quickening and making new creature, the
spiritual life that comes in and by Christ. But the scriptures
actually abound with testimony that confirms that Christ is
indeed a counted mediator, or rather, creator, I meant to say. In John chapter 1 and verse 3,
all things were made by him. Without him was not anything
made that was made. You have that great passage from
Paul in Colossians. The first chapter, verse 15 through
17, by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones, our principality,
our powers, All things were created by him and for him and he is
before all things and by him all things consist. Could anything
be clearer that Christ is presented as both the creator and the sustainer
of creation. For example, Look at that word
that Paul uses in Colossians chapter 1 in that passage. By him all things consist, as
it is in the King James. It would be cohere, or they hold
together, or they endure. By him he created all things,
and by him they have their continued existence and they endure for
he is both the creator and the sustainer of all creation. 1st Corinthians chapter 8 and
verse 6 speaks of one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things
and we by him. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. For it became him, meaning Jesus,
for whom all things and by all things. Conclusion is, as only
God can forgive sin, so only God can create, create out of
nothing, create by the power of the spoken word, and that
Christ is creator establishes beyond doubt or denial his divinity. If Christ can create and Christ
can forgive sin, then it establishes and gives credibility to his
divinity or deity. But the exaltation of the sun
in our passage rises even higher when we come to the third verse. So let's take the verse in portions,
if we might, who being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person. Now the who, at the beginning
of verse three, Is a direct reference back to the Sun or to Christ
the one by whom God spoke and by whom he made the world who
who is who being he who is he existing as all of those things
describing him now being here denotes a a constant existence
of what the apostle is about to describe. That this one by
whom God spoke is the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person. If I might just take the time
to say this is a unique and it is also a deeply mysterious description
of our blessed Lord and Savior, unlike perhaps any other that
we find of Him in the Scripture. So let's look at it, if we can,
if the Lord will give us understanding. First of all, notice the word,
the brightness of His glory. We see the word brightness. This
is the only place, I think, where this one word is used in the
New Testament. It's from a combination of two
words, they say, meaning from and brightness. Literally, a
luster, a brightness, an effulgence, if we might use that word, an
offlash. Think of an offlash, a radiance. He is the exact radiance. or all flesh of the Father. Now again, the express image
of His person, not only the brightness of His glory, but the express
image of His person. In looking at the interlinears,
one interlinear has it this way. The representation of the reality
of Him, that is, of the Father of God, of His nature. Now to enforce this, Think back
to that passage in Colossians 1 and verse 15, where Paul writes
of Christ calling him, and I quote, the image of the invisible God,
unquote. Colossians 1 and verse 15. The word image in Hebrews 1 and
verse 3 is like the word character, having the character or the image
the father something engraved as it were stamped as an image
like the inscription of Caesar upon a coin in Matthew 22 and
verse 20 it is a figure that is stamped a graven mark Owen
called it hypostasis. Boy, that takes us into the things
of God, meaning to have the substance, to have the nature, and to have
the essence of the Father, including the idea of to stand under, or
to cause to stand, to subsist. And then, to sum it up, it expresses
a real personal subsistence of the son with the father. Owen
wrote, it says it means, quote, both that the whole nature of
God is in him and also that by him God is declared and expressed
unto us. The fullness of God is in him,
and in and through him God is expressed or made known. We cannot
miss the point. Such is not restricted to the
divine nature of our Lord only. but is speaking of the theanthropic
personality of Him, God and man, the God-man, having the nature
of both God and men, having both a divine and a human nature. In other words, again, the God-man. For God spoke in His Son incarnate. He spoke in his son as made flesh. He spoke unto us by him incarnate. And Colossians again. You can
tell what Paul's writing against Gnosticism, for one thing, in
the book of Colossians, by the way that he expresses the character
and the person of Christ. And in Colossians 2 and verse
9, in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Hang on to every word. In him
that in Christ dwells is permanently at home. All the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. bodily, that is incarnate in
the flesh. Colossians 1 and verse 19, for
it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Yes, the plenitude as E.D. wrote, the totality of the divine
powers and attributes, unquote, having all of the properties
of God in him as a God-man, being God, being God manifest in the
flesh. For the Word was made flesh. It dwelt among us. We beheld
his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
full of truth. But let's move along. In the
third verse, the apostle attributes another work of glory unto the
Son, upholding all things by the word of his power, directing
and preserving, sustaining what he has created or brought into
existence, keeping it in being. and keeping it perfectly balanced,
and keeping it from returning into nothingness again, upholding
it by the word of his power. And then the apostle makes his
move here, saying, this son, this great one, The one in the
very image of God has not only by himself purged our sin, but
he has been exalted, he has sat down at the right hand of the
Father on high. And look at it, purged our sin,
yes? He made atonement, cleansing,
purifying our sin away. To use the Old Testament vernacular,
made propitiation to God for our sin, putting them away. Owen put it, the apostle here
points to the great depths of the gospel of salvation, but
he does not yet, Owen said, break up the fountains of the deep.
Only he adds how Christ did such, and that was, quote, by himself,
unquote. When he had by himself purged
our sin. Now that doesn't mean not alone,
not being alone, but by offering himself, by himself, He offered
himself without spot to God. 1 Peter 1 verse 19. Again, by his own blood, Hebrews
9 and 12, he entered into the holy place. By the sacrifice
of himself, Hebrews 9, 26, He put away sin, offering himself
without spot to God, Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14. And this he did once and only
once. Thus the apostle lays before
the Jewish readers and before us in this time removed, the
bedrock doctrine of Christianity and of the gospel of Christ our
Lord, the chief way in which the new covenant excels the old,
the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary. And this he did as
the great high priest, not as a private person, but as our
head and as our great high priest. And this is interesting that
in his death, he was both the priest and the sacrifice. He offered himself without spot
unto God. so that it can have nothing but
purity about it, the priest and the sacrifice. And finally, having
purged our sin, he ascended into heaven, he went to the right
hand of the father, and he sat down on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty on high. Jesus himself predicted this,
He predicted this would happen in all three synoptic Gospels. Here they are, Matthew 26, 64,
Mark 14 and 62, and Luke 22 and 69, that he would die, that he
would raise again, that he would ascend again to the right hand
of the Father. And Psalm 16 also declares it,
verse 8 through verse 11. He is in the place of glory,
of honor, and of sovereignty. He is ascended into heaven itself,
honored for his great humiliation, and for the work and the sacrifice.
There he is given a name that is above every name. He's given
sovereignty over all things. At the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow in things in heaven and things on earth. And those
words on the right hand of the majesty on high. The majesty. The majestic God. That God too great to look upon
without being put to death. That God who is supreme, who
is eternal, who exists, who made the world, who formed the purpose,
who sent his son, who devised salvation, who ordained eternal
life. The majesty on high. Now. The dignity of this one
is established. Therefore, it's a better revelation.
It's a fuller revelation. It's an enduring revelation because
God sent not prophets and teachers, but this time, he sent his only
and beloved and only begotten son and made the revelation that
we call the gospel revelation, the worship of God in and through
Christ Jesus. Yes. He has spoken unto us in
His Son. Thank God for that wonderful
revelation.