Hebrews chapter 1 says, God who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto
the fathers by the prophets. Of course, we don't use that
term divers, but it just means that's the word we get, our word
diverse. So God, who at various times,
sundry times, different times, and in different or diverse manners,
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the world, 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, he 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. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And again I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. And again when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest,
and they all shall wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture
shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou
art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the
angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make
thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs
of salvation? Now, the Lord is setting forth
here in the book of Hebrews, and of course it is specifically
addressed to the Jews, pointing out the fact that God had in
various matters spoken to them in times past. He spoke to Abraham
when He called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. He spoke to
them through Moses when He gave them the Law. He spoke to them
through David when He gave the Psalms. He spoke to them in many
ways down through the years through the prophets. And He had ministered
to them Paul says over in the book of Romans, he said, What
advantage then hath the Jew? And he said, Much in every way. For God hath committed unto them
the oracles of God. That is, the prophets of God
were sent to the nation of Israel. so that they are of all people
on the earth insofar as a fleshly blessing is concerned, it has
been given to them throughout their history because the Lord
did not send the Word of God through the prophets
to the Hottentots. or the Mau Mau's or to any other
tribe on the earth, but He gave it to the Jews. And this was
a great blessing. It shows the purpose of God in
sending His words to a specific people. And of course we know
that, as the Jews don't understand, but we see more clearly than
they because we have a greater revelation than they had, because
that is what he says here, that we see that those who are the
elect of God, which have always been the elect of God, were not
those who necessarily came forth out of Jacob's loins and called
the house of Israel after the flesh, but rather those who were
chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world.
But in order to set forth to these Hebrews that it is not
a change that is taking place, but he is pointing out that there
is a more clear and more plain setting forth of the truth of
God that this is the same truth that the same God who set forth
the truth in the beginning by giving it in various manners,
in diverse manners by the prophets in times past. He said that is
times past. That is over and done with. That
used to be the way it was. And the Jews could say, well,
the Lord gave us the prophets, and the fact is that He did. But He sent the same God. Not a different one. And God
didn't change His mind. He said, but God did this in
order to show this. And He says, God who at sundry
times, various times, and in different ways spoke in times
past unto the fathers by the prophets. Now here's the problem
that the Jews have, is that they can't get over living in the
past. And they go about to establish
their righteousness because they say, well, this is an ancient
religion. I mean, look, before Christianity ever came along,
we were here. We were established. Now, you
could understand if you were raised in Judaism that you would
have that mindset by nature, would you not? I would. I mean,
don't we consider something as old as being Well, that's better
than something new. You know, well, that's been around
for a long time. So it's just natural that the
Jews would think that, well, hey, our religion's older than
yours. Well, you've come along, Johnny, come lately, but you
see, the Scripture says God did this in times past, but He said
now. You see, now there has been a
clearer revelation sent forth. God, who at sundry times in divers
manners spake in time past unto the fathers, unto the Jews by
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. Now who is He talking to? He
is talking to the Jews. So if a Jew comes along and says,
well, God spoke to us by Isaiah, that's fact. He did speak to
us by Isaiah in time past. But the Father has spoken to
His people, whether they be Jew, Gentile, or whatever, in the
present time through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
that the message does not come through the prophets. Now can
we benefit from what we read in the prophets? Of course we
can because of this reason. The prophets prophesied. And
what did they prophesy of? That's right. They prophesied
of Christ who would come. And so what the writer of Hebrews
here is saying is that all of those prophets spoke to us of
this coming One, this One who would come. And He has come. And so God who spoke to us in
times past by the prophets have now spoken to us by the Son.
We're not waiting on prophets. Now you can go on TV and radio
and whatnot and you'll hear some guy saying this is prophet so
and so. Well, he's telling a lie. Now
I'm not saying there are not people who prophesy in the present
time, but there is one prophet to whom we are desirous of hearing,
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord didn't speak to
us through divers prophets in the present time. He's spoken
to us through one. And any man coming claiming to
be a prophet now that does not speak concerning Christ and Christ
alone is not prophesying. He's doing something else. The
Lord didn't call out a bunch of fortune tellers, but He called
out men to declare this one who declares himself, whom he says,
we have received, hath in these last days he hath spoken unto
us by his Son, whom he hath appointed the heir of all things. Now the Jews will tell you, and
they will fight to the death, I'm talking about Jews in the
flesh, that they are the heirs of a piece of land over in the
Mideast over there. They say, this is our inheritance.
Well, after the flesh, I wouldn't argue with them a bit in the
world because the Lord promised that unto Abraham and whether
those people that are over there nowadays claiming to be the Jews
are indeed the Jews, I don't know, but I do know this. That is not the inheritance of
the people of God. And all of this world is going
to be burned up, so it does not make any difference what kind
of an inheritance there is. But the heir of all things is
the one that I am interested in being connected with. And that is what he is saying
here. He is the heir of all things. You know, you can kill somebody
over being the heir of a piece of property in this world, and
what benefit is it to you? But the one who is the heir of
all things, you see, he is the inheritor of that which belongs
to his father. He is the only rightful heir.
Now those that would overturn the gospel, what they want to
do is they want to become, they want to get his inheritance.
But He is the inheritor of all things, and He is that One by
whom, the Scripture says, He made the worlds. Now, we don't
believe in three gods. We believe there is one God,
and we believe According to the revelation that we have of what
the Scripture says, that the only way that any man can ever
know who God is, is by knowing who Jesus Christ is. You cannot
know God apart from knowing Jesus Christ, because He is God. Now, there have been many words
written about what's called the Trinity. You won't find that
term in the Scripture. You will find mentioned the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And indeed, there is the revelation
of God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But there is one God,
and there is one method, means, and person through which that
God has ever revealed Himself. And it is in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He in these last days has made
that more manifest than ever before. And it is by Him that
He made the world, that it is through Jesus Christ. He is that
One. You see, no man has seen God
at any time. That's what Scripture says. It says He dwells in the light
to which no man can approach. How can a man know Him? How can
a man approach to Him? See, people just think, well,
I get in trouble, I'll call on God. Well, how can you? Because
He's inapproachable. A man just out here in the world,
he can't just call on God anytime he gets ready to. Why? How can
he? He can't approach to Him. There's
one way that a man can approach unto God, and that is through
the revelation that he's given of himself in Jesus Christ. He is. the one whom God has spoken
through. And so if we would know God,
we must know the Son. That's what he said to Philip. He said, Philip, have I been
so long with you and you've not known me? He that hath seen me...
Now think about this. Think about how clear this is.
He that hath seen me has seen the Father. He said, I and the Father are
one. He said, Philip, the Father is not sitting over there somewhere
while I am here and you can see me and then you can go over there
and see the Father. He said, if you have seen me, you have
seen the Father. Isn't that what the prophet told the Jews? His name would be called the
Everlasting Father. He is God. Now, that's just as
plain as a nose on your face. There's no way around that, dear
brethren. Jesus Christ does not occupy
some lesser place. Some have tried to make a hierarchy
in the Godhead to say, well, here you've got the Father, and
then you've got the Son, and then you've got the Spirit. No.
No, He's the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He has revealed
Himself to men as a man so that men might see who He is in the
Son. He said it is necessary for me
to go away that I might send my Spirit. Now is the Spirit
some different one than the Lord Jesus Christ?
Is it not the Spirit of Christ? So when he went away, he went
away in the flesh, but he has not gone away in the sense that
he has abandoned us, by whom he also made the world,
who being the brightness of his glory. How can a man see the
glory of God? No man, he told Moses, no man
can see me and live. You can't see it, but what did
He do? He says, I'm going to make my
goodness pass before you. You see, the Lord has revealed
His goodness in Jesus Christ. And He has manifested His mercy
to us in Jesus Christ. That's who we see when Jesus
Christ walked upon the earth. What didn't we see? We saw Him
performing good deeds, doing good things, helping men, healing
the sick, giving sight to the blind. Why? Because God would reveal His
glory in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as a perfect man,
as that One who walked among men, as that One who being the
brightness of His glory and the expressed image of His person, The express image of whose person?
The express image of the person of God. That's exactly what he
says here. Who being the brightness of His
glory, the express image of His person. What is an image? It's the essence of what it is. You see, your image, you have
an image, John. And we're looking at your image.
Now, because I don't see your image doesn't mean you don't
exist, because you may be in Brantford. I can't see your image,
but you're still who you are. But you see, I can see His image
because He's there. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world, He is the express image of the Father. You're never going to see the
Father apart from seeing Christ. And when you see Christ, you've
seen the Father, because He is the express image of His person and upholding all
things by the Word of His power. You see, Jesus Christ didn't
come into the world with a lesser power, but He came with the power
of God. Why? Because He is God. And He
came into the world upholding all things by the Word of His
power, upholding all things, the world. Did He not demonstrate
that when He came walking upon the sea? I mean, when He raised Lazarus
from the dead, When He did all of the miracles that He performed,
did He not demonstrate that He was the upholder of all things
by the Word of His power? I mean, was there anything that
He said that did not come to pass? Was there anything that
He sought to do that He failed at? Everything that He set out
to do, He did. And then look at what He says.
He said, Now this One who is God, when he had by himself,
not with anyone's assistance, but when he had by himself. That is, he did not need any
other offering to purge the sin of his people but himself. And
when he had by himself purged our sin. Now keep in mind again
who he's writing to. Writing to the Jews. Now the
Jews thought our sins are purged by all these offerings. He says
here, He has purged our sins. I mean, that's really the message
of the book of Hebrews if you read through it, is to show that
Jesus Christ is that great high priest who has entered in once
into the holy place and He has obtained eternal redemption. He got it. He didn't make an
attempt at it. He didn't do the best He could.
He didn't lay out the groundwork and wait for men to come along
and do something that would make it useful or work. But rather, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, He did it. He purged it. He took it away. Now if something is taken away,
it can't be there, can it? I mean, if you chop your finger
off, and expect your finger to be
there, do you? If Christ purged our sin, you
don't expect that the sin would be there, would you? How could
it be if He purged it? And so He purged our sin and
He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. So He
did not cease to be God at any point in time because He could
not cease to be what He was, what He is. But He came into
the world as that perfect Redeemer. And when He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on
high. Now, does the throne have three seats? No, the throne of heaven has
one seat. And when the Scripture speaks
of him sitting at the right hand, it's not that he's in a secondary
position, it's so that he is the place of power. You see,
the right hand is the place of power. He is the right hand man. He is that one who came to do
the work. of Almighty God. And when he
had finished that work, he sat down. Why? Because there wasn't
anything left to do. It's the same thing that we get
in the picture in the study that Brother Al's doing. That God
rested from His work. He saw it. He said, It's good,
just like I wanted it to be. And he sat down and that was
it. He didn't rest because he was tired. Jesus Christ didn't
sit down on the throne because he was tired. and said, man,
I'm glad that's over with. No. He purposed to do it and
he accomplished it. And when he had accomplished
it, there wasn't anything left to do. And so he sat down because
the work was done. And he sat down right at the
same place where he was when he came. Now you see the amazing
thing is that he did come, is it not? Think about that. Insofar as men are concerned,
the Lord was under no obligation to do any of this, but He ordered
all of these things to occur because it pleased Him. And He
would manifest the glory of His grace and demonstrate His goodness. See, the world exists that God
might demonstrate His goodness because He would demonstrate
His glory. And he said to Moses, he said,
Moses, you can't see my face, but he said, what I'm going to
do is, he says, I'm going to proclaim my goodness before you. He says, I'm going to declare
it and I'm going to manifest it to you. And so it is that
in Jesus Christ we see that. And then it says something here
that's interesting. It says, so much better than
the angel. Now, some have taken that. In
fact, I think the Jehovah's Witnesses do take this particular phrase
and they say, see there? Jesus Christ was made. Now, it
doesn't say here He was created. But it's pointing out the fact
that by reason of the evidence that's set before us as to who
Jesus Christ was, He was made greater than the angels. We see
Him in this fashion that He is made greater than the angels. Not that He was created in some
fashion and then He became greater than the angels. No, He is greater
than the angels. And He's shown that to us. See,
the only place that the Lord Jesus Christ has made the Saviors
in our minds is not He is the Savior. Now He has made the Savior
in our mind because we see Him as that. And so in this understanding
we see He's made better than the angels, not that He's created,
but that He is better than the angels. He's made better than
the angels. as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they." Now the Scripture has some to
say about angels. Some people get all hung up and
caught up about angels, but it is important that we understand
that the angels do occupy a place of great importance in the overall
realm of the kingdom of God. They are high creatures. They are creatures that have
greater spiritual power than we have in the sense of that
they were created before we were. And they are those who are in
the presence of God. They are those whom the various
prophets have seen. They are surrounding the throne
of God. Now, we don't know a whole lot
about the angels, but we do know according to the testimony of
Stephen, and I won't go there and read it, but if you'll read
what Stephen said concerning the giving of the law, and we
have the reference to it here in the book of Hebrews and also,
I think, in the book of James, but it speaks about the fact
that the law was ordained by angels. That is, the Lord brought
it to Moses through The angels, especially when you read Stephen's
testimony before he was stoned, that this was the means whereby
the Lord used them. Now the Lord has used angels
down through the ages. He continues to use angels. The
angels were sent as ministering spirits to the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he was in the garden, the angels ministered to him because
he was in a state of great weakness. Brethren, when I read that, I
cannot comprehend it. I don't know. I don't understand
it. I can't see it. But yet I know and I understand
that it's telling us that of the fact that Jesus Christ was
in all points tempted like as we are, He was brought into the
same place as we are. He has experienced firsthand
that which we have experienced. But He's made much better than
the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. Now, as great as the angels are,
as great as they are, He hath obtained a more excellent name
than they. Now, they have a great name, and they have great power. You
remember when When Gehazi was fearing about that Ben-Hadad's
armies were going to come out there and destroy him, and he
was all fearful, and Elijah, he was just twiddling his thumbs. He wasn't worried at all. And
he said, Lord, show Gehazi, show thy servant what I see. And Gehazi's eyes were open and
he said, the hills all around him, was covered with the angels
with flaming swords. You see, we don't see the realm
in which the angels operate. We can't see it. But the Lord
uses them, and they have a great place. But what he's saying here
is there's no comparison between the Lord Jesus Christ and angels.
Now some of the Jews, they kind of thought that Christ was somewhat
of a, maybe an angelic. There have been theories set
forth that He was an angel sent from God. Some of these people
that write these flying saucer books and stuff like that, that's
kind of like they, that's their view kind of like that the Lord
Jesus Christ was like this great angel that came down there. The
Lord Jesus Christ is not an angel. He made the angels. He has obtained
a more excellent name than they. He is that One who is the inheritor
of all things, and He is that One who occupies the throne of
glory. He is the One before whom the
angels bow down and the angels get their orders. For unto which of the angels
said He at any time, Thou art my Son this day? Have I begotten
thee? Did he pick out one of the angels?
No. You see, he is the only begotten
Son of God. He is the inheritor. He didn't
have to come along later to get it. He did not ordain an angel,
but he said, Thou art my Son. And he said, I will be to him
a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he
bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he said, and
let all the angels of God worship him. And remember, isn't that
a true thing? Because the angels were the ones
that brought the message to the shepherds, were they not? And
suddenly, the heavens were filled with a multitude of the heavenly
host. And they said, this day, this
day, unto you a Saviour, peace and good tidings unto the earth. You see, the glory of God, the
goodness of God is revealed to you this day. Go and see this
One who is born this day. Oh no, the angels heralded His
birth, but He hath obtained a more excellent name than they. And
when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, He brought
Him into the world. He came into the world, the first
begotten. He said, Let all the angels of
God worship Him. Now brethren, if the angels of
God, which there are no higher creatures
than, If the angels of God are commanded
to worship Him, how much more so those of us who are of the
dust of the earth, who have no standing? You see, the angels
have a standing, do they not? They have a standing as those
created powerful beings that surround the throne of God, that
move at the very command of God. And we are those who have disobeyed
God and disregarded His way, who have willingly sinned and
ignorantly sinned and gone contrary to His way. If He says to the
angels who have a place of standing and power, worship Him, how much
more so would it be that the dust of the earth should raise
up its voices in praise to Him who is worthy of all praise,
the Savior of sinners, the one who has demonstrated his goodness
unto men in coming into the world for the express purpose of purging
our sin. That's a glorious thing. I mean,
where is the place that a man would find a greater foundation
upon which to base worship than that? That he is that one who
is worthy. having obtained a more excellent
name. May the Lord give us grace to worship Him in spirit and
truth, because that's the only way that He can be worshipped.