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Hebrews 1:1-3, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
In a recent journal article entitled “Veiled in Flesh the Godhead See” Mike Riccardi from Master’s Seminary wrote the following: Among all the works Almighty God has accomplished, the incarnation has a special luster of magnificence. The juxtaposition of the majesty of the infinite God with the humility of finite man, united in one magnificent Person, renders the glory of the incarnation more especially brilliant than all other of God’s glorious works. Therefore, God’s people must devote their minds to the study of this wonder. We must peer into this mystery with the hope of enflaming our hearts with the worship that God rightly deserves.
That’s exactly what we want to do this morning as we talk about a high view of Christ – peer into this mystery. It took the early church several centuries to figure out exactly how the man Christ Jesus could also be God. The Arians said he was a great man, but not God. Others said he was God, but not fully man. Gnostics said He just appeared to be there, like a phantom. Still others said He was a mixture of God and man, two natures scrambled into one nature. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 finally settled the confusion by formulating the doctrine of the hypostatic union—that the incarnate Christ is one person with two natures, human and divine, “without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” In other words, Jesus Christ through His incarnation was truly God and truly man. Riccardi added, “We ought to bow in wonder before the wisdom of the divine mind that conceives such a peculiarly glorious miracle as the incarnation.”
Of course, that didn’t end the heresies about Christ. To this very day Jehovah’s Witnesses claim He was the first created being. Modalists like T. D. Jakes say He is the same person as the Father and the Spirit, just appearing in different modes. Many say He was simply a good man, or He never really existed, or as Islam claims, He was a prophet like Mohammed, or with the Mormons, Jesus is not eternal God but was procreated as the first spirit-child of the Father with many more spirit-children to follow.
This is what God says. The Bible is clear that Jesus Christ is the second person of the triune God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, and that through the miracle of the virgin conception He became a man. He remained deity, but took on human flesh. God joined the human race. That’s the greatest miracle and mystery of all time!
There is no greater or higher description of the supremacy of our Lord Jesus Christ than Hebrews 1:1-3. The author makes three major comments about God speaking as he begins.
Hebrews 1:1, 2a, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…
First, God has spoken. He has revealed His mind to us. Second, God spoke in various ways in the Old Testament. Sometimes directly: “Where are you, Adam?” To Noah, “Build an ark.” To Moses, “Take your shoes off.” He spoke through dreams, in visions, carving letters in stone on Mt. Sinai, even through a donkey. But He especially spoke through the prophets, all in harmony with one another, all pointing forward to something coming, Someone coming. All 39 books of the Old Testament are without error, but they aren’t complete. God has a final message, a final word. That Word is His own Son. Jesus Christ is God’s message to us for these last days, and we are living in these last days. Do you want to hear from God? Then you must hear His Son, Jesus Christ. He came to reveal the Father (John 1:18). He came as God’s final, complete, supreme, heart satisfying message for sinners. Above all other voices and messages in this world, you need to hear Him!
And now God gives us the most sublime description of His Son. There is nothing in all Scripture more amazing and awesome than these seven descriptions of Jesus Christ.
#1 Jesus Christ is God’s predestined heir of all things.
Vs. 2a, Whom He appointed heir of all things.
I’m sure you know that life is not all about you or Joe Biden or even Donald Trump. Life is all about Jesus Christ. In eternity past, before the sun blazed with light and the oceans teemed with fish, before birds dazzled us with those fantastic murmurations, God had an eternal love relationship with His Son and Almighty God had it on His heart from the endless ages of eternity past to honor and exalt His Son. He planned and designed all things for the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. John 3:35 “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.”
Yes, it would be through the incarnation, when His Son would come into this world of sin and shame and endure the mockery and spit and pain and the cross, where He would suffer the wrath of God’s offended glory for sinners like us. God had planned, determined, predestined in His eternal council, that His Son would be the heir of the entire universe. Know that the universe isn’t just spinning on and on mindlessly, without purpose. Christ is the heir of the universe, is sovereign over it, and will be glorified by it.
God’s only begotten Son, through His submitting to the Father as the Lamb slain for sinners, would inherit the universe as the God-Man, but not without first suffering. Think about Him. He who is heir of the universe hung naked on a Roman cross. He who shall be crowned Lord and King of all was crowned with thorns. His hands, destined to hold the scepter of universal sovereignty, were nailed to a crosspiece of wood. His feet, appointed to tread over all His enemies, were fastened to the upright section of that cross. He before whom every knee shall bow, knelt to wash the feet of miserable sinners. He who has the power to shake the heavens and the earth allowed soldiers to spit on Him, punch Him, slap Him, beat Him with a stick, and ridicule Him, and finally crucify Him. First the cross, then the crown.
In Revelation 5 the cry went out, “Who is worthy to open the book and break its seals?” It was the title deed to the earth. John was weeping because no one was found to open the book until one of the elders said, “Stop weeping!” There in the midst of this heavenly vision was the Lamb standing, as if slain. He is the worthy one. He is the rightful heir. Not the devil, but the Lamb of God. Everybody burst out in praise, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain and purchased for God with your blood people from every tribe and tongue.” God predestined for His Son to inherit all things – which includes, everything, including Neptune, Jupiter, and Mars. By the way, every believer in Him is a joint-heir of all things with Him (Romans 8:17).
#2 Jesus Christ is God’s means of bringing all time, space, and matter into existence.
Vs. 2b, Through whom also He made the world.
The word “world” here is the plural, “aionas” or ages, the same as Hebrews 11:3, “The ages were framed by the word of God.” This is talking about the entire universe of time and space and matter. Christ is God’s great architectural engineer and administrator of the entire universe, nothing is happening by chance. Nothing. All the world’s ages have meaning and purpose. Christ’s fingerprints are all over everything, both the physical universe to the very edge of existence and the unfolding ages of human history which will merge into the millennium and then the coming eternal ages.
John 1 verses 1-3 harmonize perfectly, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
You have the same thing in Colossians 1:16-17, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” By Him, through Him, for Him, in Him.
He is the answer to those four questions evolution can’t answer.
- How do you get something from nothing? You don’t. Christ spoke the universe into existence out of nothing.
- How do you get life from non-life? You don’t. Christ made all living things.
- How do you get higher forms from lower forms? You don’t. Christ made everything according to its kind.
- How do you get man from animal? You don’t. Christ created man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
This is the supremacy of Jesus Christ!
#3 Jesus Christ is the outshining radiance of God’s glory.
Vs. 3a, He is the radiance of His glory.
Two months before he went to be with Jesus, R. C. Sproul preached on these verses and when he came to this portion he drew back, saying, “I hesitate to comment on this, it is so blessed, so provocative. It is one of the most holy texts about Christ.” The word radiance means “outshining,” “radiating.” The shekinah in the Old Testament gave us hints of God’s brilliant glory. Moses’ face shone when he saw God’s glory, but it was reflected glory. But now the glory of God radiates from Christ. It didn’t reflect off Him, like the moon reflects the glory of the sun. On the mount of Transfiguration this inner glory of deity radiated from Him. His face and clothes became brilliantly white. Matthew says His face shone like the sun! This is the deity of Christ emanating from His being. John says, “We saw His glory.” They saw Christ’s divine nature change water to wine, quiet roaring waves, feed and heal multitudes. Christ is the God-man, fully God and fully man. All that God is Christ is. When Christ came as a man, His deity was veiled in flesh. But at times it radiated from Him. We’ll see Him come in blazing glory when He returns to take direct control of this planet at His second coming. Luke 21:27, “He’s coming with power and great glory.”
In an amazing way, when the gospel comes into your heart in regeneration, the glory of Christ comes into your life.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6, And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
I can’t possibly say everything about the glory and greatness of Jesus Christ. This is like trying to pour the ocean into a thimble. He is so glorious and supreme, who can fathom Him? Our business is to submit to Him, worship Him, and love Him.
#4 Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God’s essence.
Vs.3b, [He is] the exact representation of His nature.
Christ is equal in every way to the essence of God’s nature. He is eternally co-existent, of the same essence, having the same attributes, as the Father. Is the Father omnipotent? So is Christ. Is He omnipresent? So is Christ. Is He omniscient? So is Christ. Is He righteous and just and wise, loving and merciful and good? So is Christ. When Philip asked Jesus to show us the Father, what did He say? “You see Me, you see the Father!” There isn’t a tad of difference between the Father and the Son. He is very God of very God. The word “exact representation” is our word character. In the old days when typewriters were still clacking away in offices, forensic experts would study a typewritten letter connected with a crime and then try to find the typewriter with the keys that made the imprint. Each key had unique features. So if you are going to find an exact match for Jesus Christ, you won’t find it in mere man, or even in an angel, or any created being. There is only one perfect match for Christ, only one perfect correspondence, and that is God Himself.
Christ is of the very same essence as the Father. All God is Jesus is. Jesus is the eternal “I am”, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, immutable, sovereign, perfectly holy, the Judge of all flesh. This why He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.” You can’t get to God through the Christian Science Jesus, the Jehovah’s Witness Jesus, the Mormon’s Jesus, the Islamic Jesus, or the Unitarian Universalist Jesus, because all of these deny the deity of Jesus Christ.
#5 Jesus Christ sustains and directs all of life.
Vs. 3c, And upholds all things by the word of His power.
Upholds is a present tense participle. Right now, at 11:15 July 24, 2022, Jesus Christ is upholding or carrying the whole universe including you from the last moment into this next moment. Fate doesn’t rule; Christ rules and literally is carrying or providentially guiding this universe and everything in it to its divinely ordained destiny. That means you don’t have to spend one moment worrying about climate change. When Christ wants the climate to change, it will. Don’t worry about the oceans rising or another ice age descending. Colossians 1:17 says He is holding it all together. A news item this week warned us if Neptune was nudged 0.1% out of its orbit, it would destabilize the entire solar system. There’s a 1% chance Mercury might crash into Venus within 5 billion years. I spent 5 billionth of a nanosecond worrying about that.
The laws of nature are not autonomous. They are Christ’s laws. Because He upholds or sustains and directs and controls every single molecule, we can relax. We have no reason for anxiety. He keeps the oxygen levels constant, brings or withholds rain, uses the atmosphere to protect us from meteors, makes sure the sun doesn’t get too close, on and on and on. Christ is right now, right here, carrying your life forward. “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” He is “upholding you” by His powerful word. No wonder Paul keeps exhorting us, “In everything give thanks.”
#6 Jesus Christ is the one final sacrifice for sins for all time
Vs. 3d, When He had made purification for sins.
Why did Christ come into this world? He didn’t come to try to reform a world of depraved sinners. He didn’t come just to give the world a good example to live by. He didn’t come to try to help people cope or provide a list of rules for living. He came for one reason.
1 Timothy 1:15, It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
Mark 10:45, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
It doesn’t say He will make purification for sin. It says He made purification for sin. It’s a done thing. He cried, “It is finished” from the cross. This is the theme of Hebrews. Hebrews 9:26b, “Now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
He came as the final sacrifice, the true Passover, the true scapegoat, the true mercy seat, our great High Priest, laying down of His life for sinners, to purge them from their sins, and to cleanse them of their guilt. Through His death on the cross He removed our guilt and satisfied God’s holy justice, His wrath against our sins. He fulfilled all the Old Testament pictures and symbols of purification through the blood of animals by shedding His own blood on that cross for sinners. He came to save sinners and He will save all the sinners He came to save. John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly, absolutely not cast out.”
#7 Jesus Christ is now exalted to the position of highest honor.
Vs. 3e, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
After He accomplished His mission in this world – after He once for all made purification for all the sins of all the people who would believe in Him – after He cried out “It is finished” from the cross and arose from the grave, He returned home as the victorious God-Man, having defeated sin, death, and Satan, and He took His seat at the Father’s right hand.
Hebrews 10:12, but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,
But listen to this promise to every believer.
Revelation 3:21, He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
On His throne! At the right hand of the Majesty on high! And that’s exactly where Jesus Christ is today, much to the dismay of Satan and His demons. Jesus Christ sits there as our Prophet, God’s final Word, our great Priest, interceding for us, and our great King, sustaining and ruling until He returns for His church at the rapture and then to come to earth to set up His earthly kingdom. And we will have the privilege of ruling with Him. This is the absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ our Lord, Savior, and God.
SO WHAT?
Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith!” When you find yourself anxious about this world, or what people think of you, or how you’ve been mistreated, or why things have gone so wrong for you…I’ve got a word of counsel. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Focus on Him. Look full in His wonderful face. Think about these seven glories of Christ who is your supreme Savior. Trust Him, look to Him, set your affections on Him. Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
And if you’ve never had your sins removed and your guilt is not dissolved, there is plenty of cleansing power in the blood of Christ and His work on the cross. Go to Him in prayer and seek His face and ask Him to cleanse you of your sin.