God has Spoken

Introduction

Authorship- Does not tell us. Some suggested Paul, Barnabas. Bottom line is we do not know.

Recipients- Jewish Christians experiencing persecution and the temptation to abandon the Christian faith.

Date- Before AD 70 (Destruction of the Temple)

Point- Exalt Christ above the Jewish sacrificial system and encourage Christians to persevere in the faith.

1. Verse 1 reminds the hearers that God has spoken to them in the past.

When? “Long ago” The OT was written over a period of 1500 years.

Job- about 1900 BC (Before Moses lived)

Malachi was written about 450 BC

God has been speaking to this world for a very long time.

He has not left His creation without direction.

To Whom did He speak?

“Our fathers”

The patriarchs, The Jewish nation

How did He speak?

“By the prophets” and in “many ways”

Let’s think of the many ways God has spoken:

To Moses through a burning bush

To Elijah through a still small voice

To Isaiah and Ezekiel by visions

Those are just a few of the ways He has spoken in the past.

He spoke by the prophets:

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc.

God did not leave the Jewish people to themselves. From the beginning He has spoken to them in many ways through prophets.

v. 2 “But” shows us that there is a distinction in the way God has spoken to them and is speaking to them.

In the OT God was giving them a foundation that was partial, it was elementary, it gave the outline of what He was saying but not the full picture.

Through Laws

Through Festivals

Through prophecies

The OT is glorious. It’s of God. It’s all true. But it’s a partial revelation. It’s as if the sun is slowly rising in Genesis and grows brighter and brighter until we reach the gospel and then we see God’s revelation shining in its full strength.

Abram offering only son- reality in Jesus

High Priest atoning for sin- Jesus doing it once and for all

Temple a place for God to dwell- Christ in us in NT

“These last days” The days of Christ. When Christ came the last days began. These are the last days in the sense that all has been accomplished concerning our salvation. We are simply awaiting the return of Christ.

We are currently in God’s final phase before He judges the world and takes His people to be with Him for all eternity.

In these last days He has spoken to us in a new way. He has spoken to us “By His Son”.

All of the OT was building up to this.

God speaking to us “by the Son” is in contrast to Him speaking to us “by the prophets”. What I mean by that is what is spoken is greater. How?

1) The content revealed is greater. The NT is no more inspired than the OT. What is revealed is clearer. It’s more obvious. We learn more about God in Christ than we do anything else.

2) The One who revealed the content is greater. Christ is greater than the prophets. They spoke the Word, He is the Word.

3) What Christ has spoken is the period at the end of God’s revelation. There is no one else to hear from. We have heard from the very Son of God. He has told us all we need to know.

The Bible ends with a warning against adding anything to God’s Word (Rev. 22:18-19).

From the middle of verse 2 through verse 3 there is a list of seven truths about Jesus. Let’s look at each.

1) Jesus is the heir of all things.

When we think of heir we think of someone receiving something because someone died and left it to them. That’s not what is meant here. Jesus described as the appointed heir simply means He is the lawful possessor.

What does He lawfully possess? All things.

He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Jesus owns it all. The good news is He shares that inheritance with all who belong to Him.

Romans 8:16-17 says

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

2) Jesus is the Creator of all things.

“Through Whom He created the world.”

Not only this world, Colossians 1:16 says Christ created all things, visible and invisible.

John 1:3 says

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Jesus created time, space, energy. Everything makes up our universe Jesus created.

3) Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God.

God shines with a brightness so great we cannot in our mortal bodies even look at Him. The only time this was revealed in Jesus earthly life was the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus transformed before Peter James and John. God’s glory was veiled in the humanity of Jesus. In heaven we will see the radiance of the glory of God possessed by Jesus.

4) Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature.

“Imprint”= a stamp. It describes the imprint of a die. It’s like the impression made on a coin.

Jesus is the exact image of God. When you see Him He is no less than God. Seeing Jesus is the same as seeing God.

5) Jesus is upholding the universe by the Word of His power.

In other words, He is the sustainer of the universe. He’s not holding the world up like the ancient Greeks thought Atlas was holding it up. Jesus is causing everything that exists to continue to exist.

The earth is rotating because of Jesus.

The tides come in and out….

The wind blows

Your heart beats

The season change

The rain falls

If Christ were to stop upholding everything the world would immediately dissolve into chaos.

Notice He is upholding it “by the Word of His power” He is upholding it the same way He created it. There is no effort given by Christ. He upholds it with such ease it’s like speaking a word.

6) Jesus is the one who purifies us from our sins.

1 Peter 1:18-19 says

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Through His sacrifice on the cross Jesus has removed our sins. He has purified us. He has made us worthy.

7) Jesus is the seated High Priest.

One thing that persist did very little of in the Temple is sitting. In fact, there were no seats in the Temple. The priests were always busy making sacrifices for the people. The work of atonement was never finished.

Jesus is seated because His work is finished. He is seated in an exalted place. He is at the right hand (place of honor) of the Majesty on High (in heaven). In other words, He is seated in the place of God.

Rev. 22:1 says:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

v. 4 The rest of the chapter is devoted to showing how much superior Jesus is to the angels. But I want to deal with verse 4 today.

“having become as much superior to angels”

This does not mean that Jesus was less than the angels before He accomplished our redemption.

His “name” is greater than the angels because He is the Son, they are merely created beings. But what is in mind here is what Christ accomplished in becoming a man. The incarnation, the perfect life of Christ, His atoning death and His resurrection has shown to the world He is far superior to any angelic being.

The exaltation of Christ was accomplished through his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Christ is now seated at the right hand of majesty declaring to all He has purified us from our sin and conquered death and hell. No angel has accomplished that.

Thoughts to Consider

1. God has spoken loudly and clearly to this world.

2. Without Christ the Bible would be a frightening book.

3. It is a great blessing to live in the days after Christ has come.

4. Jesus is more glorious than we can comprehend.