Hebrews 1:1-2

“God, who at sundry times and in divers 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 worlds;” (Hebrews 1:1–2)

God speaks

God who at sundry times…God gave His word over time, part by part, portion by portion.

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; Line upon line, line upon line; Here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue Will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; And this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them Precept upon precept, precept upon precept; Line upon line, line upon line; Here a little, and there a little; That they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, And snared, and taken. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, That rule this people which is in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 28:10–14)

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,” (Galatians 4:4)

…and in divers manners… God communicated to his creation in a variety of ways

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:” (Genesis 12:1–2)

“And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.” (Genesis 46:2)

“And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.” (Exodus 3:4)

“And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” (Numbers 12:6)

“With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:8)

“For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?” (Deuteronomy 5:26)

…unto the fathers by the prophets…

Who were the prophets? These were proclaimers or expounder of divine matters or concerns that could not ordinarily be known except by special revelation (William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 890.). The prophet provided information that could only have been known by supernatural means.

The prophets are described as those “to whom the word of the Lord came” (Jeremiah 1:2), “the word of the Lord came expressly” (Ezek 1:3). “The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea” (Hosea 1:1), “the word of the Lord that came to Joel” (Joel 1:1). Jonah, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zechariah were all described as those to whom “the word of the Lord came”.

For Isaiah and Obadiah it was “the vision” of Isaiah, “the vision” of Obadiah , and “the vision” of Nahum (Isa 1:1; Obad 1:1; Nahum 1:1).

Sometimes, when God spoke by the prophets it was referred as “The burden of the word of the Lord” (Mal 1:1), and the burden which the prophet did see (Hab 1:1).

The manner in which the Lord accomplished this is described beautifully and succinctly.

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:21)

“The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, And his word was in my tongue.” (2 Samuel 23:2)

“Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.” (Jeremiah 1:9)

(2) …hath in these last days…

…

Jesus’ word is now written OR “the chain of authority”

1. God directly gave His word to His Son –

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” (John 12:48–50); “Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” (John 7:16)

2. Christ directly gave His word to the apostles –

“For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me…“I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:8, 14); “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” (Matthew 10:40) “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.” (Luke 10:16)

3. Christ's word was given to the apostles by the Holy Spirit –

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26) “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (John 16:12-13)

4. Christ's all authoritative word is now written –

“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (John 20:30–31) “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 14:37).