Messenger, Heir, and Creator

Introduction

What would it take to believe something unbelievable? ...

After mentioning this Son through whom God speaks, the author uses seven affirmations that describe this Son; who he is and what he has acheived. If you look through to the end of verse 4 you will see that these are:

He is the appointed heir of all things.

He is the means through whom God created the world.

He is the radieance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of God’s nature.

He upholds the universe by the word of his power.

He made purification for sins.

He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty of God in heaven.

He and his sonship are far superior to God’s heavenly messengers.

Today we will look at the first four of these qualities and next week look at the remaining three.

My hope this morning is that our exposition of this text will display to you the greatness of Jesus as Creater, as Heir of God’s Kingdom, and as the perfect one to give you the message of salvation so that you will not waver from it.

Jesus the Heir

Psalm 2:8 ESV

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

The author of Hebrews goes beyond Psalm 2’s claim that God would give the Christ all the nations and expands it to all things in the universe period.

This is a majour difference between Christ and every other messenger that God has ever sent to communicate his word, whether they be prophet or angel. He is truly the Son of God in that he is the heir, the rightful owner and inheritor, of all that God has made and controls. This gives the Son exclusive soveriegnty along with the Father over the universe, and he has only to ask his Father and all these things are given him. He is the rightful possessor of all things, whether they be microbes, people, nations, planets, stars, or angels.

Since all these things are rightfully his, his place as the mouthpiece of the Father is significant and authoritative since what he communicates are always things over which he has supreme authority. Just as the owner of a house is the best person to show you around the place, so the heir of all things is the best person to communicate God’s Word on absolutely any topic with us. As the heir of God’s people especially, he has the unique authority to give us the way of salvation with absolute certainty since salvation itself is to be situated securely in his possession. Who better to listen to, who better to know, and who better to hear from than the heir of all things?

Jesus the Word of Creation

Building of this foundation, Jesus is not only the rightful heir and owner of all the universe by inheritence, but by right as creator. It is a natural assumption that, under simple circumstances, someone who makes something has an inherent right to that thing. A painter has a right to her painting and, though she may sell that right by taking on commissions or selling her art, it is still originally hers. So it is that Jesus, as a member of the Godhead who had an active role in the creation of the universe, has an inherent right over the universe.

The author specifies what Christ’s role in creation is, and links it to the previous statement. The reason Jesus is a Son who is made heir of all things is largely because of his unique role in the creation of all things. This role is a mediatory one; he was the means through which God the Father created.

In John 1:1 there is an intentional parallel with Genesis 1. Where God speaks and the created world is, Jesus is called the Word. We could think of the Father as the Speaker and the Son as the Word which goes out and does what the Father spoke. The Son goes out and Creates what the Father has spoken.

The Letter to the Hebrews I. Introduction: God’s Final Word to Us in His Son, 1:1–4

As the exalted Son and heir he rules over what was created through him in the beginning. - Peter O’Brian

So we see that both by inheritance and by right of creation, Jesus holds the position of ultimate authority over all things. In such a grand introduction, the author continues to lead us to Christ as the ultimate and most excellent, through whom God has been fully revealed to us. If we are to hear from God, if God is to speak words of salvation and life to us that we may know him, who better to hear this from than the agent of Creation himself?

The Radiance of Glory and Exact Representation

The author moves on from the Son’s relationship with creation to his relationship with God himself. As we will see in verse 8, the author of Hebrews is not shy to call Jesus God, but he is working up to that and so now focuses on the Son’s relationship to the Father as God. Here he describes the same idea in two different ways, speaking of Jesus as the Radiance of the glory of God and the Exact Representation of God.

Radiance of glory means that the very glory of God shines from him. Radience means shining so we could read this as saying, he shines with the very glory of God. He is not merely a reflection of that glory, like we are as image bearers, like the moon is to the sun. He is an equal source of this divine glory himself. To look at Jesus is not to see the glory of a merely created being, nor to see a reflected glimpse of God’s glory, but to see the glory of God shining from its very source in Him. Think of the exchange in John 14:8-11 between the disciple Philip and Jesus:

John 14:8–11 ESV

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

To see Christ is to see the Father’s glory and essence. This makes the Son not only a messenger or image of the glory of God, but the instrument of that glory being seen and experienced first hand!

The exact representation of his nature. The word here translated imprint or representation or image often referred tto a trademark or a signate or seal. It means a mark or representation that is an exact reproduction so as to show authenticity. When you see the seal of the king on a document, you know that it is legitimate and not a forgery.

So the point here is that Jesus is the exact representation to show the authenticity of the message he bears, but what is he the exact representation of? The answer is a very famous and important theological term: hupostasis. This Greek word means nature or essence and features in our most historic Christian creeds because the significance we see here.

Nature or essence speaks of the very essential and basic reality of what something or who someone is. Every person has a nature, and while our natures are very similar to each other they are not exactly the same. We all have the nature of living things, of mammels, or humans, of image-bearers, of sinners, of redeemed saints, and so on, but our natures also diverge from one another. It may be in your nature to be male or female, to be tall or short, to tend to be patient or forgetful or anxious or loud, to be a naturally fast runner, left-handed, and so on. Some things we can change, but some things we cannot because they are fundamental to what makes us us. Although I may have a similar nature to any and all of you, its not exact because there are differences that we cannot change about me.

The Son of God, on the other hand, is the exact nature or essence of God. While a different person, there is nothing in his being as God that is any different from the Father or the Spirit. Jesus is not like God, he is God in exactly every way that it means to be God.

Jesus, as God’s messenger and the bearer of a new covenant, bears a seal just like an official document might have. That seal is his divine nature; his seal of authenticity is literally the fact that he is God in the same way that the Father is God. The Son brought the nature of God into a human form so that we may see him, interact with him, and hear him speak in the most direct way possible.

Upholds the Universe

Finally for our look at this text today, we read that the Son upholds the universe by the word of his power.

While in verse 2 we read about the Son being the agent by which God created the world, here there is another connection between the Son, Creation, and the Father that takes things further than before. If the Son were only an agent of Creation, we can imagine Him being somewhat lower than the Father in terms of power and authority, sort of like a manager who is still under the control of his boss. But here we read that the universe is sustained by the word of His power. This means that the Son is not simply a manager of creation, but is also the source of its very existance. The Son not only uses the power of God to uphold the universe, but it is the word of his power that holds the universe together. This power comes from him by his own nature, a nature he shares in exact proportions with the Father; the Nature of YHWH the One True God.

Upholding the universe refers to the ongoing act of creation after it was brought into existance; the sustaining of it, the change of it, and brining it to the end for which it exists. Every planet, every atom, the laws of physics, biological processes, gravity, the passage of time, the movement of energy, all run on the power of his word.

The power of his word again points to his divinity, as it shows creation existing simply because he wants it to. Reality obeys his will, for that it what it means to be the great I Am that I Am.

Once again, we are led to a fact that makes the words which God spoke through Christ so compelling. If such a person has come to speak God’s Word’s to us, could we ever dream of a more fitting, worthy, and glorious person to listen to? Does our own existence not point us to this very end, to hear such a Word given by such a person?

Conclusion

Jesus is the rightful heir of all the universe because of his obedience to God as the Son of David, thus giving him the right to ask the Father for all things.

On top of this, Jesus is the one through whom God created the world, giving him a right as Creator to all things.

On top of that, Jesus is equal to the Father in terms of his divine nature, and is just as much God as the Father is; giving him the right to all things as God by nature.

Finally, Jesus is the source of power by which all things opperate, giving him the right to all things since by his own power all things exist.

This Son, Jesus Christ, is the one who brings you the speech of God. God in human flesh has come to give you a message from God, and it would be foolish not to trust Him. This means:

Everything he says is true.

Everything in his Gospel is complete.

His will is authoritative, which means what he says is final and cannot be overruled.

His promises are sure, so trust them and endure in them. There is no foundation, no safety that you can go to once you have your feet set on him.