Jesus is the LAST Word

Open: On the game show “Who wants to be a millionaire?” the contestants had to answer a series of questions in multiple choice format. When the contestant was at the point of giving an answer, the host would ask, “is that your final answer?” No changes allowed after they gave that answer

Transition: God has revealed His Final Answer to the world in the person of Jesus. In the show, the contestant might have wanted to change his or her answer, but it was locked in and no changes allowed. God does not even need to consider a change because He is perfect and has all knowledge. Jesus IS and always will be the correct and final revelation of God Himself!

Today’s text will get us started on the journey of discovering why Jesus is the Final Word

READ the text: Hebrews 1:1-4

God Reveals Himself (Hebrews 1:1a)

Explanation: God is the One who takes the initiative in showing humanity who He is. He is first and foremost a God who communicates with His creation. Think about the impact of this statement. God tells us who He is and what He is about.

2 sources of Revelation

Natural Revelation is what everyone experiences by just being in the world - we see the stuff around us. When we look at a tree, a river, wildflowers, hummingbirds, mountains or newborn babies we are seeing and experiencing natural revelation through creation. We exist and we see the creation and observe its design.

Illustration: Paley’s argument for the existence of God: The watchmaker and the watch. If one discovered a watch in the sand, the logical conclusion would be that the watch was NOT the result of random chance, but rather it was the product of design - hence the need for a watchmaker.

Special Revelation is the Word of God. Natural revelation is sufficient to show that there must be a Creator, but it can’t tell us anything specific about the Creator. God has chosen to reveal Himself in specific ways and and specific times to His people and these inspired revelations are collected together in the Bible.

Argument: Here in the first verse of the book of Hebrews the reader is told explicitly that God is a God who speaks (reveals Himself) to His people. God does not leave us wondering or groping around in the darkness trying to figure out who He is. Instead, He has repeatedly shown Himself to His people that they might know Him for the purpose of being rightly related to Him.

The writer of the book of Hebrews reminds his listeners that God has revealed Himself to their ancestors in various times and in various ways over the previous 3,000 years! God spoke to Adam and Eve directly in the garden, He spoke to Abraham in visions, He spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush and he revealed Himself to the Israelites in the Exodus event in a pillar of fire at night and a covering cloud during the day.

God’s pattern throughout the Old Testament period was one of repeated revelation. The prophets took up the task of proclaiming God’s truths and His purposes to the covenant people that they might be rightly related to Him. All of their proclamations and prophecies pointed to and prepared the way for the Messiah - God’s anointed servant who would deliver His people. The message of Hebrews is that Jesus IS the final and fullest revelation of God.

Structure and Purpose of the Book of Hebrews

As God leads in our Sunday morning services, we will be spending time in this New Testament book. Hebrews has a distinct form and place in the canon; unlike the letters of Peter, Paul or James, this is a sermon that was delivered to a church and then written so it could be passed to other churches.

You may notice that I will use phrases such as “the writer of Hebrews,” or “the author of the book,” or similar language instead of naming a person. Hebrews is the only NT book of which there is not a clearly designated human author. Not a cause for alarm because, like all the other books in the Bible, the primary author is the Spirit of God - He is the One who inspired the words of this book, just like He inspired and authorized the words of every other book.

The human author uses the language of “we” and “us” throughout the book and includes himself in the ranks of fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is writing to not only the first congregation that heard the sermon, but the intended audience included those in the Christian community of faith. The original hearers would have included Jewish (Hebrew) Christians who were most likely living in Rome.

About 30 years or so had passed since the Crucifixion and Resurrection, and the Christian church was growing and the influence of Jesus was spreading. The Empire was beginning to notice these Christians were very much different than others by their worship and behavior in the marketplace.

Unlike other religions, the Christians refused to participate in any of the pagan religions and they refused to acknowledge Caesar as a human worthy of worship. In summary, the Empire was beginning its 300 year long persecution of Christians, and individual believers were losing favor in the public eye, some were being mocked for believing a dead man was still alive, some were losing jobs, some were being physically abused, and some were even martyred for their faith in Christ.

It is in this setting that God had His book written that we know as Hebrews. The context of the book is that some of the Hebrew church members were leaving Christianity and going back to the practice of Judaism. Judaism was a religion that had official recognition by the Empire. It was SAFE to be a Jew, but not so safe to publicly proclaim allegiance to Christ. In this cultural moment, the message of Hebrews is that Jesus is the Final Revelation from God and is in truth, God in the flesh. The message is that Jesus is Superior to anything else and there is NOTHING outside of Christianity worth leaving.

Consider our cultural moment in the West. The time of favor for a Christian witness has passed. The world system we live in has a negative expression for those of us who proclaim allegiance to Christ. The Church is facing hostility for its biblical stance, and persecution is on the rise. Sadly, there are some today who are considering a similar choice that faced the original audience of Hebrews - departing from the faith in order to be safe.

God’s Word is timeless and speaks to every generation because the Eternal God inspired it and gave His Word its power to span time and circumstances. The message of Hebrews is especially timely for our day. Like the original audience, we too need to hear that Jesus is more excellent than anything.

The Excellency of Christ is the focus of Hebrews. The author shows us that Jesus is:

more excellent than angels

a greater prophet than Moses

a superior high priest

the mediator of a superior covenant

a more excellent sacrifice

In short, Jesus is THE only option and there is no one or no thing worth going back to. As the author unfolds this central truth, he will support his position from the Old Covenant - the book of Hebrews has more quotations and allusions to the OT than any other NT book. Hebrews also contains five (5) separate warning passages that are spread throughout the message. Each of them warn of the consequences for those who would turn back from following Christ.

Conclusion

Studying the book of Hebrews is challenging and rewarding and it will be exciting as we journey through the pages together. As we do, make sure you are hearing from God as He speaks. Look again at the 2nd verse: “He has spoken unto us by His Son.” God is speaking - do you hear Him?

“He that is of God hears God’ word: you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God” (John 8:47)