A2: The Supremacy of Christ

The issue with our thinking about things being better is that even when the better thing comes, it doesn’t take long before the cycle starts over again and we, yet again, want something better…

Perhaps this is displayed most clearly in children - now, I know that many of you probably look at me and say “You’re still a kid” - My mom would say, I’m still the baby of the family - but let’s assume for the time being that I’m a perfectly reasonable and mature adult. (Lizzy, don’t say a word.)

But think of a child - a toy wears out, or is surpassed in grandeur by the new toy they see at the store, or a friend’s house, or on a commercial, or wherever. And, they have to have it! Well, I guess adults do that too, don’t we?

Anyways! So they get the new toy, or electronic device, or power tool… and its amazing! That is, until it is not...

See, our concept of better is flawed because with us, there is always room for improvement. There are always bugs to be worked out, innovations to make, technological advancements, scientific discoveries, and most of all, discontent.

What does this have to do with Advent?

As Pastor Steve and I sat down to talk about what we would speak on for advent season, we were reminded this - Advent is all about the incarnation - Jesus coming.

With that in mind, Hebrews is all about how Christ is Better.

Better than Angels

Better than Moses

Better than Joshua

Better than the Aaron, the High Priest

And he brought in a better covenant.

Today, we want to look at the Supremacy of Christ. His superiority. His betterness.

Only, I want us to clear our minds of our 21st century consumer minded understanding of better.

When we say Christ is better, we are not watching for the next best thing out of the corner of our eyes.

When we behold Christ, we behold the supreme.

When we see the person of Christ, we see the supreme being.

When we see the work of Christ, we see the supreme work.

When we examine the message of Christ, we are examining the pearl of great price - the ultimate treasure.

Last week, Pastor Steve examined the shadow of the old testament. You looked at the foreshadowed Christ.

So today, I

We’ve seen the shadow, now we want to examine the substance.

In the Old Testament, God was speaking -in types and shadows, fragments and pictures, here and there, giving hints, insight, and while it was beautiful, it was incomplete.

We want to look at the Complete. The Full. The Fulfilled. The Perfect.

Matthew 5:17 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Christ is the fulfillment.

Today, and through the next several weeks as well, we want to see in what way the coming and message of Christ is better.

The Son Dispels the Shadows

The Son Declares the Substance

As we examine him today, let us

Behold God’s Revelation in the Supremacy of Christ.

1. The Son Dispels the Shadows

Christ was foreshadowed in the times past.

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Psalm 22:1 ESV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

Psalm 110:1 ESV

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

We could go through dozens of prophecies and messianic scriptures, each giving a shadow, a portion, a snapshot - but none giving the full view. God was speaking.

is a great paradigm shift - a great clarifier - a great mountain peak of revelatory gold.

God was speaking, but God has spoken. (repeat)

You see, all those shadows, all those snapshots, all those incomplete pictures? Christ dispels the shadows.

Two aspects of this

A. God’s Plan Unfolding

P.T. O’Brien

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

Hebrews begins with a magnificent opening that sets the program for the whole discourse. The author moves from God’s past revelation, from his word to the Old Testament ‘fathers’, to his definitive and final revelation in his Son, Jesus Christ. What God has spoken in the Son is continuous with and the climax of his word uttered in earlier times.

One way we could say it is this. “God has spoken - first to the fathers though the prophets, and finally in His Son.”

The big picture is that God has not remained silent - He has revealed Himself. The focus here is that he has revealed Himself finally in His Son.

In these last days

This phrase contrast with “in the past” in verse 1.

When a Jewish listener would have heard this term, they would have undoubtedly gone in their minds to the idea of the promised Messiah. The Rabbi’s in times past had a very strong concept of “this age, and the age to come.” And that is exactly the message the writer is trying to convey. He is conveying the unfolding of the plan. The continuing of God’s Work.

Again, it is types and shadows in the Old, but a clearer, brighter view in the New. The light of Christ and His radiance drives out the dimly lit past.

For instance, Paul gives us a great insight in . Pastor Steve mentioned this passage last week, and I want to highlight it again.

Colossians 2:13-

Colossians 2:16–17 ESV

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Colossians 2:13–17 ESV

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Notice those words - Shadow and substance.

The Law was a shadow. It showed how Holy God is, it showed some of the essence of His character, it displayed His otherness. But it wasn’t the complete - In His wisdom, He put His holiness on display in the face of man’s sinfulness - that is the debt that Paul was talking about. But the Law was not God Himself. Just a shadow.

God, who is timeless, outside of time, is revealing Himself by acting in time.

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

But Christ, He is the substance! He is the fulness!

The Old was true, but incomplete. It was Good in what it was, but it was not the totality of all God would reveal.

A term you may have heard is Progressive Revelation. This is another way to speak of God’s Plan unfolding. God is not confused, or indecisive, or incoherent, or slow, but He spoke to His children, who are in time, by revealing more and more over time. God revealed Himself in different ways and at different times to show the majesty of His glory, and the magnitude of His holiness.

It is important to understand that when we come to the New Testament, God is not changing His mind, but unfolding the drama. Act by Act, Scene by Scene, tension building, interest arising, until the climax of the masterpiece - Christ - the Messiah.

It is also important to know that the coming of Christ was not plan B, an afterthought, or a plug in the flat tire of human History, but rather, God coming in Christ was the beautiful, magnificent, glorious masterpiece of His will.

It was a mystery, but Christ displayed it.

Ephesians 1:7–11 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Ephesians 1:7-11

So God’s plan unfolded. It wasn’t a change of mind, it was the revealing of God over time to His people who exist in time.

But not only do we see God’s Plan Unfolding, but in it we see God’s Essence Unchanging

B. God’s Essence Unchanging

One of the clearest things in the mind of the Old Testament Saints was the concept of God’s unapproachable majesty. His unquenchable glory. He Told Moses “No one shall see my face and live.” His glory is immense, awesome, and indescribable.

Keep that in mind.

I want to address something critical in our day. It is a common misconception in our day to believe that the Old Testament is dominated by this unforgiving, judgmental, mean-spirited God, but then in the New Testament God gets better and we have Jesus who is all love and peace. Many people actually believed God has changed. That He is different now. That He has come around, like the Dad who was just a little too stuck in His ways but acts with a little more leniency now.

That is blasphemous.

John 1:14–18 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

In this portion of John’s Gospel, we see both the unfolding plan and the unchanging essence of God.

The Word becoming flesh, dwelling among us, that is the plan unfolding.

Verse 18, however, highlights the unchanging essence.

When it says “he has made Him known,” or “declared Him” speaking of Christ declaring God, the word there is Exegeomai. It is where we get our word Exegesis from. Exegetical/Expository preaching.

Christ declared/explained/unfolded/displayed God. What God? That God of the Old Testament? No, they can’t be the same....

While we can draw many contrasts between the Old and the New Testaments, what is most remarkable is the continuity. Their equality in truthfulness.

While revelation from Old to New was a progression, it was not a progression of “less true to more true” “less worthy to more worthy”

John Macarthur puts it this way:

“The distinction is not in the validity of the revelation - its rightness or wrongness - but in the completeness of it and the time of it.” - John MacArthur

1 Samuel 15:29 ESV

And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

Numbers 23:19 ESV

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

James 1:17 ESV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

God does not change, He is immutable, He doesn’t change His mind, He is unshakable, He is not in shifting shadows. Christ? He is the same.

In our Hebrews passage, There is one grammatical subject in verses 1 and 2. God.

God spoke, God has spoken. Same God.

God has not changed His mind, changed His attitude, gotten confused, or made a quick fix - He is unchanging. The God who was speaking in the Old is the God who speaks in the New.

Furthermore, Not only is the same God speaking, but Christ is the same Christ who has eternally been coequal and coexistent with the Father and the Spirit. Jesus isn’t some new and improved God, He is the eternal God who humbled Himself and took on the form of a man. But don’t let that distract you from who He is.

Colossians 1:15 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Colossians 1:13–17 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Hebrews 1:3 ESV

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

God has not changed - which has wonderful implications for you and I - He has not changed, and He will not change. We don’t have to wonder if He is going to change His mind about this whole deal and start over.

Christ is the dispeller of the shadows, not the new and improved God.

Phillip Hacking said this,

“All roads in the Bible lead to Christ, and revelation is complete in Him.” - Phillip Hacking

So the Son dispels the shadows - God hasn’t changed, but Has given us a clearer picture in the full and final revelation in Christ.

But also we see,

2. The Son Declares the Substance

One of my favorite scriptures is in . It is God Almighty, Yaweh, the Lord, declaring His greatness in a beautiful, awesome way.

Isaiah 46:8–13 ESV

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”

God always does what He pleases, God always fulfills His plan, God always accomplishes His purpose.

This is why it is so important to remember that Christ is not plan B! the incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, intercession, and return of Christ is God’s plan from eternity past.

So when we see Christ Jesus, God in Human flesh, and we see what He does, and what He says, then we see the intention of God before our very eyes. Christ is not distracting us from God, Christ is God showing us God - being God, revealing God, teaching us about God. Christ is declaring the substance of who God is and what He has done!

to refer back to Isaiah, we are the ones who are far from righteousness! Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God coming near! Jesus Christ is God’s Salvation not delaying!

So how does He declare it?

Through His Words

By His Work

A. Through His Words

The pivotal, foundational, load bearing wall word of is God’s Speaking. God’s speaking is God’s revelation.

Remember, the subject of the sentence is God, and the verbs are the fact the He spoke, and has spoken.

It was marvelous enough that God spoke through the prophets, but in the last days He speaks through the one who is by his very cahracter and nature a Son. The Son of God. Not just a mouthpiece, but God Himself. God the Son.

The author could have said, “now he speaks through the Apostles.” But he centralizes the revelation on the substance of the revelation, and the main speaker from whom the whole message emerges, Christ.

Think of this - in the Old Testament, you often had what is called the messanger and word-event formula. For instance “The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.” of “Thus says the Lord.”

But when Christ speaks, He does not say “The Word of God came to me” or “Thus says the Lord.” He doesn’t have to say “Thus says the Lord” because whatever he says, The Lord is saying it! When Christ Speaks, God speaks. That is not true of any mere human messenger, but only of God Himself.

Therefore, it follows that What Christ says does not negate, conflict with, or contradict what God spoke in the Old Testament. The new is built upon the Old. The New Testament writers stood on the belief that the Old Testament was the Word of God. This is critical to understand, lest we believe that what God said in the Old Testament is inferior to Christ in the New Testament.

What

What should also be noted

So what are His Words?

Mark 1:15 ESV

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Came preaching Good news - the Gospel - what God has done in Christ, who God is - The Good news is God. Without Him, there is no Good news! But Good news is no good news at all without bad news.

Matthew 5:19–20 ESV

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20 ESV

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20 ESV

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

God demands one thing - rightouesness. the bad news? We don’t have it. We can’t attain it. That’s what the Old Testament shows us, and what Christ reiterates here. We need something we cannot provide.

John

John 6:31–37 ESV

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

The manna in the wilderness was a shadow of the bread of life. Christ is the substance. And unless someone is tempted to believe that the God of the Old Testament wouldn’t be so gracious and kind, let us read on.

John 6:38–40 ESV

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:38

Christ speaks of God’s will to save sinners - to redeem a people - to give eternal life to those who believe. This is what the Son says! And it is not of His own mind contrary to the Father, but it is one in the same - Christ’s intention is the Father’s intention.

So when we read

John 1:17 ESV

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We do not see God changing, but simply God revealing Himself.

When Christ speaks, God speaks. But what He says cannot be separated from what he does.

He speaks through His words, but also by His work.

B. By His Work

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:14–16 ESV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

If the words of Christ are the Word of God, then the work of Christ is the work of God.

If the Words of Christ are the Word of God, then suffice it to say that the work of Christ is the Work of God.

We will spend much time in the next few weeks looking at the work of Christ from creation, to salvation, to glorification - so my intention is not to tarry.

But I cannot speak of the work of Christ without giving a hint of what we will see. So one last scripture.

Hebrews 10:

Hebrews 10:11–14 ESV

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Hebrews 10:18 ESV

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Christ’s work is God’s work in redeeming mankind - and to echo His words on the Cross, It is finished.

We began by asking, how is the revelation of Christ better? Suffice it to say, it is finished.

Before, God’s people dwelt in a time of types and shadows, but today, dear ones, we behold the substance.

God has unfolded His plan over time, revealing his unchanging nature in the Son who declares the substance - the fulness of revelation - in His words, by his work.

God spoke, but God has spoken.

Behold God’s Revelation in the Supremacy of Christ.

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