Jesus Christ: The Final Word

B. Andrew King

Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

0 ratings

· 23 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Introduction

The Bible is God’s Word. Millions have had their lives changed by its message. Many attempts have been made to destroy the Bible, but all have failed. In AD 303 Diocletian, emperor of the Roman Empire, set out to destroy all the Bibles in the land together with the people who possessed them. He believed that Christians could not exist apart from the Book they claimed as their rule of faith. Thousands of Christians were cruelly martyred in this bloody onslaught. Within a few years Diocletian felt his drive had been so successful that he erected a column over a burned Bible and wrote on the column these words: extincto nomine Christianorum (“ The name of Christian is extinguished”). Yet by AD 313 the new Roman emperor, Constantine, had declared himself a Christian and had adopted the symbol of the cross for the standards of his Roman army.

The Bible remains, not because of some magical power, but because of the risen Christ who stands behind it. He is the ultimate Word of God.

Crabtree, T. T.. The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book (Zondervan Pastor's Annual) (pp. 22-23). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

1. God’s Last Word in Communication

Hebrews 1:1 NLT

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.

2 Peter 1:21 KJV 1900

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.

Ever since the garden of Eden, God has sought to communicate to people the message of life. The Bible is not only a record of God’s communication, but is itself a part of God’s communication. People can discover many things about the created universe, but only God can reveal to people the spiritual truths so needed for life. In revealing himself to people, God had to lead them a step at a time, much like a father leads his child through the first faltering steps of walking. Sin had so blinded the minds of people that God could reveal only a small portion of truth at a time. God had to work slowly because people were slow to understand.

Hebrews 1:2 NLT

And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.

The Old Testament prophets worked like people putting together a giant puzzle. Here and there God handed to them a piece of the picture. Each fragment was accurate but was only a part of the total picture. The puzzle took final shape with the coming of Jesus Christ. Everything else remained in fragmentary form until Christ came to give unity to the picture and fullness to the prophecies. To look upon the Old Testament prophets is to look upon God’s messengers, but to look upon Jesus is to look upon God in terms we can understand— God pictured in human terms. God began a communication to people thousands of years before he was to present his final communication— his last Word — Jesus Christ.

2. God’s Last Word in Salvation

Hebrews 1:2–3 NLT

And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

Acts 4:12 KJV 1900

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:10–12 KJV 1900

Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Crabtree, T. T.. The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book (Zondervan Pastor's Annual) (p. 23). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Acts 4.10-

Where salvation of the soul is concerned, Jesus Christ is God’s last Word. Prior to Jesus’s coming, people experienced salvation through faith in God’s promised Savior and obedience to the commandments of God. Since Jesus’s coming, people have experienced salvation through faith in the revealed Savior. Christ was truly God in the flesh! In “being the radiance of His glory” (v. 3 NASB), the word translated “radiance” depicts a radiant beam of glorious light descending from the heavenly Father upon the earthly Christ in such a way that the same glory shines out from both. John too used the idea of light to speak of Christ: “And the light shines in darkness” ( NASB).

Crabtree, T. T.. The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book (Zondervan Pastor's Annual) (p. 22). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Jesus Christ is divine, and for a brief moment during his earthly life, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the divine radiance shown through. The writer of Hebrews further describes Christ’s divinity: “The exact representation of His [God’s] nature” (v. 3 NASB). This scriptural image denotes the imprint of a king’s seal left when applied to warm wax. The image left on the wax is an exact reproduction of the royal seal. The writer of Hebrews is trying to say that Jesus Christ is the exact reproduction of God’s essence— God’s being.

Finally Christ is pictured as the Redeemer: “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (v. 3 NASB). Christ personally effected the removal of our guilt. He provided the cleansing of our sins. Here the idea of his high priesthood is introduced. People need no other high priest, for Christ has provided the cleansing for sins. No one else can remove the stain of guilt from people’s souls. Jesus Christ is God’s last Word on what people can do about sin. Simon Peter realized this truth as he answered Jesus’s question as to whether the disciples would also leave him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” ( NASB).

Crabtree, T. T.. The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book (Zondervan Pastor's Annual) (p. 24). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Crabtree, T. T.. The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book (Zondervan Pastor's Annual) (p. 23). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

3. God’s Last Word in Exaltation

Hebrews 1:3 NLT

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

When Jesus came in the flesh, the Jewish people were anticipating a conquering Messiah who would dispose of their Roman captors. Jesus tried to make clear to his disciples that his kingdom was not an earthly kingdom (). Yet there would be a final triumph— a final exaltation— and again Jesus would be God’s last Word in it. The final exaltation will come when:

1 Thessalonians 4:16 KJV 1900

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

The apostle Paul reminded the Philippians: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (). Of course Christ was exalted following his resurrection when he “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” ( NASB), but this final exaltation will not be fully manifested until the return of Jesus Christ.

The writer of Hebrews puts it like this:

Hebrews 1:10–12 ESV

And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

Heaven and earth, as we know them, will grow old. Jesus will roll them up as one rolls up an old garment and lays it aside to be worn no more. Heaven and earth, as we know them, will be exchanged for new heavens and a new earth (). Scientists have set forth what is called the “second law of thermodynamics,” the belief that the universe is gradually losing heat and is thus slowly running down. The Bible says it more poetically by describing the universe as an old garment that gradually is becoming worn out. In the face of such prospects, God promises a final exaltation: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” ().

Crabtree, T. T.. The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book (Zondervan Pastor's Annual) (pp. 24-25). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Conclusion

The prophets were great men, but they were only spokesmen for God. The Bible speaks of angelic beings, but they are only messengers of God to do his bidding. Only Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

of Scotland often traveled about his kingdom in disguise in order to acquaint himself with the real needs of his people. He disguised himself as a farmer and went under the name of “The Good Man of Ballengiech.” Over the years he developed close friendships with humble people who never dreamed that he was the king. During one of his disguised travels, the king was befriended by a poor countryman who risked his own life to do so. Later the same countryman was summoned to Stirling Castle where the king kept midwinter court. Naturally the poor fellow was horrified, because in those days to be summoned to the king’s court usually was to be condemned for some crime. Little did the poor fellow know that the king before whom he was to appear was one and the same with “The Good Man of Ballengiech.” Imagine the surprise on the face of the poor countryman when he looked up into the eyes of the one sitting on the throne, fearing that he would hear a condemnation of death and seeing for the first time that the king was in reality an old friend. The summons to the king’s court was not for condemnation but for reward

(James Hastings, ed., “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Speaker’s Bible [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1961], 13).

Jesus comes to us in much the same manner. He came among us as one of us to become both our Friend and Lord. He came as God’s last Word to us. The salvation that he offers is never obsolete or irrelevant. In these last times God seeks to speak to us through his Son. We will do well to listen and to follow.

There is coming a day when we will also stand before the throne of the King and when you see Him, if you have taken time to know Him, you will see the familiar eyes of a friend and not the fearful eyes of a powerful stranger.

Today, is a good day to begin to know the Word made Flesh!

Do you know Jesus? Are you pursuing to know Him? The Prophet Jeremiah gives us a clue in how to discover the friendship with Jesus.

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:10–14 NLT

This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

Let’s begin today to seek Him wholeheartedly so that we may find Him and be restored by Him and be gathered together by Him.

Do you want to speak with Jesus today?

Crabtree, T. T.. The Zondervan 2018 Pastor's Annual: An Idea and Resource Book (Zondervan Pastor's Annual) (p. 25). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.