Jesus Is Better
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Introduction: The writer of the letter to the Hebrews does not waste any time in getting to the point he wants to make. In the first four verses we are introduced to the idea that he wants to be so imprinted on our minds and hearts that it causes us “to go on to perfection” (6:1), and the idea that he wants us to be so overwhelmed by is this: Jesus is better than everyone and everything.
Jesus is Better than Old Testament Revelation, Greater than All Things, and Superior to Angels
Jesus is Better than Old Testament Revelation, Greater than All Things, and Superior to Angels
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Here in the first three verses the writer of Hebrews gives us insight into the purpose of God in revealing truth in the Old Testament. In other words, we could ask, why did God reveal Himself to the fathers through the prophets? Dissect verses. The reason we are given here is this: God spoke to the fathers through the prophets in order to prepare the way for ultimate revelation of God in the Son of God who is better than everyone and everything.
Here in the first four verses the writer of Hebrews gives us insight into the purpose of God in revealing truth in the Old Testament. In other words, we could ask, why did God reveal Himself to the fathers through the prophets? The reason we are given here is this: God spoke to the fathers through the prophets in various ways and in various times in order to prepare the way for ultimate revelation of God in the Son of God who is better than everyone and everything.
As we studied in our last series, Jesus is the greatest revelation of the brightness of the glory of God, and the writer of Hebrews reminds us that the Old Testament exists, not as the greatest revelation, but in order to prepare the way for the greatest revelation - Jesus who is the Son of God.
The Birth of False Religions
The Birth of False Religions
Man is natural.
Now the question for us is: why did God choose to reveal Himself? We know that man is natural and can only understand natural things. So, if we are going to know and have a relationship with God God must reveal Himself to man.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
For in fact the body is not one member but many.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Through the revelation of God by the prophets [who prepared for the coming of Christ] and by Christ we have all that we need in order to live a life that goes on to perfection. The problem comes whenever natural man devises ways to perceive supernatural truths without the Spirit of God. False religions are born out of this kind of thinking.
Through the revelation of God by the prophets [who prepared for the coming of Christ] and by Christ we have all that we need in order to live a life that goes on to perfection. The problem comes whenever natural man devises ways to perceive supernatural truths without the Spirit of God. False religions are born out of this kind of thinking.
Through the revelation of God by the prophets [who prepared for the coming of Christ] and by Christ we have all that we need in order to live a life that goes on to perfection. The problem comes whenever natural man devises ways to perceive supernatural truths without the Spirit of God. False religions are born out of this kind of thinking.
John MacArthur’s box example
Examples: Mormonism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Psychology
Jesus is Better Than the Old Testament
Jesus is Better Than the Old Testament
Man naturally knows that the supernatural exists, but man cannot naturally perceive the supernatural. If we are to know anything about God, God must tell us and we must trust what He says.
Define progressive revelation
This is not to say that any of the Old Testament is unneeded or unimportant. All that this means is that God progressively revealed Himself throughout history and as more and more of the Old Testament was written, the clearer and clearer God’s truth became until the revelation of the brightness of His glory culminated in the ultimate revelation of God’s truth in Jesus.
An easier way to put it would be this: the Old Testament promised that God would send a Messiah and Jesus fulfilled all of those promises. Jesus is better than the Old Testament because he fulfilled the Old Testament.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
The Old Testament gave truth in pieces and Jesus has put all of those pieces together. Since Jesus is the final and decisive Word of God to men to add anything to Christ is blasphemous, out of line, and damnable.
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
Jesus is Above All Things
Jesus is Above All Things
In His Being
In His Being
In His Power
In His Power
In His Sacrifice
In His Sacrifice
In His Exaltation
In His Exaltation
Jesus, Greater Even than Angels
Jesus, Greater Even than Angels
Explain the Jewish idea of angels
Explain the Jewish idea of angels
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
If the writer of Hebrews is going to say that Jesus is better than the Old Covenant than he must show that Jesus is better than the mediators of the Old Covenant.
Conclusion: So, what does this mean for us? Since Jesus is greater than the Old Covenant we know that the law is not sufficient for us to go on to perfection, since Jesus is greater than all things we know that they are not sufficient for us to go on to perfection, and since Jesus is greater even than angels we know that their power is not even enough to be sufficient for us to go on to perfection. The only way that we can know God and perceive the supernatural truths of God is by believing the truth of God which testifies of Christ. Christ is sufficient for us to go on to perfection.