Hebrews 1:3 – The Supremacy of the Savior

Hebrews 1:3–4 NASB95

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

This is a wonderful statement to study and contemplate as we prepare to share in the Lord’s Table today.

Let me remind you that the letter to the Hebrews was written to Jews who had put their faith in Jesus Christ, and were being tempted to return to the Law and the Temple and all their rituals and practices.

The message of this letter is, negatively, don’t fall away, and positively, hold fast to faith in Jesus. There are more than 40 warnings and exhortations given in this letter: do not harden your heart to the Word of God, do not throw away your confidence in Jesus, hold fast to your faith in Christ, lay aside every hindrance and fix your eyes upon Jesus.

The superiority of Jesus Christ is at the heart of every one of those warnings and exhortations. The author never says “the church is better than Israel,” or “Christians are better than Jews.” Jesus is better than Moses. His sacrifice was better than the Levitical offerings. The heavenly tabernacle where He offered His blood is better than the earthly Temple.

The Lord gave us this letter because the risks of falling away remain just as real in in our time. Falling away is not committing some act of sin, but trusting in anything other than Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

Obviously, we fall away from Christ if we abandon Him in favor of Islam or Buddhism or atheism.

But we also fall away from Christ if we add anything to His work. If we say that we must believe in Jesus and be baptized, and be confirmed, and try hard, and be a good person, then we have changed the true Gospel into a false Gospel.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ – the only true Good News – says that salvation is by grace alone by faith alone through Christ alone for the glory of God alone. Other religions, such as Roman Catholicism, say that salvation is by grace, but not grace alone, and through faith, but not faith alone. Ultimately, that’s a false Gospel, and it damns people to hell.

The letter to the Hebrews wants us to be fully devoted to Jesus Christ, and patiently tells us why Jesus deserves our full confidence. We’ve already seen that Jesus is the best and last revelation from God, and that Jesus is Lord and God.

This morning’s passage tells us that Jesus is a superior Savior and High Priest.

Hebrews 1:3–4 NASB95

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

Jesus made purification for sins

We begin with the truth that Jesus Christ made purification for sins. He washed them away by His blood; He removed them from His people, by making atonement through His cross.

Under the Law, atonement required frequent and repeated offerings. With only one or two exceptions, such as the birth of a firstborn, every offering was intended to be offered repeatedly by a man or woman through his or her life. The entire Levitical system of sacrifices was a means of being accepted by God. It lasted a lifetime, from the onset of adulthood to death.

The Gospel called upon Jews and Gentiles alike to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ.

For Jews, this meant turning away from the Law, the Levitical sacrifices, the priesthood, and the Temple. It meant turning away from the religion of their parents and grandparents. It meant turning away from the very foundation of their cultural identity, the only means they had ever known of being reconciled to God and saved from sin.

This was a huge issue, and Jesus acknowledged as much. He said,

Matthew 10:34–36 NASB95

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.

He tells us the truth: it is incredibly costly and difficult to turn away from one’s own history and culture and religious traditions to follow Him.

Nevertheless, Jesus didn’t apologize for this, and instead called for absolute loyalty to His claims as Lord and Savior:

Matthew 10:37–39 NASB95

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Jesus makes it clear that this is a life and death issue: eternal life versus eternal hell, and He doesn’t mince words. It’s a hard thing He requires of His people.

Through the Scriptures and the Gospel, Jesus says exactly the same thing to people today. They must walk away from their religion. They must give up everything they have ever done to be right with God. They must stop doing the things that their parents and grandparents taught as tradition. They must stop doing the things they think make them good enough to please God or go to heaven. None of those things can help them, and in fact will condemn them.

Jesus commands; that’s His right, because of His Lordship.

We can only repeat His words, and urge all to respond in faith.

Repent of your sins, turn away from dead religion and good works, and follow Jesus Christ. Stop trusting in yourself, in your church, and your culture, and put every ounce of your faith and hope in Christ.

We can understand that no one easily walks away from their culture and traditions. No one casually abandons the teachings of their parents and grandparents.

The Jew reading the letter to the Hebrews would have wanted to know, “Is there any evidence that Jesus actually accomplished what He and His apostles claim?”

Yes, there is evidence. It might not sound like much to us Gentiles, but to Jews it was a stunning statement. It’s found in Hebrews 1:3:

Jesus sat down.

Priests never sat down

Under the Old Covenant sacrificial system, priests never sat down.

Israel’s worship first took place in a temporary structure called the Tabernacle. Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem, which was largely destroyed by the Babylonians when they took the kingdom of Judah captive. The exiles rebuilt the Temple when they returned, and the first king Herod, also known as Herod the Great, began a long-term building project to expand the Temple Mount and the structures themselves. That building project continued almost until the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman empire. But the central features of the Tabernacle commanded by God in Exodus, and the Temple Jesus and His apostles worshiped in, were the same.

The Courtyard

In the courtyard was the bronze altar, used for sacrifices, and the implements necessary for the altar: pails, forks, firepans, and gratings.

The courtyard also held the bronze laver, a large basin of water used by the priests to wash their hands and feet before approaching the altar.

The Holy Place

The holy place – the front portion of the sanctuary – contained the table of showbread, the golden lampstand, and the altar of incense and its utensils.

The Holy of Holies

A thick veil separated the holy place from the holy of holies, which held only the ark of the covenant.

And that’s it. Those are the items God commanded to be built and placed in the Tabernacle and Temple.

No instructions were given for seating of any kind. There were no chairs, and no benches.

Priests never sat down, because their work was never done.

Their duties began before daylight, continued through the day, and were not complete until after dark. Sacrifices of all sorts were offered: sin offerings, guilt offerings, burnt offerings, peace offerings, wave offerings, drink offerings.

These sacrifices and offerings went on day after day. Many priests served in the Temple; during major feasts there were as many as 500 present and serving. The Temple bustled with activity all day, every day, beginning before daylight, and not ending until after nightfall.

The work of the priests was never done, and so, they never sat down. There was always another offering to make, always another penitent coming with a sacrifice to God.

So the recipients of this letter are immediately faced with a startling statement:

After Jesus made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Jesus sat down

Why?

Because His work was done. He Himself said on the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

The Bible never speaks of Jesus’ sacrifice as an ongoing event. It describes it as a historical event that took place, was completed, and will never be repeated. Jesus will never again die. He will never again offer Himself for sin. He will never make another sacrifice for sin. He will never again die for sinners.

It’s not just that Jesus did all that HE was going to do. He did all that ever needed to be done. Not only did He perfectly finish HIS work, He finished the ENTIRE work of saving sinners. The whole plan of God was brought to a close in Christ’s death and resurrection.

If Jesus’ death and resurrection was not sufficient to satisfy God’s wrath and take away sins, then there is no hope for anyone. All humanity will be imprisoned in hell for all eternity.

But because Jesus did His work perfectly, every single one of His people will be saved. None will be lost.

The fact that Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high is evidence that His work was fully and perfectly accomplished.

Jesus finished HIS work.

Jesus also finished THE work.

He finished the work the Father gave Him to do.

And, He finished the entire job of securing salvation for the elect.

And so Jesus sat down, His work of atonement complete. In His incarnation, the Son of God became lower than the angels, but with His death and resurrection, He was exalted to the highest possible place. God the Father declared Him to be infinitely better than the angels, as much better than the angels as His name is more glorious than theirs.

Now He sits in Lordship at the right hand of God the Father.

He hasn’t retired; His seat is not an easy chair.

Neither is He locked away in some penthouse suite, waiting for others to finish the work.

No, from His position of Lordship and authority, He continues to intercede for every one of His people, praying for us without ceasing.

So the call made to Jews to abandon leave everything behind for the sake of Christ only makes sense. The same call is made to Gentiles, and only makes sense for them as well.

The apostle Paul proclaimed to the Greeks in Athens,

Acts 17:30–31 NASB95

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

God is still declaring that all men and women everywhere should repent of their sins and false beliefs, and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone.

We can believe in Him because He is the Savior.

We must believe in Him because He is the Lord.

Many today believe that God is pleased when they try to obey His Law. But God Himself says in His Word that no one is saved by keeping the Law. The Law was given to reveal sin, not to make anyone righteous.

Many today believe that God is pleased when they observe rites and rituals, and that He will accept them because they did a certain thing – or something was done to them. They don’t understand that He Himself condemns those rites and rituals as means of salvation.

Many today believe that God requires sacrifices of one sort or another, that He will not save them unless they try to be good, or carry out certain good works and good deeds. They don’t understand that He Himself condemns all good works as filthy works when it comes to salvation.

And many believe that they must have a human mediator, a priest or a minister or a pastor, someone who will give them assurances. They don’t understand that there is no better priest or mediator or Lord than Jesus Himself.

When we come to the Lord’s table in a few moments, we will be proclaiming that we have abandoned every human hope of heaven, every human good work, every law and ritual and ceremony, and cast ourselves upon the crucified and risen Savior.

As you consider these words, is there anything of the old life and traditions and religion that you are hanging on to? Are you hoping in ANYTHING apart from Jesus Himself to save you and perfect you and make you right with God?

If you are, take this opportunity to pray and lay those things at His feet. Confess the sin of adding to His finished work, the sin of doubting that He could save you all by Himself.

And then come and celebrate what the Lord Jesus did for you!