The Language of a Son
Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted
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1 Throughout our history God has spoken to our ancestors by his prophets in many different ways. The revelation he gave them was only a fragment at a time, building one truth upon another. 2 But to us living in these last days, God now speaks to us openly in the language of a Son, the appointed Heir of everything, for through him God created the panorama of all things and all time.
Remember that Paul’s audience were the Hebrews who believed in Jesus Christ, which is why he says, “Throughout our history...” But the content of Hebrews is just as relevant today and to those who aren’t Jewish as it was back then.
One thing I want to point out before we move on is notice he said, “But to us living in these LAST DAYS...” This phrase “last days” was used a lot by Old Testament prophets. In the New Testament is refers to the time from Pentecost until His Second Coming. If they thought back then was the last days then we must be living in the last of the last days!
The word “spoken” is very interesting. It’s lalo in the Greek and means “to talk at random, as contrasted with lego, which involves the intellectual part of man, his reason.” This is not saying that God spoke without reason, but the way He spoke is that He’d reveal one piece and then another like puzzle pieces that could SEEM random but were actually revealing His ways progressively. Listen to the Passion commentary on this:
The Greek is “God spoke in different times in different parts.” That is, he reveals one piece and then another, like pieces of a puzzle, with one piece complementing the other. The Aramaic can be translated “God spoke to our ancestors by all methods and at any price” or “in every way, shape, and form.” That is, by sample and by example God reveals his ways progressively, building on previous understandings, leading us into Christ’s fullness.
Lalo can also means “to just talk.” And we see that now God has spoken to us “by His Son.” Jesus is a collection of all the Word spoken through the prophets. You could almost say that all of the prophetic words spoken about the Lord by His holy prophets culminated in the Word becoming flesh, Jesus the God Man. I love how the Passion phrases it in its notes: “We speak in English; God speaks in “Son,” for Jesus is the language of God.” He has spoken openly through Jesus Christ. Jesus said that if you see Him, you see the Father. He is the DIVINE EXPRESSION (LOGOS) OF GOD!
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Testimony is interesting. You can’t have a testimony unless you’re first a witness. But here it refers to “the announcement of the gospel, the apostolic preaching of Christ as determined by the Apostle’s testimony.” And that testimony has been written in our Bibles! Paul said that He preaches Christ in all wisdom (Col. 1:28). So should we.
Spirit is pneuma in the Greek for breath, implying that apostolic preaching is God-breathed or inspired. We know this because all scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). And prophecy is “foretelling of future events" but also “revelations” and “witness.” The essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness of Jesus Christ and who He is as outlined in the apostolic doctrine. When you preach Christ (inspired utterance), you’re creating a “do it again” opportunity for others to experience the same Jesus you experience whether in salvation, healing, prosperity, etc! This is why it’s crucial you truly know the Word both as a Person and as doctrine.
Jesus is the Language of God.
And through Him, God created the “panorama of all things” meaning “the complete period of all existence.” Jesus is the beginning and the end. He is the sum of all things.
Appointed means “to assign someone to a particular task, function, or role.” He has been assigned the role of inheriting ALL THINGS. Why? Because He humbled Himself even to the point of death on the cross. He put His complete trust in the Father to raise Him from the dead; therefore, Father has put His complete trust in Him and assigned Him as HEIR of the “totality of” all things! All things and all time!
3 The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—his mirror image! He holds the universe together and expands it by the mighty power of his spoken word. He accomplished for us the complete cleansing of sins, and then took his seat on the highest throne at the right hand of the majestic One.
Jesus is the “out-shining” and the “image of His glory.” When you think about John 17:20-24 where He prayed for us that would “believe in [Him] through their word,” He said, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.”
27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ in us is the hope or expectation of glory. That’s why being born again is so key because without being born again, one does not have the glory! We have ALL sinned and fallen short of the GLORY of God. Jesus BECAME SIN SO THAT THE WRATH OF GOD TOWARD SIN WOULD FALL UPON HIM SO THAT WE WOULD THEN HAVE HIS GLORY IN HIS IMAGE WITHIN US! This tells us that unity isn’t organization; unity is spiritual meaning our unity should be in the glory of God within us because Jesus gave us His glory! THE PERSON OF JESUS IS THE GLORY OF GOD! When you move to principles minus Person, you are now outside the unification that only comes through the glory. But listen to verse 24.
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
The glory is tied to His love. Because God so LOVED the world, He gave His only begotten Son. Love is the source, the motivator. Because God so loved the world, He sent His Son to become sin for us so that He could take upon Himself the wrath we deserved. He did so in complete faith knowing that the Father would raise Him from the dead. If God had stopped there, there would only be forgiveness not transformation. The RESURRECTION OF JESUS is the power for transformation, which is why the cross is the power of God. You can’t access the power without first embracing your cross. And by cross I don’t mean sickness, car wrecks, etc. I mean that you submit your mind, will, and emotions to His and allow the power of God to work inside you!
Father loved Jesus before the genesis of the world because He had already decided to do these things! Jesus is Plan A. There never was a Plan B. What’s crazy is that we can see “the glory” God has given Him through Holy Spirit.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
The Passion states that we have been given the “perfection and authority to be there.” Wow! But HOW do we see the glory?
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
7 Instead, we continually speak of this wonderful wisdom that comes from God, hidden before now in a mystery. It is his secret plan, destined before the ages, to bring us into glory. 8 None of the rulers of this present world order understood it, for if they had, they never would have crucified the Lord of shining glory. 9 This is why the Scriptures say:
Things never discovered or heard of before,
things beyond our ability to imagine —
these are the many things God has in store
for all his lovers.
10 But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things.
God ordained or decided beforehand a secret plan that would BRING US INTO GLORY before the glory was lost! It always been about and will be about restoring the glory of the Lord! Remember that glory is doxa in the Greek and means “to think or suppose.” When referring to His glory, it’s:
The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament 1391. δόξα dóxa
God’s opinion marks the true value of things as they appear to the eternal mind, and God’s favorable opinion is true glory.
The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament 1391. δόξα dóxa
Glory, therefore, is the true apprehension of God or things. The glory of God must mean His unchanging essence. Giving glory to God is ascribing to Him His full recognition. The true glory of man, on the other hand, is the ideal condition in which God created man. This condition was lost in the fall and is recovered through Christ and exists as a real fact in the divine mind. The believer waits for this complete restoration. The glory of God is what He is essentially; the glory of created things including man is what they are meant by God to be, though not yet perfectly attained
Apprehend is “to grasp.” God gave us His UNCHANGING ESSENCE in the Person of Jesus and through the Spirit, we now have His unchanging essence living in us! This is incredible and wonderful beyond words! Let’s read verse 3 again:
3 The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—his mirror image! He holds the universe together and expands it by the mighty power of his spoken word. He accomplished for us the complete cleansing of sins, and then took his seat on the highest throne at the right hand of the majestic One.
Jesus is the EXACT EXPRESSION OF GOD’S TRUE NATURE meaning that HIS NATURE IS NOW INSIDE US, which is why, again, being born again is REQUIRED. You don’t get to heaven by being a “good person.” You get to heaven by being “born again.” And by the way, getting to heaven isn’t the PRIMARY goal of being born again. The primary goal of being born again is to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth destroying the works of the devil just like Jesus did.
Scientists have discovered that the universe is actually expanding not retracting as previously thought. I remember learning that in school. Why? Because God’s word always have “forward motion.” From the moment He said, “Let there be...” He set in motion a forward motion for all of creation!
The word “word” here is rhema meaning His spoken word. Logo is considered His written Word.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
Word here is logos. Jesus is the “eternal expression of the divine intelligence and the disclosure of the divine essence.” Rhema is the “living voice.” The living voice is upholding all of creation. And the living voice is upholding and expanding you and your life! It can be a word from the Bible that the living voice is breathing upon for you or it can be a divine utterance in a thought or prophetic word for you apart from the Bible but also consistent with the Bible.
Purged Our Sins
Purged Our Sins
This is so crucial to understand. In the Passion, it says, “He accomplished for us the complete cleansing of sins.” In the NKJV, it uses the word “purged,” which means “make clean.” Where in the past, sin was covered; ours have been removed. He has made us completely clean. And then made us THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. This is absolutely astounding. Once done, He is seated in the highest place of authority and honor next to our good Father. Jesus was His idea, and He loves you with the exact same love that He loves Jesus!