God's Revelation Through The Son

1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

God speaking into our lives, drawing us to himself, and drawing others in through our lives are not new concepts for us.

I was talking with someone this week specifically about this.

I have always found it interesting how subjective it seems, hearing from God.

What I mean is that God speaks to us in different ways.

But this isn’t new, is it?

That is exactly what the author of Hebrews is saying.

The difficulty that I think a lot of people have with it is a trust issue.

Not so much with God, but with each other.

Unfortunately, there are so many that throw this phrase around in order to get what they want.

They use it to manipulate people and systems for their benefit.

After all, if someone tells you that “God said...”, what do you say to that?

I saw a post a while back that I made a little over a decade ago when our church was first discovering what it meant to abide in Christ.

I said something like “hearing God’s voice and doing what He says.”

Someone commented by saying that a preacher once told him that if you want to hear God speaking, just read the Bible out loud.

Another friend ended the feed by saying, “aw, all those poor blind and mute people...”

What the author is reminding the church is that God has made it his practice to speak to his people.

That characteristic was again proven in the life of Jesus.

We are going to look at verses 3-4 today which will address the fact that Jesus is God’s son and an exact representation of God.

Jesus is God.

The word “radiance” in verse three can also be defined as reflection.

For those that were denying that Jesus was the messiah, we see the argument that not only is he the son, but he is exactly like God in every way.

We see the argument here that Jesus is not just like God, but in fact, is the exact expression of God.

Story of my friend falling asleep in high school and waking up with the “ditto” copy stuck to his forehead. the ink transferred to his face.

If Jesus is the exact image of God, why is it that many struggle or even refuse to believe?

Let’s look at one of our cross-references.

Warning, we are about to chase a rabbit trail.

2 Corinthians 4:4 CSB

4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Okay, some are blinded by the “god of this age”, but who or what is that?

We know it isn’t Yahweh because it is a little “g” god.

Let’s follow the cross-reference in 2 Cor 4:4 to where this same phrase is used elsewhere in scripture.

Luke 16:1–8 CSB

1 Now he said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who received an accusation that his manager was squandering his possessions. 2 So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’ 3 “Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I’ll do so that when I’m removed from management, people will welcome me into their homes.’ 5 “So he summoned each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he asked the first one. 6 “ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he said. “ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’ 7 “Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe?’ “ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ he said. “ ‘Take your invoice,’ he told him, ‘and write eighty.’ 8 “The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.

break down this story

We see in this parable that Jesus is describing a man that is about to lose his job for being irresponsible.

Rather than being honest about his performance, he chooses to continue down the path that leads him to be fired in the first place.

The boss in this story then praises the manager because he acted “shrewdly”.

We or I at least, don’t use that word very often.

It means to show sharp powers of judgment or to be piercingly cold.

This parable is the lead-in to Jesus' teaching on our inability to serve two masters.

We can serve God or money, but not both.

Jesus is making a clear distinction between those that are controlled by their earthly pursuits versus those that are motivated by their love for God.

Now to run this backward from where we started.

The “of this age” is the same phrasing in the 2 Cor. passage and Luke.

Both passages are describing people that are ruled by the passions of this world.

So, when it says in 2 Cor 4:4 that ...

2 Corinthians 4:4 CSB

4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The question that we started this little journey was why is it that some don’t believe?

We are blinded by all the things that this world has to offer.

We are born thinking of ourselves and that trend continues until Jesus shows us that there is someone that is greater than we are.

By telling our stories of what God is doing in our lives, we are helping others to see the bigness of God.

We see God’s greatness in our lives.

How did God get your attention and show you that you needed him?

We get to see Jesus reign over the things in our lives that seem insurmountable.

Jesus sustains all things.

It was a common Jewish belief that God held the whole world in the cup of his hands.

I didn’t know this until I was studying this week.

Consider what that tells us about how great God is.

Cup your hands together.

Look at them.

Consider their volume.

This may just be a country kid thing, but have you ever been really thirsty and tried to drink from your hands?

It takes a number of handfuls to quench that thirst.

This gives tangible experience as to the volume of your hands.

Now, keep looking at your hands and hear the words of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:12–26 CSB

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who gave him counsel? 14 Who did he consult? Who gave him understanding and taught him the paths of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; he lifts up the islands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are considered by him as empty nothingness. 18 With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him? 19 An idol?—something that a smelter casts and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver chains for? 20 A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over. 21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth? 22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He reduces princes to nothing and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland. 24 They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble. 25 “To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. 26 Look up and see! Who created these? He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing.

God is so much bigger than we can even imagine.

This is a great way of us trying to quantify His majesty, but it still falls short.

Another way we get to see His might is through His sustaining work in our lives.

Church Activity: Say with enthusiasm.

Say Amen if you have experienced God’s sustaining activity in your life!

…if God has carried you through sickness!

…if God has walked with you through job issues!

…if God has comforted you through loss!

…if God has shown you his mercy and grace!

…if God has sustained you through foster care!

We have so many things that God is doing in our lives that allow us to testify that Jesus “sustains all things by his powerful word”!

How has God sustained you?

Jesus sacrificed himself on our behalf.

Jesus, God made flesh, came to live as we cannot.

1 Peter 1:18–19 CSB

18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

We inherited sin and cannot rid ourselves of it in any way.

But Jesus, the perfect, spotless lamb, came and lived completely obedient to the father, and never sinning.

He came to be the sacrifice that is required in order for us to make right before God.

Hebrews 1:3 CSB

Jesus made us pure by living a perfect life and giving himself up to death on the cross.

The author here is pointing back to the Mosaic law.

The big ten that was given on Mt. Sinai.

If you will remember from our study of Exodus, God gave the Hebrew people the law to set them apart from all other nations.

They also served to show the people their need for God.

The law had no power to purify anyone.

All it could do was show that all people were unclean.

If you read through Numbers, Leviticus, or the Chronicles, you see all the rituals that were put in place in order to purify God’s people.

Sacrifices needed to be made.

Blood had to be shed in order to atone for the sin of the people.

For generations, this process went on, but like so many other things that get repeated over and over again, the meaning and the message were lost.

God’s plan was to send Jesus, to be the final sacrifice.

His death and shedding of his blood would cover all people.

This was necessary so that we could be forgiven.

Jesus’ sacrifice had been prophesied nearly 700 years prior.

Isaiah 53:5–9 CSB

5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.

The author of Hebrews is making this connection in his opening statement.

His purpose was to draw attention to the fact that God had long ago promised that Jesus would come.

He closes this thought by reminding the church that after that work was done, he sat down at the place of honor, next to God.

Jesus sits on his throne in Heaven.

Psalm 110:1 CSB

1 This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

This passage from Psalms is used or alluded to twenty-two times in the New Testament.

Ps 110:1 supports Jesus’ Messiahship, vindication (through resurrection and exaltation), role as judge, lordship, and his intercession on behalf of believers.

Think about for a moment, how big of a deal this is.

We testify of the work of Jesus in our lives.

The one who holds all of creation in the cup of his hands regards our trivial lives as significant.

We are so significant to Jesus that he gave up his seat in heaven to come to earth, live as a man, die a gruesome death, and raise himself to life again.

All of this was so that he could fix the brokenness that our sin brings into the world.

Jesus loves us so much that he gave up all to save us.

After giving all, he was raised back up and placed on his throne in heaven.

Jesus sits in the place of honor because he is worthy of all honor.

He accomplishes what we cannot.

He loves as we cannot.

I want to close today with a passage from Colossians that echoes this same message from verse 3.

Colossians 1:15–20 CSB

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Jesus is God the creator.

He is the sustainer of all things.

He gave all that up to save us from ourselves.

He has been raised again to his place of honor.

The stories of his work in our lives tell the story of an incredibly great God that loves his creation.