Who is God the Son?

Introduction

Good morning Echo Church! Happy Father’s Day! For those of you who I haven’t gotten the chance to meet, my name is Jackson.

We are continuing our third sermon in the series on Doctrine.

Last week we briefly touched on the topic of the Trinity and what the means in regards to the unity of the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as One God. We spoke about the distinctions between the Father and the Son, namely that the Father as Source and we touched on the eternal generation of the Son. The specific topic for this morning asks the question - who is God the Son?

Let me read for us our passage this morning and then pray before we start.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 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. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son,

today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son”?

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

7 Of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels winds,

and his ministers a flame of fire.”

8 But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,

the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

9  You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

10 And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

and the heavens are the work of your hands;

11  they will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment,

12  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.”

13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

2 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Pray.

A small group of men huddled together in a boat far from land, cold and wet. Waves crashed their little boat, beating against its sides. The wind raged against the boat, an awesome power of nature threatening to consume them. Untethered and insignificant in the dark water, the boat was tossed too and fro.

And early in the morning, after a night of battling the elements - when it was still dark out - the men saw a figure. A shadow of a man moving - walking - along the water - unaffected by the the laws of physics. The power of the winds and waves they knew - fearsome as it was - but this, this figure terrified them even more. “It’s a ghost!” they cried out as the hairs of their neck stood on its end.

Then a voice - familiar to them as their own - came drifting towards them. “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” This voice beckoned, reassuring, in middle of this storm. Jesus - their Lord.

One of the men in the boat - Peter by name - said immediately, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

And the figure responded “Come.” So Peter jumped out of the boat and began walking towards Jesus. But as he felt the wind against him and watched the waves dip and rise all around him, he began to shift his focus from Jesus and fear overtook him. The dark waters around him became larger than the Jesus in front of him.

And he began to sink into the water. “Lord, save me!” He cried. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him. And he said to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Most of us here are familiar with this story. It demonstrates for us the main point of the passage and of our sermon. The main point is this:

Main Point: We must make the Son and who He is our focus lest we neglect our salvation

In the book of Hebrews, the author constantly reminds his readers that it is imperative for them to stay in the faith by holding fast to the confession they had heard about the Son.

They were facing persecution and pressure from the world. And they believed it would have just been easier to go back to Judaism. They were losing focus on Jesus. Just as Peter looked away from Jesus at the crashing waves, so too they were looking away from Jesus at the persecution.

Just as Peter must have wanted to go back to the sturdier floor of the boat, so too these Christians thought that they could go back to the peace and quiet that Judaism provided them. Both Peter and the Christians in this letter looked away from Jesus and towards something else.

And the author of Hebrews reminds them that what they needed more than anything was to keep their eyes on Jesus.

Friends, as you sit here today, you might not notice you are being tempted to turn away. It might not be crashing waves or outright persecution. But less dramatic events can just as easily cause us to shift our eyes from Jesus and not notice it.

Take this as an example. While we don’t face outright persecution the way that the Christians in this letter faced, we face a sort of fear of persecution.

The world tells us we can’t say certain things. It tells us we are evil for believing truths from God’s Word. And because of that it has shifted many Christian’s focus to politics rather than Jesus. It’s created enough fear that if the world shifted one way or the other - left or right - that some Christians think we are doomed! And so they take refuge in political agendas and believe that they would be safer and happier if a certain political party gains power. And their attention begins to drift.

Even the way the world talks about things has affected us. It’s caused us to react with suspicion towards brothers and sisters in Christ who see things differently than us. Its made us question the motives of other believers in Jesus. There are serious matters that need to be addressed in politics for sure. There are serious issues that a Christian must stand firm on. But for some of us, the enemy is not just Satan anymore but other Christians who hold to the same gospel!

Or maybe its more personal than that - maybe it’s your career. Maybe its your marriage that’s been rocky. Maybe its raising young children or caring for aged parents. We become so focused on what we need to do and who we need to care for and what accomplishments we need to have that we push Jesus to the periphery of sight. We think that we have time for our Bible reading later and church can wait because we have work to do, a family to raise, people to care for. And if we can just secure a certain position at work things would be better for us. If we can just make sure our children are raised right that things would be OK.

The cares of the world seemed to call for our attention more than Jesus.

Church, our hope is not in the world. It’s not in our jobs or our marriages or our children. Our hope is not in political agendas.

We must first, and foremost, keep our focus on Jesus and seek refuge in Him. When things are tough and difficulties call for our attention, our eyes need to be trained on Jesus.

We are a church that is united to each other in Jesus. Supernaturally and eternally united to each other in Christ. Nations will rise and fall but we must hold onto Jesus because it is in Jesus that we have our eternal hope.

The author of Hebrews says, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Church, may we never be found drifting from the centrality of Jesus Christ - no matter what difficulty comes our way!

Let me give us a map of where we are going.

In focusing on who the Son is, we will examine his superiority. The author argues that the Son is final and greatest self-revelation of God because He is God Himself. In doing so, the author argues that the Son is:

The Final Prophet

The Greatest High Priest and Finished Sacrifice

The Promised Eternal King

The author’s main means of persuasion here is to point out that Jesus is far greater than anyone they could imagine. He’s far more than their previous religion. He’s far greater than their suffering. “Don’t lose your focus on Jesus!” the author says. “He’s the One who is far greater, far more powerful, far more exalted, far more able than any other. Whether prophets, priests, or kings - the Son has surpassed them all in glory! He is God’s final and full self-revelation.”

Let’s start with point number one:

Point 1: The Son is the Final Prophet

What is a prophet? The word prophet means “a proclaimer or expounder of divine matters or concerns that could not ordinarily be known except by special revelation.” A prophet makes known what God wants him or her to make known that otherwise couldn’t be known.

The Final Word from God

Look in your Bibles at verse 1, “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...”

The point is pretty self-explanatory. The Son is the last word from God.

The author accomplishes this argument by making several contrasts that culminate in the Son being the definitive word.

First, we see the contrast between “long ago” and “in these last days.”

God has been speaking from the very beginning. He has been disclosing himself - revealing himself - to his people from the Garden of Eden. But those days were former days - days long ago. Now, we are in the “last days.”

That statement may strike you as odd. In what way are we in the last days? It’s been 2000 years since the book of Hebrews was written. It’s been 2000 years since Jesus lived on earth. How is it that we are in the “last days.”

A way that’s been helpful for me is to think of a novel. Normally you get to the “last part” of a novel somewhere towards the last part of the book. But you usually can tell, based on the way the story is wrapping up that the novel is about to end.

Now there’s a specific book I have in mind that’s extremely long. Actually, the entire book series is long. And usually, the ending for his books could last 200 pages. 200 pages is the length of some novels, right?

But when you read his book you can tell when it hits a certain point in the story that the book is going to start wrapping up. It might take awhile to wrap up, but its still wrapping up. It’s not how many pages are left so much as where we are located in the grand scheme of the narrative that indicates whether or not you’re at the ending of the book.

For the history of the world, it reached its culmination 2000 years ago so that when we speak of anything that happened after that point in history, it is the conclusion. It is the end of the story. It is the “last days.”

Next, we also see a contrast betwen “our fathers” and “us.” Here the author is saying that God had spoken to them - the fathers - in time past. But now he is speaking directly to us. This is applicable for you today, friends. You are in the last days. You are at the conclusion of the story. You are the subject to whom God has spoken to through His Son.

God partially spoke - bits and pieces - through the prophets to the fathers. But then he spoke finally, definitively, completely by his Son to us.

The responsibility and privilege we have is serious, friends. God spoke in bits and pieces before - but now he has spoke finally and fully in Jesus. That means that what he’s revealed in Jesus is everything He desires to be revealed. And that means that ignorance is not an excuse!

That means as you come face to face with the question of who God is, you are coming face to face with a question in which He’s answered finally and definitively. He’s answered the question of who He is in the Son. You have a choice, friend, whether to receive or reject God’s revelation of Himself.

The Son, Jesus Christ, is the final, authoritative, complete, and definitive revelation of God.

Just so I’m clear because I got this question as I was talking to some about this passage, I am not arguing for cessationism. The second half of verse 3 and verse 4 in chapter 2 says:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Clearly, the author is not saying only read the Red Letters in your Bibles.

What he’s saying, rather, is that in the Son’s proclamation of Himself through his life and ministry and work and death and resurrection - He has definitively revealed who He is. So that even as Paul and Peter and James and John and Mark and all these other writers are writing Scripture - writing God’s Word - they were testifying to the definitive, conclusive revelation of God in the Son.

It is no longer Abraham at Moriah, or Joseph’s providing for famine or Moses bringing the people from Egypt, or Naomi’s childlessness turned to blessing in Obed or David’s vindication against Saul. No more Isaiah prophesying of a future servant of the Lord. Those were bits and parts - types and shadows.

It is once for all Jesus Christ the Son revealing the Father. Jesus Himself is the final Word from God. He is it. There is nothing more to say than what He has revealed. No more revelation. There is only the culmination of all things in Jesus.

But how is it that the Son is the One who reveals God definitively? What makes the Son the final revelation of God?

Exact Imprint of God

Look with me at verse 3. The author states of the Son, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.”

The Son is said to be the radiance of the glory of God. He is what shines forth from the source. We discussed briefly about this last last week in talking about the Father and the Son. I called it eternal generation. Another way to say it is that the Father eternally begets the Son. The Father is the source and the Son is eternally begotten from the Father. But that doesn’t make the Son less than the Father.

The old Nicene Creed from the fourth century says it this way:

And [I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-Begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light; True God of True God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father,

Light of light. Here the creed is commenting on this concept of the Son being the radiance of the glory of God. If God is light and his glory radiates forth, the Son is that light radiance.

And just so we don’t get it wrong, the author of Hebrews tells us the Son is “the exact imprint of the Father’s nature.” He doesn’t distort God’s nature. The Son is the exact imprint. All of who God is, the Son is.

The author is saying the Father is invisible but the Son is His visible revelation. And who can reveal God better than God?

The Son is God and and therefore He reveals God fully.

John 1:18 says it this way, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

The NASB says, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

The CSB says, “No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.”

Another great text that shows us this is in John 14:8:

English Standard Version Chapter 14

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

No one has ever seen God. But God the Son, the radiance of His glory and the exact imprint of His nature, He has revealed Him.

The Son reveals the Father so that to look upon the Son is to know the Father. The Son reveals what is hidden in a way that transcends any former prophet. The Son is the Final Prophet because when you behold the Son, you behold the beauty and majesty of God Himself.

There are so many people today who describe themselves spiritual but not “religious.” There are so many people today who want to see Jesus as a great spiritual leader but not accept what he actually says - which is that He is God. That he reveals who God truly is.

If you’re here this morning and you are feeling overwhelmed with life - there are just things going on left and right that seems to be calling your attention away from Jesus, don’t lose focus. In Jesus, God has revealed Himself. That means this book - that speaks of Jesus and testifies of Him - we need to keep it central.

I was having a conversation with a Christian counselor and he told me that while praying and reading the Bible is not a magic cure - that those he counsels who are really struggling are almost always not reading their Bibles and praying. And once he gets them to read and pray, there’s an immediate reorientation of the heart.

The difficulties don’t stop. The waves are still crashing around us. But if our focus is on Jesus, He sustains us. He keeps us standing on the water. He upholds the universe by the word of his power - he can uphold you. In looking to Him you will know the love of God for sinners.

At the same time, He is not a benign spiritual leader. He doesn’t just go around speaking about love for neighbor. He also speaks about God’s wrath towards sinners. He speaks about His authority and the need to submit to Him. He speaks about sin and the penalty of sin.

He speaks of a place where - because of your sins - we will suffer for an eternity. Where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Where the fire will not stop. Jesus reveals God fully and in that revelation he tells us that our sins deserve eternal punishment.

But friends, he also offers good news. My point number two is this:

Point 2: Jesus is the Finished Sacrifice and Greatest High Priest

First let’s look at the second half of verse 3 and verse 4 and discuss his finished sacrifice.

Finished Sacrifice

Verse 4 states, “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

Jesus made purification for sins and sat down. This seems almost a throwaway line. It gives us a time reference of when Jesus sits down at the right hand of God. It seems like that’s all it does is tell us when the actual action happens. But this piece information is crucial.

It is not merely that he happened to sit down after he made purification for sins as if they’re unrelated events. Rather, the very fact that he had finished making purification for sins is the reasons he is able to sit down at the Right Hand of God. It is at Jesus’ death on the cross where he paid for sins, and then His resurrection and ascension into heaven that He is able to sit down at the right hand of God because His work was finished! It was done! It was completed!

Jesus made purification for sins by dying as a sacrifice and then presenting Himself as that sacrifice. He died as a sacrifice for sinners. And it was a once for all sacrifice so that it never had to be repeated. He died and offered Himself to God once for all.

1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous so that he might bring us to God...”

Romans 6:10 states, “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but life he lies he lives to God.”

Or Hebrews 10:11-14:

English Standard Version Chapter 10

11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Christ died once and rose again - never to die again. He was slaughtered as a sacrificial lamb but the lamb didn’t stay dead. Jesus Christ died as an all sufficient sacrifice for those He redeemed so that no more sacrifices needed to happen. He was the finished sacrifice! He offered Himself as sacrifice once and never had to do it again.

Hebrews 10 there says that every priest stands daily at his service but Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice. One time - and then he sat down.

Gospel Transition

Friend, Jesus tells you and me that if we continue down the path we are in without Him that we are headed for eternal destruction. We are headed to eternal punishment for our sins. The fullest revelation of God - God the Son Himself - tells us that left on our own we will be punished!

That is the biggest problem that any of us have. It’s the biggest problem the entire world has.

Our biggest problem is not where our nation is headed politically or where other Christians differ than us on this or that topic. The biggest problem for you and me - the biggest problem my neighbor has and your coworker has - is that outside of Jesus they are headed straight towards hell.

Our biggest problem is not the raising gas prices or the inflation rate. It is not our standard of living going down and costing more to buy a house. It’s not even that men are calling themselves women! Those are all big issues that should be addressed!

But our biggest problem is eternal judgment for sins against a holy God! Your unbelieving neighbor needs more than anything else the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s where our focus and energy should be spent - beholding Jesus and helping others to behold Him.

Because the holy God took upon Himself death and became the slaughtered lamb. He became the finished sacrifice so that if you would put our faith in Him yours sins would be wiped clean!

If you’re here today and you want to know what lies at the very heart of Christianity - this lies at the very heart of Christianity. It is the message that it was Jesus, the sinless, perfect, obedient Son who died to purify sinners so that we may come to God. That is the very heart of the Christian message.

It is on Jesus’ finished work and only on Jesus’ finished work of purifying sins through His death and resurrection that we can be saved! That’s the good news I want you to hear this morning. That’s the gospel message the unites us as a church. That’s the heart beat of Christianity.

If you don’t believe in Him, I want to ask you - would you see the beautiful, perfect lamb who died in the place of sinners so that they wouldn’t have to suffer eternal punishment for their sins? Would you gaze upon Jesus as the one who, though He was in every way equal with God condescended so that He would die suffocating in his own blood so that you could be saved from suffocating in our own blood for eternity if you believed in Him?

The very person who reveals God’s wrath was the very person who died to appease that wrath. Friend, Jesus, God Himself, stooped down to shed his blood to purify your sins. He’s done it. How can we not gladly embrace such mercy?

Guys I had written a whole section on why the author compares Jesus to angels here but want to make we keep our focus here. The reason that you will not find refuge in anything or anyone else is because no one else can do what Jesus can do. No one else can solve your biggest problem. And that is the problem of sin and just judgment.

And the author of Hebrews tells us in chapter 2 verse 3, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

Christian - do not neglect your salvation. Don’t look to the world for your refuge - run to Jesus Christ who died as a substitute on your behalf and who has once for all paid for your sins.

My third and final point is this:

Point 3: The Son is the Promised Eternal King

Long ago God had promised to David that David would always have a son to sit on the throne. David’s throne was to be an everlasting throne. And the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the promised eternal King - the very one God had promised David.

Let’s look at verses 5-6:

Son of God

English Standard Version Chapter 1

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son,

today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son”?

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Notice the word “for” at the beginning of the verse 5. Verse 4 tells us Jesus has received a name more excellent than theirs. The for here connects verse 4 with 5. In verse 4 we are told that the Son had been given a name more excellent than the name the angels have. And the name that Jesus was given is “Son.”

It can get a bit confusing here but the Father telling the Son “today I have begotten you” is not speaking about eternal generation.

In this particular instance, the author is speaking about Jesus’ resurrection and enthronement. Again, at end of verse 3 states, “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” To sit down at the right hand signifies power, significance, and triumph. It was at the resurrection and ascension Jesus was declared “Son.”

Romans 1:3-4 says that the gospel, “[concerns] his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead...”

To be made a son here is to be crowned King. This is the very context of Psalm 2 which is being quoted here by the author. Turn with me there. Psalm 2.

In the first 3 verses of the Psalm, the nations are wicked and plotting against God and David, God’s anointed. And starting in verse 4, the psalmist writes,

English Standard Version Psalm 2

He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

5  Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6  “As for me, I have set my King

on Zion, my holy hill.”

7  I will tell of the decree:

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

8  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession.

9  You shall break them with a rod of iron

and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

God sets his king and calls him “Son.” And he tells the king in verse 8, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”

And we see here in Hebrews chapter 1 and the second half of verse 2, “his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things.” The Son, the one who is appointed the air of all things, is declared “king” at his resurrection and ascension. And therefore, as “king” he inherits all things!

But what’s incredible is that he was the one through whom everything was created. Everything that was ever created was made through the Son! It rightfully belongs to the Son because the Son is the creator of universe!

John says it this way. He calls the Son the Word and he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Or take Paul in the letter to the Colossians, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

The picture here is clear - all things were made through the Son. Everything - from heaven to earth, things visible and invisible - every possible thing that was ever created was created through Jesus.

Notice too that the Colossians passage also states that all things were created for him. This is consistent with what Hebrews is saying, which is that the Son is the heir of all things. Everything was made for the Son to possess.

As God, the Son sits upon the throne never to vacate it. And the author specifically makes it a point to argue this.

In verse 6, we are told that the Father says of the Son when he brought “the firstborn into the world” - “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Two things to note about this.

Firstly, the reference "Let all God’s angels worship him” is a reference to either Psalm 97 and Deuteronomy 32:43. In either case, those two passages were about God Himself. It is God who is to object of worship in both of those references. But here, the author uses that passage and applies it to the Son as the one to be worshiped. What was written for Yahweh is attributed to Jesus. This clearly indicates Jesus’ divinity. He is Yahweh!

Second, you may be wondering what the author means then to say “when he [the Father] brings the firstborn into the world.”

The reference bringing the “firstborn” here is not talking about God creating the Son. Again, this is in reference to Jesus’ resurrection. The firstborn language should bring to mind the way God spoke of Israel. For example, in Exodus 4:22, we are told that God spoke to Moses saying, “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son...”

The author is saying that Jesus is the firstborn son par excellence. Where Israel, as God’s firstborn, was to rule and reign in the Promised Land in such a way as to display God’s glory and bring many to Himself, they failed. Jesus Christ, the true firstborn Son will rule and reign the way Israel never could.

Then look with me at verse 8. The Father says of the Son, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” Jesus here is clearly being called “God” by the Father. And it is because he is God that his throne is eternal. It is “forever and ever.”

How about verse 10. Look at verse 10:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,

and the heavens are the work of your hands;

11  they will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment,

12  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.”

The original Psalm is Psalm 102:25-27. The psalmist wrote this about Yahweh. In the Psalm, he praises Yahweh and says “Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise Yahweh!” and then it is in reference to Yahweh that he says, “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens the work of your hands.”

Here, this very psalm attributed to Yahweh is attributed to Jesus again. The Son is the one who has laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of his hands! He will remain forever! His years have no end!”

Jesus is God Himself and therefore he fulfills the promise made to David that forever there would be a king on the throne of David. It will be Jesus forever, eternally as the reigning, ruling Davidic King.

That means that he rules and reigns over your life, Christian. He is in control - He is the sustainer of the universe and the creator of everything. Whether wind, waves, or persecution - there is nothing that is not under his control. Where the world is headed - that’s within His control.

God promised David thousands of years before that He would set a son on David’s throne. And He did - he set His Son on David’s throne. God eternal sits upon a throne to rule and reign with justice and righteousness. We have nothing to fear! What we need to do is draw near to him and worship Him!

Conclusion

The author of Hebrews, in addressing the pressure of these Christians to turn their focus away from Jesus and back to their old lifestyle tells them to refocus their attention. He tells them to pay closer attention to the Son who is the Final Prophet, Finished Sacrifice, Greatest High Priest, and the Eternal King. Even more than that and what underlies each of those identities is that the Son is God Himself. He is the Final revealer of God because He is God. He is the finished sacrifice for sins because He is God Himself dying for sinners.

There is no one else worthy of our focus and our worship and our adoration that God. So I ask you today, church, as we face the torrent of the secular world crashing into our lives - will you keep your eyes on Him? Will you look to Him as your only security in a world that’s fading away?

The world “will perish, but Jesus remain. It will all wear out like a garment, like a robe Jesus will roll them up. But Jesus is the same and His years will have no end!”

When we all look to Jesus together, we are unified even when we disagree. When we turn our eyes away, when we allow our focus to shift from the Son of God, the purifier of our sins, the great accomplisher of our salvation - we will drift away from each other and from God. We will begin to put our trust in things that will perish, rather than the One who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Our security is Jesus Christ. Our focus needs to be Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.