PRBC Sunday Evening Sermon, September 28, 2008

Hebrews 1 and the Supremacy of Christ

To the book of Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1 continuing our study from this morning. The book of Hebrews chapter 1. This morning we noted the command of God to grow the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who is our Lord Jesus Christ? How can we grow in the knowledge of him? Well we do so by looking of course to his word. And as we noted this morning we have at the beginning of the book of Hebrews a description of who our Lord and Savior is.

We saw that this entire book is an argument for the supremacy of Christ. It is an argument being written to people who are in danger of moving away from a commitment to Jesus Christ. There is great pressure being put upon them to go back to the old ways.

To deny that Jesus was the promised one. To deny that he was the Messiah and especially to deny that his death upon Calvary's cross is the perfect and final satisfaction for sin. To go back to the temple to offer sacrifice and in so doing spit upon the name of Christ.

To curse his name. We know historically that this did take place. There are those who gave in under the pressure that was placed upon them. So we have this epistle and its purpose is to demonstrate there is nothing to go back to.

There is nothing for all has been fulfilled. In fact the argument is if you really believe what the Jewish scriptures said then you can't go back. Because they point you to a fulfillment and that fulfillment has come in Christ.

It is a sad thing to consider the Jewish people to this day. Sad in the sense that so many bear the name but have no belief as these ancient Jewish people had that God had spoken to the fathers by the prophet.

There are a few things I suppose about the only thing sadder to me than liberal Judaism is liberal Christianity. Both bear a name that begins with the idea that God has spoken. He has revealed his truth.

And yet both liberal Judaism and liberal Christianity really deny that God has spoken. That is the fundamental difference between us. One might well identify them as entire religions in themselves because they are so different than those of us who believe that God has in fact spoken.

We saw this morning that that was the starting point of the argument. God has spoken but now he has spoken in these last days with finality. Whereas before he had spoken incompletely at various times and various places now in these last days he has spoken by his son.

And then we have the description in the brief time we have I will probably have to hurry too much just to work through the next verse or so. Because this is so rich and so deep in its description of Christ.

Christ Appointed Heir and Creator of All Things

But with the Lord's help let's look at this description that is given to us. First of all the son is described as the one who has been appointed heir of all things. Appointed heir of all things and immediately you might go well one who is appointed as an heir that is a secondary individual.

Is this referring to heir of all things because of what he has done in coming into human flesh? Or is this another description of Christ? Well you will see and it truly is one of the beauties of this text.

You will see in this text both the deity of Christ his exalted status and his work as creator and as redeemer all tied together. And this sometimes causes us a little bit of a struggle because in our thinking we like to separate things out and put things in charts and graphs.

And in a very western way of thinking we like to keep everything in a nice neat order. But the reality is one of such glorious status as Christ cannot be placed upon a chart or a graph. We were somewhat joking a little bit so with Brother Boyles before the service he fixed the door of the pastor's office.

And I said what would the world do without engineers? Well the problem is you can't really use engineering thinking with the scriptures all the time. It would be nice to be able to just lay things out sort of like in systematic theology but it doesn't work this way in the scriptures.

And so when it says he has been appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the worlds. You have his work as the creator and then you have the statement he has been appointed heir of all things.

Now one who inherits is obviously normally in human relationships one who is very close to the one who is giving the inheritance. And I think one of the things that will help us to work through this text and will help us in the New Testament as a whole is to keep in mind one fundamental truth.

And that is it is said over and over again in scripture that the son is the one through whom the triune God has willed to reveal himself to the greatest clarity. It's the son who became flesh not the father or the spirit.

And it is the son who has made the father known. He reveals the father to anyone whom he wills to reveal him. Indeed as we will see in John 1 .18. Remember just a few weeks ago we dealt with that text where Jesus is described as the only God the unique God who has made the father known.

He is the one who reveals the father to us throughout the New Testament. In fact John tells us he was the one that the saints saw in the Old Testament when they looked upon the theophanies the manifestations of God.

And so when it is said that he has been appointed heir of all things this is not just some things this is all things. We are going to see in just two lines on the text in front of me that he is literally bearing all things along by the word of his power.

So what I think we see in this first phrase is that in the decision of the triune God eternity passed. It was the son who is chosen to be the spokesperson the revealer the one who enters into flesh. It is the son who is going to most fully have direct contact.

He is going to tabernacle amongst us and as Paul says all things are created by him and for him and in him all things hold together or consist. He is going to be the one that we see most clearly. And if you are thinking with me you might think about that one text in first Corinthians chapter 15 that says when it is all finished the final judgment is over.

All of redemption is taken care of the revelation the entire triune God in redeeming his people and his wrath coming upon the unjust all of that. Once it is all done then the son becomes subject to the one who subjected all things to him so that God not the father God may be all in all.

There is a sense in which during the work of redemption it is the son who is out front. It is the son who is most clearly seen but when it is all completed then that role will be subsumed so that we have the triune God that is revealed to us in perfection.

And so he is described as the heir of all things a mere creature cannot be the heir of all things a mere creature cannot uphold all things by the word of his power. So this son and heir you see the two words go together.

He is described as the son of God. He is the heir of all things and then we are told through him the ages were made. Now this can refer either to the creative world or the entire order of things. It is not the term cosmos that would frequently be used as world.

It is the word for ages but that can be used simply as the created order. But it is through him that all things remain. That is the exact description that Paul gives us in Colossians chapter 1 which again is one of those reasons you might look at this and go well even if Paul didn't write this he is right behind it.

This is someone who clearly knows him uses his kind of language in that sense. So he is the heir of all things and it was through this son that all things are made. That all things come into existence.

That is of course an assertion of the deity of Christ. We see that in Colossians 1 we saw that in John chapter 1. John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1. Right at the beginning of different books that have different emphases.

Different reasons for emphasizing the deity of Christ and yet right there at the beginning of each one what do we have? Jesus Christ is the one through whom all things are made. Nothing was made apart from him is how the prologue of John puts it.

Paul expresses it with those expressive words in Colossians 1, 15 through 17. All things were made by him, through him, for him. He exhausts the Greek prepositions and they have a lot of prepositions to exhaust.

He exhausts the Greek prepositions to explain to us the centrality of Christ as the one through whom creation itself takes place. So these are high words. How would a Jewish person in the first century have understood this kind of language?

Would they have thought, well he's talking about a creature here. He's talking about just a prophet. No, clearly not. Just as the Jews picked up stones to stone Jesus when he used the I am sayings of himself.

Or said that he had the same right to work on the Sabbath as the Father. Because my Father is working and so now I am working. These things cause the Jews to pick up stones to stone Jesus. And when Jesus says, why are you stoning me?

For blasphemy. Because you being a man make yourself out to be God. But then we have the verse. What does it mean to say that Jesus the son is the radiance of his glory and the express image of his person or his being.

The Radiance of His Glory and the Exact Representation of His Being

Now clearly these texts have been a source of controversy ever since, well, late 2nd, 3rd, 4th centuries in church history. Why? Well, as some of you know, only a few years ago in 2003. Well I guess that was five years ago now.

So some of you young folks are like, why do those old folks talk about years? Like they go by real fast. They do. Seems like it wasn't very long ago in Tampa, Florida. I debated a representative of Jehovah's Witness theology.

He's no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but be that as it may, a representative of Jehovah's Witness theology. And one of his arguments was based right here on verse 3. When it says he's a copy of God.

A copy of God. Exact representation. But that means he's not God, he's a copy. And others would say, yes, well you see, the radiance of his glory. That's like if this morning, if I had gotten this far, if we had looked at the windows here.

And isn't it wonderful that the sun's already going down now at this time of day? Cool weather might be coming someday. But we would have seen light coming through those windows. And if we had had the blinds open a little bit more, you wouldn't have been able to see the light coming in.

And someone in the ancient church would say, well see, that's not the sun. We might say the sun is in the room, but that's just a reflection of the sun coming into the room. And that's what this means.

When it says that he's the radiance, the brightness, the reflection of his glory. He's not the actual glory, he's just a reflection there. And so there have been those who have said this indicates a secondary nature for Christ.

A lower nature for Christ. He's an exalted being. He's used by God in creation, but he's not fully God. And as early as the days of Origen, the theologian from Alexandria, who had a lot of problems. He can refer to Jesus as the Os, God, but he would not refer to him as Pothos, the God.

He is in some sense secondary, is the argumentation that is put forward. But is that what these terms are referring us to? I do not believe so. These two terms, the radiance of his glory, and the charakter, that's the Greek word, charakter.

Our word character isn't really an English word. Our word character is just a transliteration of a Greek term, charakter, of his being, his person. I don't believe that either one of these can be consistently interpreted to refer to a creature.

Especially when we have the Old Testament background in our mind. The glory of Yahweh in the fire and the pillar, guiding the people of God. The Shekinah glory that appears in the temple. Was that some lesser deity?

Some lesser being? Did the Jewish people make that kind of distinction? Instead, keep in mind what I said just a few moments ago. One of the key elements to keep in mind is the fact that it is the sun that reveals the Father.

What reveals to us the bright burning light of the sun? But that light which comes to us. And this phrase, the charakter, the exact impress, is a term that goes back to, I even thought about trying to, if I had the time this week and I didn't, doing something I've always wanted to do.

And that is going to a stationery store. I don't know if they still make this stuff. But I'm old enough to remember that back when I was younger, my mother loved to write letters. She just loved to write letters.

She always had boxes of stationery around. She still has beautiful handwriting. And she would love to write letters. And I wasn't really into letters myself. I didn't, you know, whatever. But there was one thing she had that I always found fascinating.

She had this little box, and in it was this gold, heavy piece of metal. And you held it here, and at the bottom was a W. And then she had little candles in the box. And she would light these candles, and then she'd hold it over the back of an envelope.

And some wax would drip off the candle onto the back of the envelope. Then she'd blow the candle out. I loved watching her doing this. She'd let, obviously, once I got old enough, she'd let me do this part.

And I'd take that little stamp. And she'd say, wait, wait, wait, let it sort of harden a little bit. Okay, now, and I'd press it down in the wax. And I'd lift it up. And it was so cool. Yeah, I know, this is low-tech.

The young people are going, wow. Did they have horses and buggies back in your day, too? But they did in my mom's time. But anyway, and you'd lift it up. And here would be the perfect impress of a W there in the wax.

It was exactly what you had there, but in the negative. It was an exact representation. That's what a caractere was. In fact, important people would have signet rings. And you might take the ring. And what they would do is they'd do the same thing.

If they wanted to seal something before shipping it somewhere, they would put the wax on the seal. And then you'd take the signet ring and you'd press it in the wax. And if that seal would be broken, since no one else possesses that particular ring, then that seal would be very clear that it had been tampered with over time.

Or if you sealed your orders in the army, a general might take and would seal that order. And only a person with equal authority, the person to whom it was sent to, could break that seal. This was a common element of the culture at the time.

And so when it says that Jesus is the exact representation of His being, His person, I simply ask the question, how could any creature be described in this way? How could the greatest creature in any way be the exact representation of His being?

His being is what? Is it not eternal? Infinite? You would have to, in essence, say that God could create sort of a secondary God. But would that still be an exact representation of His being? No. Could not.

So why use this kind of language? Well, it is as well said that what we have in Hebrews 1, verse 3, in those first two descriptions, on one side leads us away from Sibelius, and on the other away from Arius.

What does that mean? Sibelius was one of the first well-known heretics of the church who denied the existence of three divine persons. He confused the Father and the Son. He turned them into one person.

Arius, on the other hand, comes along later, and he doesn't confuse the Father and the Son, but he subjugates the Son of the Father and makes the Son a lesser creature. And so when a commentator says that what we have here, on the one hand, leads us away from Sibelius, and the other leads us away from Arius, in other words, we have here balancing statements.

Balancing statements. By using this kind of language, by using he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his person, the one causes you to go, well, he's lesser than, but the other balances that.

But the other could lead you to confuse the Father and the Son, but the other distinguishes between them. It creates the perfect balance between the two. Where have we seen that before? Where have we seen that before?

Even just in the past couple of months, as we've been preaching on the deity of Christ, where did we see the exact same balance in a parallel text, but in the prologue of the Gospel of John? Remember what it said?

In the beginning was the Word. The Word eternally existed. But then the second two clauses, remember what they were? And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That second clause says the Word was with God.

There is a distinction made between the Word and the God with whom he's with. There's the distinction. Sibelius goes away there. You can't confuse the two. But then the third clause says, and the Word was as to his nature deity.

There goes Arius. So you have a distinction between the Father and the Son, and yet the assertion of the full deity of the Son. Right there in John 1, and it's here again in Hebrews 1. A perfect balance.

If you start falling either direction, you're caught. If you allow the text to speak for itself, by the next statement. And so he's described as the radiance of his glory. And so there is a distinction introduced for one that does not deny the deity of the Son.

In fact, no angel or any other creature could be described in that way. But there is a distinction introduced, and the exact representation of his being. There's much more we could say about that. Maybe I'll pick up some of it here in the next phrase.

Christ Upholds All Things by the Word of His Power

Because there we are told that he bears, upholds all things by the Word of his power. The Son upholds all things by the Word of his power. Now again, stay in the context of those Jewish people. He did not create the world, he spoke it into existence.

His Word. God says, let there be light, and there's light. And so if you're speaking to Jewish people, and you're speaking of one who bears up all things by the Word of his power, they knew God's Word was powerful.

And so you're still using the very language of deity to describe the Son in this context. But where our English language causes us a little bit of a problem is in this bearing something up. We think of, again I'll pick on our engineers, load-bearing structures.

You know, we look at this room, and we're very thankful for the walls. Because there is above us a fair amount of stuff. And why isn't that stuff coming down upon us? Because there are load-bearing walls that obviously were fairly well made coming up on what, 60 some odd years ago now?

But that bearing of that weight is a static thing. It's just, you got a pillar, and it holds up a certain amount of weight. And that's not really what this term refers to, because normally this term is active.

It refers to carrying something, moving something from one place to another, that kind of bearing. And so when the Son is described as the one bearing all things by the Word of His power, many commentators, and I think they're right, see that what's being said here is not just the static, you know, Atlas holding the world up type of an idea.

But instead, there is an active guidance, and hence a government of what is taking place. That is the same thing we see in Ephesians chapter 1. What is God doing? He's summing all things up in Christ.

What did Paul say in Colossians chapter 1? All things remain for Him. In Him, all things hold together. And so here we have a further description of this. That Christ is governing through the Word of His power.

He is guiding the very course of creation itself. Now do we limit that just to externally, in the sense of the created order? I mean, He did make it, as we saw in the previous verse. All things, these things were made through Him.

The worlds were made through Him. Or is there more to it than that? Is it more... He's not just keeping the stars in their orbit, but He also is guiding and moving the creation toward the goal that creation came into existence for in the first place.

The glorification of the triune God. Think about these descriptions for just a moment. These are radical statements. We're talking about a man that the world would absolutely confidently assure you was nothing more than a Jewish peasant.

You see why the unregenerate mind that has no sense of the beauty of God's Word goes, Man, this can't be some guy that lived back in Nazareth. Something really wild must have happened for his followers to go from thinking he's a great guy with some great ideas to upholding all of creation.

And that's why for a long time, for many, many years, for many decades, the academy came to the conclusion, scholarship came to the conclusion, that this stuff must have come along way down the road because this must have come from all this development and evolution over time.

This must have come 100, 150, 200 years after Christ. Of course, when they started finding manuscripts of these books that come much earlier, it sort of messed up their theories, but that's how they thought.

And for a long time, that was taught as absolute fact, and sadly in many places still is, that there was just no way that this carpenter from Nazareth could be described in these words. Now think as well, how strong these words would have struck a Jewish audience.

Not only do they have the Old Testament background to be able to understand, but these words could never be used from your creation. But you are asserting that this is the one that the Jewish leaders themselves rejected and killed.

And now you're running right up against the great quandary for the Jewish person. How could the Messiah be killed? Ironically, that's still the quandary today. That's what the Muslim asks. How could a great beloved prophet of God, how could Allah allow such a prophet to die?

The answer is the same to all of them. It wasn't that he allowed him to die. He himself came to do that. That's the amazing statement, isn't it? That the Creator chose in eternity past to enter into His own creation.

That the One who made all things chose to enter into that which He Himself had made to demonstrate the love of God, the justice of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, so that the entire range of God's attributes might be displayed to His chosen people.

That's an amazing statement. And yet that is the assertion of Christianity. So what are we told? Heir of all things, Creator of all things, radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His being, His person.

He governs all things. He guides all things, bears all things by the word of His power. This is the One who makes purification of our sins. Isn't it amazing that that statement pops into the text as just a clause, just that there's no preparation for it.

Just all of a sudden, having made purification of our sins, He sat down at the right hand of Banshee on High. Do you sense the amazing irony? He bears all things by the word of His power. He made purification.

He made purification, not He tried. There's no description of the process. That's going to come later, obviously. This is just introductory. But still, having made purification, He did it. His statement is a fact.

And just having done that, He sat down at the right hand of Banshee on High. There you have the entire incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection in one, two, three, four words. That's probably the fastest summary I've ever seen.

Having made purification of sins. He did it. It's not just a mere potentiality. It's not something where He tries, but sometimes He fails. It's done. And it's because He's accomplished that that He is seated.

He's there in heaven. His work is accepted. Now all this is going to be expanded upon later in the book. There's no question about that. But the ease with which the work of God can move from speaking about the creation and bearing all things up and the Word of His power and then without even a word of transition He who bears all things makes purification of sins.

The Finished Work of Salvation and Christ Seated at the Right Hand

Gospel. Salvation. Redemption. Not an afterthought. Most importantly, it's not a human thing. It's a divine action. Oh yes, humans are the object. We're the ones that have the sins that need to be purified and cleansed.

But He's the one who does it. And it is truly amazing to me how many people who call themselves Christians fight, grind their teeth, argue, stiffen their back whenever you dare to say that salvation is a divine thing.

It's something God does. Oh man wants to control that. We know we can't control the creation. We know we can't control that divine action. But when it comes to salvation we want to control that. The work of redemption and purification is seen here as an accomplished fact.

As a successful endeavor because it results in His entrance into the very heavenly realms of self. His being seated at the right hand of the majesty on high which of course is the place of all authority and power.

Is that not the exact language that the Apostle Paul uses when he records for us that fragment of the early church? Remember the carnal Christ? Christ humbles Himself to the point of death, even death on the cross.

And as a result what? Therefore God highly exalts Him. Gives Him the name which is above every name. In the name of Jesus every knee bows. Those in heaven, earth and under the earth. Every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord and Lord of God and Father.

Here this is envisioned in one fell swoop. He has accomplished. And since He is the divine one He is the one upholding all things by the word of His power. Is it overly surprising that He is actually able to make perfect redemption and perfect sacrifice?

He holds the worlds in orbit. I think He can do that as well. See that's again the beautiful consistency. All power. Perfect salvation. We see that. But how many of our friends, how many of our family members, co-workers who are claiming to be Christians.

Why is the saying fails a lot? And they don't see the contrast. They don't see the contradiction. Tradition. That would not have been much of an overly compelling argument for the writer of the book of Hebrews to use.

We're going to see that over and over again. Would have been a compelling argument trying to tell people there's nothing to go back to. There's no reason to give in to this pressure. Christ is the perfect Savior.

How does that fit into your argument? Well He tries real hard. Someday that new covenant will be a great thing. It's not really fully functional yet. But someday it will be pretty cool. That's not much of an argument is it?

And when we take, we force the apostles to make arguments that contradict themselves. We've probably missed something along the way. So, in closing, what do we see here? We're about to get into the primary argument.

And that is Christ's supremacy to the angels. He talks here about Christ being seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Having become so much better than the angels, inheriting a better name than they have.

Remember again, Philippians 2. He's given a name which is about to be renamed. This is after the resurrection. He's for a while lower than the angels. Now He's at the right hand of the majesty on high.

And here comes the argument of His supremacy to the greatest creatures God has made. But before it's even gotten there, you have these clear assertions. Make sure that we have them in our mind. What have we seen today?

In just these few words. God has spoken. He spoke in the Old Testament. He's now spoken by His Son. Jesus, the Son, is the heir of all things, through whom all things have been made. He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His person.

These two phrases form a wall that keep us from falling one direction or the other. They keep us balanced in recognizing the distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But keeping us from falling into subordinationism, where we make Jesus a lesser creature.

Polytheism, as if there's multiple gods. The Word of God is balanced in keeping us on the right path. He upholds, governs all things, the Word of His power. And He made purification, cleansing of sins.

As that divine person, the work that He has done is a completed and a perfect. I didn't count them all up, but I bet you there's not 30 words for that one. What an amazing introduction. The person who wrote these words.

You know, we think of the Holy Spirit of God guiding and directing. All very, very true. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. This was someone, this wasn't the first time they preached this message.

They knew how to express volumes of truth succinctly, clearly, powerfully, in a beautiful fashion. So I hope, as I said this morning, you see that this book is a treasure. It is a treasure. Our money may be devalued very quickly in the future.

I'm awful glad that there's nothing the world can do to devalue these treasures that are ours. And when our hearts are set upon these things as what gives us joy, what amazing power that gives us in dealing with difficulties.

This is the one who's given himself for you. Think of the words of Paul in closing. The one who bears all things, the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his person. What does Paul say?

The son of God who loved me and gave himself. Want to make it personal? Want to have that personal application there? The one who guides all of creation. Loved me. Gave himself. Indeed, we are so thankful our Heavenly Father for these words.

We are thankful that your Word instructs us and assures us of the perfection of your work in Christ, assures us and proves to us you have revealed your love for your people. We rejoice in that hope. We ask that as we go out this week in service to you, we will continue to rejoice in it.

And that we will reflect that love in the way that we show our love for you, being obedient servants, seeking to be holy before you. Seeking to proclaim your truth to all those around us. We thank you for this great privilege.

We pray in Christ's name.