Sermon Series: Hebrews

About this sermon

Hebrews opens by contrasting how God spoke long ago through the prophets with how he has spoken in these last days through his Son. The Son is heir of all things, the one through whom God made the ages, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of his nature. He upholds the universe by his word, and after making purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. New covenant believers have far greater access to God, and they must treasure and believe this good news.

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Sermon transcript

Amen. Well, if you would remain standing, we’ll be reading from God’s Word in the Book of Hebrews. We’ll be reading the first four verses of chapter one. Hear now the Word of God. May be seated. May be seated. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we would ask that you would come with your Spirit. You have preserved the words that we read for centuries, even millennia. And you have brought them to us tonight, but we need your Spirit that we might understand them, that they might be life-giving to us. So we ask that you would come with your Spirit, that these would be your words that are spoken, and they would be received with faithful, thankful hearts that can hear their shepherd’s voice, ready to rejoice and submit to what you are saying to your people tonight.

We ask that you would come by your Spirit, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Well, since I intend to be here for a little while, rather than picking a random passage every single week, I’ve decided to take us through a little series of the Book of Hebrews. There’s many people that could take more than a year to even go through this book, since it’s so rich. I don’t intend to do that. I would like to at least give us an overview of this book, even though we won’t dig deeply into all of the passages. I’d like to hopefully give us a sense of what this book is about, and why God has put it in His Scriptures, and why it’s important for our lives. That means that before we really dive into these first few verses, I want to take a look first at this letter that we call the Letter to the Hebrews.

Before we get into the book, we need to see what we know about the human author. When he wrote, where he wrote, and to whom did he write. This is one of the New Testament letters that we know less about than usual. We don’t even know for sure who the author is. There have been a few main guesses throughout church history, namely Paul, or Barnabas, or Apollos, or Luke. Although Paul has been a popular choice throughout history, when we compare this letter to the rest of his letters that we have, it’s hard to believe that he would have written a letter without identifying himself as the author. And the writing style is also very different than the other 13 letters that we have that we know are Paul’s. So that kind of takes him out of the picture.

As for Barnabas, we don’t really know much about him, but the impression that we get in Acts is that he’s more of a doer and an encourager, rather than a writer and a speaker. For instance, in Acts 14, when him and Paul, Barnabas and Paul, are encountered by the pagans, Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because Paul was the chief speaker. I personally like the idea of Apollos having written this book, since he sounds like the kind of person who would have written a book like Hebrews. In Acts 18, we have a description of him, verses 24 through 28. We have now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures, and he greatly helped those who through greats had believed. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

So this to me sounds a little like someone who could have written such a book as Hebrews. But the fact is we have no other writings that we know are attributed to Apollos to compare. So it is hard to say one way or the other. Now, Luke has been suggested by some, but largely ignored or dismissed for a while since he was assumed to be a Gentile because of his focus in the books that he wrote, Luke and Acts, on the promises going to the Gentiles and his very eloquent use of Greek in his other works. However, some scholars have recently pointed out, one, it doesn’t follow that because you see the gospel going to the Jews and because you’re good at Greek, doesn’t mean you are not a Jew. The Septuagint was written in Greek for the Jews.

And Luke’s writing has a distinctively Septuagint flavor of Greek. Kind of like if someone has been reading the King James version for a long time and they start saying these and those in their regular speech. That’s the way that Luke’s writing shows up when he’s writing his gospel in Greek. So there are a few people that think that Hebrews shows a similar sophistication of the Greek language and specific knowledge and use of the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, just as Luke and Acts do, which might suggest that Luke could have been the author of Hebrews. I’m intrigued by this possibility, but we don’t have an inspired definite attribution, so we really can’t be certain. If Luke were indeed the author, though, it would fit with a couple of other aspects with this letter, such as the likely place it was written and the likely date it was written.

If we turn to the end of Hebrews in Chapter 13, we find a little bit of information. It says, You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you soon if he comes. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. The phrase those from Italy strongly suggests that this letter was written from Italy, most likely Rome. Then the mention of Timothy, who’s probably the Timothy that we know from Acts as Paul’s companion, gives us some more information about the author, audience, and possible date of writing. Now, we don’t have any record of Timothy being imprisoned in the book of Acts or any of Paul’s epistles, but in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, which was his last, he asked him to come visit him in Rome. So it’s quite possible that Timothy did visit Paul in Rome and got put in prison in connection with that visit.

The writer calls him our brother Timothy, implying that this Timothy was well known and loved by both the author and his audience, making it likely that someone like Luke, who was in Paul’s close circle of companions. Another clue to the date of the writing of this epistle is the way that it talks about the temple, as though the sacrifices are still happening there, which would have been strange to say if the temple had already been destroyed, as it was in AD 70. While we can’t be sure, it seems like a reasonable guess to say that this letter was written from Rome by a close friend of Timothy and Paul in the late 60s, since Paul was killed in AD 66 and the temple was destroyed in AD 70. Now, as for the audience, they apparently knew Timothy as well as the author, and they’re assumed to be believers.

We can’t say much more for sure, but based on the content of the letter and the knowledge that the author assumes that they have, this letter has traditionally been called the letter to the Hebrews. Some scholars have gone even further to suggest that it could be a community of believers who were temple priests formerly. In Acts, it says a great number of the priests believed. This might help explain the heavy focus on the priesthood of Christ in the letter, as well as the pains that the author takes to demonstrate the New Covenant’s superior privileges and access to God. If you think about the fact that the Jewish priests who became believers went from being privileged leaders in the temple sacrifices to just another member of the congregation, Hebrews 13.10 makes a little more sense when it says, We have an altar from which those who serve at the tent have no right to eat.

This would have been especially important for former priests to remember if they were tempted to return to their former occupation. Also in Hebrews 5.12, the writer says that his audience ought to be teachers. It was the priests who were commissioned in the Old Testament to teach the law to the people of God. Ultimately, we can’t be certain. So why speculate then? Why not just jump right into an examination of the text? While we do need to be careful about not being dogmatic about speculations, we need to remember that God’s word, while being God-breathed, was also written down by human authors in history. Unlike the other holy books that can be helpful, regardless of whether or not they’re true, the Bible ties its truth about history to its doctrinal claims. In this way, it’s the most disprovable religion in the world.

But as I’ve told people on the boardwalk who question the Bible’s authority, the Bible has been attacked more than any other book in the history of the world by those attempting to discredit it. And to this day, they have all failed. Frankly, I actually talked to a young man this summer, and I offered him a Gospel of John. And when I told him who wrote it, one of Jesus’ disciples, when it was probably written, his eyes lit up. He’s like, you mean this was written in history? And I get to read this? He was so excited to read something, realizing that it wasn’t just a book of sayings. It was rooted in history. See, other religions offer books written by a single author in an unfalsifiable format, which means you really can’t confirm whether they’re true or not.

But the Bible uniquely stakes its truth on verifiable history. If Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, don’t believe anything else he said either. But since we know that he did, everything he said is of utmost importance. Now, this leads us right into a consideration of our passage this evening, because the writer of the Hebrews wants us to pay close attention to what God has said. Now, he’s going to make that explicit in chapter 2, but before he gets there, he’s going to introduce the speaker. Have you ever been to a conference with a bunch of speakers? They all have a poster or a brochure with a little bio under their picture, a paragraph or two giving background on the speakers. Usually it will talk about degrees they’ve earned in the past, who this speaker is, something about his or her family, where he or she lives, their hobbies, what they’ve done or they’re doing, an organization they’re heading up or participating in, and what they’ve written or where they’ve spoken.

And that’s what the author of Hebrews is doing here for us. The writer of Hebrews tells us that God’s final word, his Son, is special in seven glorious ways that can be organized under three headings. Jesus was, he is, and he has. He was appointed the heir of all things and the one who created all things, because he is the visible image and glory of God who sustains all things, and because he has done, he’s made purification for sins. He has sat down and received a supremely exalted name. Now before we get to look at this Son by whom God has spoken, consider for a moment the important reality that God is a speaking God. Our passage highlights God’s primary means of revelation, which was the prophets. Now I’ve sometimes heard unbelievers suggest that if they could just hear God speaking directly, maybe they’d believe he’s real.

I’ve also heard believers question, why doesn’t he speak to us directly? One of the answers to that question is that God, when God spoke to Israel directly, they thought they were going to die. So God’s direct speech might not be the reassuring event that you’re assuming it will be. Look for a moment at Exodus 20, verses 18 through 21. Here we see the beginning of the role of the prophet. That’s Exodus 20, 18 through 21. Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountains smoking, the people were afraid and trembled. They stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die. Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you that you may not sin.

The people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. God tells Moses he’s not offended or surprised that the people were scared to death of the unmediated speech of God. It served to instill a healthy fear in the people of God and help them understand the need and purpose of a prophet to speak to them on behalf of God. If we turn further in Deuteronomy 18, we find Moses summarizing the prophet’s role. In Deuteronomy 18, 15 through 19, when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak all that I command him.

And whoever will not listen to the words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. The opening words of Hebrews 1 remind us that ever since Moses, God has spoken through prophets. But the author’s point is not to dwell on this, but rather to contrast it with the way that God has spoken now. This final period, these last days. The past was various, various times, various ways mediated through prophets. The point is not to cast any doubt on the authority of the revelation in the past, but to highlight the piecemeal and distant nature of it and compare it with the singularity and intimacy of God speaking now by his Son. Now by prophets, the writer is making reference to the whole of what we would call the Old Testament, not just the prophetic books.

For instance, in Luke 24, it says, I am beginning with Moses and all the prophets. It means the Old Testament. Jesus interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Or in 2 Peter, Peter says in chapter 1 verse 19, We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So the prophets who spoke, they had met with God. But now, long ago, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but now God speaks through his Son.

So who is this Son? Well, a quick word about Greek grammar here in reference to the Son. In Greek, the word son doesn’t have the his or the the in the original that lots of English translations supply. But that’s because it’s hard to convey this meaning succinctly. In Greek, it’s much clearer. Because the author is not trying to say just some son or any son that God spoke through. But he omits the the in order to focus on the quality, the son as a different category. He’s trying to talk about the son as a category or quality in contrast to prophet. Sort of how we might say music when we want to talk about it as a quality rather than the music when we’re talking about specific music. So the writer has a specific son in mind, which is why the ESV says his son.

But the Greek, the writer is highlighting son as a category all on his own. The quality in which God is now revealing himself. So first we see two things in our passage in verse two. Two things that the son was. First, he was appointed the heir of all things. Now as heir of all things, what’s in view here is not so much the idea that the son is receiving things in the future. Which is what we often think of as heir. We think of inheritance, things you get when the possessor dies. Instead think of the heir in this case as the heir of a company founder or better the crown prince. Remember in the parables Jesus told of the vineyard owner how he sent his servants to collect the rent. Owned by the tenants, owed him by the tenants, but eventually he sent his son saying they will respect my son.

And of course in the parable the wicked tenants actually killed the son instead of respecting him. But they understood that he was the heir. Now as the heir of all things, as the crown prince, the son through whom God has spoken, bears all the authority and dignity of God himself. This of course means that the son is God himself. Since God explicitly states that he will share his glory with no one else. In the past God spoke through his servants authoritatively. It was still God who spoke by the prophets. But now he has spoken by the crown prince himself. Not a courtier or a duke or a baron or a diplomat, but the heir of all things. The crown prince himself who owns and rules everything. Think of the scene at Christ’s baptism when the voice from heaven speaks.

This is my son in whom I am utterly delighted or well pleased. Or at his transfiguration on the mountain when the voice adds, listen to him. When the heir of all things speaks, God speaks. But then next the writer says that he was the one through whom God created the world. In case we’re tempted to think that the heir of all things was appointed arbitrarily or late in the game, we’re reminded that this son doesn’t just own and rule all things, but he created all things. The word world here is not actually the normal Greek word cosmos, but it’s a word that is often translated age or eternity. Now this doesn’t mean that world is a bad translation. It just means that the writer is highlighting that the son didn’t just create physical reality, but both space and time.

Everything. As John 1 verse 3 says, all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that has been made. If God did not speak, not only would we not know anything about him, quite literally we would not exist. God’s acts of creation are commands that things come into existence. Let there be light. And that amazing phrase, it was so. God is a God who speaks to reveal himself. His first act in history was a command. Genesis 1-3, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God spoke into the formless and lightless void, commanding that illumination, light, exist, that it come into existence. That is real authority and real power. God’s power in nature is such that he can create things by commanding them to exist.

God’s creation is part of God revealing himself. That’s why the heavens are said to be speaking, telling, proclaiming the glory of God. What God has spoken into existence as a revelation is what he is like. The heavens are enormous. We measure distance in space, not by kilometers or miles, but by how far light, the fastest thing we know, can travel for 365 days at full speed. A single light year is about 5,880,000,000,000 miles long. So one of the things that the universe tells us is that God must be big and must be powerful. Romans 1, 20, for God’s invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So the son was. He was appointed the heir and creator of all things, but this is because of who he is.

So the son is two things. This is in verse three. In verse three, he is the radiance of the glory of God in the exact imprint of his nature. Now, while this may seem like two things, radiance and imprint, I think it’s meant to be two ways of looking at a single reality. When we read John 1, 14, as we did earlier, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. We have seen his glory. Glory is of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. And then verse 18, no one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the father’s side, he has made him known. This word translated as radiance is a little challenging to get a concrete grasp on, especially because it’s talking about the Trinity and how the members relate to each other.

But if we think about the sun as a source of light, we don’t technically see the sun with our eyes. We see its rays. If the sun did not give off light, we could not see it. Now, one of the ways this analogy breaks down is that the sun is not invisible, but God is invisible. This is why I think the idea of image or imprint is a helpful way at getting at the same reality. John says no one has ever seen God, which makes perfect sense. He’s a spirit and does not have a body like men. But we can see Jesus, who has a body like men. But instead of Scripture saying that even if you’ve seen Jesus, you still have no idea what God is like, Jesus says things like in John 14, verse 9, Jesus said to them, 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? Jesus is the most accurate, visible representation of God, because he is God. He doesn’t just look like God or act like God or sound like God or smell like God. He’s the exact imprint of his nature, the very brilliance, the very shining rays of the glory of God. And this is what sets the Son in a totally different category from the prophets. He doesn’t just visibly, who didn’t visibly verbally represent God. Jesus is the Son of God. He’s Son of God. He’s the same essence, the very nature, the same as the Father. If you’ve seen the Son, you’ve seen the Father. For Jesus says in John 14, 10, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works, his works. The work that the writer of Hebrews is highlighting is what we find next, which is the upholding of all things by his powerful word. You could say it the word of his power or we might easier say his powerful word. Now the word translated upholds has both the sense of guiding or of sustaining, but I think the writer of Hebrews has both in mind. Think of Colossians 1.16. For by Christ, the Son, 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, as we just saw, and for him. We already saw in the previous verse how the Son created all things.

Now the focus is on the purpose towards which he is guiding all things and the way in which he continues to sustain them. Contrary to those who will admit that this world must have had a designer, but then assert that chaos and evil in this world are evidence that no one is in charge, Hebrews 1 asserts God the Son is intimately involved in guiding and sustaining all things. And he does this by the same means that he created all things, by his powerful word. As he commanded all things into existence, he maintains the same power and authority over all that he has created. Think of Christ’s calming and inanimate storm while he rode through it with his disciples. At a single word, peace, be still. At his word, the winds and the waves that he created were instantly docile and harmless.

Of course, the disciples understood that since it was God alone who has that power over the natural elements, this was undeniable evidence that Jesus was nothing less than God Almighty. Which is also the author of Hebrews point here. All things are to him and through him and for him. But the author of Hebrews has something more that he wants to highlight in the next phrases. See, the Son was appointed the heir and creator because he is the exact image and sustainer of all. And since based on what he has done, he’s done, he’s made purification for sins, he sat down and inherited a name above all names. So thirdly, the Son, we might say, has done two things and become or received a third. So first, made purification for sins. This one little phrase carries an ocean of significance in it.

And in many ways, the rest of the book of Hebrews will be an expansion on how he did this and what it means for us. At this point, the author introduces it as something that was done on the way to somewhere, to something else. See, the main verb in this is he sat down. In the next phrase, this is introduced, yet we see it here as the whole reason that he had come to earth to make purification for sins. He became a man to take care of sins. The language, make purification, is priest language. Sin makes sinners cosmically filthy, filthy and powerless to remedy the situation. The people of Israel would bring their sacrifice for sin, but it was the priest who had to offer that sacrifice. The priest who had to kill the lamb or slaughter the bull and then carefully presented to God to make purification for their sins.

We stand filthy and guilty before God for our cosmic treason of living for ourselves instead of submitting to his law. One of the reasons God spoke by the prophets was because the pervading sin of the people provoked God’s wrath. Coming into God’s presence meant coming as one who was stained to the soul level with all that God hated most deeply. The prophets provided a necessary buffer between the people and God, as did the priests. In the past, if God were to speak directly, the terror it evoked tended to exclude any sense of intimacy that it might otherwise be felt. Yet now, God speaks to us intimately without evoking the previously felt terror, because the son who speaks to us is also the one who has made purification for sins. If it were not so, it would be no comfort that God speaks to us directly in the person of his son.

But he made purifications on the way to sitting down. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Now, what does it mean to say that the son sat down? Did he need to take a load off? Was he tired? I’ve seen two different film adaptations of the old book by Mark Twain called The Prince and the Popper. And while they differ in very several respects from each other, the important detail that they both share is that the prince bestows upon the man who saves his life while he’s dressed as a pauper named Miles Hendon. Now, being a man of simple pleasures, Miles asks merely for the privilege of sitting in the presence of the king. The first time he makes use of this privilege, everyone around him scolds him and immediately tries to prevent him from remaining seated in the presence of the king without permission.

But then the prince steps in and informs that Miles has indeed been granted that right. While that is a lighthearted example, it highlights the fact that sitting is a sign of royalty, especially to be seated at the right hand of majesty, the majesty on high. For the son came to sit down at the right hand of the majesty on high means that he was enthroned. So he sits because he’s king, but also because he has finished his work. The priests in the Old Testament never sat down. They were never done. But after Christ made purification for sins, he sat down. His purifying work was complete. He cleansed them once and for all. After offering the ultimate sacrifice of all sacrifices, he made complete purification for sins and sat down. We might say that he made a name for himself.

In classic Hebrew style, the writer states things in a roundabout way. As we work through this book, we’ll find this type of complicated phrasing quite common. Verse four, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. As much as. There’s a comparison here. The son, after making purification for sins, sat down having become something. He’s become superior to angels to the same degree in which his name is better than theirs. Now, what’s this name that is referred to? Well, it could be Jesus or Lord or numerous other titles equating him with God. But it seems to be running parallel to the idea in verse one and two in which the son is contrasted with the prophets. God spoke by the prophets to his people, but he’s also he’s used angels as messengers as well.

In fact, both Greek and Hebrew, the word for angel also means messenger. Now, we’re also going to see the author spend the rest of chapter one, demonstrating how none of the angels are called God’s son in the way that Christ is. So I think the author here is talking about the distance between the name son and angel, which is the distance between creature and creator, which is to say infinite distance. In Philippians 2.9, we see something similar expressed. Paul says, Therefore God has exalted Christ the son and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. By virtue of the son’s making purification for sins, he has been made the focal point of all creation in all of history.

We literally count down the years of BC to the point of Jesus or count afterwards years that it’s been since he showed up. And yet rather than obscuring the Father’s glory, we’re reminded in Philippians that this only serves to glorify the Father. This was all done according to the Father’s plan, according to his will, and as a demonstration of the son’s love for the Father. In Hebrews 13.8, it says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we can see that as paralleling yesterday, Jesus was appointed an heir, creator of all things. And Jesus is the image today, the image and radiance, the exact imprint of God’s nature, upholding the universe by the word of his power. And forever, having made 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.

He was appointed heir and creator, he is the image of God who upholds the universe, and he’s made atonement for sins, sat down, and inherited the name above all names. The book of Hebrews has been called the book of the superiority of Christ, and this is certainly a significant theme in this book. But we might want to even say more specifically that this book is about the exponentially more intimate access that the new covenant believers have to God. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, 10-12, he says, Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully. The prophets, who through God had spoken in many times in many ways, searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

It was revealed to them that they were serving, not themselves, but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. We now stand in the last days, biblically speaking, the time of God speaking through his prophets in various times, in various ways, his past. He has spoken through his son to us now, calling us to repent and believe the gospel, to listen to the air of all things, who has received an infinitely superior name for the work that he did to make purification for sins. The exhortation is to don’t belittle, don’t neglect, don’t despise, but to submit to, to value, treasure and believe this good news. Because the next event on the biblical timeline is the eminent return of Christ and the judgment of the world.

The prophets and angels throughout history have been waiting and looking forward to this gospel that we now possess. Let us believe it and share it like it is the best news in the world, because it is. Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you have spoken by the prophets in many times and in many ways, you have given us the whole Old Testament. And yet we thank you even more that you have spoken to us by your son, the one who has made purification for sins, the one who can give us access to you, that we desperately need, the one who can give us eternal life. Lord, we ask that you would make us to hear him and believe him and to treasure and worship him. Lord, we ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen. Well, in response, if you would stand, we’re going to sing for him.

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