Touched By A Savior
Introduction
Herbrews 1:1-3“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
These verses waste no time in getting to the main point. They simply tell us that Jesus Christ is superior to everyone and everything. These words are meant to be words of encouragement to the Jewish readers according to Hebrews 13:22. No other book so exalts and magnifies Jesus Christ. The theme is the fact that Jesus is better. We have a better high priest (one who serves as a bridge between man and God), a better sacrifice (once and for all), and a better destiny (heaven).
This letter opens with an important declaration, “God has spoken to us in His Son.” Near the close of the book the writer states, “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking."” (12:25)
I. The Revelation of God. 1
God Is Assumed.
“GOD” – there is no attempt in the Bible to prove the existence of God. We find the same in Genesis. 1:1 and John 1:1
God Is Audible.
Romans 8:16: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
ILLUSTRATION: Dwight said God spoke to him; not audible, much louder
“in various times” – in many pieces; here a little and there a little.
“various ways” – in many portions and in many ways. There are 39 Old Testament books. God spoke at times to people in a vision, sometimes a parable, sometimes a type or symbol.
In the awesome “thunders of Sinai” and in the “small still voice” to Elijah.
ILLUSTRATION – Today, God may speak through the birth of your newborn child, or at the death of our parent, spouse, or child.
“many ways” – includes the many types of content. Some is law, some is prophecy, some is doctrinal, ethical & moral, some is encouragement, some is warning, and so on. God is speaking – He is not silent!
“by the prophets” – God communicated to men using spokesmen like Jonah, Jeremiah, David, Daniel, and Moses.
Throughout time, God has spoken to man. I believe God has created a vacuum in man that only God Himself can fill. Man realizes that something is missing, but he is unaware of what it is. By and large, almost all people seek to be religious.
Religion is man’s attempt to find the supernatural God. Salvation is God’s entry into human existence to reveal Himself.
John MacArthur illustrated the difference between religion and salvation by raising and answering this question: “How can human beings who are enclosed by time and space in a natural box make contact with the supernatural God who is outside the box?” There are two possible answers: either man can attempt to chip a hole in a corner of the box, or God can come down into that box and reveal Himself in an understandable way. Religion is my reaching up trying to make contact with God. Salvation is God’s reaching down into my existence and making contact with men. That is the substance of
Hebrews 1:1-2.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that God has given us revelation through the Old Testament prophets. Keep in mind that the Old Testament was composed over a span of approximately 1500 years. It was written by more than 40 authors on several different continents. Each one received bits and pieces of revelation.
This is progressive revelation, unfolding of God’s truth.
EXAMPLES:
MOSES – in Genesis said he would be of the seed of the woman.
MICAH – said He would be born in Bethlehem.
ISAIAH – said He would be born of a virgin and that He would be a “suffering servant” who would die for man’s sins.
1 PETER 1:10 – says that the prophets inquired and seeked diligently. They were puzzled by the pieces that they examined because they were aware that a big piece was missing.
II. The Incarnation of God. 2
God had, in the Old Testament, spoken to us through His spokesmen. Now, in the New Testament, God will speak to us through His Son. In the Lord Jesus Christ, God formed a perfect vehicle of expression. He simply translated Deity into humanity.
John 1:14
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
All the shadows of the Old Testament now become substance in Him. This later revelation is complete rather than incomplete. In the Old Testament, Jesus Christ is “concealed,” but in the New Testament Jesus Christ is “revealed.” Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate and climatic revelation of Himself in the Son.
III. The Description of God. 2-3
Someone has said that Jesus Christ came from the bosom of the Father to the bosom of a woman. He put on humanity that we might put on divinity. He became Son of Man that we might become sons of God. He was born contrary to the laws of nature, lived in poverty, was reared in obscurity, and only once crossed the boundary of the land in which He was born – and that in His childhood. He had no wealth or influence and had neither training nor education in the world’s schools. His relatives were inconspicuous and uninfluential. In infancy, He startled a king. In boyhood, He puzzled the learned doctors. In manhood, He ruled the course of nature. He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His services. He never wrote a book and yet all the libraries of the world could not hold the books about Him. He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all songwriters together. He never founded a college, yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students as He has. He never practiced medicine and yet He has healed more broken hearts than all the doctors have healed broken bodies. This Jesus Christ is the star of astronomy, the rock of geology, the lion and the lamb of zoology, the harmonizer of all discords and the healer of all diseases. Throughout history, great men have come and gone, yet He lives on. Herod could not kill Him. Satan could not seduce Him. Death could not destroy Him and the grave could not hold Him.
Seven Magnificent Statements about Christ:
“Heir of all things”
If Jesus is the Son of God, then He is the heir of all God possesses. He inherited the right to be the Lord of all things. The world in its entirety has been given to Him, and, as Executor of the Divine Will, He is coming back to enforce its every clause.
ILLUSTRATION: The scroll in Revelation 5 is the title deed to the earth and all that is in it.
“He made the worlds”
John 1:3: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
Colossians 1:16: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
You and I were made “for Him.” Not total fulfillment until we understand the truth.
“Who being the brightness of His glory”
The outshining of His glory. The rays of the sun express the sun. Jesus Christ expresses the Father. He expresses God to us.
“Express image of His person”
Character, His nature, His substance. Jesus Christ is the exact reproduction of the nature of God. When an imprint is stamped on a seal, whatever the imprint is, the seal is.
John 14:9
“Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?”
“Upholding all things by the word of His power”
Colossians 1:17: “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
Picture here is of maintaining and sustaining all things. He holds all things together.
“Consider, for example, what instant destruction would happen if the earth’s rotation slowed down just a little. The sun has a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If it were any closer to us, we would burn up; if it were any farther away, we would freeze. Our globe is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees, providing us with four seasons.
If it were not tilted, vapors from the ocean tides would move north and south and develop into monstrous continents of ice. If the moon did not retain its exact distance from the earth, the ocean tides would inundate the land completely, twice a day. After the first flooding, of course, the others would not matter as far as we would be concerned. If the ocean floors were merely a few feet deeper than they are, the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance of the earth’s atmosphere would be completely upset, and no animal or plant life could exist. If the atmosphere did not remain at its present density, but thinned out even a little, many of the meteors which now harmlessly burn up when they hit the atmosphere would constantly bombard us. We would have to live underground or in meteor-proof buildings.”
“When He had by Himself purged our sins”
Past and future sins (Hebrews 9:15)
The writer moved from Creation to Calvary
The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Jesus Christ went to the cross, died our deserved death for us, and thereby took the penalty for our sin on Himself.
If we will accept His death and believe that He died for us, He will free us from the penalty of sin and purify us from the stain of sin.
Jesus was the Priest and the Sacrifice.
“Sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”
Signifies at least four things:
Honor
Philippians 2:10-11: “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Authority
1 Peter 3:22: “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
Sat Down to Rest
His work was done. No chair in the Holy of Holies. Priest work never finished.
Hebrews 10:22: “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Sat Down to Intercede for Us
Romans 8:34: “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
CONCLUSION
Here we have God’s portrait of Jesus Christ:
PROPHET – the final spokesman for God
PRIEST - atoning and interceding
KING – controlling, sustaining, and seated on throne
CREATOR – made all things