Good morning, church. And Merry Christmas. This morning, if you have your Bibles with you, I'd like you to look at just a brief passage with me. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Hebrews, and I'd like you to look at chapter 1 of Hebrews, just the first four verses. Hebrews chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. The writer of Hebrews writes, After he spoke long ago to the fathers, in the prophets, in many portions, and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. And he, that is the Son, and he is the radiance of his God's glory, the exact representation of God's nature. and upholds all things by the word of God's power. And when he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they." Dr. D.A. Carson wrote a poem, Before there was a universe, before a star or planet, When time had still not begun, I scarcely understand it. Eternal word was with his God, God's very self-expression. Eternal word was God himself, and God had planned redemption. The word became our flesh and blood, the stuff of this creation. The word was God, the word was flesh, astounding incarnation. But when he came to visit us, we did not recognize him. Although we owed him everything, we heartily despised him. In days gone by, God showed himself in grace and truth to Moses. But in the word of God made flesh, their climax, he disclosed us. For grace and truth and fullness came and showed the Father's glory. When Jesus donned our flesh and died, this is our gospel story. all who delighted in his name and all those who did receive him, all who by grace are born of God, all who in truth believed him. To them he gave the stunning right to become God's dear children. Here I will stay with a grateful trust. Here I will fix my vision. Before there was a universe, before a star or planet, when time had still not yet begun, I scarcely understand it. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the Word of God made flesh. We thank you that in the fullness of time, according to the prophets, fulfillment of hundreds and hundreds specific prophecies so that it was undeniable and unmistakable, a baby was born, God in flesh. God in flesh came and lived among us and we beheld your glory. One individual in all of the human strain who spoke the greatest words ever spoken, who did the greatest deeds ever done, and gave ultimately his life vicariously, substitutionally, lovingly, graciously, so that sinners could be set free from what the Apostle Paul calls the law of sin and death. This Christmas, we celebrate the Christ of Christmas. We're thankful for the story. We're thankful for the truth. We're thankful for the life it gives us. Apart from salvation, eternal life, forgiveness, there would be nothing to sing about, nothing to laugh about. But Father, you set us free, and we're grateful. Forgive the one who preaches this morning, his sins are many. We've not come here for him, we're here for you. And we pray as we think carefully about a brief passage of Scripture, that we would not just be challenged this morning, but changed. Not just confronted, but conformed to the image of him that we speak of, even Jesus. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. There are many things around us in our world that fill us with wonder. Our world I suppose we could say is filled with many, many profound mysteries. But the single greatest mystery in the world in all of human history is the mystery of the incarnation. That God truly did leave heaven, come to earth, take on the form and likeness of man and live among us. The greatest of all human mysteries, the incarnation. That's what Christmas is. This great mystery and truth became really the subject matter of one of the earliest church's creeds and confessions. In fact, this confession actually finds its way right in the New Testament, 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, where the apostle Paul says this, quote, by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness, he who was revealed in the flesh. was vindicated in the Spirit and has been seen by angels. He was proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up to glory." One of the earliest confessions of the Church, thousands of years ago, the Incarnation, the pillar and support of truth that identified Christianity apart from all the world's religions, The incarnation became to the church the focus of her life, the focus of her message. And Paul calls this the great, great mystery of God. In the book of Hebrews, our passage, the writer gives us insight as to the significance of the incarnation. The book of Hebrews has one primary message from cover to cover, and that is the preeminence of Christ, And when I speak of preeminence, I mean the superiority, the supremacy of Christ, the eminence of Jesus, the transcendence of Jesus, the dominating person, figure, truth that he is. And Hebrews chapter one is actually one very long multi-clause sentence in which the writer of Hebrews introduces the subject matter of the entire epistle, the eminence, the preeminence of Christ. And let me say this, that any form of Christianity whose theology, whose preaching, whose ministry, whose message, and whose worship isn't grounded in all about the preeminence of Christ simply isn't Christianity and isn't worth five seconds of consideration. The message of the gospel, the message of Christianity, the message of scripture is not a collection of good and well-meaning and nice statements about Jesus. And I've noticed that churches and pulpits, preachers and pastors who weren't seized with the preeminence of Jesus Christ have a tendency to go on and on and on over and over and over with a handful of kind of the same things about Jesus. Statements that are experiential, emotive, sentimental, all it goes on. But unlike most books in the New Testament, we don't know anything about the author of Hebrews. There are a couple things we can tell about him. One is that he's inspired by God, and two, he is a man who has ceased with the idea of the preeminence of Christ. The Bible tells us that history will conclude with every knee bowing and every tongue confessing Jesus Christ is Lord. If you're looking at your text, I want you to notice the preeminence of Christ in terms of the revelation of God. Verse 1 through 2, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets, many portions, many ways, in these last days, has spoken to us in his Son. What we have here is simply a comparison, a comparison, a comparison between long ago and these last days, a comparison between the fathers and us. A comparison between before and now. A comparison between the prophets and his son. A comparison between the many ways in which God spoke versus the one preeminent one through which God spoke most definitely. What we have here really is a comparison between divine revelation in the Old Testament and divine revelation in the New Testament. You'll notice in verse 1 that it says that God spoke through the prophets, it says, in many portions and in many ways. The Greek is polymeros, that is, various times, and polytropos, in little pieces. What's being said here is that in the Old Testament, God spoke for a long period of time, and he spoke for a long period of time with little bitty pieces along the way. In the Old Testament, God gave progressive truth in bite-sized servings over a very, very long period of time, over millennia, millennia. Polymeris at various times, polytropos in little bits and pieces. If we think of the whole human story in the Word of God, we see God beginning to speak. And the first time God ever speaks, you know who he speaks to? Or to what? To nothing. Let there be an out of nothing fiat by divine exercise of power from nothing came everything. God spoke directly to men. He spoke directly to women. He spoke to kings. He spoke to priests. He spoke to slaves. He spoke to farmers. He spoke to warriors. He spoke through prophets. He spoke through dreams. He spoke through visions. I think specifically of Pharaoh, Daniel, and Nebuchadnezzar. God spoke polymeris at various times, polytropos, and little pieces. God spoke through people who wrote his inspired words. We have poetic books, psalms, historical books, laws, oracles, covenants, prophecies, tablets of stone. God spoke polymeris at various times, polytropos, and little pieces. The Old Testament revelation of God prior to the coming of Christ was expansive. It's expansive. In my world, it's something else to meet someone who has given their life, their whole life, to be an Old Testament scholar. I remember when Richard Pratt was here, who studied Babylonian in the basements of Harvard to understand fully all that God had said and how he understood in the culture into which he spoke it. But even though God's revelation prior to Christ in the Old Testament was expansive, it is still nonetheless a revelation that is incomplete and ultimately preparatory. The revelation of God prior to the coming of Christ is called in the New Testament a mysterion, a mystery. That is, that God spoke in the Old Testament in little pieces and little bites over a long period of time with shadows and types, some of it veiled. And that is why I believe that the only appropriate hermeneutic, that is the science of interpretation, the only appropriate hermeneutic to be applied to the Old Testament is how does the New Testament interpret it? Because it's mystery until Jesus shows up. And with the birth of Christ, God's final unveiled revelation comes to man. What I believe the writer of Hebrews is saying is something like this, God in times past whispered. But now he has shouted in the coming of Christ. Question, in what way or how is it that Jesus is the preeminent revelation of God? Notice verse three. And he, Jesus, is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of God's nature. FF Bruce said it this way, "'The story of divine revelation is a story of progression up to Christ, but there is no progression beyond him.'" Calvin said, "'It was not part of the word of God that Christ brought, but the last closing word.'" 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, a manger, God became a man. God came to man as a man. In the past, God spoke. In Bethlehem, God came. From precepts to a person, from information to the incarnation, from facts to flesh. Apostle John says simply that the Word of God became flesh. 700 years before the birth of Christ, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah said to the Ahaz and the covenant people in the courtroom of Ahaz, he said, Isaiah 7, 14, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name what? Emmanuel, God with us. Isaiah 9, 6, for unto you a child is born. Unto us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called, listen to this, his name will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. Micah, who was a contemporary of Isaiah, Micah 5 too, but thou Bethlehem Ephratath, though you are little among the thousands of duty, yet out of these shall come forth unto me that which is the ruler of Israel, whose going forth has been from old, has been from everlasting, God in flesh. The New Testament is filled with affirmations to the eternality of Jesus Christ, John 8, 58, Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, listen to this, before Abraham was born, I am. John 7, 17, five, now father glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. John 1.14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 6.62, what then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? John 3.13, no one has ascended to heaven, but he who descended there will descend back to heaven, that being the son of man. John 1.3, all things came into being through him. Apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. That is to say he was there before the beginning began. Elizabeth and Mary, Elizabeth the older gave birth earlier to John. And John the Baptist says, this is he pointing to Jesus. This is he on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a man who is of higher rank for he existed before me. The Bible goes out of its way to affirm that Jesus Christ is eternal. And when we have seen him, we have seen the Father. I want you to notice just one phrase and I'll be done. Notice in verse two. We're in Hebrews 1, verse 2, it says this, Throughout the Scriptures, one of the great themes of the Bible is the theme of sonship. Sonship in the Old Testament, even New Testament, applied so, so many things. It applied loyalty. It applied legacy. It applied honor. and implied themes like being the heir and inheritance. The Old Testament is filled with those storylines, filled with those storylines. The New Testament is filled with those storylines. Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, maybe the most well-known of all Jesus' parables. And what's it about? It's about sonship, sonship. But the most significant idea of sonship in the Scripture isn't loyalty, legacy, or inheritance. The most significant theme in the Scriptures concerning sonship is image-bearing. The Son bearing the Father's image. In fact, all through the Scriptures, you have this idea. For instance, Jesus would say to the Pharisees, he would say that you guys are sons of the devil. What does that mean? When I look at you, I see who? The devil. Everybody say Amen. You are sons of the devil. Barnabas, remember what Barnabas's nickname was? Son of encouragement. When I see you, I see nothing but encouragement embodied. James and John, the sons of what? Thunder. Explosive individuals. Paul describes our depravity in Ephesians. Lost, disobedient sinners. You know what he calls us? Sons of disobedience. Our text tells us that in these last days, God has spoken to us through His Son. the image bearer. When you have seen me, Jesus would say, you have seen the Father. I suppose there's only two ways to live this life in this world as a human being. You can live as if God has spoken. Or you can live as if God doesn't exist and has said nothing. Two ways to live. The Old Testament begins by telling us that Man was made in the image and likeness of God. The New Testament begins by telling us that God was made in the image and likeness of man. Two testaments, two stories. Let's pray together. Father, there's only two ways to live in this world, as if you've spoken, and it is indeed the word of God, and it is authoritative and final, and it is accountable. for every human being. Father, we thank you that in the incarnation God became flesh. You met us on our own turf. You came in a way that was explainable. The infinite, unmeasurable, unknowable, unsearchable brightness and fullness of the glory of God took on flesh, veiled itself in human form, and we beheld you. And we saw in Christ who you are. We saw in Christ your love, your compassion, your wisdom, your grace, your goodness, your power. We saw God and came to understand God in Jesus. Thank you for the miracle of all miracles, the incarnation. Father, for the person that's worshiping here today, I just pray that they would understand the gospel, God came here specifically to reveal himself to man and then redeem man from the curse of sin and death. If you've never trusted and believed upon the Lord Jesus, do so this Christmas. Father, we thank you as believers for the miracle of the incarnation and the privilege to celebrate it as your children who believe in the one who bore your image, who believe in the one who bore your image and gave his life on Calvary's cross, that we too might bear the image of God, captured, recaptured by salvation through the Spirit. Make us like Jesus. And we pray these things and all God's people said, Amen.