Hebrews 1, verse 1. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things to whom He also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. The first two chapters of the first book of the Bible teach us about creation. Chapter 3 tells us about the first sin and the fall of mankind. Chapters 4 through 11 of Genesis, we see the further descent of mankind into sin. Genesis chapter 7, God destroyed the entire world with a flood that covered the whole world. All but eight people. Because of what? Because of sin. Beginning in chapter 12, God promised deliverance, blessing through a Redeemer that He would send who would be a descendant of a man from Mesopotamia named Abram. God changed. His name to Abraham, father of many nations. For over 2,000 years God spoke to and through men He would send. And that's what we've read in the first verse. And around 600 years after the time of Abraham, God gave the descendants of Abraham, through his grandson Jacob, a system of animal sacrifices. and a priesthood, and designed for a tabernacle, a place of worship where these sacrifices would be offered. He appointed the priests who would offer these sacrifices. Their sins could be covered through these sacrifices. And they could, for a time, remain in God's favor. But none of those sacrifices could ever take away the sins of anyone, whether the priest or whether the person who was offering the sacrifice. None of those sacrifices could ever bring about the deliverance of sinners. But there was a promise of a deliverer who would come. They didn't understand the promise. None of the priests who offered those sacrifices, Aaron and his descendants, could qualify as a mediator between God and man Because all those priests were themselves sinners. Now what's different about Hebrews from the Gospels? Well in the Gospels, we learn about the coming of the Savior into the world. We learn about the work that the Son of God did in human flesh to save His people from their sin, from the guilt and stain of sin, from the penalty of sin. And the Gospels of Matthew and Luke start out at the time of conception and birth of Christ. They record many events of His life in earthly ministry. In His Gospel, the apostle John began by reaching clear back into eternity past. and the triune God before the foundation of the world. And he told us about this Deliverer, God the Son, who took on flesh to save his people. And then John, like the other gospel writers, recounted the events of Jesus' public ministry, works he did, the things he said, the things he taught, and ultimately they recorded his death and resurrection. Now in the book we call Hebrews, and it got that name from men as all of these titles are. The writer doesn't speak about the miracles Jesus performed during His incarnation. Do you know if you have a red letter Bible and you leaf through Hebrews, you won't see one statement from Jesus. You won't see a statement from Jesus in Romans either for that matter. The writer's focus is on what the Son of God accomplished on the cross. That's what this book's about and what it means. His purpose in writing was to show the supremacy of Jesus Christ to all who came before Him and all who would ever follow Him. to show that in Christ's offering of Himself on the cross, He made the one and only perfect offering that could ever, ever be sufficient to save sinners. In contrast to those animal sacrifices that were offered under the old covenant, and in contrast to anything anybody could do to gain the blessing of God. As we saw last Lord's Day, Hebrews contains many exhortations to faith in Christ, to hold on to the faith, to not drift away. And it contains many warnings, both against unbelief and apostasy, walking away after you make a profession of faith. And beginning in chapter 3 and continuing right through chapter 10, The writer is going to be focused on the cross of Christ. You want to know about the cross of Christ? What it is? What it means? Hebrews 3 through 10. But before he does that, he does the same thing John does in a sense. He tells us about this one who did this saving work. So we've got two chapters that focus on the person of Christ. Who was he? Who is he? Hebrews, remember, was written to people who had learned about Christ from the apostles or those who had worked with them. These were likely Jewish people who had made professions of faith in Christ. That's why the book is called the Epistle to the Hebrews because of that and the contrast to the Hebrew sacrifices. But these were likely Jewish people who'd made professions of faith and had come into the assembly of believers. In chapter 10 we read, they had been exposed to persecution, but not to the point of death. They had given evidence of their faith in their care and concern for one another. And yet, this writer was concerned there was some danger they would fall away. Fall back into Judaism. The sacrifices. Go get the priest. Have him offer up an animal. The last Lord's Day, in the first verse and a half, the writer showed that God, after having spoken to mankind over many centuries through these prophets He sent, had now spoken in and through His own Son. His revelation of Himself in His Son, in Christ, was His greatest and final revelation to mankind. This is it. The revelation ended with Christ. And the Scriptures recording So in the initial verses of Hebrews, we learn that God's revelation of Himself and His Son is greater than that revelation through the prophets. In verses 4 through 14, which we'll look at next Lord's Day, the author is going to show, and he'll cite seven Old Testament passages to show this, that Christ is superior to the angels. Now I know we probably don't need to know that or learn that because we already know that. But did they know that back then when he wrote this letter? Verse 3 though, the writer paints this portrait of the eternal Son of God. And that's what we're going to look at today. He shows that the Son is also greater than the angels. Because He is the one and only eternal Son of God. That He Himself is eternally divine. God's revelation is one. It's not two separate revelations, old and new. It's given in two phases though. Two stages of the same revelation. One is the foreshadowing. The other is the substance. And we remember in the first revelation, God came in visions and dreams and spoke from a burning bush. And He even spoke in the thunder and lightning and the smoke from Mount Sinai. But the second phase is the fulfillment of what God had revealed in the first phase. And the explanation of it. The Old Testament is the promise of the coming of the Son to deal with sin. The New Testament is the fulfillment of that promise. It has been fulfilled. These familiar lines, first written down by Augustine 1,600 years ago, summarize the unity of God's revelation in the Scriptures. The New Testament is in the Old concealed. The Old is in the New revealed. And in the latter part of verse 2, the writer of Hebrews begins to tell us about this son. I love this passage because it focuses entirely on Christ, who He is. He's been appointed heir of all things. He's the one through whom He made the world. The one who is the radiance of the glory of God in human flesh. Do you know anybody else who fits this description? Of course not. He's the one who is the exact representation of His divine nature. He's the one who upholds all things by His divine power right now. You're breathing because He sustains you. This is the one who died for us, cleansing us of our sins, who then rose and ascended back to the Father. And He is the one who is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Through Him, God has spoken to us. So just from this first three verses, we learn that He is the Creator of all things, the Sustainer of all things. He's our Redeemer. He now rules over all things. He's a priest. He's a prophet. He's a king. He's the manifestation of God's glory. And somehow, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the writer of Hebrews managed to encapsulate all of this into three little verses. His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things. Now these words are an echo of Psalm 2, which is addressed to the one who is appointed both as the Lord's anointed and His Son. Psalm 2. I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD. He said to me, You are my Son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possessions. The sun's inheritance isn't just the earth. Isn't just the solar system. Isn't just this physical universe. It isn't merely the spiritual realm. It is all things in heaven and on earth. And Paul tells us all things are by Him and for Him. And yet He died for us. The word heir is ascribed to Him in His human nature here. Being made man, He puts on our nature. He received this airship. And for that purpose, that He might restore to us what we lost in Adam. That's what's going on here. Through sin, Adam became alienated from God. And he deprived himself and all his descendants of fellowship with God. Remember when you were lost when you didn't know the Lord? He deprived his descendants of the eternal favor of God. We all stood in condemnation. And we only regain the spiritual blessings of God when Christ, the universal heir, admits us to be joined into union with Him. as He is heir of all things, in both His human and divine natures. And we become joined into union with Him. Who does that work? The Holy Spirit. We too join in His inheritance. He now, in both natures, inherits all things. We share in those blessings. Look at Romans chapter 8, verse 16. We'll come to this in a few weeks on a Wednesday. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Well, Christ is the Son of God. Now He's the Son of God by nature. We become children of God by adoption. But look at this in verse 17. And if children, heirs also. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. How about that? Now there is a little more to this. If indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may be glorified in Him. I keep saying this because it seems almost too wonderful. This isn't poetry. This isn't some literary fiction. We become fellow heirs with Him. Paul liked that truth so much. Look what he said in Galatians 3.29. If you belong to Christ, if you have been joined into union with Him, then you are Abraham's descendants. That means you have received the benefits of all the promises to Abraham. You are what? Heirs, according to the promise. In your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Through him, he also made the world. He made the world. Now the word here, the word which we usually translate world in Greek is kosmos. We kind of know that word because we've got an English word that's pretty much the same. It refers to the whole universe. But here the Greek word is not kosmos, the Greek word for world. It's iones. And that word usually is translated eternity or the ages. Here it's translated world or universe. Do you know why? The writer is telling us that not only the material universe, but the entire universe of space, time, and matter was made through him. Think about that. John and Paul both declare this same truth. John chapter 1, verse 3. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing has come into being that has come into being. Colossians 1, 16. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. He leaves nothing out. All things have been created through Him and for Him. This is the One who died for us. This is the One who died for us. These words affirm the Son as the agent of the Father in creation. Now verse 3 tells us He is the radiance, the effulgence, the brightness of His glory. This word here, it speaks of the radiance that shines forth from a source of light. Many relate this to the radiance of the sun which reaches the earth. The glorious light of God shines into the hearts of men in Christ. Now what did Jesus say about this subject? He said, I am the light of the world. Paul wrote, 1 Timothy 6, 16, this is what He left to come and save us. He dwells in unapproachable light. But He came into what to save us? The darkness. 1 John 1, 5, God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. He radiates the light of God's glory. He radiates the light of God's perfection and majesty. John spoke in terms fairly frequently of the contrast between light and darkness. Between all that is good and all that is evil. In the sun, the divine goodness shines through. The One through whom all goodness shines is the One who died for us. Who took those nails in His hands. Who was hung up on the cross. Second Corinthians 4, 6, Paul wrote, in the gospel we are given the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He is so much more than we properly regard Him as. He is the exact representation of His nature. English Standard Version says He's the exact imprint. King James says He is the express image of His person. The word that's translated exact representation here, it's the word that's used to refer to minted coins that bear the image of a sovereign or a ruler. It refers to a precise reproduction of the original. He's the very image of the essence of God. Just as the image on a coin corresponds to the device making the imprint, one writer says, so the Son of God bears the very stamp of the divine nature. What God is, is manifest in Christ. To see Jesus Christ is to see what the Father is like. Look at 2nd Corinthians 4 again, verse 4. Christ is the image of God. John 10, 30, I and the Father are one. And then what he says to Philip in John chapter 14, verse 9. He who has seen me has seen the Father. Because he's the exact representation of his nature. And he went to a cross, took a night of beatings, and died for us. By express image, we understand the whole nature of the Father is in Him. That by and in Him, the whole nature of God. You want to know what God's like? There He is. All of the glorious perfections of God are in the Son. That's why you can't find anything He said in here to make a case against. as the Father is and does, so also the Son is and does. And Jesus told us that in the Gospel of John more than once. So taken together, these two phrases tell us that the Father's glory is invisible to every man unless and until what? Unless and until it shines forth in Christ. You can't know God unless you see the glory of God in Christ. That's why all these other ways are futile. That's why only what He did could free anybody from condemnation. Look what it took. Father's majesty is hidden from people. So what do they do? They make up their own gods. All over the world, all over time, people have made up their own gods. when here He is. It's revealed. He's revealed in Him. And the writer wants us to know for a certainty that God is made known to us in no other way but in Christ. You can't even know God. You can know there's a Creator. You don't know anything about Him until you see Christ. He upholds, next, all things by the word of His power. By His enabling word, one translates it. John Owen, one of the great Puritans, wrote this, such is the nature and condition of the universe that it could not subsist for even a moment Nor could anything in it act regularly as it was designed without the continued support, guidance, influence, power, and will of the One who died for us. It's Jesus who, eternally existing now as both God and man, sustains all things by His will and His power. You think this all really just happened? Get down to the school, they'll tell you that that's exactly what it is. You can get down now to a lot of churches with crosses on them who will tell you it all just happened and then God jumped in at some point. All things rely for their continued existence on the will of God. The power exists in the Son and the Father in perfect harmony. Now, this really exposes the folly of those in our time and in times past who claim for humanity the power to sustain the earth. Their very power to even state such a claim is dependent upon the permission, will, and power of God. They couldn't even make the ridiculous claim if God didn't permit it. Oh, and again, His own power is the very ground on which they stand in opposition to Him. And don't you for a second think that all of this climate business is anything other than a satanic attempt to rob God of His identity. I'm no scientist, but I know who sustains this earth. And I know that He wants us to take care of that which He's blessed us with. But I know who sustains this earth. And until He wants it gone, destroyed, uninhabitable, it's going to be here, in condition, inhabitable. We find this same truth here in Colossians again, chapter 1, verse 17. He is before all things, and then look at this, in Him all things hold together. When you say in Him all things don't hold together, that they're held together some other way by our approach to stewardship, you deny the Scripture. He holds all things together. And then, after declaring these things, the writer makes his first reference to the saving work performed by this One through whom all things were made, who is the exact representation of, who radiates the brightness and glory of God. And in this brief statement, But it's one of profound importance and of eternal significance. He tells us when he had made purification of sins. This is the most important event in human history. I'll make it a three-day event. that includes His resurrection. But He performed His saving work by giving His earthly life as a sacrifice on the cross. Why? To remove sins, to defeat and destroy the power of sin in all of us. If He hadn't done it, there'd have been no forgiveness of sins. If He had not done this, none of us would have or could have ever been forgiven. He performed His saving work on the cross. And the writer describes this most important and most significant work ever done in just five words. He made purification of sins. That's all he says here. He'll explain the significance as he goes on. The King James again, when He had by Himself purged our sins. We'll read about this work that rescued us from eternal fire and eternal misery. in chapter 10 in more detail. Now let's go back and take a moment. Leviticus 16. God set forth His commands regarding the sacrifices to be offered by the Levitical priests. Let me summarize. There God sets forth His commands regarding the sacrifices that were to be offered by the Levitical priests. When they should be offered. What kind of animal. What time of day. What purpose it served. And those sacrifices offered by Aaron and his sons were, hear me now, insufficient. to purge anybody's sins. Blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. Could never purify sinners so that they could come into the eternal assembly of the people of God. That was the purpose. They would purify themselves so they could come into the assembly. The high priest, Aaron, was himself a sinner, and so he did his work imperfectly, whereas Christ, who's sinless, the true high priest, completed this work of purification perfectly. Now, much of the world believes there's some other way to deal with their sin. There isn't. There is no other way. When this great high priest finished offering his priestly sacrifice, his own self, he was priest and sacrifice, that work was complete that day. That's why when we covered the crucifixion in the Gospel of John, we called the sermon, The Day We Were Saved. Because that's the day that our sins were purged. And so what did Christ say when He finished that work that day? It is finished. It is finished. And what did He do? He rose. He went back to the Father. And He sat down. The Levitical priests never sat down. They had to go back the next day. They had to go back that night. Offer more sacrifices. Had to go back the next morning. Offer more sacrifices. He sat down. What we read on Wednesday in that amazing passage in Romans 8, 3. On the cross, He condemned sin in the flesh. Well, He was in the flesh and He condemned the sin that's in our flesh. He was at the same time both high priest and sacrifice when He offered Himself to purge our sins. All those sins we talk about, we've been rescued from, that we even still commit. He purged them. They're not going to show up. God isn't going to look at them in the judgment. And He did it in one single offering. One offering for all time. That's what once for all is all about. It's a one-time offering of Himself to atone for sins. And again, had He not purged our sins on the cross, there would have been no forgiveness. There could have been no forgiveness for anybody. There was not some other way. And the primary emphasis of this writer here is the completeness of the finished work of Christ. Raised, He was ascended, He sat down. So these words tell us And this is important because there isn't something left for us to do. to obtain this purging of our sins. We don't have to go into a confessional. We don't have to follow any set of rules and regulations of any religion. All that was necessary to redeem us from our bondage to sin, the penalty of sin to cleanse us of the guilt and the stain of our sin was done, so Christ returned to the Father and sat down. That's the point of his sitting down. There's nothing left to do but believe in him. Acts 2.36, here's Peter out preaching on the day of Pentecost. What's he say? Therefore, verse 33, having been exalted to the right hand of God, having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear." It wasn't David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, Peter said, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Because He loves us. And look where he sat down. Now this is figurative language. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. This statement, taken from the Old Testament psalm, will be a repeated theme in Hebrews. We see it in chapter 8, verse 1. Chapter 10, verses 12 and 13. Chapter 12, verse 2. And we see it here in Ephesians. Paul was pretty drawn to this truth as well. Ephesians 1.20, which he brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. That's, again, it's not a literal, physical throne. God the Father doesn't have a physical right hand. He doesn't have a material throne where Christ sits beside Him. The idea of sitting at the right hand is taken from the idea of someone that signifies a privilege granted to a highly honored person. And that's what the writer's telling us. Throughout, it speaks of the exaltation and supremacy of Christ above the angels, above all else. This is in fulfillment of David's prophecy. Psalm 110, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And of course, Peter and the writer of Hebrews quote that passage. So now, what does this mean? It means the Son now has authority in both natures. This is what's almost too amazing to grasp, to rule His kingdom on heaven and on earth. He's enthroned above all the spiritual powers in the heavenly places. He's not just enthroned over us, but all those spiritual beings. The wicked ones and the good ones. Kingdom belongs to Him right now. Paul wrote, Philippians 2.9, that God has bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. His reign began when He sat down. What I love about this passage is it allows us for just a few minutes to meditate on these things about Christ. Who He is and His rule, His reign, His glory. We see Him so often being persecuted, rejected, and suffering in the Gospels. Here we see Him after that. Although, as we're going to see in a moment, we see Him before that work as well. What we have here in these seven statements is a seven-fold confirmation of the greatness and the glory of God the Son. That He possesses in Himself all the qualifications to be the mediator between the Father and the human race. Him and Him alone. Remember what we said Wednesday? There wasn't somebody else God could send. He couldn't send Abraham. He was a sinner. He couldn't send Isaiah. Couldn't send Moses. Not to do this. And we see Him here as a prophet through whom God has spoken His final word to us. We see Him as a priest who has accomplished the work of cleansing his people's sins. And we see Him as a king who sits enthroned in the place of honor on high. So now in his dual nature, we're told in verse 4, both God and man, he has become much better than the angels. And we're going to read, you know, he humbled himself and became lower than the angels for a time. So we've got the angels kind of sitting there above humanity until the end. But the author compares the Son with angels, those created spiritual beings that constantly surround the throne of God. We see them portrayed as those closest to God. They serve as His messengers and we're told in Hebrews they're appointed as ministering spirits to the people of God. Now the Son's exaltation to the heavenly throne, a place of rule and reign over everything, marks Him as greater than the angels. Even though now He has humanity. He has a name, Son, which is better than that of the angels. Have you noticed the name Jesus hasn't been mentioned yet? The name Christ hasn't been mentioned yet? Talking about the Son, His Sonship. And so even if the angels are, were, in a certain sense, higher than men, they're in no sense superior to the Son. He has a name that's superior to theirs. Chapter 2, verse 9, finally he'll be called Jesus. Scripture calls Him Lord, Savior, wonderful Counselor, mighty God, Prince of Peace. Angels may be called in places in the Old Testament sons of God, mighty ones, holy ones. But they are created beings. The Son is their creator. As eternal divine Son, He was always superior to the angels. And now He's declared above them in both natures. The first three verses, look back at them again. They introduce the theme of the superiority of God's revelation in His Son to all previous and other modes of revelation. But we have here reference to Christ's divinity, His eternality, and His humanity. He's the eternal God who came into the world and took on human flesh. We see the three offices of Christ. Father spoke by Him as prophet. He made expiation for our sins as priest. And He sits at God's right hand as King. All of this foreshadowed in the Old Testament. But we see something else here. We see Christ as the beginning of all things, Creator. We see Him as the middle of all things, the sustainer who upholds all things. And we see Him as the end of all things, the heir. There's none like Him. Do you see who He is? I'm always cognizant that there's no possible way I can do justice to a passage like this. How do you describe the Son of God? How do you describe what is divine and beyond even our comprehension? Well, you can't. But do you know who's there to teach us? It's God the Holy Spirit bringing these truths into our hearts. Have you been joined into union with this Savior? That's the question. If you are, you're an heir of all these blessings. Do you desire to be in union with Him if you haven't? There's an inheritance of eternal joy, blessing, and glory in Him and for those who are joint heirs with Him. We talk a lot about sin. Do we feel the guilt of our sin? Do we know that our sin must be purged if we are to be a joint heir of these blessings? And you know the only way that can happen? I know you do. We must humble ourselves. Come to Him. Ask for forgiveness. Throw off those things that displease Him. Turn away from ungodliness and turn to Him. And trust in the blood He shed to rescue us from darkness and condemnation. Everything that is truly good is in Him. There's none like Him. Well Father, as we come to the table, let us rejoice in the knowledge of Your Son. Let us rejoice in the knowledge of who He is and what He has done and the love that He has shown us. Lord, give us open eyes. Equip us, as one of the brothers prayed earlier, to be effective witnesses of this gospel of your glory. Let us never drift from this knowledge of the truth by which you have purged our sins, defeated the power of sin, and rescued us from eternal misery. In Christ's name,