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Christmas – The Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the World! (7 of 7)
It All Points to Jesus!
Hebrews 1:1-4, Luke 24:25-27, John 5:39-40, 45-47
1 John 4:14 (ESV) –
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”
We’re turning to and considering the first verses of Hebrews, that’s 1:1-4 and these words shine the spotlight on the Lord Jesus.
Hebrews 1:1-4 (ESV)
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
We’re gazing on God sending His Son. Our gaze is turned to the Lord Jesus and the only fitting response is worship.
- God’s last and best word is spoken to us through His Son… (Hebrews 1:1-2a)
Hebrews 1:1-2a (ESV) –
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son…”
Did you catch what this says? In the past (throughout the entire Old Testament) God spoke through the prophets at many times and in many ways and these different ways included: direct prophetic words, visions, dreams and even stone tablets.
Exodus 31:18 (ESV) –
“And He gave to Moses, when He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”
Matthew 1:1 (ESV) –
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Yet now in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son! He has spoken to us with finality through Jesus Christ! The NIV titles verses 1-4 – God’s Final Word: His Son…
A question that naturally comes up is – What is the meaning of ‘these last days’? This is an important question because popular end-times literature and discussions are always trying to answer the question: Are we living in the end-times?
We need to understand that Biblically we’re in and have been living in the last days for about 2,000 years because we live between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ. We live between the times, looking back to His first coming and forward in hope and expectation of His promised and glorious return!
I imagine some of us are wondering – Are these the last of the last days? The answer is only God knows and each day we’re a day closer to Jesus’ return!
Mathew 25:13 (ESV) –
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
2 Peter 3:10 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
The destination of the Old Testament and the Bible itself is Jesus! Jesus teaches just this after His resurrection when He appeared to two of His followers who were walking along a road but they didn’t realize who was walking beside them.
Luke 24:25-27 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“And He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?’ 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
John 5:39-40 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, 40 yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.”
John 5:45-47 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Deuteronomy 18:15 (ESV) –
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [says Moses] from among you, from your brothers—it is to Him you shall listen… “
All the Law and the Prophets, the whole Bible is about Jesus! God’s speaking in the past is not disconnected from speaking supremely through His Son – the prophets were preparing the way!
What we’re gloriously told is – God’s last and best word is spoken to us through His Son!
God has supremely spoken with finality through His Son. God’s revelation of Himself in Christ cannot be improved upon or revised in anyway! If we want to know who God is, look to His Son as He is revealed in the Bible (in Holy Scripture).
- Jesus is God Himself – He supremely reveals who God is… (Hebrews 1:2b-3a)
Hebrews 1:2b-3 (ESV) –
“…whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature…”
Jesus is the heir (the owner) of all things! He’s the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
Colossians 1:16 (ESV) –
“For by Him 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 and for Him.”
John 1:3 (ESV) –
“All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made”.
Psalm 33:6 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.”
Hebrews 11:3 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”
Think about it – not only was everything created by Christ, everything was created for Him, He owns it! The one who spoke the universe into existence lay in a manger in Bethlehem.
These words are absolutely perspective transforming
Hebrews 1:2 (ESV) –
“… through whom also He created the world.”
That’s who Jesus Christ is and we owe Him our worship, He is our Creator!
What’s the meaning of life? That’s a big question and the answer is – the meaning of life is to glorify our Creator, we’re created to know and worship our Creator! The Westminster shorter catechism makes this point beginning with this question: What is the chief end of man? And this is the glorious answer – Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
Are you in need of hope? Are you struggling to find hope in a dark world? Allow the Scripture to grow your view of Jesus Christ – gloriously perspective transforming things are said here and we can’t gaze on Christ without being filled with hope if we know Him!
Jesus is the reason history has a direction and is going somewhere – He’s the reason everything is ultimately heading toward His return and the new heaven and new earth. He’s the reason things don’t just fall apart.
Colossians 1:17 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Another glorious truth that we find ourselves face-to-face with here is that Jesus Christ (as God Himself) supremely reveals God to us!
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.”
Romans 1:20 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“For His 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 they are without excuse.”
Have you ever walked out under a starry night sky and found yourself awe struck? All you could say is – WOW! The song: God of Wonders – comes to mind.
Psalm 8:1 (ESV) –
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.”
We can’t not know that we have a Creator but creation doesn’t tell us enough to be saved – we must celebrate that He has told us who He is, He has revealed Himself! Nature shouts the existence of a Creator but it’s absolutely insufficient to save – it doesn’t tell us enough.
- Jesus Christ is our once-for-all successful Savior… (Hebrews 1:3b-4)
Hebrews 1:3b-4 (ESV) –
“After making 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.”
Before He sat down at the Fathers’ right hand He provided purification for sin – He came to earth, was born as a baby and laid in manger. He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial (and substitutionary) death as our substitute on the cross but that’s not all – He rose victoriously from the dead and ascended into heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV) –
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”
There’s an age old question – Why did God become man? The purpose of the incarnation is our salvation, He came to save us from our sins.
Jesus is our successful Savior – His sacrifice for sins is finished!
Hebrews 10:10 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
1 Peter 3:18 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…”
Old Testament priests ministering at the Temple (or Tabernacle) never sat down because they had a continual sacrificial ministry day after day, month after month, year after year. They continually stood ministering before the Lord because their work was never compete. Jesus however finished His redemptive mission and sat down because the work is complete!
The passage concludes making it perfectly clear that Jesus is infinitely superior to angels and it should be emphatically obvious that God Himself is superior to angels!
We celebrate Jesus’ coming (the incarnation). As we gaze on His coming we see:
God’s last and best word to us is spoken through His Son…
Jesus is God Himself and He supremely reveals who God is to us…
And – Jesus is our once-for-all successful Savior…
1 John 4:14 (ESV) –
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”
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