Divine Disclosure

book of Hebrews. The passage
is there in the bulletin in its entirety with a place for notes. Some years ago I went to a passage
out of Hebrews there is this constant running
therefore at the top of almost every paragraph. No matter where
you jump into the book, you’ve almost got to go back to find
the reason that is presented for the thought that is carried
forward in the new verse. And as it was, I ended up tracing
my way back all the way to the beginning of the book. such is
the nature of the book of Hebrews, but we find ourselves at the
beginning, and there is no other place to start. Some time ago, in an issue of
a popular Christian magazine, it had an article that suggested,
that admonished, that we not allow the Lord to
be lost in the busyness of the holiday season. I found that
amusing. The image stuck with my mind
immediately. I’ve never been able to get rid
of it. Because you picture Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe,
sitting forlornly near some Elderly store security guard
waiting to be paid. That was the image that immediately
popped into my mind. Don’t let the Lord be lost in
the busyness of the holiday season. The Lord doesn’t get lost. The rat race of the holiday season
has obscured our view of the Lord. It’s we that have gotten
off track, not the Lord. And so this message is for any
who perhaps have lost even a glimmer of a full view of our Lord Jesus
and His preeminence, not only during this season, but all throughout
the year. I picked a passage this morning
that I hope will serve to refocus our attention, everyone’s attention,
on the real meaning of Christmas It’s a passage that reminds us
that Scripture is, in a very real sense, a letter from God. A letter which we as believers
desperately need and need regularly to read. It presents Scripture
as being a full and final revelation from God. In the passage in front
of us, I think that we’ll see that God has spoken. And He’s given us a complete
revelation from Himself. I entitled, for that reason,
the message this morning, A Divine Disclosure. And I believe that what it unfolds
for us is none other than the greatest message that has ever
been sent by anyone to anyone. Would you look with me at Hebrews
1. We want to look at the first
four verses. God, after He spoke long ago
to the fathers and 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 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.”
Some would say, this is a Christmas message. There’s no star. There’s no manger. There’s no
shepherds, no wise men, no Rudolph. But I would submit to you that
this is the message of Christmas. And a reverent study of it will
bring back into full view who Jesus Christ is and what is His
purpose for coming. That first sentence has caught
the attention of many a theologian and commentary, many a pastor,
many a Christian has looked at that and known that in those
opening verses of the book of Hebrew, there is indeed something
profound and special. One such commentator said that
the long, deep sentence with which the epistle opens serves
as an introduction to all that is to follow. It is, so to speak,
the portico, the porch, if you will, of a majestic temple, the
weighty clauses now being a row of stately ornamental pillars
supporting the roof. This temple front has an imposing
aspect. It fills the mind with awe and
disposes one to enter the sacred edifice in religious silence
rather than to undertake the interpreter’s task. What he says
is these opening verses are like approaching this grand, incredible
temple and you step up onto the patio and immediately you are
in awe just because of these opening verses. Another one said
that the remarkable words with which the chapter opens might
aptly serve as a motto for the whole epistle. If you know the
book of Hebrews, or if you at least have read part of it, you
know that the whole theme is the preeminence of Christ. And
that is exactly what you get from the opening words of this
epistle. Even while we’re on the porch, the fascinating thing about this
epistle, if you look at it, there is no typical quote unquote address
label as we’ve seen from our study of Philippians and the
book of James and Peter. Those all have a much more formal
greeting, not this one. The writer of Hebrews immediately
gets into his subject matter, which is the preeminence. The
superlative nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, look at
the beginning. He starts with a simple word,
God. And what an incredible way to
begin. God is the subject of this verse. And the simple sentence, as you
know, I am want to focus on is just this. God has spoken. I can remember years ago as a
young pastor, discovering this verse and beginning to study
that verse and deciphering the simple sentence and being so
happy with myself at the profound discovery that I had made. And
I think I even titled this, the first time I preached it, God
Has Spoken. And then I began to study and
read commentaries I became less and less impressed with myself
and my discovery because almost every commentator titles this
section, God Has Spoken. And that’s because that’s exactly
what God has titled this section. God Has Spoken. The long years of silence had
ended. Silence has been broken. And
suddenly we have a revelation from God. That’s what Jesus Christ
is. One pastor said that the fact
that God has spoken to men is the ground, the foundation of
all religion. All worship is based on some
revelation of God. Any response that we have prefigures
an initial communication by God. Prayer, said one, is the echo
in man’s spirit of God’s own voice. Men learn to speak to
the Father who is in heaven as children come to utter words,
that is, by hearing their parents speak. We are constantly responding
to an initial communication by God. What the writer immediately does
here in this passage is begin to set up a contrast for us.
A contrast of two episodes, if you will, of revelation from
God. A revelation of the totality
of the Hebrew Scriptures in the Old Testament as over against
the revelation of God’s Son as His full and final revelation
in the New Testament. His final communication to mankind. What the writer looks to do here
is to place the Old Testament over against that which has now
been introduced and given in the Lord Jesus Christ. In these
words, you have the divine origin of both. God is the one that
gave the Jewish Scriptures. God is the one that presented
the Christian message, the Gospel, if you will, in its completeness. But what the writer distinctly
seeks to do is to point out that the second is far superior. The basic thought of this passage,
as I’ve already pointed out, is revelation. God communicating
something to humanity that we couldn’t otherwise know. God
has spoken. One observed, that the senses
of man, marvelous as they are, are incapable of reaching beyond
the natural world. For us to know anything about
God, He must tell us. We could never know God if He
did not speak to us. And that’s why I said all worship
is responsive to God’s first initiation. Another one characterized
it in these terms, knowledge of God and of his actings and
plans are the basic need of man. Such knowledge slays self-importance,
it kills the pride of knowledge, it destroys self-sufficiency.
Blessed is he whose self-esteem has been annihilated by the knowledge
of God. God might have left man to plunge
and flounder in ever deeper darkness, the ignorance into which he wandered
by rebellion against the light that he had. But love would not
allow this. So God spoke.” You likely know that there are
two kinds of revelation. General Revelation and Special
Revelation. General Revelation, as we’ve
seen in other passages, Acts 17 and Romans 1. General Revelation
just refers to the light of nature. Right? We all have been given
the light of nature. We see the trees blossom and
bloom. And we know that a being planted
those trees and caused them to grow and flourish. A being created
those things. That’s what Paul says. The argument
that Paul uses where he says we are without excuse. If we
don’t at least have some understanding that there is something out there
beyond us that created these things. But we’re not here to
consider general revelation at all. The whole passage is consumed
with special revelation. General revelation refers to
those things that God imparts to every person. He’s clearly
revealed Himself within the heart of every person through His marvelous
creation. But special revelation is God’s
revealing of Himself at particular periods. It is God reaching out
to sinful humanity with the message of redemption. God’s special
revelation to lost humanity came basically in two waves. That’s
what this passage declares. In this passage, we will see
that God has spoken in two distinct periods of revelation that complete
his message to humanity. What I hope to present to you
simply is these four glorious features of God’s revelation
to humanity. First of all, look at the groundwork
of His message. And we’ll take some time here.
And these are the kind of messages that caused my wife to pull her
hair. She doesn’t like when they’re unbalanced. She thinks that I’m
leaving something out if point one is longer than point two.
She may go bald today. First of all, the groundwork
of His message. Look at verse one. It says, God,
after He spoke. And that’s the difficult nature
of this passage. You don’t even have the complete
sentence until you’re all the way into verse two. But there
is this Parenthetical thought, if you would. God, after He spoke,
literally having spoken, and what this does is lay the foundation
for and points to a later speaking. After God spoke, He spoke, is
essentially what comes. The writer in essence says, I
want to tell you something, but before I do, you need to know
this. God, having spoken, has spoken. The writer then proceeds
to give us these five explanatory phrases regarding that initial
revelation of God, that special revelation that God gave initially,
the Old Testament. He says that this communication
by God, look at it, was long ago to the fathers, in the prophets,
in many portions and in many ways. Let’s consider each of
those five phrases just briefly. First of all, He tells us the
time of His revelation. God, after He spoke or having
spoken long ago. And He leaves it unspecified.
And He has to. You could almost say, formerly
or in times past, I think is how one translation has it. God’s
communication to His people was conducted over a period of about
1,500 years. At the point Hebrews was written,
it had been over 400 years since the time of the last Old Testament
book, one of the prophets. The time of the Old Testament
revelation is what is in focus here, and it indicates a revelation
that is not only given, but all packaged, complete. He is talking
about the totality of the Old Testament. As one characterized it in these
terms, he speaks not only of the venerable antiquity of the
Old Testament revelation, but also that long period which had
elapsed since the revelation was closed. It was nearly 1,500
years since the first portion of the inspired volume was written
and now 400 since the last. In other words, long ago. Long
ago. Secondly, he tells us who Who
were the recipients of this initial wave of special revelation? Look again at the passage. God,
after He spoke long ago to the fathers. In other words, our ancestors.
Physical if you’re Jewish. Spiritual if we are God’s children. When He spoke to the fathers,
He speaks to the totality of God’s people. You can plainly understand there
from looking at that that he speaks of distant ancestors to
those whom he is currently writing, and that would be the Jews who
were addressed in the book of Hebrews. And they all knew that
occasionally God had spoken to them. Sometimes by an audible
voice, but it’s plain that here when he says that God spoke,
it is to be understood in a much more general sense here. What
he basically is saying is that God was communicating with them. He was communicating here in
a more general sense, and you could almost equate this to God
revealed His will. God revealed His will to God’s
people over a period of centuries, time and again. This revelation of the divine
will, whatever way that God was doing it, is characterized in
this brief little term, God spoke to the fathers. He’s not zeroing
in on all those individual little messages. He’s saying that God
was constantly opening up himself, revealing himself, communing
his will to his people. Thirdly, look at the third little
clause there. God, after he spoke long ago
to the fathers in the prophets. And some would say that this
narrows the whole focus of what God is communicating here to
the prophecies of Scripture. I don’t believe that’s the case.
What he has in view here is God’s messengers, not just those who
were technically prophets. I think one pastor characterized
it and clarified it quite simply when he said the word properly
signifies one who speaks of things before they happen. That’s true. Who foretells future events.
That’s what most of us believe or understand when we use the
word prophet. But it is also used of any person
who stood in a particular close relation to God. That’s why Abraham
in Genesis 27, 20 verse 7, is called prophet. It came eventually
to be used in the more unrestricted sense of an inspired person,
a person supernaturally instructed in the will of God. and commissioned
to make that will known to men, whether that will referred to
future events or not.” And that’s why all those saints
who were called and filled with His Word to speak the Word could
be referred to as prophets. He isn’t referring to just the
collection of prophetic writings. But rather to all the prophets
themselves who were used as messengers by divine inspiration. What he’s
referring to should be taken, we should be taking in a comprehensive
way, including all the persons and all the messages that God
inspired to be used by him. You might even characterize it as
those to whom The Old Testament repeatedly says the word of the
Lord came to such and such. It doesn’t necessarily mean that
these are just the sayings of the prophets. But the bottom
line was it was never just their own message. These were not those
that went out unsent. These were always those dispatched
by Almighty God. There was constantly a qualifier
to those who went as God’s emissaries. Thus saith the Lord was constantly
their calling card, if you will. That’s what gave these messengers
their authority. Certainly, it was true of the
prophets, but it was true of many others as well. It was not
the prophet who originated his message. In fact, false prophets
were repeatedly rebuked for dispensing messages of their own. God’s
prophets spoke God’s message. That’s why Peter in his second
epistle said, no prophecy was ever made by an act of human
will, but by men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. It is God who spoke. It’s always
God who speaks. But he spoke through his prophets.
Fourthly, that fourth little phrase, God, after he spoke long
ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions. In many portions, it refers to
portions or morsels, amounts, little by little. That’s how
we got Scripture, little by little, line upon line. as one Bible translation has
it, in fragmentary and varied fashion. God’s revelation to Israel was
gradual. He didn’t dump all 39 Old Testament
books on them at once. And there was a reason for that.
That truth that God was dispensing to them was imparted piecemeal. Scripture said one was imparted
for immediate and practical ends. In other words, there was always
a purpose when God spoke. And God was giving them a little
bit of light at a time. Scripture was imparted for immediate
and practical ends, and therefore, as men needed it and as they
were able to bear it. It came by successive acts of
revelation as God saw fit. God, said one, scattered the
revelations over many centuries. Here a little, there a little.
We might almost imagine that God’s truth from the lips of
his prophets was found at times too overpowering. It was crushing
to frail humanity and the revealer must withdraw into silence behind
the thick veil to give human nature time to breathe and recover.
It’s an interesting thought. God chose, for whatever reason,
not to dump all 39 books of revelation upon humanity at once. It came
in fragments, in pieces, in morsels. And many portions implies this
idea also of over many periods, over a long period of time. As
we know, the Old Testament wasn’t completed at once. It wasn’t
given forth as a complete unit. The will of God was gradually
and slowly revealed and as the circumstances of God’s people
required that it unfolded over a period of more than a thousand
years. One characterized it in these
simple terms. In the first stage of his revelation,
God spoke, not at once giving a complete revelation of his
will, but in many separate revelations, each of which set forth only
a portion of the truth. The truth as a whole never comes
to light in the Old Testament. It appears fragmentary in successive
acts as the periods of the patriarchs, Moses and the kingdom, etc. You
have glimpses. You have introductions and no
conclusions. You have prophecies and no completion. It came in
portions. And in some cases, it was left
in portions. Look at the fifth little clause
there. God, after he spoke long ago
to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many
ways. Lastly, here he speaks of the
diversity of God’s revelation. God is described as having spoken
in many ways. Some people try to take these
and say that the two phrases in many portions in many ways
basically say the same thing and they could just all be rolled
in together. I don’t think that’s the case at all. God spoke in
types. He spoke. He gave laws. He gave prophecies. He laid out
histories and recorded them for all time and presented narratives
to the people. The writer of Hebrews isn’t speaking
of the variety of the modes of revelation as God made it to
the prophets. He’s not talking that sometimes
God used dreams and sometimes he used impressions. That’s not
it at all. But how the prophets were used.
What was the form of the message that the prophets used? And sometimes
the revelation was communicated by these representations that
we now call types. We look back and we see that
when 1 Corinthians 10 calls Christ the rock, we know now what’s
being referred to. Sometimes there were these emblematic
actions and behaviors. Remember when Our dear friend,
the prophet was told to go take a wife of harlotry. That was an emblematic action
that was meant to signify to Israel that their deeds were
evil. Sometimes it was like this ongoing
parable that God was given. Sometimes it was this explicit
language that was plain and unmistakable. Sometimes the revelation took
the form of a narrative. Other times, that of a prediction.
Other times, that of an argument. There’s this ongoing discussion
taking place. Other times, sometimes it was
given in prose and other times it was given in poetry. That’s
what he’s talking about in many portions and in many ways. God’s Word came. God’s Word didn’t
come only by way of a text. Only by way of an email. Only
by way of a memo. That’s not how it worked. One pastor characterized it this
way, he said, this refers to the difference of the various
revelations in content and form, not the different ways which
God imparted his revelations to the prophets, but the different
ways which he spoke by the prophets to the fathers. in one way through
Moses, in another way through Elijah, others through Isaiah,
Ezekiel, etc. At the founding of the Old Testament
kingdom of God, the character of revelation was elementary.
Later, it was a character to appeal to a more mature spiritual
sense, a deeper understanding, a higher conception of the law. There’s many portions and many
ways just refers to not only the different pieces of the puzzle,
but the different colors of those pieces as they came. So, the Old Testament then is
God’s foundational written communication of Himself to humanity. That’s
what the writer of Hebrews is saying. that this was foundational. You had to have this before you
had the rest. And God is seen as having spoken
through men of God to His people Israel little by little in a
great variety of ways. And that’s the groundwork of
His message. He says, after He spoke, He has
spoken. I want to take you to point two. In this greatest message ever
sent, I want to look at the second of these four glorious features
of God’s revelation to humanity. Not only the groundwork of His
message, but look at the timing of His message. God, after He spoke, in these
last days has spoken. In these last days to the Jew,
that phrase, was loaded with meaning. It was purely messianic. They knew that was the culmination
of time. They knew that all kinds of things
had to fall into place for the last days, for that season to
come upon them. What they didn’t have a glimpse
of is what took place after. They believed that when the last
days came, that Christ would take over and he would run his
kingdom and they would eventually go to heaven and be with God
forever and everything would be rosy from there out. They
weren’t counting on this interim period. For the Jew, the onset
of the Messiah meant the last days were upon them. God, having
spoken in these last days, has spoken. As I indicated, there
had been 400 years of silence since the writing of the last
Old Testament book. And having laid the foundation
for revealing his plan of salvation by speaking into existence the
Old Testament, God was now beginning to speak again in these last
days. Galatians 4, you know the passage,
when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son. It was the precise moment of
God when God begins to speak, when God begins again to reveal
Himself to men, when God begins to communicate. Point three,
I told you it was short. Four glorious features of God’s
revelation to humanity. Not only the groundwork, and
the timing of His message, but who are the recipients of His
message? God, after He spoke in these last days, has spoken
to us. That is the greatest news that
ought to ring with joy in your ears. And the truth of it is, 50 years
ago, God wasn’t speaking to me because
I wasn’t even born. But today, God speaks to me. God speaks
to you. The mere fact that you’re in
this audience is truth of this passage that He is speaking to
you. When it says this, the author
of Hebrews initially includes himself in that audience. Jewish Christians were no doubt
the focus of this message. And no doubt, the writer of Hebrews
is Jewish. A Jewish Christian. But this
us certainly refers to everyone who would subsequently hear the
Gospel message of Jesus Christ. It includes us. It includes you
and me. It includes all who in the future,
until the Lord returns from the time of their birth to the time
they die, anyone who hears the Gospel message of Christ is included
in this us. We too are the recipients of
this new revelation. It wasn’t just to those whom
the writer of Hebrews wrote. It wasn’t just to Jews. It’s
to us. One pastor said it simply, the
pronoun refers directly to the Jews of that age. Oh, but he
goes on, but the statement is equally true in reference to
all in every succeeding age to whom the word of this salvation
comes. God, in the completed revelation
of His will, respecting the salvation of souls through Jesus Christ,
is still speaking to all who have an opportunity of reading
the New Testament or hearing the Gospel. It’s to us. It’s
to you. It’s to you, young people. It’s
to you who don’t know Christ, but you’ve wandered in here for
whatever reason. It’s to you. It’s to us that
God has spoken. Fourthly, the four glorious features
of God’s revelation to humanity, not only the groundwork of His
message, and the timing of His message, and the recipients of
His message, but we can’t do this passage justice without
spending the bulk of our time on the content of His message. The content of His message. God,
after He spoke in these last days, has spoken to us in His
Son. In time past, God used prophets
to write Scripture. In the last days, He speaks to
us by using His Son. It is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God coming in human form. That’s
the message. That’s what God wanted to say
to people. That’s what capped God’s revelation
to humanity was Jesus Christ. The former revelation was given
through a definitive class, the prophets. This new revelation
is given through one Son. One said it more in more lengthy
fashion when he said the ancient revelation, the Old Testament
is characterized objectively by the ascription to it in of
certain attributes. Remember those five things we
went through long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many
portions, in many ways. Whereas, on the other hand, the
quality of the final revelation is indicated by a simple reference
to the agent. It’s a revelation made through
a son. That’s all that is stated by way of characterizing this
new revelation. God has spoken to us in his son. There’s only one agent of revelation
instead of many. Therefore, the revelation is
given in one gush instead of many separate parts. One standing
close to God in the relationship of a son can make a revelation
which shall be perfect in its character and therefore complete
in its content. What he says is that all those
centuries of prophecies, all those centuries of unfolding
revelations of God didn’t even come close to stacking up to
the one revelation of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Several things to note about
this revelation, His Son, Jesus was God’s messenger with good
news of salvation. The salvation that had long since
been promised and longed for. Look for. records this, the book
of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him that is Christ. He opened
the book. He found the place where it is
written. The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to free
those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of
the Lord. And he closed the book, gave
it to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue
were fixed upon them. And he began to say, today Scripture
has been fulfilled in your hearing. God spoke in His Son who is the
messenger of this salvation. Jesus Christ is the means. He is the messenger and He is
the message of this great revelation of God. Jesus Christ is the message. The prophets were just messengers. John, in his Gospel, calls Him
the Word, right? And He is God’s final Word to
humanity. This is the only message that
humanity really needed. This is the one that put the
cap on all of God’s revelation. The message of Jesus Christ in
the Gospel, the message of salvation, is the finality of God’s revelation
to mankind. One said it simply in one sentence.
He said the story of divine revelation is a story of progression up
to Christ. But there is no progression beyond
Him. When it says God has spoken,
that’s what makes this God told me business so dangerous. God
put the cap on it. God said this is it. God said
this is enough. And God said, it is my son who
completes the totality of my revelation. And just as God’s
revelation to the prophets Resulted in the Old Testament. So his
new revelation, Jesus Christ, who is the messenger, the means
and the message of the new and final revelation that resulted
in the New Testament. The New Testament is none other
than the message of Jesus Christ. There’s nothing greater beyond
that. There’s nothing less than the
Lord Jesus Christ in and throughout the pages of the New Testament.
Look at the four Gospels. The four Gospels are the good
news, the accounts of the life of Christ. You have the history
of his church, which unfolds in the book of Acts. The letters
give instruction to the Christian church. The revelation discusses
the future of the church of Christ. Let’s meditate on Christ for
just a moment. Look back at the passage if you
would. Because what the writer here does is begin really to
outline his book. He begins to give us a glimpse
into the great nature of the book of Hebrews. And the superlative
nature of Christ himself. And he gives us just a glimpse
into the greatness of who Christ is. Look at verse two and following. He mentions his son, that’s the
message that he wants us to know about, whom he appointed heir
of all things, through whom he also made the world. And he is
the radiance of his glory, 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.”
In fact, if you read on, it’s hard to find a place to stop.
It’s very hard to find a place to stop. Ponder these qualifications that
are given by the writer of Hebrews on this great messenger, this
great message from God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
heir of all. The heir of all. He is the Son
whom He appointed heir of all things. God had eternally predestined
the Son to be the possessor and the sovereign over all things
ever created. Out of His human life and death
and resurrection came this kind of sovereignty that extended to everything living,
everything ever created, all of the earth and everyone in
it. Secondly, look at his hand in
creation. He is the co-creator. That’s
exactly what John 1.3 says. All things came into being by
him. Colossians 1.16 All things have
been created through him. Here is the co-creator as the
messenger to humanity. The capstone of God’s revelation. Thirdly, look at His brilliance.
It’s the Father’s glory. He is the radiance, verse 3,
of His glory. Glory, we know from our study
of God and His attributes, is the expression, if you will,
of the divine attributes collectively. It’s all of God. And often represented
by this great an incredible light that says that Christ is the
radiance of God’s glory. Christ radiates that same kind
of light because He’s God. God’s glory is the self-manifestation,
said one of His attributes. It’s God shining so that we can
see. It’s exactly where the Nicene
Creed got the idea. God of God, light of light, true
God of true gods. The Son of Man, God in human
form, was in eminent manner what all of us are to a little bit
of a degree. What is that? That we are a ray
of divine light, that we were created in God’s image, that
we are supposed to reflect back the glory of God. But Christ
was shining in full view of all the totality of God’s light.
God’s glory emanated from Christ. Look again at the passage. Not
only is the heir, not only is He a creator, not only does He
radiate God’s glory, but He is the exact representation of His
nature. The final word on this whole
supposed debate on whether Christ is God or not. I’ve told you
before, you don’t have to debate them. You don’t have to argue
with them at the door. Call them to repentance and point
them to one verse. He is the exact representation
of His, that is, God’s nature. Jesus Christ is God. End of story. End of discussion. One pastor said here, the essential
being of God is conceived as setting its distinctive stamp
upon Christ, coming into the definite characteristic expression
in this person so that the son bears the exact impress of the
divine nature and character. Those are men’s words. trying,
as it were, to gild the lily, trying to describe the indescribable. Another one said it a little
more simply, every feature of God’s moral nature is delineated
in the sun. If the sun is the exact likeness
of God, He alone then is capable to make a complete revelation
of God intelligible to men. That’s why God sent Him. Because
He’s the exact representation of His nature. He’s exactly like
God. When we see Him, we’ve seen the
Father. It’s exactly what the Gospel
of John presents to us. Look again at this closing clause. When He had made purification
of sins, He sat down. This speaks of His exaltation
And that little image we meet with over and over again in the
New Testament, it is descriptive of the exaltation of the Messiah,
that his work of redemption was accomplished and finished. And
he sat down not because he was tired, but because his work was
completed. It’s biblical imagery. God has spoken. And in times
past, he spoke through his prophets, which resulted in the Old Testament.
But in these last days, he spoke to us through his son, resulting
in the New Testament. Scripture here is clear that
a proclamation about Jesus Christ is God’s final message to humanity. It’s God’s final word to sinful
humanity. It’s God’s final word. God has
spoken. That’s the image that you get
from this passage. And I’ll tell you, frankly, by
way of a closing story. Years ago, I picked up at a garage
sale a little brass lamp. It was a beautiful little lamp.
But as you know, the nature of brass is to patina over time,
especially if The oil of the skin, it basically turns the
lamp brown. And when I bought the lamp, it
was a flat, ugly little brown lamp. And then I began to polish
it. Some of you, I mean, I owned
the lamp as soon as I purchased it, but I owned a dirty brown
lamp. Some of you own Christianity
like I owned that little brown lamp. And I’m going to tell you
a story. You already have come into possession of it, but life
has you down. You’re frustrated by finances. You’re frustrated by things,
by people. As we’ve talked in times past,
you’re frustrated by the slow process of sanctification. And
I’ll tell you, you need to do with your Christianity what I
did with the lamp. You need to polish it. You need to look at
this passage again and see what God has provided in the Lord
Jesus Christ. A perfect son. the capstone of
His revelation to humanity, that God in His infinite mercy sent
His Son for you to pay that awful penalty of sin on your behalf. God has spoken to us in His Son. Let’s rejoice. Our merciful King, We never could
express our gratitude. We never deserved it. But you,
in your plan of redemption, capped off your ongoing desire to commune
and communicate with your people with this, the greatest message
of all, the message of a Savior who came and took on human flesh
and lived an exemplary, sinless life before us and then died
on our behalf. And Lord, we rejoice that the
story was not finished there. Even still, it’s not finished.
It’s through the centuries others come to know that you still speak
to us. God, for any who do not know
the Lord Jesus as their Savior, May this be the day of conviction.
May this be the day indeed of salvation. May they come to know
this Christ of revelation. We thank you and we praise you
in Jesus name. Amen.