Hebrews 1 "He Has Spoken by His Son"

(Isaiah 9/Psalm 2)



Who is Jesus?

As we rejoice in the incarnation of our Lord,

it is, perhaps, useful to remember who he is,

and how marvelous it is that we should have such a great Savior.



Does it feel as though we have come into the promised land?

After a decade of wandering in the wilderness?

Finally we have a building to call our own!

It should.

This building is very much like the promised land.

It is a place where we meet with God.

But remember the point of the land:

it is not an end in itself.

When God promised Abraham the land,

Paul tells us in Romans 4 that the promise pointed to the bigger picture,

that he would inherit the whole earth.

And as we have seen in our study of Joshua,

the true inheritance is not a piece of real estate,

the true inheritance is God himself.

Especially as we come into this new building,

it would be very tempting to forget the point of the building.

The temptation is to turn the building into the focal point.

That's one reason why we'll be turning to the book of Judges

in our evening series in January.

We've been looking at Joshua-how God gave Israel the land,

through the building project.

But now we'll turn to Judges-

the reminder (and warning) of what happens when God's people forget him.



In the same way, Hebrews is written as an exhortation to Christians to press on toward maturity.

We are a young congregation.

We need to grow up.

And the most basic question for Christian maturity is simply this:

who is Jesus?

And so the book of Hebrews is all about who Jesus is.

The exhortations that structure the book are interwoven with expositions of who Jesus is.

Because Jesus is the Son of God, therefore "pay attention" to what you have heard (2:1)

Because Jesus is a Son, faithful in all God's house, therefore let us strive to enter his rest

(4:11)

Because Jesus is our great high priest, "let us hold fast our confession." (4:14)

And so on.



If you would live as a faithful Christian,

then Hebrews calls you to look to Jesus.



1. God Has Spoken (1:1-2a)

This time of year we often think about the prophets.

We think of how they spoke of the coming of the Messiah.

We read from Isaiah 9, how Isaiah had spoken of the coming of the son-

the one who would reign on the throne of David, his father, forever.



And sometimes we envy the prophets.

Wouldn't it be wonderful for God to speak to us the way that he spoke to them?

God spoke in dreams, by visions, through angels, and in rare occasions, like to Moses,

he spoke with an audible voice.

He spoke in many ways.

He often spoke by prophets and sometimes by the casting of the lot.

He even spoke through the lips of a donkey.

And he spoke at many times.

He spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden.

He spoke to Noah before the flood.

He spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to reveal his covenant.

He spoke to Moses in order to bring his people out of Egypt.

He spoke to Joshua, to Samson's parents, to Samuel, to David,

and to many others.



"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets."

The Old Testament was written over a span of perhaps 1,000 years.

It recounts a long narrative of God's dealings with his people,

in which the story changes direction often:

the cycles of covenanting, rebellion, judgment, repentance and blessing

start getting a bit repetitious at times.

But the point is clear:

in the past God has spoken through many voices at many times.



"But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son."

Then it was throughout "many times."

Now it is "in these last days"-this one time!

Then it was "in many ways."

Now it is in one way.

Then it was through various servants-many prophets-

now it is through one person.

And this one person is not merely a prophet-he is not "like" the others.



"But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son."



Notice that he does not say simply "this time he has spoken to us by his Son."

There is a certain finality:

"In these last days."

This is God's eschatological speech.

This is the final word.

This is the speech that brings all of God's previous revelation together

and resolves it into a grand and glorious climax.

That's why the NT was written in less than a century.

God's final Word has been spoken in Jesus.

And that's also why Hebrews is written the way it is.

Every time Hebrews makes a point about Jesus,

the author will back it up with a selection of quotes from the OT.

All of God's prior speech has come to its fulfillment in this speech.

All that the prophets had said has come to pass in Jesus.

Therefore, if you would understand the OT,

you must understand Jesus.

And if you would understand Jesus,

read the OT!

And so Hebrews 1:1-4 sets forth very simply who Jesus is.

Everything else in the book of Hebrews is rooted in this.

Jesus is the Son of God.

But when we speak of Jesus as the Son of God,

we must distinguish between at least two senses in which this is true.

And here in Hebrews 1:1-4 we see this distinction.

Jesus is the Son of God from all eternity.

But there is a different sense in which he also becomes the Son of God

when he is exalted to the right hand of God.



2. His Eternal Sonship (1:2b-3a)

We see the eternal sonship of Christ in verses 2-3.

Who is this Son by whom God has spoken to us?

He is the one who was appointed the heir of all things,

through whom also he created the world.

Now we begin to see why Jesus is the eschatological Word.

He is the last Word, because he was the first Word.

The heir of all things is the one through whom God created the ages.

Long before the incarnation, he was the Son of God.

A son looks like his father.

Adam, created in the image of God, is called "the Son of God" by Luke,

and Hebrews uses the same language of the "Son."

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

Isaiah had said that God would not share his glory with another (Is 42:8).

But the Son is said to be the very "shining" of the glory of God.

What do you see when you see the radiance of God's glory?

You see the Son.

How can you tell what God's nature is?

Look at the Son.

He is the precise image of his Father.

Colossians 1:15-20 says the same sort of thing:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

that in everything he might be preeminent."

The word choice is totally different,

but the basic thrust is identical.

The Son was the one through whom God created the world.

Now the Son is the one through whom God has redeemed the world.

Paul had said, "in him all things hold together."

Hebrews says, "he upholds the universe by the word of his power."

The Son of God is involved in creation and in providence.

As John tells us, "in the beginning was the Word.

And the Word was with God. And the Word was God." (John 1:1)

Without him, nothing was made that has been made.

So when Hebrews says that he has spoken to us by his Son,

it means that God has spoken to us by his eternal Son.

Through all those ages

God spoke by the prophets.

He spoke through mediators who only reflected his glory.

Remember Moses-the greatest of the OT prophets?

He came down the mountain with the glory of God shining in his face.

But that was a fading glory-a reflected glory.

But the Son does not have a "reflected" glory,

he is the very "shiningness" of the glory of God.

He is the radiance itself!



Hebrews is not going to talk about the eternal Sonship of Christ again.

But it undergirds the whole book.

It is only because Jesus is the eternal Son

that he can successfully become the eschatological Son.



3. His Inherited Sonship (3b-5)

Because there is another sense in which Jesus only becomes the Son of God in his exaltation.

(Read 3b-4).

Verse 4 is especially puzzling:

"Having become as much superior to angels"?

Hebrews has just told us that the Son is the one through whom God created the world.

He made all things, and he still has to become superior to the angels?

Angels, who are among the "all things" that he upholds by the word of his power?



The explanation is found at the end of verse 4:

he has become as much superior to angels,

"as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."



We'll look more next Sunday at the angels,

but suffice it for now to say that the angels had served as mediators of God's covenant.

They had played an important role in the history of redemption.

Indeed, they had spoken.

From time to time throughout the OT we see angels popping up,

speaking of what God was doing for the salvation of his people.



In the history of redemption, as of the end of the OT,

the angels have a pretty good name.

When it comes to God's revelation of salvation,

there were no names greater than the angels-God's messengers-

or Moses, his mightiest prophet.



But something happens when Jesus makes purification for sins.

Something happens when Jesus sits down at the right hand of the Majesty.

Something happens that transforms him from "lower than the angels"

to "superior to the angels."

That something is called an inheritance.



When Jesus brings his own blood into the heavenly holy of holies

and makes purification for sins,

sitting down at the right hand of God,

Jesus inherits a name that is far more excellent than the names of the angels.



What name is that?

What name did Jesus inherit?

Was it "King of kings and Lord of lords"?

Was it "Mighty Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"?



No.

Hebrews is not interested in those names.



The name is given in verse 5:

"For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you'?"

The eternal Son of God inherited the name of "Son."



He was the Son of God from all eternity.

He was called the "Son of God" by the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:35

"The power of the Most High will overshadow you;

therefore the child to be born will be called holy-the Son of God"

God himself declared at the baptism of Jesus,

"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." (Luke 3:22)

So he was the eternal Son of God before the incarnation,

and he was the incarnate Son of God from his birth.



Why does Hebrews say that inherited the name of "Son" in his exaltation?

The quotations in verse 5 comes from Psalm 2, which we sang earlier,

and 2 Samuel 7.

Psalm 2 is speaking of the enthronement of the Son of David.

God had promised to David in 2 Samuel 7

that he would establish David's son upon his throne forever,

and indeed, that he would adopt David's son to be his own:

"I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son."

And so now in Psalm 2, God declares:

"I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill." (Psalm 2:6)

And then the Son of David responds:

"The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage,

and the ends of the earth your possession."

In other words,

Psalm 2 is all about the Son of David becoming the Son of God,

and ruling over the nations -establishing forever the kingdom of God.



And that's what Jesus does when he ascends to the right hand of God.

Again, as Paul says in Romans 1:3,

Christ "was descended from David according to the flesh

and was declared to be the Son of God in power

according to the Spirit of holiness

by his resurrection from the dead."

The resurrection of Jesus declares him to be the Son of God.

Or as Hebrews puts it,

in his exaltation, Jesus inherits the name of Son.



It's not as though at one point Jesus was not the Son of God.

Rather, the eternal Son of God,

who had become the incarnate Son when the Word became flesh,

now becomes the eschatological Son.



Why is this important?

Let me put it simply:

if the eternal Son of God had remained simply the eternal Son of God,

we would never have even known that he existed.

We only learned about the eternal Son of God when he became the incarnate Son.

It was only then that God began to speak to us by his Son.

So it is indeed a great and marvelous thing that the Word became flesh-

that the eternal Son became the incarnate Son.

The radiance of God's glory veils that glory and becomes one of us.

The exact imprint of God's nature takes to himself our nature.



But according to Hebrews 1:4,

even that did not give Jesus a greater name than the angels.

The angels had mediated a covenant that provided for the forgiveness of sins!

So as long as the eternal Son remains only the incarnate Son,

he is still under the law-he is under Moses.



What gives Jesus that final inheritance-that great name of "eschatological Son"--

the LAST Adam-

is his priestly work of offering a better sacrifice than Moses.

The eternal Son becomes the incarnate Son so that through his own death

he might offer to God a sacrifice that will result in his inheriting that glorious name

of SON.



In other words,

if Jesus does not inherit this eschatological sonship,

then you can't be saved!

Your salvation depends upon Jesus inheriting the name of "Son."



And, as the exhortation that concludes this opening section in chapter 2 warns us,

"How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"



God has spoken his final word in Jesus.

In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.

Time is running out.

God has said what he has to say.

Do you believe it?