The Nature and Work of Christ.
Text: Hebrews 1:1-4
Title: The Nature and Work of Christ.
Theme of Hebrews: Because of the Supremacy of Christ, do not go back to the Old Testament system; Christ is better!
Theme of Text: Christ is superiority over all things.
Proposition: Christ must be superior over your life.
Hebrews 1:1-4 (NKJV)
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Introduction
In G. Campbell Morgan’s commentary, he writes that an author said,
“One of the best things we can say about human nature is this, that whenever a situation occurs which can only be solved by an individual ‘laying down his life for his friends,’ some heroic person is certain to come forth, sooner or later, and offer himself as the victim—a Curtius to leap into the gulf, a Socrates to drink the hemlock, a Christ to get himself crucified on Calvary.”
What a sad disrespect of Christ. Christ did not just lay down his life because he wanted to get his friends out of a jam. He can not even be compared to these other men. He is so much more superior to them. His death was not just a nice kind act for man, but it was the single most important event in all history. Christ died for all men so that those who accept him can be saved. We will see now how Christ is superior over all other men. There are seven descriptions about Christ in these verses. They are under two categories- Christ’s relationship to the Father, and Christ’s incarnate work.
The Nature and Work of the Son.
There are now seven things that the author uses to describe the incomparable superiority of the Son to any prophet or any agent.
a. His Relationship to the Father. v. 2
i. Heir of All things.
Christ is appointed as the heir of all things. Jesus Christ had a better position than all of the prophets. His position as the Son of God makes him superior than all the prophets. Psalm 2:2-9 talks about the Son and his inheritance. This verse tell us that this is the truth now, Christ is the heir of all things. He will accept his inheritance in the Messianic kingdom. Everything exists by Jesus, because of Jesus, and for Jesus. He is the one that will inherit the earth. God the father has given Christ all things! In Revelation 5 we see that Christ takes the scroll of the seven seals. Christ alone has the power to open the seals because he is the rightful inheritor of the whole earth and creation. Christ completely puts all creation under him.
ii. Creator of All Things. v. 3
We know that Christ was not just the creator of all things, but all things were created for him! Col. 1:16-18 talk of Christ as the creator of All things! It was through the Son that God created all things. John 1:3 reaffirms this truth. Christ is the amazing creator of all things. The fact that Christ creates proves his divinity. No other person in history has the power to create. Christ is much greater than any prophet of Israel is. In Israel’s history, the prophets were some of the most important people, but none of them could claim that they were the creator. Through Christ, the earth was created. He also created time, space, energy and matter. He created the universe and it’s ability to function. The earth is amazing in and of itself, but when you consider the vastness of the universe; then Christ’s creating ability is even more magnified.
John MacArthur says, “Consider the vastness of our universe. If you could somehow put 1.2 million earths inside the sun, you would have room left for 4.3 million moons. The sun is 865,000 miles in diameter and is 93 million miles from the earth. Our next nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 5 times larger than our sun. The moon is only 211,463 miles away, and you could walk to it in 27 years. A ray of light travels at 186 thousand miles per second, so a beam of light would reach the moon in only 1 1/2 seconds. If we could travel at that speed, it would take 2 minutes and 18 seconds to reach Venus, 4 1/2 minutes to reach Mercury, 1 hour and 11 seconds to reach Saturn, and so on. To reach Pluto, 2.7 billion miles from earth, would take nearly 4 hours. Having got that far, we would still be well inside our own solar system. The North Star is 400 trillion miles away, but is still nearby in relation even to known space. The star Betelgeuse is 880 quadrillion miles (880 followed by fifteen zeroes) from us. It has a diameter of 250 million miles, which is greater than that of the earth’s orbit.”[1]
When one considers these amazing facts, we have to stand in awe of Christ’s ability to create things. We should realize that this universe was not just created by chance, but by Christ’s amazing ability.
iii. The Radiance/brightness of the Glory of God. v. 3
The writer then states that Christ is the possessor of deity as the radiance of His glory. Christ is the perfect image and reflection of God. We know that no man has ever seen God. People have only been able to see reflections or partial glimpses of God. Christ is the visible portion of God. Through Christ, we will se God’s amazing glory. Christ is somewhat like the rays of light from the sun. The sun’s power and glory can only be seen through the rays of light that hit the earth. We can only see the glory of God because of Christ.
Unfortunately, many people do not want to accept that Christ is the reflection of God. They don’t want to believe that Christ is the light that remove the darkness from them. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 talk about the god of this world (Satan) blinding the eyes of men. The only ways for them to have sight is for Christ shine into their hearts and make them able to see his amazing glory!
iv. Imprint of God’s Nature. v. 3
"Exact representation" (express image) translates charakter, a very unusual word (here only in the NT). Originally, it denoted an instrument for engraving and then a mark stamped on that instrument. Hence it came to be used generally of a mark stamped on a thing, the impress of a die. It might be used figuratively, for example, of God as making man in his own image. Here the writer is saying that the Son is an exact representation of God. –Morris
The Son is the express image of God. He is the impression of God. Just as a stamp or makes the exact same replication, so Christ is the exact replication of God. As Col. 1:15 says, Christ is the image of the invisible God. Christ has set for the divine image of God. None of the prophets could say this.
He that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father; that is, he hath seen the same Being. He that hath known the Son hath known the Father, Jn. 14:7-9. For the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son; the personal distinction is no other than will consist with essential union.
v. The Maintainer of all things.
The author says here that Christ is the maintainer or sustainer of all things. This is a continuous action. He is presently, at this moment holding all things together. He holds every scientific law that we have discovered in place. This is a parallel to Colossians 1:16-17. Those verses say that Christ created all things, is before all things, and all things consist because of him. Christ is sovereign over the entire universe. He is the king and ruler over this world, therefore he has the power and control to do whatever he pleases. The universe depends on Christ even though many humans do not want to depend on him.
This word in the Greek implies that Christ is moving the universe towards an ultimate goal. To his eternal rule.
Illustration:
A hurricane lifts sixty million, or more, tons (54 million metric tons) of water and generates more power every ten seconds than all the electrical power used in the United States in a year.
The hurricane that struck Bangladesh in 1970 produced a tidal wave which killed at least 500,000 people. In 1900 at Galveston, Texas, a hurricane created storm tides that swept 6000 people to their deaths. Another 1000 people were drowned in 1954, when a large ferryboat was sunk by a hurricane in Hakodate Bay, in Japan’s north island.
The sun has a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit (6648 Celsius). If it were any closer to us we would burn up; if it were any farther away we would freeze. Our globe is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees, providing us with four seasons. If it were not so tilted, vapors from the oceans would move north and south and develop into monstrous continents of ice. If the moon did not retain its exact distance from the earth the ocean tides would inundate the land completely, twice a day. After the first flooding, of course, the others would not matter as far as we would be concerned. If the ocean floors were merely a few feet deeper than they are, the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance of the earth’s atmosphere would be completely upset, and no animal or plant life could exist. If the atmosphere did not remain at its present density, but thinned out even a little, many of the meteors which now harmlessly burn up when they hit the atmosphere would constantly bombard us. We would have to live underground or in meteor-proof buildings.
When we think about these things about the earth, we are amazed. We see that Christ has amazing power to hold the universe together! If Christ has this kind of power in the universe then why don’t we let him use this power in our lives.
Transition
We have just seen Christ’s amazing power in relation to the Father, we will now look at Christ’s incarnate work.
b. His incarnate work. 3b
i. Purifies Sinners
The sixth characteristic is that Christ made purification for sin. Christ died so that he could purge “our” sins. Romans 3:23 says that the wages of sin is death. Every person in the world is a sinner. We have all sinned. Exodus 20 is the chapter of the Ten Commandments. We have all disobeyed at least one of these commandments. That makes us a sinner. Because of that sin, when we die we will go to hell. Because God is totally holy, we cannot be with him if we have sin. God cannot allow sin into his presence. Because of that, we must spend our eternal life in hell. However, the good news that is listed here is that we have a person that can purge us from sin. The verse says purged us from “our” sins. The writer is talking to a group of believers, so that is why he says “our” sins. You must trust Christ as your savior to be purged from your sin. It is only through Christ’s blood that we can be purged from sin. (1 Pet. 1:18–19) You must ask for forgiveness of your sin. You must then turn your life to Christ. Christ will save you from sin. Without the shedding of Christ’s blood, you can’t be saved. Heb. 9:22; 1 John 1:7. It is critical for you to turn your life over to Christ. If you reject the truth of Christ, then you will spend eternity in Hell. (Heb. 10:26) With sin, we cannot be with Christ. John 8:21.
ii. Sits at the Right hand of God.
When Christ finished His redemptive work, He sat down at the right hand of God. This is signifying the honor and authority of Christ. He has the authority of the entire universe. He is in control. It is also significant to notice that the idea of him sitting down means that his redemptive work is finished. His duty as the priest is done. He has made the ultimate sacrifice by dying for mankind and then raising from the dead. Christ sat down at the right hand of Majesty. Hebrews 10:11-12 says that the earthly priest makes a sacrifice day after day trying to atone for the sins of the people. He is in a standing position because his work is never done, but Christ offered one sacrifice and sat down at the right hand of God.
Jesus’ sitting down at His Father’s right hand signifies at least four things. They are, briefly:
First, He sat down as a sign of honor, “that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11). To be seated at the right hand of the Father is honor indeed.
Second, He sat down as a sign of authority. “[He] is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him” (1 Pet. 3:22). He sat down as a ruler.
Third, He sat down to rest. His work was done. “But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:12).
Fourth, He sat down to intercede for us. “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34). He is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for all of us who belong to Him.- MacArthur
Conclusion
Because of these things that Christ did and still does, we should give him preeminence in our lives. If you don’t know Christ as your savior, then that is the first thing that you must do. You must make Christ first in your life. Ask him to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. After that, you can make Christ the Lord of your Life. He must be Preeminent!
----
[1]John MacArthur, Hebrews, Includes Index. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996, c1983), 14.