The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Hebrews 1

Intro:
L. This book that we have which contains 66 books, 775,693 words, 31,373 verses, 1189 chapters, 3,586,473 letters. It is a book treasured by a great many people in the world. It is a book that helps lift men out of despair, keeps people from jumping
into rivers, oceans, lakes killing themselves. It has been used to influence the greatest statesman of the world. It is a book that was written over a period of hundreds of years but it is sure and holy.  It is a God given book

2. The revelation of God is one of progress. The when man was in the garden of Eden before he sinned, the Scripture says that they walked together with God.. There was fellowship that was immediate. When man sinned and was cast out of the garden then his fellowship was broken and the necessity of a mediator arose. There has always been revelation in a general sort that men all over the world can know that there is a Creator. Thinking men do not gaze into the heavens on a clear night without realizing that this Creation is of God. Each new day and night is a testimony to the knowledge of God. The  seasons follow in their order. The appearance of a blade of grass, the struggling sprout that pops thru the crusted ground, the return
of the migratory fowls- all these point to a Creator and designer of the universe. They are things that all men understand...but they will not lead a person to know the will of God. There is a great difference in knowing that there is a God who gives
the farmer the seasons, the increase, etc., than in knowing the will of God for men and pursuing that will for their lives. It is for this reason that general revelation is not enough.

3. Our texts tells us that it was bit by bit that God revealed himself to man. In the first chapter of Romans we are told that even with the knowledge that man had he ignored it and gave himself over to the  lust of their flesh and did not honor
God nor give Him thanks. They claimed their selves as being wise and became as fools and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator. Therefore it was necessary that man be disciplined and educated as to the true nature of God. For this cause a nation was chosen by God and the revelation began. God began with his Holiness and this was revealed at Mt. Sinai along with other attributes. This progressed until the prophets revealed God as being a redeeming God and finally we have the complete revelation of God in Christ Jesus. It was bit by bit that man has come to know the complete facts.

4. Our texts also tells us that it was in different manners. There are essentially three ways in which this has come to pass. In the days of Abraham and Isaac and Moses God spoke thru the strange phenomena as the burning bush, the cloudy pillar, or in sensuous forms as the appearance of men or theophanies. In Gen 18:1-15 there is the account of God appearing to Abraham. In Moses we have the example of the burning bush, and the cloud appearing and leading the people out of Israel. In the days of the prophets we have God revealing himself to men who spoke for Him. These men were Godly men who desired to serve God and he spoke to them and they in turn spoke to the people. The testimony and integrity of the prophet depended upon what he spoke and if it came to pass. False prophets were distinguished by the implication of whether they served the Lord or idols and whether their predictions came to pass.

5. The third way and that which our text tells us is that God has spoken in these last days thru a Son. The highest and most complete revelation of God is his Son. Not thru his Son, but his revelation is His Son who is God in the flesh. We have the final word from God in his Son. Therefore, when men add to the bible and supplement it with books written by men they are misleading people. Men and women have risen up and claimed to have been in the succession of prophets and are greater than Christ. Beware of them for the Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ is the final and complete revelation of God.

6. In these last days God has spoken to us thru his Son. In  the first chapter the Son is compared to many things. The Son is the highest revelation of God. I. The Son is so much better than Man.

I. The Son of God is much better than man.

In the eighth Psalm these words are asked. “What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visited  him? For thou hast made him  a little lower than the angels, and thou hast crowned him with glory and with honor.”( Job describes man as dwelling in a house of clay which are crushed before the moth. Job 4:l9) Bildad, one of Job's friends asks the question (Job 25:6) “Before God the stars are not pure in his sight how much less man, that is a_worm? and the son of man which is a worm? Isaiah asks the question,  “To whom will ye liken God and he answers by saying that God is the great one that is seated upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers.  Isa 40:22. Man is small and insignificant in this universe and only God's concern for him is the significant factor. Isaiah  41:14 tells us the word of the Lord to rebellious Israel, Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. What is man compared to the Son of God?

2. The son is so much better than the prophets who were the epitome of men. There was the great man of faith called Abraham.  Abraham is the example of faith. He was willing to trust God for the life or death of his son Isaac. There was Moses the man who saw God and who talked with God and was called the friend of God. Moses was the only man who was permitted to have such great experiences with God on Mt. Sinai. He was the great Lawgiver. Yet both Abraham and Moses fall into the category of men who were as  insignificant as grasshoppers in this great universe.
There was Elijah who fought with Jezebel that great immoral woman. There were events in his life that were certainly great. He prayed that it might not rain for a period of 3 years and defied the great king Ahab. He was used of the Lord to do a great miracle of raising a boy from the died. He challenges the false prophets of Israel to a duel to prove who was really God. He called fire down from heaven on his great sacrifice. And on another occasion he called fire down from heaven and destroyed two companies of soldiers who were going to throw him in prison and end his life. As a last scene he was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind. Surely Elijah could account for something. He did but compared to the Lord Jesus he was in the category of grasshoppers.

3. There were other great men, Ezekiel, Daniel , Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos but all of them could do no greater than  to prophesy of the Great and Wonderful Son of God who was to come; who was not a mere man; who was not subject to the sins of man; who was victorious over the temptations of Satan and who gave man a new life and position in the sight of God. The Son of God is so much better than man.

II.   The Son of God is Greater than angels.

1. There have been some great angels in the creation of God. The archangel name is Michael. Michael is the greatest of the angels. Concerning him in Jude we read that (9) that Michael contended with Satan over the body of Moses which presumably Satan was intending to make an idol to mislead the Jewish people. Michael disputed with him and won. In the book of Revelation 12: 7. We read that Michel and his angels fought against Satan at the fall of Satan when the Angel of Light, Lucifer, determined by jealousy he would be like God. Michael and the angels fought against him and threw him out of heaven along with his angels. Michael is a great angelic being. His power and intellect is tremendous but did God ever say to Michael, Thou are my Son! Michael was a servant, a creation, his life depended upon God. Speaking of the son v.4. says that the Son being made so much better than the angels hath obtained a more excellent name than they.

2. There is another angel we know about in Scripture. The name  Gabriel means God is mighty. Just prior to the days of Jesus  a man named Zacharias stood in the temple
of the Lord and an angel of the Lord stood near and told him that Elisabeth his wife would bear a son. Zacharias doubted the words of the angel and asked, how shall I know this. And the angel Gabriel answered, “I  am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be  dumb, and not able to speak until the day which these things shall be performed. And Zacharias was not able to speak. Gabriel was also sent to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth. There he told a virgin woman that she would bear a child and call his name Jesus. He shall be conceived by the Spirit of God and give birth to a child. The angel Gabriel was given the privilege of carrying the news of the birth of the Saviour of the world. But did God ever say to Gabriel, Thou art my Son. Did God ever say to Gabriel, Gabriel, you are the dearest and most wonderful thing to me? No! But of the Christ he says, thou art my Son. Thou art my beloved Son.

3. On the contrary, God said, v.6. Let all the angels of God worship him. There are angels of God who are looking and observing the great wisdom of God in his dealings with the church( Eph 3:10). There are messengers like Gabriel sent by God with messengers of the past. There are angels that the Scripture describes as helpers in distress. When the apostle Peter was in prison for preaching the gospel; the church was praying without ceasing, then the angel of  the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. The angel led him out of prison  opening the way for him. Acts l2:5-ll. There are angels sent forth for judgement as the angel that smote Herod when the people proclaimed him as a god and he gave not God the glory. Our texts tells us that all these angels are to worship Christ. Let all the angels of God worship him.

4. The Son is not an angel, he is greater than they. He is worshipped by them. The Son is greater than man who is as insignificant as the worm and the grasshopper. To which of the angels or man did God ever say, v.l3. Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? None of them. But the Son is greater than all. The Son is the last word from God and we must be ready to accept the Son.

III. The Son is God.

1.. We come now to the third statement concerning the Son in this text. The words of the Scripture...But unto the Son, he saith, God the Father to the Son, Thy Throne, O God is for ever ands ever. We find in the Scripture that God is one and at the same time three. The doctrine is stated... There is in the divine Being but one indivisible essence. In this one Divine Being there are three Persons or individual subsistences, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The whole undivided essence of God belongs equally to each of the three persons. The subsistence and operation of the three persons in the divine Being is marked by a certain definite order.

2. There have been various analogies made in an attempt to explain this great and wonderful doctrine. There is the story of the egg as being the shell, the white and the yoke but yet are one. There is water which is at the same time rain, snow and ice all being one. Of greater importance is the psychological unity of the intellect, the affections and the will. Augustine attempted the explanation that God is love. If God is love, then there must always be in Him a Lover, a Beloved and a Spirit of love, for no love is conceivable without a Lover and a Beloved. Where there is love there is trinity.

3. In our Scripture God is speaking to his Son. He is addressing him after he had made the supreme sacrifice for the sins of men and Jesus Christ is now being exalted to the place that he held before the foundation of the World. Thy Throne, O God is forever and ever. You will endure forever. The heavens shall grow old as a rotten garment, they shall perish; but thou remainst. The earth and the heavens shall be folded up and shall be changed but thou art the same and they years shall not fail.

4. v 10 tells us that Thou Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. Gen1:1l tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Here the Son, who is God is described as creating the foundations of the earth. Consider the universe that the Son has made. The astronomers discovers over 100,000,000 stars in the galaxy to which our sun belongs. Around that galaxy, the Milky Way, our sun rushes at the tremendous rate of 1,000,000 miles an hour. Even then it takes about 200,000,000 years to make just one round trip. At the same time the earth moves 70,000 miles an hour around the sun, while it speeds 1000 miles an hour as it turns upon its own axis. So far away is the nearest star that it takes light, traveling  186,000 miles a second, three years to reach the earth. Our earth is one  of the smaller of nine planets that move in orbits around the sun. Only 8,000 miles in diameter, it is only a speck in all this vast universe. The sun alone is 300,000 times the mass of the earth. Thou Lord in the beginning has made the creation.

5. The great God who created all this has looked down upon the insignificant grasshoppers and worm like creatures of the earth who are called men and from a heart of love says, We must make a means of escape for men. The Son said to his Father, I will  lay aside my glory and honor and go down to those creatures and live in a body like theirs, I will suffer the temptations that they are subject to, I will be hungry like them, thirst for water like they, and then make a sacrifice for sin which shall be sufficient to cover the sins of the whole world.

Concl.:

1. This is the Son by whom the Father has spoken. This is the Son who died on the Cross for the sins of the world, your sins and my sins. This is the Son who loves you. This is the last word from God. There is no other word. There is no other scheme for entrance into the presence of God but thru his Son. If a man turns his back upon the highest and most complete revelation of God then that persons is lost for ever.

2. Now the Son is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will be there until the fullness of time comes, than He will come to judge men. He will judge than as to whether they received the great message of God in Christ Jesus.

 3. What is your reception to this highest revelation? Don't play around with the greatest message in the world. Don't neglect it! Make it a part of every part of your life.

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