"Who Is The Christ Of Christmas: God's Supreme Revelation" Series

Who is the Christ of Christmas?

God’s Supreme Revelation

Hebrews 1:1-3

In December 1903, after many attempts, the Wright brothers were successful in finally getting their “flying machine” off the ground, Thrilled, they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine: “We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas.” Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, “How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas.” He totally missed the big news: a human had flown!

Many people today make a similar mistake when they hear the word Christmas. They do not think of Jesus and His miraculous birth. Instead, they think of family, gatherings, festivities, decorations, and gifts. But if that is all that Christmas is to us, we are missing its true significance.

Last week, we began an examination of the question, “Who is the Christ of Christmas?” It is my goal to remind us that Christmas truly is about Christ. Without Him, there really is no Christmas. Try to imagine a world w/o Christmas (The Grinch who stole Christmas). What a dismal thought, yet many try to celebrate the season w/o knowing the reason for the season.

I have also tried to remind us that if we only see Christ as the babe in a manger, we are also missing the true meaning of Christmas. The Christ of Christmas is so much more than the nursing infant of Bethlehem. The Christmas story is more than the story of a special child’s birth.

It is the story of how God became a man. The Christ of Christmas is the God of heaven, the God who became one of us. Last week, we saw from Col. 1:15-20 that the Christ of Christmas is the Preeminent Lord. Today, we examine a 2nd picture of the Christ of Christmas, and from our text in Hebrews 1:1-3, we discover that the Christ of Christmas is God’s supreme revelation.

The book of Hebrews is one of the most unusual books of the NT:

- We are unsure of its author or audience.

- It is written in sermonic form.

- We are not sure when it was written or the life situation of the book.

* seems as if it is written to a group struggling with their faith

The overall theme of the book focuses upon the Supremacy of Christ. In the book of Hebrews, it is revealed how Christ is supreme over the prophets, over angels, over Moses, over the Old Covenant, and so forth. Over everyone and everything, Christ is supreme.

The writer’s first exhortation focuses on Christ’s supremacy over the prophets, and it is within the context of this first section that we have one of the greatest Christological passages in the whole NT. It is in this text that the Hebrew writer tells us 1) that Jesus Christ is God’s supreme revelation and 2) the reasons why Jesus Christ is God’s supreme revelation (His qualifications/resume). From our text, we examine two central truths:

I. Although God spoke in times past, his revelation was incomplete (1).

The Hebrew writer begins his epistle with some of the most important words in history: God has spoken. As F.F. Bruce observes, “This initial affirmation is basic to Christian faith. Had God remained silent, enshrouded in thick darkness, the plight of mankind would have been desperate indeed; but now he has spoken his revealing, redeeming, and life-giving word, and in his light we see light.”

These words, God has spoken, are important words. Why? B/c if God has not spoken we are without hope. You see we live in a “natural” box. We are limited to time and space. Our senses, as marvelous as they are, are incapable of reaching beyond the natural world. We are bound to this natural earth.

Outside of this natural box in which we live is the world of the supernatural. And although deep within ourselves, we all sense that something is out there, we are unable to know anything certain about what or who it is. Sure, we can guess or speculate what is out there, but b/c of our human limitations (b/c we are bound to the natural world), we cannot know for certain of anything outside our box (although we desperately try).

Religion is an attempt to discover the supernatural thru natural means. Multitudes of religions have risen thru the years attempting to discover how the natural can know or become the supernatural. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, all of the major religions of the world attempt to get outside the box, to escape from the natural to the supernatural. The problem is, we cannot get ourselves out. We are bound to the box of the natural world. No matter how hard we try or what systems of religion we develop, we cannot get out of our natural boxes. We are still human beings bound to the laws of nature.