The Glory Of God In The Face Of Jesus Christ Series

The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ

Hebrews 1:1-3

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - January 31, 2010

Series: Exploring the Glory of God in 2010

*This month we have been exploring the glory of God. God’s glory is so important to Him that He speaks about it some 300 times in His Word! And since God’s glory is important to Him, it should be very important to us.

*But what is God’s glory? Remember that the main Old Testament word picture for “glory” is a weight -- something heavy, something to be taken very seriously.

-The main New Testament word picture for “glory” is magnificence, splendor and brightness like we see in the sun, moon and stars.

*John Piper said that the glory of God refers to His infinite and overflowing fullness of all that is good. -- Walter Kimbrough said God’s “Glory is best defined as the outward shining of God’s inner-being.” (1)

*And God’s glory is so important to Him that He has a plan to reveal His glory. Habakkuk 2:14 tells us that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

*But how does God reveal His glory? Psalm 19:1 tells us that: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” In Exodus 24, Moses went up on Mount Sinai to meet with God for 40 days and 40 nights. And here God’s Word says:

16. The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

17. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a raging, consuming, devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.

*In 2 Chron 7, when Solomon was dedicating the Temple, the Bible says:

1. Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

2. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.

3. When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying: "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever.’’

*God has revealed His glory through the star-lit vastness of the universe.

-God has revealed His glory through consuming fire and blinding light. But the best way that God has ever revealed His glory is through His Son Jesus Christ!

*This is the message in our kick-off Scripture today. It’s Hebrews 1:1-3:

1. God, who at various times and in different 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,

*The best place to see the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ!

-Jesus is the unsurpassed expression of God’s glory!

-But how did Jesus reveal the glory of God? This morning we will explore 4 ways.

1. First: Jesus revealed the glory of God through His magnificent speech.

*One good place to see this is in John 3:31-34. Listen to these verses from the New Living Translation:

31. “He (Jesus) has come from above and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of earth, but he has come from heaven.

32. He tells what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them!

33. Those who believe him discover that God is true.

34. For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God’s Spirit is upon him without measure or limit.

*Jesus Christ always speaks the words of God the Father, because He is God the Son, completely filled with God the Holy Spirit.

-No wonder Jesus revealed God’s glory in the things that He said!

*In the beginning of the Lord’s ministry, Luke tells us that Jesus went all over Galilee, “and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” (Luke 4:15)

*After recording Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount Matthew closed by writing:

-“So it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Matt 7:28-29)