Our aim in this series = To elevate our perspective of JESUS which is constantly being tarnished by our world, so that any sense of flagging faith is renewed by a fresh understanding of the importance and significance of JESUS.
Using Hebrews 1:1-3 we will explore the portrait of Jesus painted throughout Hebrews.
Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians, probably 2nd generation, whose parents had embraced ‘Christ’ as Messiah and so these people had inherited a faith which they were finding challenging to follow because of doubts and possible social and physical persecution from both the Romans and fellow Jews. They needed to know that Christianity was true and Christ was worth following.
The real message of Hebrews is that whatever you are considering as the focus of your life, Christ is BETTER (key word). He is the perfect revelation of God, the final and complete sacrifice for sin, the compassionate and understanding mediator and the only way to eternal life. Reading Hebrews, you begin to see history and life from God’s perspective. Then give yourself unreservedly and completely to Christ.
HEBREWS 1:1-3
Hebrews begins by asserting that JESUS is the foundation upon which we must all build our lives. The Apostle Paul asserted the same…..
1 Corinthians 3:11 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
The centre of all that exists and its reason for existing is JESUS…..the Son of God.
How you understand JESUS is central to the stability and security of your life. The more central he is to your life the more stable your life is. Heaven knows it and so does Hell and that’s why we are constantly barraged today with and attempt to pollute the beauty and wonder of who JESUS really is.
This week: “You’ve got Mail”
Hebrews starts with asserting this amazing fact:
GOD HAS SPOKEN TO MAN
Read: Hebrews 1:1,2 …… then… (J.B.Phillips) “God, who gave to our forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets, has now, at the end of the present age, given us the truth in the Son….”
Mankind has always found ways of communicating, modern technology has invented a web of communication tools that mean people can keep in touch wherever they are:
• Mobile phones and texting are part of everyday life
• Millions of emails are exchanged daily across the world
• People are networking on sites likes MSN, Facebook & MySpace
God has always sought to ‘keep in touch’ with His creation.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers…….” - Through prophets, dreams, visions, angels and acts of nature. The OT is full of occurances when God spoke into human situations.
So many people would say that they could believe in God if they could hear him or see him. When you become aware of a supreme, divine being it is natural to seek a response from Him.
That is exactly what God has promised – Jeremiah 33:3 “’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
God is not trying to keep himself or his thoughts towards mankind a big secret.
However, what we would recognize is that prior to the coming of Jesus God’s speaking to the world was periodic and in fact for 400 years (inter-testamental period) God did not speak at all. But that was all about to change.
GOD’S ‘WORD’ TO THE WORLD
“….but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”……John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…”
Mark Greenwood: On an American TV show the presenter was asking children a series of religious questions. He asked one little girl ‘Why do you think God called Jesus the ‘Word’?’ She answered ‘I suppose that’s all he wanted to say’
JESUS is all that God needed to say to the world. When God provides an answer to every human crisis and need the only word necessary is JESUS.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus is “…sustaining all things by his powerful word”
Whether its comfort, healing, truth, hope, deliverance, protection, provision, freedom, strength, courage, assurance, love, wisdom, happiness or satisfaction one word encapsulates God’s answer…..JESUS.
Jesus lived God’s message to the world – every action and word was revealing who God is and want he is saying to our world.
John 14:9 “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”
When people scream out at God “Tell me what you think, what you want”….God answers…look to Jesus.
Read: Hebrews 2:1-4 - “…..This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord….”
(If what angels said was binding(i.e obligatory) then what Jesus has declared is even more so)
People are so often looking for God to explain everything to us – and he has…
John 4:25-26 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."
JESUS is more than just a good moral teacher and purveyor of wisdom. He is God’s message to the world. What he has said is what we are to build our lives upon and in so doing find the kind of life we were created to enjoy.
GOD IS STILL SPEAKING TODAY
And he is still speaking through His Son Jesus. Two thousand years on the words and example of Jesus are still the greatest foundation to build your life upon.
Read: Hebrews 3:12-15
“Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts”
Today: Reminds us that God has not gone silent on us. He is not ignoring the world he created.
If you hear his voice: Man has a choice as to whether we really do listen to what God is saying.
Do not harden your hearts: God seeks to speak into the core of our human experience.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”
God is not interested in merely communicating information, his word, JESUS, wants to bring transformation. He wants to revert the crisis of human experience and give us real life.
Hebrews 12:23-24 “You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
God’s WORD to the world today in Jesus is GRACE, MERCY, HEALING, HOPE.
Hebrews 1:1,2 “ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son”
