It’s now just two weeks and just fourteen days until Christmas! Christmas is so exciting for so many reasons: family gathering together, time off from work and obligations, and the strong sense of nostalgia we all feel this time of year.
Nat King Cole captured the sentiment of the season for many of us:
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to 92
Although it's been said many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you.
But we are miscommunicating the essence of Christmas if we think the holiday is simply chestnuts roasting on an open fire. So many people simply miss the essence of the Christmas message.
Sometimes our best efforts are lost in translation. Years ago, in some of the Spanish versions of the movie Star Wars, the translator translated Chewbacca into the Spanish words meaning, “Chewing Tabaco!”
Some years ago, Pepsi wanted to say, “Come alive! You’re the Pepsi generation” in China. They literally translated the slogan and found out it meant, “Pepsi will bring back your ancestors from the dead!”
One more…we all know that KFC’s chicken is “Finger-lickin good,” but when KFC opened its doors in China in the late 1980s, I don’t think they meant to say, “Eat your fingers off.”
Like these, so many people simply miss the essence of the Christmas message. In the moments to come, I want you to know why Jesus is the Voice of Christmas.
Find Hebrews 1 with me, if you will. Hebrews 1 celebrates and declares the greatness of Jesus. Here in the early parts of Hebrews, we have what some have called the “nosebleed” section of Christology.
Today’s Scripture
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
Hebrews is saying, “Jesus is better.” The whole theme of Hebrews is: Jesus is better. Or as the English Standard Version says it: Jesus is superior. Jesus is better than the angels (Hebrews 1:4). Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus’ sacrifice is better (Hebrews 9:23). Jesus’ temple is better (Hebrews 7:22). Jesus makes for a better hope (Hebrews 7:19). The whole theme of Hebrews is: Jesus is better.
We don’t know who wrote Hebrews, and Hebrews was likely written to Jewish converts to the Messiah who were considering giving up on Jesus. The writer of Hebrews has one basic message: “Don’t give up! Christ is better. Go all the way with Him!”
1. Jesus is God’s Final Word
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Jesus is the Voice of Christmas.
1.1 What if God were Silent?
Imagine for a moment if God didn’t talk. Imagine if the Almighty were silent, invoking His right to privacy. Pause to consider if there were no prophets, no Moses, and none of the sacred writings. What if there was no Bible? A man named Henry Rogers did just that shortly after WW II. He tells of a man’s dream where a man turns to read His Bible and discovered that his Bible was blank. There were only blank pages in his Bible everywhere he turned. He soon turned to find others’ Bibles. His mother’s Bible was blank. His father’s Bible was blank too. Everyone’s Bibles were blank as well. Even the Bibles in the nearby bookshops all across the land and they were all blank! Every place he could think that he might find a Bible, they were all blank! Despair was everywhere! Even those who just owned a copy but never read God’s Word were quickly upset by all the blank sacred pages everywhere.
Comically, we might wonder, “What if there were no coffee.” It’s still another thing to consider, “What if I didn’t have my best friend?” But, it is whole another level to consider what if God were silent.
1.2 God’s Diversity of Speech
Throughout history, God has spoken in many different ways. He spoke angels, and through a burning bush, He spoke through dreams and even spoke through Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22:28). However, God’s main communication method was through the Old Testament prophets. But once Jesus came to planet earth, God said, “This is my final way to talk to you, through my Son, Jesus.”
1.3 The Finality of Jesus’ Speaking
“but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son…” (Hebrews 1:2a).
Jesus, the Son of God is no mere spokesman for God, nor is He merely a heavenly messenger, such as an angel. Instead, this final revelation comes through one intimately acquainted with the heavenly Father in a way that only a family member could be. “Last days” means the entire period from when he was writing to the end of time. So what is Hebrews saying? It’s saying that from now until the end of time, there is no fuller, no more final expression of God than Jesus. Other prophets gave the word of God; Jesus is the word of God.
1.4 LDS and Islam
Since Jesus, there have been others who have claimed they got the final message. Six hundred years after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, an Arabian man named Muhammad claimed to have received a final message from God. He wrote it down in the Qur’an. He claimed his revelation superseded that of Isa, or Jesus, who was considered a great prophet.
In 1830, Joseph Smith claimed he received a more final revelation from God. It is called the Book of Mormon. But with apologies to the Muslims and the Mormons, Jesus is the final Word from God.
1.4 Jesus is the Zenith of God Speaking
Again, once Jesus came to planet earth, God said, “This is my final way to talk to you, through my Son, Jesus.” This isn’t just angels speaking… This isn’t just prophets speaking… This isn’t just even pastors speaking… This is Jesus speaking. Jesus is the Zenith of God Speaking. Jesus is God’s final and decisive Word to us all!
1. Jesus is God’s Final Word
2. Jesus is God’s Heir
Beginning in the middle part of verse 2, we are given seven quick facts regarding the Son of God to show us He’s better. He’s better in every way imaginable. You can think of these as Jesus’ resume, so to speak.
These seven facts are as profound a description of Jesus as you’ll find anywhere.
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, two but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Not only is Jesus the final word God has spoken, He is also the heir or the inheritor of all things. Jesus will possess everything there is to possess. The Hebrews writer points back to Psalm 2:8: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:8). There is no need for you to attend the Father’s reading of the will. Everything goes to Jesus. Jesus’ name is on the deed of everything, spiritually and physically. No wonder the Apostle Paul said of Jesus: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36). I have good news for all of you who are in Christ this morning. The Father is delighted to be generous with you: “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). When you consider this for even a moment, you have to say, “Double Wow!” Oh, that one or two of you would get lost in thought the rest of the day pondering on what it means to be co-heir with Jesus.
1. Jesus is God’s Final Word
2. Jesus is God’s Heir
3. Jesus is My Creator
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Jesus created all things, and He now upholds it all by His power. None of the other prophets did that.
3.1 Two Lessons
When the Bible says, “through whom also he created the world,” at the end of verse 2, this means at least two things:
1) the Son existed before He came to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
2) the Son already owned the universe by virtue of creating the universe with the Father.
Again, we learn two enormously important items from the end of verse 2: Everything was made by Jesus, and everything was made for Jesus. No, Jesus did not begin to exist at Bethlehem. Christmas was just the beginning of a round-trip that Jesus took from heaven to earth and back to heaven. Jesus was fully God becoming man at Christmas.
3.2 It’s Made by Jesus
George Gallup, the American statistician, said: “I could prove God statistically. Take the human body alone—the chance that all the functions of the one individual functioning human body would just happen is a statistical monstrosity.”
You were at one time a single cell. While you have no memory of this stage of your life, yet you began dividing. At a certain stage, when you were very young, only a few hours old, you sorted yourself out and became a system of cells, each labeled for what it was to become - brain cells, limbs, liver, gall bladder, heart, the whole gamete. All of these systems signal to each other, calculating their territories, laying you out… Yet, if it had been left to me to do the mapping of my cells, I would have got it wrong....” An associate professor of medicine at Yale when did a TED talk about the marvel of the human embryo. By the time you’re nine months old, you have almost 60,000 miles of vessels inside your body, and when you are an adult, they are closer to 100,000 miles laid end to end. And only 1 mile is visible to the eye. The other 59,999 miles (seen only by a microscope) are bringing nutrients and taking waste away outside the naked eye. The complexity of building that within a single system is, again, beyond any comprehension or any existing mathematics today. In the 7th, 8th, and 9th weeks, a baby’s lungs develop. In this finely tuned and choreographed fetal development process, the right lung grows longer and separates into three lobes while the left lung forms only two lobes because the heart needs to grow. These heart cells actually “talk” to the developing cells of the lung, saying, “Hey, I need some room here.” Jesus left his fingerprints all over our world and our lives.
Remember, we learn two things from
1) the Son existed before He came to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
2) the Son already owned the universe by virtue of creating the universe with the Father.
3.3 It’s for Jesus
We are used to saying, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” but Jesus is the reason for creation. The Bible says Jesus is “the heir of all things ….” Jesus holds the deed to every square inch of this universe. Every galaxy, every solar system, every planet, and every person belongs to Jesus. He holds the deed to all of it. It was made by Him. It was made through Him. And it’s for Him. This is the one who was born at Christmas. Do you know Him?
1. Jesus is God’s Final Word
2. Jesus is God’s Heir
3. Jesus is My Creator
4. Jesus is God’s Equal
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high….” (Hebrews 1:3).
This child born at Bethlehem is every bit equal to the Father. Jesus is the exact imprint of the Father’s nature.
4.1 An American Christmas
Now, you cannot live in America and miss that it is Christmas time. But you can easily live in America and miss the message of Christmas.
America has seven big holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. We celebrate New Year’s Day because it is the beginning of a new year. We celebrate Martin Luther King Day because of what Martin Luther King did for civil rights. We celebrate Memorial Day to celebrate those who died in the military. We celebrate Independence Day to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We will celebrate Labor Day to celebrate the value of work and workers all over America. We celebrate Thanksgiving Day to give thanks for all the blessings that our Creator has given to us. Christmas is by far the most popular of these seven American holidays. Yet, not everybody can tell you why we celebrate every other holiday. Only around half of all Americans could retell the Christmas story from memory.
4.2 A Big U Shape
Imagine a big U shape for a moment. Jesus, “the radiance of the glory of God,” was in Heaven with the Father before the world began. And then the Word took on flesh and lived for a while among us. Jesus serves, suffers, dies, rises again, and is exalted to the right hand of the Father, where He returns to the glory he had with the Father before the world began. Christmas was just the beginning of a round-trip that Jesus took from heaven to earth and back to heaven. Jesus booked a round-trip ticket from Heaven before He was born at Bethlehem. Here’s a simple way that everyone can grasp: If Jesus sat down to take the STAR test, He would perform just as well as His Father!
1. Jesus is God’s Final Word
2. Jesus is God’s Heir
3. Jesus is My Creator
4. Jesus is God’s Equal
5. Jesus is My Deliverer
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high….” (Hebrews 1:3).
The Bible says that Jesus is My Deliverer. This is a huge, massive reason for Christmas right here. You’re not celebrating Christmas until you know Jesus is your personal deliverer. The Bible says, “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:3b). What does that mean? It means Jesus can be your deliverer.
5.1 Charlie Brown Christmas Special
“Does anyone know the true meaning of Christmas?” Our Peanuts pal, Charlie Brown, queried that memorable line in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Among the things that make the holiday season special is A Charlie Brown Christmas, a show that has aired every year since its inception. It first aired on December 9, 1965, and A Charlie Brown Christmas was an enormous success. But this long-running Christmas special almost never aired.
A Charlie Brown Christmas begins with Charlie Brown depressed about Christmas. Early in the show Charlie say to Linus, “I think there must be something wrong with me. I just don’t understand Christmas, I guess. I might be getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I don't feel the way I’m supposed to feel.”
Later on, Charlie Brown picks out a scrawny Christmas tree, and everyone makes fun of him for picking such a tree. It’s there. Charlie says to Linus, “Isn’t there anyone who understands what Christmas is all about?” It’s here that Linus goes to the center of the stage to recite directly from the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke. The character, Linus, says, “Sure, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. And there were in the same country Shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.’”
It’s there that the show received some of its strongest criticism from the Network Executives. Yet, Charles Schulz battled with executives arguing, “If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?”
Look back at verse 3 with me: “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:3).
It is so important to understand these words, “ After making.” The Bible doesn’t say Jesus “is still making” or He “will make.” Notice the past tense, After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high….” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus’ work for our delivery is done, finished! Later on, the writer of Hebrews will say this: “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God….” (Hebrews 10:12).
Christmas with only the cradle, minus the cross, is a
5.2 Mary, Did You Know?
One of my favorite Christmas songs begins like this:
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.
Jesus delivered us through His death on the cross.
1. Jesus is God’s Final Word
2. Jesus is God’s Heir
3. Jesus is My Creator
4. Jesus is God’s Equal
5. Jesus is My Deliverer
6. Jesus Has No Rivals
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high….” (Hebrews 1:3).
6.1 Enthroned
Remember, the big U shape. Christmas was just the beginning of a round-trip that Jesus took from heaven to earth and back to heaven. When Jesus sat down, you can think of this as His enthronement. Jesus returned to ruling and reigning as the King of the universe! He reigns over everything.
6.2 Priests Never Sat in the Holy of Holies
In the Old Testament, the priests ministering never sat down. There was one piece there was no chair in the Holy of Holies in the temple or the tabernacle. When the priests would go there to offer a blood sacrifice, He never sat down because His work was never finished. He had to keep coming back year after year after year after year. Not Jesus. Jesus sat down once He returned to heaven. His work was finished because He was perfectly exquisite sacrifice in every way.
Conclusion
Jesus never said, “Follow My People.” Instead, He said, “Follow Me.” Can you say, “Jesus has no rival in my life?” Can you say with honesty, “Jesus is my deliverer?”
