Who Is Jesus?

Hebrews 1:1-4 - Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6 But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

or mortals, that you care for them? 7 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, 8 subjecting all things under their feet.”

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”

The scripture this morning includes the introduction section of the book of Hebrew, in which Paul says, God speaks to us "in many and various ways" by the prophets. Sometimes, it was through a dream, sometimes through a vision, sometimes through direct hearing of God voice.

Talking about God’s voice reminds me of a story that I’ve told you before, which is full of spiritual wisdom.

It is about a man who fell of a cliff, but he was able grab a branch of a tree growing on the side of the cliff and was hanging and dangling there. He looked down and saw the valley under him that looked endless. If he let go of the branch he would definitely die, he thought. But, the branch was very weak, and each time he made just a little move, he heard it began to crack.

But, he couldn’t hang in there for too long, so he cream up, "Help! Someone help me. Oh, God, please help!" Suddenly he heard a deep voice from above, "I am God. I heard your prayer, so I am here to help you." He said, "Oh, thank you God. Please get me out of here. I can’t hang in here anymore." God said, "O.K. I am here to help you. But in order to allow me to help you, you must listen to me." The man said, "OK, just tell me what to do. Quick!"

God says, "Good! First of all, let go of the branch." Suddenly the place became very quiet. After a few minutes passed by, his voice came back up, "Help, anybody else up there?"

Even though this story is very funny, it depicts a human problem very well. We want God to help, but we don’t trust his word.

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Paul wrote this letter to the Hebrews to tell them who Jesus really is. Many of them saw the power and authority of Jesus through his words, his teaching, and the miracles he perform. They knew that what Jesus was doing was something only God could do. But, they couldn’t say Jesus was God because, they don’t believe God could come down to earth. This world is a sinful world and God is holy, so the Holy One can’t enter and mingle with the sinful world. So some Jews are comfortable just to say that Jesus was an angle of God.

Paul wrote to them to counter that assumption by helping them understand who Jesus really is. From the first four verses we learn 6 attributes of Jesus, according to Paul, who has encounter Jesus face to face, and share the same conviction as the other Apostles.

Let’s look at these six attributes this morning.

1 - Jesus is God’s living Word. Therefore we must listen to him to know God’s will.

Paul says, "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,"