Heb 1:1–4 — God Has Spoken in His Son

We are beginning this new series on the wonderful Letter to the Hebrews. We are not sure who wrote it. I argued last week that it was likely not the Apostle Paul himself. The fact that it is not identified as by Paul, does not begin with Paul an apostle, suggests that it was not by him, but rather by someone in Paul’s circle of followers and disciples, somebody that reflects the theology of the Apostle Paul.

The main theme of this letter is the greatness of the new covenant in contrast with the old. And the author of Hebrews is writing to a people, to Jewish Christians, who are contemplating abandoning their faith in Christ and returning to a non-messianic Judaism, a Judaism that does not acknowledge Christ as the Messiah.

So he begins his letter with this amazing opening statement that we just read in chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. This opening paragraph is a magnificent statement of the greatness and the glory of Christ. Now it does not specifically mention that he is the mediator of the new covenant, but he is going, the author of Hebrews is going to work his way towards that thought, towards the new covenant thought as he develops who Christ is. But he begins here with this amazing declaration of the majesty and glory of Christ.

God Has Spoken

And I have titled the sermon today, “God Has Spoken in His Son,” taken from the opening statement. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. God spoke in many ways and many times to the Old Testament believers through types, through promises, through prophetic oracles. But all of that speech of God, all of that revelation that God gave to the Old Testament believers pales in comparison with this final word that God has spoken in these last days in Christ his Son. This opening paragraph in Greek is actually one long sentence. In most of our English versions, it is broken up into three or four sentences.

But in Greek, it is one long sentence with everything all perfectly crafted together with all of the clauses and phrases arranged in such a way to work together to express one complete unified thought. From beginning to end. In Greek, the term for that is a period. That is where we get the English word period from, the little dot at the end, which is saying that is the end of the sentence. But in the Greek times, in classical Greek, the Greeks referred to this type of sentence, a long, elaborate sentence, as a period to communicate and to convey this one singular thought. It is a rhetorically impressive opening statement. I wish that you could all read Greek because then you could appreciate the power of this opening period in the Greek itself. It is a powerful statement. Not only is it a period where everything is all arranged perfectly with all the subordinate clauses being perfectly balanced to create one complete thought, but also it uses alliteration.

Alliteration. Where you have the same sound repeated multiple times. Alliteration is used five times here in the beginning. It is the sound p, the p sound in Greek. Polumeros kai polutropos palai. That is the first three words, first four words of the verse there in chapter one, verse one. The p, p, p sound.

It is very rhetorically impressive. It is a powerful statement. It is a fitting prologue to this letter. The author of Hebrews wants to impress upon his audience the majesty and the glory and the greatness of Christ because they are being tempted to reject Christ and to fall away from him. And he is encouraging them to say, do not do that. Do you not realize what an awesome and glorious and powerful Lord we have. He is doing this to draw the people back from the brink.

In fact, one of the very first, throughout the letter of Hebrews, there are these warning passages exhorting the people to not fall away, to not give up their faith, but to persevere in faith. The very first warning passage or the very first exhortation to continue in the faith is pretty soon. It is in chapter two, in chapter two and verses one and following. And so you can just immediately think about, as you are letting the weight of this opening period affect you, and the glory of Christ, then he goes on and talks about how Christ is greater than the angels in Hebrews 1, 5 through 14. But then you can see how he is immediately trying to draw to the application in chapter 2, verse 1.

Therefore, in view of this glorious Christ, We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Notice it says, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. That is directly connecting back to this opening statement here, that we have heard God’s voice speaking to us in Christ. We have a speaking God, a God who is not silent, but a God who reveals himself to us.

But he reveals himself to us progressively and throughout history. He does not do it all at once. He spoke through the prophets. That is the doctrine of the inspiration of the Old Testament scriptures. He spoke and came to the people through angels and also through the glory cloud that the angels are associated with.

Remember in the Old Testament very often the angel of the Lord and the glory cloud are tightly connected together. We saw that a few weeks ago in the Exodus. That the glory cloud and the angel of the Lord are related to one another. Just like with later on we see at the burning bush, when Moses stopped at the burning bush and he saw this bush that was on fire but it was not being consumed, that was the glory cloud. But then he heard the voice of the angel of the Lord speaking out of the bush.

The Person of the Son

All of these are different ways in which God revealed himself progressively throughout redemptive history. But the passage here is focusing on this one thing, which is that all of those previous revelations, whether through prophets like Moses, or through the angels and the glory cloud, all of those speakings and speeches of God were partial. And God was speaking in many different times and in many different ways, but he was only speaking a partial word. But now in these last days, he has spoken to us his final word in the person and work of his son. He is greater than a prophet. He is greater than an angel. He is greater than that glory cloud. He is the definitive revelation of God.

This perspective of our text here is very significant because it gives us a basic hermeneutic, a basic way of reading the Bible, of understanding and interpreting all of scripture. And that is this idea of redemptive history. All of scripture is the unfolding of redemptive history.

And God in the past, before the coming of Christ, is preparing for Christ through these various partial revelations through prophets and glory clouds and angels and so on, but then he climactically brings all of that partial revelation to a head in the redemptive historical fulfillment in these last days, in the final days.

It is amazing to think about. A lot of times we think of eschatology as being way off in the future. In the future, we will have the last days. According to this text, eschatology began with the first coming of Christ. In these last days, the last days began when Christ came the first time. And so we have this redemptive historical and eschatological perspective of the panorama of redemptive history.

Promise and fulfillment. God speaking and making promises and prophetic oracles bit by bit, but then coming to the climactic revelation in the last days in Christ. The focus of this text is on the Son. It says, long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, the Son of God, who has been revealed as the incarnate Son, the person and work of Christ. From that statement on, we have seven additional statements about who the Son is. So you have this opening, grand, redemptive historical perspective of the old covenant revelation, and then the final revelation, the final word in Christ, the Son. And then you have these seven-fold descriptors of who the Son is.

Heir and Creator

First, whom he appointed the heir of all things. Now what does that refer to? Whom he appointed the heir of all things. This is a point where the commentators struggle because they are not sure what it is referring to. What event is this referring to here? Whom God appointed heir of all things.

The most natural thought would be that it is referring to the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. Because that is when that would tie in with the previous statement. In these last days, God has spoken to us by his son. And this last, most recent revelation of God is seen in the work of Christ that culminates in his resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God. So he was appointed as heir of all things at that moment of his exaltation. And certainly that is definitely in view.

However, there is a little bit of a problem, which is that if you are just reading the phrase just before that, where it says, he has spoken to us now in his son, that would lead you to think it is talking about the exaltation of Christ when it says that he appointed him heir of all things. But if you keep reading, suddenly it seems to shift back to before his incarnation, because then we have through whom also he created the world. Now we are going back to the preexistent stage.

So in my view, I think that first opening descriptor of the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, is more of a timeless statement. Yes, it is brought to its fulfillment in the climactic exaltation of Christ, but it also refers back to his appointment in eternity past under what we call in theology the covenant of redemption. When the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, before the foundation of the world, were planning the whole work and planning the work of salvation. Even then, he was appointed as the heir of all things. But of course it does have a climactic fulfillment in history at the exaltation of Christ and even beyond that to the second coming of Christ when the whole world is finally purified and given to the Son as his glorious reward.

So it is more of a timeless statement that focuses upon the cosmic reality of who Christ is. It is an amazing thought. So this very first descriptor of who the Son is. In these last days, God has spoken his final word in the Son. And the very first thing that the author of this letter wants to say is that the Son was appointed.

And I am taking that in this timeless way, this global way that maximally includes all the possibilities, pre-eternal, pre-existent, in the exaltation of Christ and even on into the second coming of Christ and the new creation. He has appointed him as the heir of all things. What is an heir? An heir is the son in the human realm, it is the son who is going to inherit the Father’s estate.

So it is an amazing image that what we are being described here is that Christ is the one for whom the world was made. The Father created the world through the Son to give the creation to His Son. It is an amazing thought when you are out there in the world. Just this week I was doing some hiking. When you are out there in creation and you are seeing the amazing beauty of God’s creation, Think about it. This is Christ’s creation.

This belongs to Him. He is the heir of all of this. This belongs to Him, and He is going to see to it that in spite of sin, in spite of the curse that has come into this world, He is going to eventually receive it in all of His glory. And He has already been established as the heir, not only in his pre-existent state under the covenant of redemption, but even when he ascended into heaven at the right hand of God, he has been established as the heir of all things.

This world already belongs to Christ. And yes, there is still a lot of difficulty and problems and sin in this world, but it is just a matter of time before all of that is dealt with and it is all wrapped up as a beautiful present for Christ and given to him someday. That gives us great assurance, does it not? Because in the midst of all of the trials and tribulations of this life, we know that Christ has already secured the reward. And that all sin and all conflict and all evil is only temporary and will be done away at the second coming of Christ.

So God has spoken his final definitive word in the Son, and the first descriptor of the Son, it is kind of mind-blowing that he would go right to this, is this idea that everything is given to him. He is the heir of all things. The second descriptor is, through whom also he created the world. So not only is Christ the one who is going to receive the entire creation as his reward, and has received it in his death and resurrection, but he was even present at the beginning when all things were created. All things were created through him.

That is an incredible statement. In fact, this is probably one of the most important proof texts in the New Testament, alongside of John 1, verse 3, for the deity of Christ. Because if all things were created through him, then he must not be a creature. He must be the creator. And so this affirms the deity of the Son, all things through whom also he created the world.

John 1:3 says something similar. It says that apart from him, nothing was made that was made because he was present at creation at the beginning. A powerful proof. Yes, there are many other passages that talk about the deity of Christ. The passages that affirm that he is God, for example. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But even more powerful than that, I think, are these verses in the New Testament that affirm that he is the creator, placing the son on the creator side of the creator-creature distinction. That is like the most massive metaphysical distinction in the entire world, which is the creator versus the creation.

Everything belongs in one of those two categories. And so the son here is being placed in the category of creator. And therefore he is eternal, never has a beginning. He is sovereign over all things. He is the creator, and therefore he is God himself. So that is the second incredible statement about the Son. First, that he has been appointed the heir of all things. Second, through whom also God created the world.

Radiance and Exact Imprint

The third statement also fleshes out the deity of Christ when it says that he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. Jesus Christ in his eternal glory before he became a man is the radiance of God’s glory. It is like he is like the outshining, like the rays of glory coming out. He is the outshining and the glory of God the Father.

And he is the exact representation, the exact imprint of his nature. This is the analogy of like a coin stamp. You take the piece of metal and then you stamp the coin with the, in the Roman coinage you have the emperor on one side and so on. He is the exact coin stamp of the image of God. He is the exact expression of the divine nature. In other words, he is the image of God, as Paul says.

This is very similar to Paul’s language in Colossians 1:16, 15 and 16. He is the image of the invisible God through whom all things were created. Remember that same statement there.

So there is John 1:3, there is Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 1:3 that place him on the creator side of the creature distinction. But here, this phrase, this is the third qualifier, the third descriptor of the son. It focuses not so much on the fact that he is the creator, but on the fact that he is the second person of the Trinity, and he is all that the Father is. In the Nicene Creed, which we are going to confess at the end of the service today, it says that he has the same nature as the Father.

In the English translations, it will say, being of one substance with the Father. The word substance is a little bit confusing, because it sounds like a material substance. It just means being of one essence. Having the same divine nature as the Father. That is this text here. This text is saying that exact thing. That He is the exact imprint of the divine nature. He is not like a lesser being. He is not like on the chain of being a little bit below God. He is exactly all that God is. He is the Son of God. And He represents God Himself.

So that is the third statement. Oh, there is another key point too, which is that the Nicene Creed also says, light of light. Remember that part? Light of light. That is from this verse, where it says there in verse three, he is the radiance of the glory of God. He is light of light. He is like the rays of light shining out from the divine nature.

This is an amazing passage here that tells us about the glory of Christ as the divine Son of God who perfectly represents the divine nature. And then it gives us the fourth descriptor of the Son. The fourth descriptor is at the end of verse three. Actually it is in the middle of verse three.

Sustainer of All Things

He upholds the universe by the word of his power. And that ties back with the fact that he is the creator. If he is on the creator side of the creator-creature distinction, then he is also sovereign in upholding all things. He upholds and sustains all creation by his powerful word.

That power, the word of his power, his powerful word, I think that is echoing back to Genesis 1. God said, let there be light, and there was light. God created the world through the word. And then John 1 picks that up as well and says that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. But here it is focusing not so much on the creation aspect at the beginning out of nothing, but on the continuing reality that as the creator, he sustains all things. He upholds all things by his powerful word.

The universe is vast. We have come to understand that more recently, in the last hundred years or so, the Hubble Space Telescope and now the James Webb Space Telescope peering down to the edges of the universe and seeing galaxies, trillions of galaxies, out there in this world. Every single galaxy is sustained by the Second Person of the Trinity. The Son of God, by His powerful Word, is sustaining every molecule in this vast universe.

There is no random molecules. There is no strange things happening out there by some quantum mechanical quirk that just goes out of control and does something odd. No, it is all under God’s control, under Christ’s power. He is the creator who sustains all things.

Just think if you are one of these Jewish Christians who is hearing all of this and you are contemplating going back to Judaism, man, What are you doing? You have something so much greater. You have the fulfillment of all that Judaism was pointing to. You have the Son who is the creator and sustainer of all things.

The Work of the Son

And not only that, and then we come now to 5, 6, and 7, the fifth statement, after making purification for sins, the sixth statement, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, and the seventh statement, that he has obtained a greater name than the angels.

Now we come to the work of this son. We have been focusing primarily on his preexistent glory as the divine son, as the second person of the Trinity, who is there at creation and who is currently sustaining all things and who is the exact representation of the Father’s nature. But now we come in the last like you are coming down the mountain in the last part of the trail where you are just running. And now we are coming down into the final stretch. And this is all about the work of this son as incarnate. Before we were thinking about him as the pre-incarnate Son with the Father, but now we are already assuming that he has become a man and he is making purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High and he has obtained a name that is greater than the angels.

This is the work of Christ, the person and the work. The person of Christ is the divine Son of God, now the work of Christ. Key point here. I think this one here, the after making purification for sins, that is point number five. I think that is the heart of this whole thing. Because all of that glorious stuff about His deity and His power as the creator and sustainer of all things is for the purpose of showing us that He is mighty to save. That He has the divine power to do this mighty work of making purification for sins. This is the whole focus of the letter.

The rest of the book of Hebrews is going to really talk about that more than anything else. How he is the great priest who offers the final sacrifice, who brings us into the presence of God and gives us perfect access to God’s presence, unlike the old covenant priest who only gave the people imperfect access to God and had to keep offering the same sacrifices over and over again. But this priest, he has made purification for sins once for all. And the proof that it is a once for all purification for sins is point number six, that he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

This is the same thought that the author of Hebrews is going to bring up later. Remember that section in Hebrews 10? Remember in Hebrews 10 in verse 12 and following? Remember that wonderful statement there? Actually 11 and following, Hebrews 10 verse 11, every priest in the old covenant system stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this priest, when he had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he did what?

He sat down at the right hand of the majesty, at the right hand of God. Notice how in Hebrews 10 verse 12, he has the same movement of thought from offering the sacrifice, and it is a definitive final sacrifice, and as a result he sat down. Same thought here in our text. Hebrews 1 verse 3, the second part of verse 3.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. This is Hebrews’ unique insight based upon his interpretation of the Day of Atonement ritual. In the Day of Atonement ritual, there is the offering of the sacrifice, but then there is the key moment where the high priest takes the blood and he enters into the Holy of Holies and sprinkles it upon the atonement cover, showing that the sacrifice has been completed, showing that there is a permanence to it, showing that it is now giving us access to God. And so, of course, in the Old Testament days, the Day of Atonement was repeated year after year, because it was not the true final atonement, but the author of Hebrews is saying this was a picture of the work of Christ. Of offering the final sacrifice and then completing that with his session, that is, taking his seat at the right hand of God, showing that he is no longer on his feet constantly doing priestly stuff. No, he is done. He is taking his seat because he has accomplished the work.

And that is the main point that the author of Hebrews wants to bring out here. This is also an allusion to Psalm 110. Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, so this is David speaking, Yahweh said to my Lord, that is Jesus, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet. That language of sitting at the right hand comes from Psalm 110, which is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament. More than any other verse in the Old Testament, that verse is the one that is quoted the most. And the author of Hebrews is going to make a big deal out of that one as well. In fact, he quotes it later in chapter 1 in verse 13.

The Superior Name

To which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. So point number five, he made purification for sins. Point number six, he sat down at the right hand showing that his work, his atoning work is done and complete and now gives us perfect access to God. And then point number seven, these are all seven descriptors of who the son is. The seventh descriptor is that he has become as much superior to angels as the name that he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

This thought here about his superiority to angels is then going to be picked up in the next section, in the second part of chapter one, because beginning in verse five, he is going to say, to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son? Which of the angels did he ever say, sit at my right hand? And so he is going to spend the rest of chapter one showing the superiority of Christ to the angels. So this last seventh statement is a segue into that next section of the argument. What is the name? What is the name that he has inherited that is so much greater than that of the angels?

I think we have to say in the context here, it is the name of son. That seems to be the point. The whole context is focusing on how he is the son, and these last days he has spoken to us by his son, and also the language that he is the heir. The fact that he is the heir of all things, and the fact that it says he has inherited a name, The inheritance language also implies sonship.

So the name that makes him superior, his status that makes him superior to angels is that he is not simply a created point of revelation, whether an angel or a glory cloud or a prophet, who are human, created, finite, creaturely things. He is something greater. He has a name. And in biblical theology, a name is more than just a name. It is not just the syllables that you say. It is significant. A name has significance because it indicates the essence of what that thing is. So he is obtained a name in the sense that he has received this acknowledgment of his identity as the son.

Does that mean that he only became the Son at the point of his exaltation to the right hand of God? Obviously not. He was already called the Son of God before that. If you remember the Gospels, the voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son twice, once at the transfiguration and earlier at the baptism of Jesus. And then our text itself even clearly says that he is the son at creation. So the sonship of Christ is not something that began at the moment of his exaltation to the right hand of God. Rather, that was the moment when his true identity as the son, which was always true from the beginning, was revealed and publicly confirmed and manifested.

The author of Hebrews is using similar language here as the Apostle Paul in Romans 1, verse 4, when he says that God declared him to be the Son by his resurrection from the dead. Not that he became the Son at his resurrection, but he was declared, it was publicly manifested that this was true of him all along. So what is the author of Hebrews doing here with this amazing Greek period?

This complex sentence with all the clauses and subordinate clauses all perfectly crafted together in this powerful rhetorical structure. He is trying to communicate to us this key point that God has spoken once for all in this son with all of these descriptors of who he is. That God’s purpose for creation is centered upon him, that he is the heir of all things, he is the perfect image of God, he is the creator and sustainer of all things, he is the one who because of his deity had the power to deal with sin once for all and is now seated above all glory at the right hand of God. It is a magnificent opening prologue of praise for the Son, showing us the person and work of Christ. And the person and work of Christ are perfectly integrated with one another. His deity and his humanity are perfectly united together to accomplish this work and to receive this reward. This weighty opening paragraph then corresponds to the weightiness of Christ himself. It is like the literary strength and power of this opening Greek period is also given to you to correspond to the weighty power of who this Christ is that he is talking about.

Because this is the speech of God. God has spoken in these last days through his son. And he continues to speak through his word, like this passage here that describes who the Son is. And so since this speech of God is focused upon such a majestic Christ, therefore the speech itself, even down to the details of the Greek style, must also correspond to that. To what? To dissuade us from leaving the Christian faith. To say you have the most important thing in the universe. So hang on to your profession of faith in Christ.

Admire Him, worship Him, praise Him. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together where you get to fellowship with Christ through the means of grace. He will say that later on in Hebrews 10 verse 23. Do not forsake the assembly because this is where we as God’s people enjoy and experience Christ through his word and through the sacraments. Let us worship him, let us honor him, and let us persevere in our profession of faith in him.