December 1st | Hebrews 1

I remember growing up and roughhousing with my brother. We wrestled all the time, we broke things in the house, and sometimes we even broke each other’s bodies! My mom or other people would try to get us to stop, and their voices were met with halfhearted obedience, only to slow us down while we planned our next attack. However, there was one voice that would stop us in our tracks. Dad. When he raised his voice. We listened. He was different than the other voices. Dad could bring judgment on us and hefty consequences to us, so we knew to listen when Dad spoke. 

Hebrews 1:1, “1 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,” 

God has been speaking throughout the Bible, but now in Hebrews 1, the author tells us that God has now spoken through His Son. Should we listen to the son? What are His qualifications that we should obey or respond to Him?

Hebrews 1:1-3, “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.”

These verses indicate that when Jesus speaks, He carries the power of the creator of the universe! God created the world THROUGH Jesus. You were made through Christ’s power. He is the radiance of the glory of God. The glory of God kills people. Moses had to hide in the cleft of the rock so he wouldn’t die from God’s glory, and yet Christ not only can look upon the glory of God, but He also radiates it. He is the exact imprint of God’s nature. This word imprint refers to the word used in the ancient world for stamping coins. If you stamped a coin, it was an exact match, so you could be sure it wasn’t a counterfeit. His nature is God’s nature. Finally, the world was made through Him, but Jesus also upholds or sustains the universe by His power. Without the power of Christ, the universe would rip apart into oblivion. 

So what can we make of Christ? He is God! I cannot begin to explain to you the Trinity, one God in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But we see here that Jesus isn’t an angel nor a created being. He is the perfect Son of God. He is God. If He is God, then He can do what only God can do, which is save us from our sins. 

Hebrews 1:3-4, “After making 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.” 

You couldn’t save yourself or others from your sins. An angel couldn’t save you from your sins. Only God can save us from our sins. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, chose to become our sacrifice. The power that upholds the universe willingly let soldiers mock, beat, and hang Him from a tree. All for you! When you think about power, Jesus showed the ultimate expression of power by staying on the cross and saving us from our sins. 

Therefore, if God has now spoken to us through His Son, we should listen. Believe in the cross today. Believe salvation is found only in Jesus. Follow and take seriously the commands of Christ today. Why? Because God has spoken through Jesus, we should listen.