The Supreme Christ 11-17-24 PM

I.                    Jesus is better than the prophets (Hebrews 1:1-2a).

A.                 God ha always revealed Himself at different times and in different ways.

1.                  He had spoken both directly and indirectly.

a.                  He spoke directly to Adam and other of the patriarchs.

b.                  He spoke directly to kings, priests, and prophets.

c.                   He spoke by means of dreams and visions, as well as by Urim and Thummim.

2.                  He also spoke by prophets.

a.                  Enoch is said to have prophesied (Jude 14).

b.                  Numerous are the prophets about which we read in the Old Testament.

B.                  It was a privilege to be a prophet of God and to have a revelation from God given to you.

1.                  The Jews, despite the harsh treatment given the prophets, looked with reverence upon them.

2.                  They highly esteemed the prophets long after they were dead.

C.                  But now, in this last age, or dispensation of time, God spoke only through His Son.

1.                  The tense of the word “spoken” indicates that it was a one time speaking.

2.                  God is not continuously speaking through Jesus now.

3.                  He spoke through Him to the apostles (John 17:8), and those other men who were inspired to write the New Testament.

4.                  Once it was finished, God was done speaking through Jesus (Jude 3).

D.                 Jesus is better than the prophets because He is the Son.

1.                  He was not simply a mouthpiece as were the prophets.

2.                  He was and is the Son of God, not subject to the sin and weakness of the prophets, therefore, He was and is better than the prophets. 

II.                  Jesus is the Heir of all things (Hebrew 1:2b).

A.                 Not only is Jesus better than the prophets so revered by the Jews, but Jesus is also the heir of God.

1.                  Being the Son of God, He receives all things from the Father.

2.                  This cannot be fully said of any other person or being.

B.                  Yes, we are all the heirs of God (Romans 8:17), but not in the sense Jesus is.

C.                  This fact was prophesied by the Psalmist (Psalm 2:8).

D.                 The inheritance was received after His resurrection, which was seen by Daniel (Daniel 7:13-14).

1.                  It was His because the resurrection showed Him to be the Son of God (Romans 1:4).

2.                  The inheritance He received is all things (Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:22).

E.                  Jesus is supreme because He is the Heir of God. 

III.                Jesus made the worlds (Hebrews 1:2c).

A.                 If Jesus made the worlds, as this verse affirms, He would have to have been present at creation, which confirms His deity.

B.                  Of course, this can not be said of the prophets.

C.                  Notice Colossians 1:16.

1.                  Jesus made all things.

2.                  John 1:3.

D.                 There is also another sense in which this can be understood.

1.                  The word “worlds” is not kosmos or space, but aion or time.

2.                  Bobby Duncan taught that this meant that Jesus was in God’s plan from the beginning to unify all ages of mankind.

3.                  He completed the plan of God to unite men together who were and are faithful to God.

a.                  Jesus said of Himself that He didn’t come to destroy the Old Testament but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).

b.                  He was able to unite all men in Himself (Ephesians 2:14-16).

IV.               Jesus is the brightness of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3).

A.                 The ESV renders it “He is the radiance of the glory of God”.

B.                  The ASV renders it “He is the effulgence of the glory of God”.

C.                  The Greek word for brightness means to emit light or splendor.

D.                 The perfection of Jesus is seen here.

1.                  John 1:14.

2.                  Three apostles got to literally see it on the mount of transfiguration (Mark 9:2-3).

E.                  No mere man could ever have this said of him.

1.                  This shows the perfection of Jesus.

2.                  There was no sin in Him, nothing that would mar His perfect state of divinity, even while being on this sin marred earth. 

V.                 Jesus is the express image of His person (Hebrews 1:3).

A.                 John 14:8-9.

1.                  You can feel the hurt of Jesus when He spoke to Philip.

2.                  If one had seen Jesus, He had seen the Father and it pained Jesus that Philip failed to understand that.

B.                  I love what Barnes says about this word that is translated “express image”:The word used here likewise occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is that from which our word “character” is derived. It properly means a “engraving‑tool;” and then something “engraved” or “stamped” ‑ “a character” ‑ as a letter, mark, sign. The image stamped on coins, seals, wax, expresses the idea: and the sense here is, that if God be represented under the idea of a substance, or being, then Christ is the exact resemblance of that ‑ as an image is of the stamp or die.

C.                  Paul told the Colossians...(Colossians 1:15).

1.                  He is God and presents God to us.

2.                  There has never been another, either human or angel, about whom this could be said.

D.                 Because He is the image of God, He is worthy of worship as God.

E.                  This would show to those Jewish Christians that Jesus is better than that into which they were being called back. 

VI.               Jesus upholds all things by His word (Hebrews 1:3).

A.                 Notice how the Psalmist put it (Psalm 33:9).

B.                  This is speaking of the creative powers of Jesus, which only deity can possess.

1.                  Again, Paul said something similar to the Colossians (Colossians 1:17).

2.                  Jesus spoke the worlds into existence.

C.                  It is amazing to think that with one command, all the galaxies and our own world are upheld.

D.                 Notice how Peter described creation and what is happening now (2 Peter 3:5-7).

VII.             Jesus purged us from our sins (Hebrews 1:3).

A.                 Jesus provided the means by which you and I can be cleansed or purified of our sins.

1.                  We know this to be His blood (Revelation 1:5).

2.                  Jesus is exactly what John called Him (John 1:29).

B.                  This would remind the oppressed Jewish brethren that Jesus was greater than all the sacrifices they had offered while under Judaism.

1.                  Those sacrifices couldn’t cleanse them of their sins.

2.                  Hebrews 10:4.

C.                  Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us (1 John 1:7).

D.                 Jesus is supreme because He purchased us. 

VIII.           Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3).

A.                 This statement would have reminded the Jewish convert of what was promised David, recorded in 2 Samuel 7.

1.                  One coming from David’s lineage would sit on his throne.

2.                  Jesus was from the lineage of David and now is sitting on that spiritual throne in heaven.

B.                  He can do this because He is reigning as King over His kingdom.

1.                  1 Timothy 6:15;

2.                  Revelation 19:16;

3.                  Revelation 17:14.

C.                  Jesus is now at the right hand of God (Acts 2:32-33; Ephesians 1:19-20; Colossians 3:1).