Pastor Jonah Sage taught from Hebrews 1:2. Jesus is the last word because he is the first word. Lector: Lisa Tant
Pastor Jonah Sage taught from Hebrews 1:2. Jesus is the last word because he is the first word.
Lector: Lisa Tant
Last week, we considered the pure wonder of God speaking, the gift of it.
He speaks repeatedly, diversely, and personally to us of his love.
The reason for this may seem obvious: he wants to know us and be known
He wants to heal us, and he wants us to listen and obey.
Some people don’t know this about God, so he speaks until they listen.
For others, I’m guessing many in this church, he keeps speaking because, yes, we forget…but we also get tired.
The book of Hebrews was written to and for worn out Christians
Worn out from serving, worn out from worship services and studying the Bible and not doing things everyone around them is doing
Worn out from confusion or slow progress in the Christian life, worn out from praying…
We get this, because to be a Christian is, in part, to live this.
Have you ever wondered the difference between a sermon and a lecture?
Ever heard a seminary professor try and preach and it’s…rough?
A lecture, teaching, is about providing information. This is a vital part of faith
Teaching is good, it’s a gift from God. The Bible is filled with teaching.
The book of Hebrews is not a lecture though. It’s not teaching, and it’s not a letter.
It’s a sermon. It’s a sermon to people who know their Bibles well, but they’re worn out.
So the unknown author, we know he’s a boy from 11:32, preaches to them.
Preaching is more ANNOUNCEMENT and INSPIRATION.
Information tends to float around the surface of our minds whereas preaching at it’s best gets into the world of imagination, where emotion and affection and loyalty rest.
This preacher…dives to the depths, to the hidden places where profound symbols work on the religious imagination to generate surprise, wonder, gratitude, and finally obedience.
-Thomas Long, Interpretation: Hebrews, p. 3
This is why the Preacher began the way he did last week…hard P sounds in a rhythmic cadence. If we could hear him as he originally preached, it would have sounded emphatic, rhythmic, melodic.
I know this not just because of the way the words are spelled…starting next week, in verse 3, the Preacher starts singing. The entire structure of chapter 1 is filled with patterns and alliterations and symbols all pointing to the central truth of today’s text:
And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
-Hebrews 1:2
The preacher was warming up last week, reminding us God speaks in all kinds of ways, but remember we said they were fragmentary, they were incomplete?
What’s more, they were through the prophets.
Not everyone heard God’s words so clearly…I imagine him sing-preaching and leaving a pregnant pause for effect before saying, AND NOW, something new is coming
“And now” represents a turning point, but it’s not a change as much as it is a continuation.
Notice the preacher says “in these final days”. Some translations, “last days”
We typically think that means end of the world, and it kind of does.
It means we have begun our initial descent, not that today it’s over.
More poignantly, “final days” is a term used all over the OT to speak of the time when the words of the prophets would come true.
Meaning now is not something completely different, now is the time when promises are fulfilled.
The Old Testament is filled with ingredients…and Now, we can see what they made
All the ways God spoke, all the ways he communicated to us…isn’t it wonderful God never gets tired of talking to us? God never tires of calling to us? After centuries of speaking in fragmentary ways, now, in these last days,
he has spoken to us through his Son.
-Hebrews 1:2
Jesus is the supreme revealer of God. He is the last word of God.
I love being a spiritual person.
I love worshiping a BIG god who speaks to us in all kinds of ways.
The smell of the Atlantic Ocean in Rhode Island was awe inspiring
The view from Cadillac Mountain in Maine was breathtaking
The sound of a musician in Central Park or a sunset over the Ohio River…
All of these wonders in creation give us glimpses into what God is like
But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is THE revelation of God
He is the last word of God.
And if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
Yes, get in the woods, eat great food, travel and enjoy. All good, beneficial things.
But none of that will tell you who God is, what he’s like, what he wants, or what you mean to him with the same power and clarity as Jesus Christ.
The remainder of chapter 1 is a song, likely one of the first Christian hymns.
The goal of the song is to sink deep into our imaginations that Jesus is God’s last word
Watch what happens next in verse 2:
God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance
-Hebrews 1:2
The preacher is referencing a familiar psalm here, psalm 2:8.
We know he’s got psalm 2 in his mind because he quotes it directly in Heb. 1:5, just 3 verses from here! Look at 2:8:
Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.
-Psalm 2:8
In the OT, God’s people were described as heirs of the land
You can see this in Deut. 12:9 or 19:10
Throughout, key people were promised a rich inheritance
The belief came to be that the nations would be in service to Israel, or that countries would be given over to God’s people.
These were fragmentary promises. The Preacher weaves all these together and is poetically saying, “the key figure has come, because I have come, and I have given to him EVERYTHING as HIS inheritance. It’s not just the nations that belong to him…EVERYTHING belongs to him.”
He is the last word! And he is rightfully the last word because JESUS IS THE FIRST WORD
Listen to what the preacher says next:
through the Son he created the universe.
-Hebrews 1:2
What follows from here, in 2 short verses, are seven affirmations describing the achievements and attributes of Jesus that make him worthy to inherit all things
He glows forth the glory of God
He conveys God’s character completely
The power of his promises providentially protects the universe
He cleanses the criminals of their sins
And when he finished that, he went UP to heaven so he could sit DOWN next to God
He is greater than the angels
And his name is greater than any other name on heaven or earth.
And his name is Jesus and He is the LORD
Seven attributes and achievements declaring the worthiness of Jesus to inherit all things.
This is followed by SEVEN more Old Testament quotations, vv. 5-14, each presented in a symmetrical structure to give the BIBLICAL grounds for the statements and titles of Jesus in vv 1-4.
The Preacher diversely and repeatedly and EMPHATICALLY is singing to us that Jesus is the FIRST WORD and THE LAST WORD.
If you want to know what God is like, look to Jesus
If you want to know what God has done, look to Jesus
If You want to know what God will do, look to Jesus
If you want to know what God thinks about YOU, look to Jesus
If you want to know what God is willing to do for YOU, look to Jesus
Because Jesus is the first word and the last word.
(Slow down now) When God spoke long ago, his most specific words were reserved for a few people
He did so repeatedly and diversely
This fragmentation of communication, spanning centuries and circumstances, had at its center the promise of God’s salvation.
Those promises were anticipatory. They were promise made, not promise fulfilled.
With the coming of God the Son, Jesus Christ, the time of promises coming true is upon us.
God has spoken finally and decisively in the person of Jesus
Do you want to know where history is headed, or how it all works out?
When all is said and done, life does not belong to an oppressor, or a politician, or a tyrant, or a warrior or whoever the popular group is on any given day.
All things belong to Jesus because all things begun from Jesus and continue on because Jesus holds it together.
The universe will not disintegrate into violence, chaos, and meaninglessness.
Creation endures as a holy inheritance for Jesus, and we ourselves will be given BY Jesus to God the Father as a gift of Jesus’ love.
Do you want to know God, hear his voice, learn to obey him? Look to Jesus.
Follow Jesus. Trust Jesus.
Fill your senses with Jesus: who he is, what he’s done, and what he will do.
And this is why every week we gather to remember, in vivid deal, who Jesus is, what he’s done, and what he will do:
COMMUNION
Works Cited:
Thomas Long, Interpretation: Hebrews
Peter O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews
Gareth Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews