Hebrews 1:1-4
"1 God, after He spoke long ago
to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in
His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
3 And He is the
radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds
all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as
He has inherited a more excellent name than they."
I love the book of Hebrews and I particularly
love these first few verses. There is so much to slow down, think about
and ponder. God. God spoke.
He spoke the world into existence- now that is some kind of power, infinite
power, just in His Word! But that is not
what causes me to marvel the most; it is the fact that God spoke long ago
" to the fathers in the prophets in
many portions and in many ways"...even after the fall of mankind in
the garden, after the deliberate step of unbelief, disobedience and rebellion
which plunged all of mankind into Adam's sinful spiritually dead likeness
(Genesis 5:1-3) God still spoke, He
initiated, in many portions and ways. He
spoke in dreams and visions, by angels and donkeys. He spoke in various ways and means....through
signs and wonders, plagues and nature and so much more.
Yet, "in these last days".
Did you catch that...."in
these last days" He has "spoken
to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom
also He made the world".
Most of the time when I think (or in the past have thought) of the
"last days" I think of a time in the future and the scary parts of
the book of Revelation. THOSE are the "last days",
they are coming somewhere down the road (hopefully not with me here!) but that is not what Hebrews says- that the
"last days" are somewhere far off in the future....."THESE last days" are the days of
then and now, all the days since the finished work of Jesus Christ in the New
Covenant. In THESE last days....God the Father has spoken to us through His
Son. The culmination of all speaking
done in the Old Covenant; the real message, the most important news since the
beginning of time and the beginning of speech is God the Father speaking
through the person and work of Jesus. John
1:1-5;
"1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in
the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart
from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the
life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it."
God had been speaking for centuries in many
different ways, but now was the time...the time for the Word to become flesh, for
God to speak face to face. John 1:14-18;"14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."
Did you catch verses 17and 18? God spoke through Moses...through the
Law. Oh yes, the Law speaks but do we
really understand the message of the Law??
It speaks truth but it also speaks more death. It condemns.
It is God's perfection marked out and in doing so exposes man's inability
to keep every single part of it. The
message of Jesus, God speaking....Jesus explaining the Father was He is the Law-keeper
for us. Jesus; born of a woman and born
under the righteous requirements of the entire Law and living by faith in the
Father to righteously keep the entirety of the Law for us. Then willingly laying down His life for
us. By grace and personal faith in His
Death, burial and resurrection, in our place, we can now live in "these
last day" not only knowing Jesus and the Father but also being in
relationship (on good terms, speaking relationship) with the Triune God! Back to Hebrews 1:3-4;
3 And
He (Christ) is the radiance of His glory
and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word
of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having
become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name
than they."
Jesus...Word became flesh...God speaking...much
better than any angel or Old Testament messenger. Jesus has made purification of sins, through
His life-death-burial-resurrection and is now seated at the right hand of the
Father! These are good last days....
