God Speaks....

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....