Seven Truths Spoken of the Son

Transcript

GR 1671
12/23/2012
Seven Truths Spoken of the Son
Hebrews 1:2-3
Gil Rugh

There is no message to compare with the message of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done and what He has prepared for us who love him.

I want to direct your attention to the book of Hebrews. We just started to look into this book which is an amazing book. If we are going to know about Jesus Christ, His person, His work, we have to know and understand the book of Hebrews was written to unfold in a greater and fuller way than any other single book of the Bible, the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. The first four verses of this chapter of Hebrews form one long sentence in English. They have broken it up for us to make it a little more readable. But it is one full sentence and it is built around one starement. May help you to keep it in mind.

“God has spoken to us in his Son,” verse 1. That is what it is about. That’s what will be unfolded through the rest of the book of Hebrews. The theme of the book of Hebrews is the supremecy, the superiority of Jesus Christ. Or more specifically, the superioritiy of the Son. Because that is the emphasis – the Son of God in all aspects of his ministry. God has spoken. This is remarkable when you think about it. The eternal God has chosen to make himself known. He has spoken. And as the opening statement of Hebrews 1 says, “He spoke in the last days in a variety of ways, at a variety of times through the prophets.” That was wonderful, it was God speaking, making himself known, revealing himself. But now in these last days, the days associated with the Messiah of Israel, the promised Son. He has spoken to us that in his very being is his Son. It says a multitude of things, His Son, He is of the very essence of the nature of his Father, God.

So he reveals God in a fuller and clearer way than had been revealed before. Nothing wrong with prior revelation, it came from God. But it wasn’t the fullness of revelation that God intended, it was just to prepare the way for the coming of the One who was his Son. It is important we keep this in mind. The book of Hebrews to Jews who had come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Some time had passed since they became believers and they had cooled in their passion for Christ. Their thinking had become somewhat blurry and confused on the importance of Christ. They were thinking that maybe we could go back to Judaism and have less problems and difficulties. They failed to keep in their mind the wonder of God’s grace in giving the One who is His Son to be the Savior, to be the High Priest. To be the one and the only one to provide access into God’s presence.

Now we are going to see as we look through the rest of these opening verses, something that we talked about. When we talked about Jesus Christ as God’s Son, there are three aspects or stages to his Sonship. There is that preexistant, eternal stage of His Sonship, that period of time before He was born in Bethlehem that had no beginning, He existed in eternity.

Prophets of the Old Testament said the One born in Bethlehem was the One who lived in eternity. That is His eternal Sonship as we call it. He has been eternally the Son of God. We say, well, how did they decide that God the Father would be God the Father, and God the Son would be God the Son, and the Holy Spirit would be God the Holy Spirit? I can solve that for you. A simple answer, they never decided that. Because it has always been that way. Well I don’t understand that, well I don’t either. He is one God eternally existing in three persons. So the Son of God has always been the Son of God.

The second stage, so we can say it that way, the second Sonship was when He was born in Bethlehem. Now the incarnation has brought him into another stage of Sonship. The eternal Son of God has become Son of man without ceasing to be Son of God. He took to His deity, humanity. So He has two natures. He is God and He is Man. But there is only one person. I cannot fully comprehend that either but it is the truth that Scripture unfolds.

So then we talk about his incarnation following his eternal Sonship, the time of his incarnational Sonship when He came in the flesh. His birth, His life, His resurrection, all tied to that aspect of His Sonship. Then we have His exultation where He is exalted to the right hand of the presence of His Father. So that is the third phase or stage of his Sonship. Keep in mind these three stages of the Sonship. One Son but one three different stages and they are going to blend together. We are going to see some stages about the Son in these opening verses. Sometimes we will be talking about His preincarnate, eternal stage of Sonship. Sometimes, his earthly life and death. Sometime his exultation. We go back and forth.

Well, we keep in mind, the Son of God, He became a man, still the Son of God, but now He is the God/man. Then He will be exalted to the right hand of the Father, still the Son of God, still man, the God/man. But now exulted to glory, the result of the finished work of the cross.

So when the writer to Hebrews says, “God after he spoke long ago in the Father, to the Fathers, in the Prophets, in many portions, in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his Son.” A vastly superior form of revelation that can be fuller, and clearer and more complete. This is the culmination of God’s revelation. What we know of the New Testament is all built around what? Unfolding the truth that was revealed in and through Jesus Christ.

The letter to the Hebrews was written years after Christ has died and been raised from the dead. But it is not new revelation, it is unfolding more clearly and more fully for our understanding of what God revealed in Jesus Christ and the work that He accomplished. “These last days He has spoken to us in One who is the Son.” It is going to say seven things about the Son. We are going to walk through these seven things. We are not going to look at them exhaustibly because the rest of the book of Hebrews will break these out and speak more in detail, elaborating more on some than on the other. But really he compresses in a concise way here. These great truths about what it means is the Son, that God has spoken through the Son.

So you understand the finality of this. These Jewish believers have lost their perspective. They need to be reminded of the Supremacy of Christ and the finality of the revelation in Him and in His work. So it says, “He has spoken to us in one who is the Son.” Then you will note, modifying the Son whom He appointed heir of all things. It is the first thing.

Second, “through whom also he made the world.” He is the One who is “the radiance of His glory, He is the exact representation of His nature. He upholds all things by the word of his power. He made purification of sins and he sat down at the right hand of the Father.”

Seven truths about the Son that show He is the finality of revelation. He is superior to all other revelation and He brings all other revelation to it’s appointed climax and fulfillment.

Let’s just walk through these seven statements about the Son so we can appreciate as fully as we can the wonder of the One whose birthday we are celebrating, Jesus the Son of God. First, He is the One who “God appointed heir of all things.” That means He is the One who will inherit everything. Everything belongs to Him. His Father has appointed him heir of all things.

So if He is the Son of God and has been eternally, why would He have to be appointed heir of all things? Good question. We will answer that in a future sermon. No, the key here, because the next statement will move us into another dimension. He appointed Him heir of all things because in His incarnation, this refers to the second stage of that Sonship. He became a man so that He could provide redemption for fallen humanity, for a creation that He would redeem by His death. Not only the humans who would come to believe in Him but the creation itself, the whole creation He tells us groans in anticipation of the Son of God, the unfolding, the unveiling. Why? Because then the curse will be lifted. So we are talking about that middle stage of His Sonship if you will. He came to earth to suffer and die, to pay the penalty for Sin so the creation could be redeemed, so He could inherit the redeemed creation.

Come back to Psalm 2; this is where this reference comes from. The writer to the Hebrews is writing to Jewish believers. They know their Old Testament. So they would recognize this reference that will come out more clearly as we will see in Chapter 1 in future studies. In Psalm 2:7-8, “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord; He said to Me, ‘Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.’” Everything is destined to belong to the Son who has come to this earth to be the redeemer and ultimate Lord of a redeemed creation.

So that is the background, “You are my Son, ask of me, I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth.” In other words, everything that is included on the earth will belong to Him. That will be a result of what He accomplished, why He came to be born at Bethlehem. So He could be the Savior. “To this day in the city of David is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord. You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save the people from their sins.” Sin has ended the creation, we have been defiled, corrupted by our sin. We needed a redeemer. So He came to be the Heir of all things God appointed Him that as a result of His incarnation, His birth, life, death, and resurrection, He will enter into this inheritance at yet a future time.

He is anticipating, His third phase, his exultation and final realization of that exultation with the establishing of the kingdom on earth. Come back to Daniel 7, where we will see when this will occur, that period of time. We have the culmination of this period of time we are in that will end with a seven period time called the tribulation. At the end of that seven period, Christ will return to earth. We have that picture of what happens in anticipation of that when he is going to come to earth. That return is recorded in Revelation 19 you remember. Look at Daniel 7:13-14, “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heavens One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days” (so here you have the Son coming before the Father, God the Father) “And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which wil not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which wil not be destroyed.” The time when the Son will rule and reign over all.

Come over to Philippians 2 in the New Testament. Philippians 2:5-11, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God,” (that was his pre-existant, eternal where the Son of God manifested the fullness of His deity), “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself” (the Greek word emptied here, “Kenosis”, so we call this the Kenosis passage, the self-emptying of Christ) “taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (so he was born into the human race, took to his deity, humanity, so he could be the God man.) “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himslef by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him,” (so you see He becomes Heir of all things as a result of his redemption, He became obedient to the point of death, death on the cross.) “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

So you see that order there, Christ humbling Himself, though He existed in the form of God, manifesting His glory as God, He took the form of a man, suffered and died, therefore in the plan of God He will be exalted. And the climax of that exaltation will be when He rules over all the kingdom that will be established.

Come to Revelation 5. Chapters 4 and 5 are a throneroom scene in heaven that will be followed by the unfolding of the details of that seven year period that I referred to that will culminate with the return of Christ that is recorded in Revelations, chapter 19. And note in Revelation 5: 1-3, “And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne” (this is God the Father) “a book written inside and the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to the open the book and to break its seals?’ And no one in heaven, or one the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look into it.” What is this book? It is the title, deed if you will, to the creation. Who has the right to take possession of it, bring it to it’s final conclusion and rule over it. No one in heaven and earth, except one. Revelation 5:5. “and one of the elders said to me, ‘Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.’”

Come down to Revelation 5:9-10, 12, “And they sang a new song, saying ‘Worthy art Thou’ (meaning to the lamb of God who is worthy to take the book from the hand of the Father) ‘to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Thou has made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.’” Verse 12-13, “saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.’”

You see it is the result of the work that He accomplished, that He can inherit everything. Because had He not come and died, there would be no redemption. What would He inherit? The creation would only be good to be destroyed. Men and angels cast into an eternal hell. There would be no redeemed for a kingdom, no redemption for a fallen world. But as a result of his finished work, He will someday enter into the fullness. He has been exulted but he has not yet taken the throne of David and ruling over His kingdom.

Come back to Hebrews. First statement about the Son, “He is the heir of everything.” You can’t avoid the Son, He is the Heir of everything. That is why ultimately everyone will bow before Him. Everyone will stand before Him as their judge.

Second statement about the Son, God the Father made the world through the Son. Last part of Hebrews 1:2, “through whom also He made the world.” It seems we got this in the wrong order. Why didn’t He start out with creating the world which is first and then inheriting everything. Why would He say first He inherits everything and then He created the world? Well, reminder, He is the Heir of everything as a result of His work of redemption.

What you have is the One who is to inherit everything because of the work of His redemption is the One who brought everything into existence. He is the Creator. God the Father made the world through God the Son. That word translated world, there is a Greek word for world, cosmos. This is not that word, this is the Greek word for ages. Through Christ, God made the ages. Note here, ages is plural. All the successive periods of time and everything in them was created by God, God the Father, through God the Son. So you see the active role that the Son plays. We are not talking about the One who will reveal God; we are talking about the One who is destined to inherit everything. He is the one who brought everything into existence.

You can start at the beginning and move through all the successive periods of time and everything in them. Awhile back those of you who come regularly remember that we studied the sovereignty of God. Here we see that sovereignty exercised by the Son. He created all the periods of time from the beginning down to the period of time in which we are living and everything in it made through Him. Come back to John’s Gospel, chapter 1 and what does it say? John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (we are talking about his pre-existant eternal phase before the incarnation) “All things came into being by Him,” (same statement we have in Hebrews, all things came into being through Him and they are from the negative side,) “apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” There is nothing in creation that was not brought into existence by Jesus Christ. This is awesome when you think about it that He created everything. That is why Peter when you address the Jews in Acts 3:15, “you killed the author of life.” Think about that. You killed by crucifying on a cross the author of life. That is what you have here, verse 4, “In Him was life, He brought life into existence for creation. All things were created by Him and nothing has come into existence apart from Him.”

Come to 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6, “Yet for us there is but one God the Father from Whom are all things and we exist for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ by Whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” The order and relation ship within the Godhead, God the Father and God the Son working in complete harmony, distinct persons, the same essence. We’ll see this in a moment. God the Father, all things brought through God the Son. “We exist through Him.” He is our creater.

One other passage on that, Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created” he’s referring, as we read the previous context, the Son of God. “By Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,” that means all the angels were created by Christ. Anything in heaven, visible and invisible “whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by Him and for Him.” Remember He’s the one that’s going to inherit all things. Created through Him and for Him. You have His prexsisting state and His exhaltation state, that middle state, that middle phase is so crucial, that’s the redemption. That gives us the hope and assurance of salvation, that through faith in Him.

Remember now, there’s one God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That means that they all partake of the same essence and being. Whatever it is that makes Him God, is characteristic of all three persons. But they are distinct persons. Not one God, one person manifesting himself in three ways. Or three distinct and separate entities. There is one God, eternally exsiting in three persons. Christ is the one through whom the world was made.

Come back to Hebrews. He’s the Heir if all things, He’s the creator of all things. Thirdly He is the radiance of His Glory. The Son is the radiance of the Father’s glory. A remarkable statement, “He who is the radiance,” at the beginning of verse 3, “of His glory,” or literally of the glory. That statement, the glory, a Jewish background, the glory is referred to as the shekinah glory, the glory of God’s presence, of His manifestation. The glory is what God is, He’s glorious. Glory is what He is. And Christ is the radiance, He is the manifestation of the glory of God.

Come back to Exodus 24, Moses goes up on Mount Sinai to meet with God. Exodus 24:15 “Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai.” You see that the glory of the Lord, the manifestation of His very presence as God, rested on Mount Sinai.
“The cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud”. Verse 17 “And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.” So there we have God manifesting His presence, the glory, and now we have Christ, the radiance of his glory. He is the one manifesting and presenting the very glory of God.

Come back to John’s gospel, chapter 1. I told we would be coming back to these passages repeatedly. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word.” Remember we started Hebrews in our previous study, “God spoke. And He has spoken in these last days in one who is a Son.” Here the Son is referred to as the Word. “In the beginning was the Word”, because what? The words are how we speak. When we want to know something from somebody we say, what’s on your mind? Speak up tell me. What are you thinking? I don’t know what’s in your mind unless you tell me. A child having a problem, you say, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me. Words reveal, express. “In the beginning was the Word,” the One who is the fullest, most complete revelation, who makes God known and reveals Him. Radiates His glory with a fullness that had never been possible before, because you have God present in a human body. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” There’s no excaping it, He is God. He’s not God the Father, He’s God the Son.

Then you jump down to verse 14, “And the Word became flesh.” That’s the remarkable thing, the Word was God, the Word became flesh, but He could not cease being God. Because one of the characteristics that makes God God is He’s eternal, everlasting. He has no beginning, no end. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Tabernacled among us. The Tabernacle in the Old Testament is the place where God manifested the glory of His presence. Now Christ it the One. What? “We beheld His glory, glory as of the only betotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Down in verse 18, “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” He has exegeted Him. We come to know God through Jesus Christ, God the Son. He radiates His glory. The writer says, “we saw His glory.”

Turn over to John 17. Now in John 1 we talked about “the Word became flesh,” so that was the second stage of His Sonship. Now in John 17 as He prepares for the crucifiction, and you have the High Priestly prayer of Christ to His Father, in anticipation of His crucifiction on the cross. John 17:5, “And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself Father,” now note this, “with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” So He’s talking about the third phase of His Sonship, restoration to the glory that was His in His pre-existed phase following the incarnation. Glorify Me with the glory which I had with you before the world was. “In the beginning was the Word,” or you could translate it in the beginning the Word already was. Remember our Bibles start out in Genesis, the beginning of God’s revelation to us. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” in the beginning Jesus Christ is already there, because He brought the beginning into exsistence.

I had glory with you before the world was. We have to take a minute. Keep your finger in John and come back to Isaiah 6:1, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Saraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.’” Isaiah is overwhelmed, what’s he say in verse 5? “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” What an awesome picture.

Come over to John’s gospel again, come to chapter 12, after quoting from Isaiah 6, John tells us, verse 41 “These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory, and he spooke of Him.” We don’t have time for the context, you know who he’s talking about, Jesus Christ! You know what the Spirit says through John? When Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord sitting on the throne, he saw Jesus Christ. These things Isaiah says, because he says His glory and spoke of Him, referring to Jesus Christ, if you read the context leading up to this.

So when Jesus said, “restore to Me the glory which I had with You before the world was,” the fullness of the manifestation of His glory as God’s son. Colossians 2:9 says, “all the fullness of Diety dwells in Jesus Christ in bodily form.” Remarkable! Awesome! This One who was born into this sin cursed earth, became a man, is the One who is God. That’s why Jesus could say to Thomas, “he who has seen Me has seen the Father,” in John 14:9. He can radiate the glory of God, manifest fully God as He is.

Come back to Hebrews, a follow up on this, closely connected to it. Not only is he “the radiance of His glory,” but number 4, “He is the exact representation of His nature.” What God is, God the Father is, Christ is. Remember John 1, the Word was God. He’s distinct as far as His person is. He's God the Son, we’ve got God the Father also God the Holy Spirit, but they all partake of the same essence, the same nature, the same attributes. What is necessary for God to be God, is true of the Father, it’s true of the Son, true of the Holy Spirit. He’s the exact representation.

We get the English word character from this greek word. The greek word is character, the English word is character, we carry it over. Originally meant an impression made by a stamp or a seal. When you make a coin, you would stamp the impression, and on that coin you had the exact same thing you had on the seal. He’s the exact representation. This word character is only used here in the New Testament. The idea is carried in other passages as well. Jesus exactly represents the very nature, the very being of God. What He actually is as God. Not the physical body that was born at Bethleham, but the nature of God, that was Christ as the God/man. That’s why He could say to Thomas, “if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” His essential nature and what He is as God. All the fullness of Diety dwelt in bodily form, I can’t comprehend that. That the incomprehensible God, the omnipresent God, all that He is as God is contained in that human body. Awesome! There is nothing to compare with it.

Turn to 2 Corinthians 4. Those who are perishing, destined to destruction and eternal hell, unless they come to the salvation provided in Christ, as those that have been blinded to the reality of the glory of Jesus Christ. Verse 3, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world” referring to Satan, small g, “has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Different word here, but the same idea, He is the very representation of God. Oh, if we can only see God, but we have in Christ. We have the unfolding of that revelation. That’s what he’s talking about, the greatness of His person.

Colossians 1:15 “And He is the image of the invisible God.” God is invisible, but He has made Himself visible and manifest, in the One who is the radiance of His glory, who is the exact representation of His nature. This is the manifestation of God’s presence. This is how we come to know God as He truly is.

Come back to Hebrews 1, to the fifth thing said about the Son. “He is upholding all things by the word of His power.” This upholding is a present tense, indicates something continuously going on. Going on today. The word upholding means to be carrying something along, in this context, to it’s appointed goal. He is carrying along, bearing all things along toward their appointed goal. Remarkable statement, He’s the one who created everything, He created all the periods of time and everything in them. And He is carrying everything along by the word of His power, which is a way of saying His powerful word.

Again by His speaking, what enables it? We say the world is coming apart. No it’s not! How do I know? I know the One who is holding it all together and moving it along. Colossians 1:17, uses a different word but the same idea. It says “in Him all things hold together.” So He’s carrying all things along; He brings stability and order and maintains it. You say, except the world is degenerating to chaos, keep in mind, He’s moving it all along according to His plan as we talked about His sovereignty, carrying it to it’s appointed goal. The final conclusion, the climax, that’s where it’s going. Of course it’s degenerating into lawlessness and disorder as we look at it on the human level, we’re moving toward the tribulation. Lawlessness will increase, Jesus said. Keep in mind, things are not out of control. What are we going to do, wait until the Lord brings it to where He says it’s going? He’s carrying it along, He’s holding it together, it will arrive. What if an asteroid gets off course? Can’t happen. Why? It’s part of what He created. And He holds everything together and keeps it in the order He wants it to have. So even the disorder we see on this level is part of His plan and the order He established to bring it all to His conclusion. Isn’t it awesome? This is the God who is upholding all things by His powerfull word.

Number 6, this is the climax. This is what the larger section of the book of Hebrews is about. “He made purification of sins.” We said upholding was a present tense verb. Now we move to a past tense, He made purification of sins. That’s something He did in the past.
The work is done. This is high priestly ministry. We are not going to take too much time but come back to Hebrews. You’ll see where He is going. Hebrews 9- Important – “He made purification of sins.” Cleansing of sins is what we are talking about. He, by His word, provided cleansing from sin. That’s what is His high priestly work. In being the high priest, you could offer the acceptable sacrifice which is His own body that could provide cleansing from sin. Hebrews 9:14, “how much more will the blood of Christ,” (the effect of his death) “Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God,” there you see the triune God, all three persons involved in that work of salvation, the blood of Christ through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God the Father), “cleanse your conscience” (purify your conscience), “from dead works to serve the living God?” That is what the whole work of Christ is about. These Jewish believers were getting confused, they were thinking they could go back to Judaism in the systems. No, Christ came to cleanse you. You realize the works are dead. You can’t go back.

How many people are going to church thinking that would help get them to heaven or they got baptized? They think that is going to help them get to heaven. They take communion and that will help them get to heaven. They partake of other sacraments and that will help get them to heaven. They fail to understand the finished work of Christ. He made purification to cleanse our conscience that we would recognize those works are dead. They can’t accomplish what it needs to do. He is going to cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. You know what Isaiah said in Isaiah 1:18, “come now and let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.”

The same Isaiah who said “a virgin shall conceive, will bear a Son and will call His name Immanuel. One who will be known as the mighty God.” We can be cleansed from our sin. He made purification from sin. He did it. It’s done. You can’t join this church and that will enable you to get to heaven. You can’t be baptized in this church and that will enable you to get to heaven. You can’t give money in this church and that will help you get to heaven. They are all dead works. That’s true for whatever church, whatever religious system wherever it is, there is only one way of purification. That is the son of God giving his life.

One more statement about the Son. “He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.” It’s done. He sat down. That is high priestly ministry. He is seated at the right hand. You are in Hebrews 8:1, “Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.”

The high priest, this throne he has taken, the seat that he has taken at the right hand of the Father is not the Davidic throne. It is connected to his ministry as High Priest. He has all authority but the Davidic throne is something He will in the future be seated on. Right now He is seated as the High Priest. The Old Testament, there were no seats in the tabernacle, no seats in the temple for the high priest. His work was not done. That was what a picture being elevated to the right hand of the father and seated there which has been given the highest honor. The position of greatest authority and the work is done.

That’s sad, people are trying to work their way to heaven, keep the Ten Commandments, be good, get baptized, go to church. The work has been done. Those are dead works. They are not acceptable to God. They are not pleasing to God, they are not honoring to God. They only lead you to hell, because God provided his Son to come to this earth to provide a sacrifice for sin that was acceptable to him and when the Son had done that, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. You see what happened? He made purification of sin. That was the second phase of His Sonship and the third phase was He was exalted to the right hand of the father. To the glory He had in his pre-existent phase of his Sonship. They all join together. They cannot be separated.

Look at Hebrews 10:10, “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” You note that the offering was once for all. Hebrews 10:12, “but He, having offered once sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.” “Hebrews 10:14, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:18, “Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.” It is done.

How many people are kept in fear and going through a religious activity and religious system, and religious work because they just think this would be pleasing to God? It is an affront to God, Who took the Son of his glory and sent him to this earth so He would suffer the death of the cross so He could be exalted to His right hand. And people are down here ignoring what God said He had done with His Son and the wonder of His Son, the greatness of His Son, the finality of His Son, and they would have the audacity to tell God they are going to work their way to heaven. How sad, they would miss the beautiful message that God has given in his Son.

Romans 8:34 says that “Christ ever lives to make intercession for us.” We will see this when we get to Hebrews 7:26, they talk about He ever lives to make intercession for us. Same idea as Romans 8:34, Christ is operating on our behalf as our High Priest. So you see how He has brought together in this opening section the complete work of Christ. “He is seated on the right hand” goes back to Psalm 110, we will not take the time to go back there, where Christ is seated on the right hand of the Father. I mean it is a work done.

We as believers, the striking thing here, this letter is written to believers who have lost something of the wonder and all and worship and passion for Jesus Christ. I don’t know how they could think they could go back to Judaism. Do they even know who Jesus is, what He has done? There is no other Savior. There is no other place to go. There is only one son, the Son of God. He left glory so He could come to this earth so he might redeem the creation that He created. So that He might be exalted to and inherit it as a result of His work of redemption. God does all that and then He says you can have it as a free gift. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” “He that has the Son has life, he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him.”

The message of Christ is the most exciting message and furthermore it is the only message of salvation. You and I as believers of Christ ought never to be less than thrilled of the Savior that God has blessed us with, who loved us, came to this earth and died for us and has been exalted in glory. The One who represents us in God’s presence to this very day. That is the message of salvation we offer to a lost and dying world.

Let us pray together. Thank you Lord for the Savior, your Son, who left the glory that was His. He came to this earth to manifest Your glory. To be the Savior, to be not only God, but man so that by His death He could pay the penalty. He could provide the way that we could be cleansed and purified from the defilement of filthy, condemnation of our sin. He is alive today, He has been exalted to your right hand. And we are secure in Him through faith in His finished work. Lord I pray for any who are here today who don’t know the Savior or perhaps have been trying hard going through the religious motions, attending this church regularly or another one but never understood the finality of Jesus Christ and the completeness of His work. May this be a day of salvation for them. We praise You in Christ’s name. Amen.