WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.400 As we turn to God's word, let's pray. Father, please help us as we turn to your word to 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:17.839 see more of you and to know you more closely in every part of our lives. In Jesus' name 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:19.839 we pray. Amen. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:27.800 Well, I'd like us tonight to turn back to the chapter that we read. We're going to focus 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:34.160 especially on the first four verses. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:39.640 to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he spoke unto us by his Son, whom 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:45.040 he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the 00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:50.000 radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.159 universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the 00:00:55.159 --> 00:01:01.599 right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name 00:01:01.599 --> 00:01:11.400 he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. It is hard to imagine a more stunning introduction 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:18.759 to a letter. This opening to the letter to the Hebrews is one of the big glorious introductions 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:26.960 to the books of the Bible. A bit like Genesis 1, John chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 1 is just 00:01:26.960 --> 00:01:34.560 straight in there with some of the richest and most profound verses that we find in scripture. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:41.600 We could spend many weeks just looking at these four verses alone. One of the things 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:48.680 that I love about these verses is that straight away the writer of this letter is immediately 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:55.680 focusing our attention on God the Son. And that's really what the letter to the Hebrews 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:02.520 is all about. It is all about Jesus. And from the moment we start reading, the author wants 00:02:02.520 --> 00:02:11.360 us to be thinking about who Jesus is and what he has done. In particular, the author is 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:20.040 wanting to strongly emphasize and to help us to see the superiority of Jesus. If Hebrews 00:02:20.040 --> 00:02:24.880 is a book that you're maybe not familiar with, the background to it is that in these early 00:02:24.880 --> 00:02:30.320 days in the New Testament you had many people who had been Jews and had grown up that way 00:02:30.320 --> 00:02:37.360 and who had heard about Jesus and who had come to faith and had become part of the church. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:49.040 Really that went fairly smoothly in most places in the very early years because people could 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:55.360 still be part of the Jewish community and yet they embraced the Christian faith. But 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:02.120 after not many years, maybe even after just 10 or 15 years, that kind of integration began 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:08.280 to fade and it began to be harder and harder to stay within the Jewish community if you'd 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:15.740 become a Christian. And before long, the two camps were very hostile. So if you were a 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:25.400 Christian, you were immediately separated from your Jewish roots in many ways. For the 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:31.200 people who are receiving this letter, this kind of exposure that being a Christian brought 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:38.319 made life more difficult for them. And the basic gist of their situation was that they 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:43.239 were tempted to go back. Because of the hardship they were receiving for being Christians, 00:03:43.239 --> 00:03:48.039 they were like, well, life would probably be easier if we just went back to kind of 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:55.679 conventional mainstream Judaism and if we just stopped following Jesus. The great message 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:03.560 of the letter to the Hebrews is don't do it. And in order to reinforce that, the writer 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:08.480 wants to emphasize that Jesus is superior. And he goes through various things. He says 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:15.040 that Jesus is superior to the angels, superior to Moses, superior to the high priest, superior 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:21.759 to the sacrificial system. That's the great emphasis of this remarkable letter. And so 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:29.879 from the moment we start, the focus is entirely on Jesus. And I want us to look at these verses 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:37.279 and just ask a very simple question, which is, why has Jesus come? We spend a lot of 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.920 time at this time of year thinking about the incarnation, the fact that Jesus has come 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:45.879 into the world, and Christmas brings these things to the forefront of our minds more 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:53.639 so than any other time of year. But we are asking the question, why did Jesus come? And 00:04:53.639 --> 00:05:03.800 what I want us to notice is that we're given three important answers in this passage. But 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:08.120 none of them are necessarily the answers we tend to automatically think of. But they're 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:15.360 important and I want us to see them. So first of all, what I want us to notice is that the 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:23.439 writer begins his letter by drawing a contrast between long ago and these last days. So if 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.879 you look, you can see that there. First two words, long ago, and then zip along to the 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:32.400 end of the second line in these last days. And he's drawing a contrast between a time 00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:40.199 that's gone and a time that they are in now. That contrast between long ago and these last 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:45.199 days is emphasizing two important points. Number one, it's telling us that the birth 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:53.479 of Jesus is part of a much bigger story. Long ago, it's referring to God's revelation in 00:05:53.479 --> 00:05:59.000 the Old Testament era. And the great message of the Old Testament was one of anticipation. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:05.199 The Old Testament was looking forward, expecting, pointing, prophesying towards something that 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:10.399 was going to come. We don't believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament are what 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:15.199 we would call discontinuitous in the sense that the Old Testament is like scrapped and 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:18.959 ditched by the New Testament. Some people think that the New Testament is to kind of 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.799 like completely undo the Old Testament. We don't believe that. We believe that they're 00:06:22.799 --> 00:06:28.519 distinct, but their relationship is one of anticipation and then fulfillment. When the 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:34.079 writer says long ago, he is talking about all that the Old Testament was pointing us 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:39.239 towards. The coming of Jesus is part of a bigger story. But the second key point that 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:47.199 relates to that is that the ultimate coming of Jesus is the definitive fulfillment of 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:55.840 that story. Because notice, it doesn't say long ago and these days. It says long ago 00:06:55.840 --> 00:07:02.879 and these last days. And that word last is really important because it's emphasizing 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:10.000 the fact that Jesus has come as the fulfillment and culmination of the Old Testament. In the 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:15.959 Old Testament it said, days are coming in Jeremiah 31, for example. Now that Jesus has 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:25.680 come, these days are here. And that means that we today are living in the last days. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:34.519 In the sense that this is the final period of God's revelation to humanity. That revelation 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:40.920 is complete in the message of Scriptures. Of the Scriptures. We're no longer anticipating. 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:46.360 We're not waiting for the Messiah to come for the first time. We're not waiting for 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:53.280 these promises to be fulfilled as in the days of the Old Testament. We now live in the days 00:07:53.279 --> 00:08:01.919 when God's message is complete and the promises have been fulfilled. That's an extraordinary 00:08:01.919 --> 00:08:11.199 privilege. What you know, even if your knowledge of the Bible is maybe not as good as you would 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:19.199 like it to be, what you know is way more than what many, many people living in the Old Testament 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:25.560 just wished they knew. And we can look back and see how things fitted together in a way 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:31.159 that went beyond anything that they were able to grasp. It's a massive privilege to have 00:08:31.159 --> 00:08:41.720 God's completed revelation in our hands. But with that privilege comes enormous responsibility. 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:52.320 Because if these are the last days, it means that these are the days of reckoning. And 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:57.800 these are the days when we need to respond to what God is saying. 00:08:57.800 --> 00:09:02.600 So we're asking the question, why is Jesus come? The first thing that we're saying, we're 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:09.320 asking the question, why is Jesus come? Our first answer is that he's come as the fulfillment 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:14.720 of all that was said in the Old Testament long ago. It's interesting, even if you look 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:20.160 at these first four verses, there is tons of Old Testament stuff being hinted at in 00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:24.760 these verses. So you read through there on the third line, it's a fourth line rather, 00:09:24.760 --> 00:09:30.720 it speaks about creating, taking us right back to Genesis chapter one. Just before that, 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:37.080 it talks about Jesus as an heir of all things. That word heir is echoing the language of 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:41.720 the family. And the theme of family runs through the whole Bible from Abraham through the nation 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:47.400 of Israel all the way down to Jesus. When it speaks about the glory of God there in the 00:09:47.400 --> 00:09:50.960 one, two, three, four, five, sixth line down, that's immediately pointing us back to the 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:57.400 temple where God's glorious presence had come in a special way. When it talks about purification 00:09:57.400 --> 00:10:03.680 for sins near the bottom, that's pointing us to God's law and the fact that sin is all 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:08.399 the ways in which that law has been broken. The phrase majesty on high speaks of God's 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:14.519 kingdom, the fact that Jesus now reigns. And all of it is pointing us back to the fact 00:10:14.519 --> 00:10:21.479 that Jesus has come as the fulfillment of the new covenant, bringing together all that 00:10:21.479 --> 00:10:29.039 the Old Testament was pointing towards. And that raises a really important point for us. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:36.480 A simple but really important point. This focus on Jesus is telling us that we need 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:47.839 Jesus. But we don't need more than Jesus. And that's a crucial point to remember because 00:10:47.839 --> 00:10:54.879 the devil has caused havoc throughout history by telling two desperate lies. First lie is 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:04.360 that you don't need Jesus. And many people have listened to that lie. But the second lie 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:10.879 is to say that you need more than Jesus. And there have been countless manifestations of 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:17.759 different beliefs and religions and cults and sects where people have said, oh yeah, 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:22.120 we can have Jesus and we can believe in Jesus, but you need to do something more. You need 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:26.360 this extra book. You need this extra way of life. You need to follow these extra commandments. 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:31.639 You need to have these extra experiences. You need to form and you need to conform to 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:42.840 these extra habits. Do not be tricked by either of these lies. Never think that you don't 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:51.039 need Jesus. And never think that you need more than Jesus. The great emphasis of Hebrews 00:11:51.039 --> 00:12:02.480 is that he's the one we need and he has come. The second thing I want us to see arises from 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:10.480 the fact that in these verses there's a lot of rich language and in many ways there's 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:18.360 a lot of big theological words. But in those four verses there is one main phrase. And 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:21.960 that's always a good question to ask whenever you read a passage of the Bible, a verse or 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:29.120 a chunk like this, always ask yourself the question, what is the main phrase that's being 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:34.000 written here? And if you look at this passage, there is one main phrase because we have some 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:41.480 bits that are kind of background information. We have some bits that are kind of explanatory 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:48.720 information. But these are both to complement the main phrase. What is the main phrase in 00:12:48.720 --> 00:13:01.200 this passage? Have a look at it. The main phrase is where it says he has spoken to us 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:06.519 by his son. If you look at it you can see that. First part is background information. 00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:10.000 Long ago that's background information. Many times in many ways God spoke to us by the 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:17.679 prophets. In these last days he has spoken to us by his son. And then the rest of it 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:22.879 is further explanatory information about who that son is. But the main phrase, the main 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:28.879 point is that God has spoken to us by his son. So if we return to our question, why has 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:38.879 Jesus come? The answer that verse two is giving us is Jesus has come to speak to us. Now isn't 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:48.519 that interesting? You think of Christmas and you think of Jesus being born. You think of 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:55.080 say somebody had come to our carol service last week or came up to you this week and 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:59.879 asked the question, let's always talk about Jesus at Christmas. Why was Jesus born? Why 00:13:59.879 --> 00:14:05.720 did He come? What would you say? Well, we would probably say something like, well, He 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:12.160 came to save us from our sins. He came to die on the cross. He came to give us eternal 00:14:12.160 --> 00:14:15.360 life. These would all be absolutely true. And these are the answers that would come 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:20.240 to my mind. But Hebrews chapter one verse two is telling us that if you had asked the 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:27.399 question, why has Jesus come, your response should be, He came to speak to us. And I think 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:35.959 that's absolutely fascinating. Now at one level, that sounds so simple. And in many ways, 00:14:35.959 --> 00:14:43.720 Jesus did speak like every other person speaks. But there's something incredibly profound. 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:48.159 If we think about that a wee bit more, in fact, what's been conveyed to us here is one 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:55.679 of the most important theological truths that we can ever consider. Because just think about 00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:07.359 it. Where would we be if God refused to speak to us? Where would we be if God just cut off 00:15:07.359 --> 00:15:18.759 all contact with humanity? We would be lost. We would be blindly wandering our way through 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:26.879 a life that seems meaningless with no origin and no destination. We'd have no idea what 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:32.399 was right or wrong. We would just please ourselves. We would do what was right in our own eyes. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:38.240 We would have no idea what was really true. So we would be in a mess of everybody making 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:43.120 up all their own ideas and nobody able to answer the big questions of life. Without 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:50.679 God speaking to us, we would be in a mess. But the desperate truth of humanity is that 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:59.399 we are in that mess today, but not because God hasn't spoken. It's because we're not 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:06.919 listening. But the glorious truth of the Bible is that God is a God who speaks. That's what 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:11.720 we mean by the doctrine of revelation that God reveals Himself to us. He communicates 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:18.759 with us, and in doing so, He shows us who He is by talking to us. In fact, the Bible 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:25.120 makes it clear that God is a God who accomplishes His purposes by speaking. And these verses 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:31.000 emphasize that very powerfully. Verse 2 tells us that it was through God the Son that the 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:36.200 world was created. So when you read Genesis chapter 1 way back at the beginning, and you 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:41.200 read about the activity of God, you're actually reading about the activity of God the Son. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:51.160 And how did He create the world? What did He do? He spoke. He said, let there be light. 00:16:51.160 --> 00:16:55.480 And Hebrews chapter 11 goes on to say, by faith we understand that the universe was 00:16:55.480 --> 00:17:05.279 created by the Word of God. Verse 3 tells us that God upholds the universe how? By the 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:15.519 Word of His power. God accomplishes His purposes by speaking. And that of course is why Jesus 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:26.879 came as a speaker. He taught and He preached to people. Jesus has come to speak to us. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:35.400 And boy has He got amazing things to say. And I've picked just three examples which, 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:38.440 I don't think random is the right word, but there isn't a particular reason why I chose 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.840 these other than they just simply stand out to me. But here's three things that Jesus 00:17:41.840 --> 00:17:46.880 said. He said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:52.120 believes in me shall never thirst. He said, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, 00:17:52.119 --> 00:17:57.000 and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:04.079 lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. He said, my sheep hear my voice, 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:10.679 and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, 00:18:10.679 --> 00:18:17.639 and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Now these words are maybe familiar to us, 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:25.280 I might have heard them before, but we really need to stop and think about them. Has anyone 00:18:25.280 --> 00:18:37.200 ever spoken in that way? Can anyone say that kind of thing? When Jesus speaks, He gives 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:44.440 the most profound teaching. He expresses the greatest comfort. He offers the most loving 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:52.880 invitation, and He preaches the best news that humanity has ever heard. In the middle 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:59.160 of Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees sent some officers to arrest Him. Can you remember what 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:04.880 they said when they came back? They didn't come back with Jesus in chains. They came 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:15.880 back to the Pharisees and they said, no one ever spoke like this man. Jesus has come to 00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:27.600 speak, and that is why the enduring foundation of Christianity is what? What is the enduring 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:40.879 foundation of Christianity? A collection of words. Many other religions are grounded 00:19:40.879 --> 00:19:50.240 on a place, or a statue, or practices, or habits. Christianity is founded on words, 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:59.160 the word of God, the fact that God has spoken. That's why we regard the Bible as authoritative. 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:04.039 That's why if you abandon the Bible, you abandon Christianity. That's why it's so important 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:09.480 to read your Bible, and not just to read it and chuck it down, but to read and listen 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:14.680 and think. If you're going into 2020, whether you use the Walk With Me devotional, or whether 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:19.640 you're doing your own Bible reading habits, I don't mind which one you do, but one thing 00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:24.640 I absolutely would ask you to do is not just zap through it as though you've got to just 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:32.360 read it and get it done, which I do far too often. When you read the Bible, when you listen 00:20:32.360 --> 00:20:43.759 to Walk With Me as Billy explains, Versus of Scripture, stop and think. Take it in, 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:52.599 and let God shape you through His Word. And if you have questions, always just come and 00:20:52.599 --> 00:21:00.559 ask anytime. You can email or whatever, or ask at a service. Jesus has come to speak, 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:10.400 and that is one of the most profound theological realities of Christianity. But do you want 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:17.840 to know what the even more amazing thing is? Did you notice, I said that there was lots 00:21:17.840 --> 00:21:24.960 of big words in this passage. Big words are great. The only thing that trumps big words 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:35.400 are the small words. And there was two incredibly small words in Hebrews 1, 1-4. Jesus has come 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:50.680 to speak to us. Jesus has come to speak to you. And this is where we see how incredibly 00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:58.440 personal Jesus' message is. It's not come to speak to an exclusive elevated realm. 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:06.799 If you imagine that Nicola Sturgeon or Boris Johnson or Donald Trump was to come to Edinburgh, 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:10.279 they would speak maybe to the press, they would maybe speak to the crowds, they'd maybe 00:22:10.279 --> 00:22:20.840 speak to civil servants. They would speak to a very select group. Jesus is nothing like 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:28.919 that because he's come to speak to us. And if you look at Jesus' ministry, one of the 00:22:28.919 --> 00:22:34.279 remarkable things you'll see is that he continually spoke to people that no one else wanted to 00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:40.639 speak to. So in John chapter 4, you have a woman who's had a disastrous thing of relationships. 00:22:40.639 --> 00:22:46.679 She's now living with a man to whom she's not married. What does Jesus do? He speaks 00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:52.759 to her. In Mark chapter 1, Jesus comes across a leper, the kind of person that everybody 00:22:52.759 --> 00:23:02.480 else would literally want to run away from. Jesus speaks to him. Luke 23, you have a convicted 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:12.799 criminal hanging on a cross in the process of being executed. Jesus speaks to him. And 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:21.000 imagine all the people in our society whose lives are wrecked by all the sin and immorality 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:29.919 in our nation. What would Jesus do with them? He would speak to them. And of course we must 00:23:29.919 --> 00:23:37.279 do the same. These two little words remind us that all the amazing things that Jesus 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:45.879 has to say, he is saying them to us. Jesus wants you to hear his words. So when he says, 00:23:45.879 --> 00:23:49.759 I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, whoever believes in me shall 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:57.879 never thirst, he is saying that so that your hunger will be taken away and that your thirst 00:23:57.879 --> 00:24:03.240 will be quenched. When he says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:09.279 give you rest, he is saying that so that your burden will be lifted, so that what you have 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:14.319 to carry at work or at home or in your personal life or whatever it may be that's weighing 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:21.759 you down, he is saying that so that your burden can be lifted, so that your soul can be at 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:26.759 rest. When he says, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me, I give them 00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:32.200 eternal life, they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. He is 00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:40.880 saying that so that you would know that you're secure in Jesus, so that your worrying mind 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:48.960 will be comforted, so that your bruised heart will be at peace. Jesus has come to speak to 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:56.039 you. Every time you hear Jesus speaking, I want you to imagine him walking right up to 00:24:56.039 --> 00:25:01.360 you and saying this message is for you. I've come because I want to speak to you. I want 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:08.919 to tell you something, this gospel message comes in an envelope with your name on it. 00:25:08.919 --> 00:25:13.119 And that's one of the most astounding truths of Christianity because never forget that 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:18.679 God doesn't need to speak to you. He's under no obligation to do so. We haven't asked him, 00:25:18.679 --> 00:25:25.639 we haven't earned it. In fact, all we have done is provoke God into turning away from 00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:33.800 us. Hebrews 1 to 2, chapter 1 verses 1 to 2 that we have there could so easily say, 00:25:33.800 --> 00:25:40.280 long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. 00:25:40.280 --> 00:25:48.600 But in these last days, he has run out of patience, so he doesn't speak anymore. But 00:25:48.599 --> 00:26:01.279 thank God it says in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. Why did Jesus come? 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:09.159 Because God wants to speak to you. He wants to give you the words of eternal life. And 00:26:09.160 --> 00:26:19.840 I really hope you can see what an utterly astounding truth that is. That raises an immediate question 00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:26.160 though and this is the third and final thing we're going to look at. Jesus has come to 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:32.560 fulfill all that the Old Testament was pointing to. It's now the last days. Jesus has come 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:40.159 to speak to us and through him, God the Father is communicating with each one of us. But 00:26:40.159 --> 00:26:45.639 the big question that all that raises is, what does God the Father want his sons' message 00:26:45.639 --> 00:26:54.039 to be? What does God actually want to say to us through Jesus? Well, that brings us 00:26:54.039 --> 00:27:03.319 into verse three, four, three and four. What it says, he is the radiance of the glory of 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:08.039 God, the exact imprint of his nature. He upholds the universe by the word of his power after 00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:13.119 making purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:18.839 become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:24.199 Now we could spend weeks in these verses alone. I just want to say a little bit about what 00:27:24.199 --> 00:27:32.720 it says at the very start of verse three. He is the radiance of the glory of God and 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:38.839 the exact imprint of his nature. Now that can sound a bit complicated. You can think, 00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:44.159 what does that mean? Radiance of the glory of God, exact imprint of his nature. And you 00:27:44.159 --> 00:27:47.519 can sort of quickly tie yourself in knots thinking, oh, I don't really quite understand 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:53.720 what that means. Whenever you come to a Bible, a big Bible phrase like that, it's really 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:57.680 easy to kind of try to look for the complicated. What you should really try to do is look for 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:10.240 the simple. And the simple thing that that is saying is that Jesus Christ shows us what 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:24.200 God is really like. So if you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus. And this 00:28:24.200 --> 00:28:33.440 is where we see all the great truths about the incarnation coming together. Back in Matthew, 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:40.240 we read it this morning, we read it last week about the fact that Jesus is Emmanuel. He 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:46.200 is God with us. The Virgin shall conceive and bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:50.920 which means God with us. Now this is where it's absolutely incredible. It's incredible 00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:55.279 because if you think about it, way back in the Old Testament, you had the Garden of Eden 00:28:55.279 --> 00:29:00.360 where God and humanity were together and it was brilliant. But sin broke that. As you 00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:06.479 go through the rest of the Old Testament narrative, there are certain times when God reveals himself. 00:29:06.479 --> 00:29:12.919 The next big moment after Eden is on Mount Sinai. When the people have come out of Israel 00:29:12.919 --> 00:29:19.839 and they're gathered at the base of this mountain, Moses is called up to the top and God appears. 00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:25.039 And it's in a cloud and fire and smoke and the whole thing is shaking and all the people 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:31.319 are being told whatever you do, keep back. And so if you want to see God, then it's kind 00:29:31.319 --> 00:29:37.119 of really tough because you can't go near the mountain and it's all in clouds and smoke 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:44.279 and it's all restricted. The next big moment where God's presence comes into the earth 00:29:44.279 --> 00:29:48.559 is at the Tabernacle and the Temple. This place of worship that they were instructed 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:52.759 to build right in the middle of which was this very special room called the Holy of 00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:57.319 Holies, the most holy place where the Ark of the Covenant which was the special box 00:29:57.319 --> 00:30:03.799 which held the Ten Commandments was stored and there God's presence came. But nobody 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:09.559 was allowed into it apart from the High Priest and him only once a year. Access again was 00:30:09.559 --> 00:30:14.240 totally restricted. So you could, if somebody walked into the Israelite camp or into Jerusalem 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:16.960 and said, where's your God? They would say, well, he's in the temple. Oh, can I go and 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:26.880 see him? No. You can't go near him. Access is restricted. So you have God's presence 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:31.440 coming into earth at these various moments but constantly the emphasis is on keep back, 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:41.640 keep away. You can't actually see what's going on here. And then in a dark cattle cave in 00:30:41.640 --> 00:31:00.200 Bethlehem, a baby is born and if you look at him, you see God himself. And you see Jesus 00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:12.680 grow as the man who perfectly reflects God's image as we humans were supposed to do but 00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:18.759 fail to do because of our sin. And the incredible thing is what do you see Jesus do? You see 00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:28.920 Jesus being incredibly kind to people, patient, forgiving, loving, thoughtful, interested, 00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:35.560 kind of gentle. All sorts of people have got different views of God. I think Boole is like 00:31:35.560 --> 00:31:43.080 a warrior or a big thunderbolt or a big statue or whatever. You look at Jesus and you see 00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:54.360 somebody who is gentle and lowly of heart and the Bible is saying, that's what God is like. 00:31:54.359 --> 00:32:05.799 And that's why at the heart of Christianity is God revealing himself not just as Creator, 00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:13.039 not just as Almighty One, not just as ruler, not just as Lord of hosts, the commander of 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:24.039 the army but as Father, a God that we can know and love and who will hold us and keep 00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:32.319 us safe forever. John said, no one has ever seen God but God the Son, the only God who 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:37.559 is at the Father's side, he has made him known. Near the end of his ministry, one of Jesus' 00:32:37.559 --> 00:32:44.440 disciples says to Jesus, oh will you show us the Father? Jesus said to him, do you not 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:56.480 know me Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Why has Jesus come? He's come 00:32:56.480 --> 00:33:02.240 to fulfill the Old Testament, he's come to speak to us and he's come to reveal God to 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:10.559 us. Now there's two amazing truths that arise from that verse. One is that Jesus has come 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:15.279 so that we can see the glory of God. As we said in the Sinai and at the temple, at the 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:19.160 Tabernacle, at the temple, we couldn't actually see it, it was there but we were so restricted. 00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:27.000 Now in Jesus we can actually see God's glory. Perhaps the greatest manifestation of that 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:34.759 was at the transfiguration when Jesus on the mountain showed exactly who he is. In Jesus 00:33:34.759 --> 00:33:40.000 we see God's glory, we see his wisdom in all the teaching that Jesus taught, we see God's 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:45.000 power in Jesus performing miracles, we see God's righteousness in the fact that Jesus, 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.240 even though he was tempted and pushed and prodded in every way that we are, he never 00:33:49.240 --> 00:33:56.759 sinned. And above all else we see God's extraordinary love in that Jesus was willing to lay 00:33:56.759 --> 00:34:04.119 down his life for us. That's why John could say the Word became flesh and dwelt among 00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:13.079 us, we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and 00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:21.599 truth. If you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus. But the second thing is, 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:28.719 I think even more amazing, Jesus has come not just so that you might know the glory 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:37.880 of God and see it and be able to understand it better. Jesus has come that you might know 00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:46.199 the God of glory. In other words, Jesus hasn't just come so that we would know about God, 00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:53.119 Jesus comes so that we would actually know God. And that's what lies at the heart of 00:34:53.119 --> 00:35:00.719 eternal life, to know the only through God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. That's 00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:05.799 at the heart of why Jesus came, it's at the heart of why Jesus is speaking to you, because 00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:16.080 God wants you to know him. And that means a lot more than just knowing about him. You 00:35:16.080 --> 00:35:20.000 can pick up lots of books and listen to lots of podcasts and learn lots of stuff about 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:27.280 God. But that's not what being a Christian is about. Being a Christian is not about 00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:36.000 knowing about God, it is about knowing God. So you might know that God is strong, that 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:42.440 what God really wants is for you to know him as your strength. Your strength when you're 00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:48.960 weak, when life is too hard, when you feel you've made too many mistakes, when you feel 00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:53.920 that you're going to just keep on stumbling, God wants you to know him and to know that 00:35:53.920 --> 00:36:01.400 he will be strong for you. You might know that God is wise, but what God really wants 00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:08.039 is for you to know him as your teacher and your guide and for his wisdom to transform 00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:13.920 your life for good. So when we're disillusioned, confused, perplexed, frustrated, worried, 00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:23.880 uncertain, God wants us to know his words and his wisdom as our comfort and guide. 00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:28.440 You might know that God is loving, what God really wants you to know is that he loves 00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:41.720 you. That he loves you far, far more than you could ever even describe or understand. 00:36:41.720 --> 00:36:50.760 That his love for you is eternal. That his love for you has no limits and there is nothing 00:36:50.760 --> 00:37:08.000 that you can do to muck that up. God's love for you is unconditional, full stop. And he 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:15.680 wants you to know that love. And you might know that God is Father, but what God really 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:23.960 wants you to know is to know him as your Father. You think of God as Father and you kind of 00:37:23.960 --> 00:37:30.679 imagine you think, well, yeah, God as Father, he would be full of love and commitment and 00:37:30.679 --> 00:37:36.440 maybe just have the image in your mind of God with a person on his lap. That's a lovely 00:37:36.440 --> 00:37:41.599 image I like to have of Fatherhood, God with a person on his lap. You think you see God 00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:55.679 smiling, God caring, God teaching, God encouraging, God protecting, God delighting with this person 00:37:55.679 --> 00:38:11.440 on his lap. It's a beautiful image. The person on the lap is you. Ultimately, God the Son, 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:20.000 the Son has come so that you can know God the Father as your Father. If you're a Christian, 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:32.000 you can say, I know God and there is no higher privilege than that. And that's where true 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:38.159 Christian theology is the most amazing thing that we can learn because if you learn theology, 00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:43.719 you're going to learn what God is like. You can study the Bible, you can listen to people 00:38:43.719 --> 00:38:48.279 like me trying to explain it. You can read books and you learn all these astonishing 00:38:48.279 --> 00:38:52.239 things about God, about his strength, his wisdom, his patience, his love, his purposes, 00:38:52.239 --> 00:39:01.079 his plans, his promises, all the things that God is. And then God says, I want to be all 00:39:01.079 --> 00:39:13.559 of those things for you. That's what lies at the heart of Christianity and that's why 00:39:13.559 --> 00:39:19.360 Jesus came. Let's pray. 00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:34.160 Father, we can't even begin to thank you for what you've done for us. Thank you that long 00:39:34.160 --> 00:39:44.920 ago in, at many times and in many ways, you have spoken by your prophets. But thank you 00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:56.240 and in these last days, you've spoken to us by your Son. He is the image of your glory, 00:39:56.240 --> 00:40:06.159 the imprint of your nature. He is our Savior, our King, our brother, our friend. And how 00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:15.079 we thank you that Jesus came. Amen.