Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

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Tomorrow, in our country, we honor all those who have served and sacrificed for our nation. We honor them because we know that their service has protected our freedom. But I think we also honor them because we’re simply in awe of the extraordinary and heroic. We admire those who have given it everything they’ve got. And we’re in awe of the idea that there’s something bigger than ourselves worth fighting for. I’m not just talking about the ideals of our nation anymore, either. No matter what your nationality, whether you’re American, or Chinese, or Russian, or whatever, I think we’re all captivated by the extraordinary.

There seems to be a desperation in the world for the divine. For the holy. For the pure. If you’re searching for extraordinary spiritual truth, you need look no further than Jesus.

But most people are content simply to casually look into such things. To ponder such things occasionally. To consider several different options. Or even to make a light-hearted commitment to such things. But at some point, we need to make a choice. Do you believe what the Bible says about Jesus, or do you consider it foolishness? And if you truly believe it, then how’s that going to impact your life?

Read Hebrews 1:1-3

One of the many reasons people attend church or belong to a church is because they want to hear from God. They are searching for the divine. One of the most important points that we need to understand from the beginning of Hebrews is just that God speaks. God is not silent. We don’t have to wonder about the divine.

Surely we should always have a sense of awe and wonder about God. But we can be sure that there is a God, and we can know what He’s like. Because God has clearly revealed Himself to us by speaking to us. God cares about what we believe and how we live, so God has stayed involved with His creation and spoken to us throughout time and continues to speak to us through His Word.

God has spoken to people in many ways throughout time. When verse 1 uses the word “prophet,” it’s doing so in a way not just talking about those who were called prophets, but anyone in the Old Testament who God spoke to and through. God spoke to them through dreams, and visions, and sometimes even audibly. The final and greatest way God spoke to us is through, and by, and about His Son, Jesus Christ.

But where does Scripture fall in relation to this? We might try to weasel out of this by saying that when Jesus told His disciples that He guide them into all truth, He was telling us to take the teachings of His disciples as being from Him (John 16:13). While I think that’s true, it’s really not what Hebrews is talking about. Because we could say the same thing about the message of the prophets. It was from Jesus, too. What it’s pointing out is that Jesus is far superior than the prophets.

The beginning of the book of Hebrews introduces Jesus as magnificently awesome. This is what the whole book of Hebrews is all about. Christ is superior to angels. Christ is superior to Moses and the prophets. Christ is superior to everything.

I often feel inadequate preaching God’s Word. Because who am I to speak for God? But this passage makes me feel doubly inadequate. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? I can’t add to it. I can’t say it more magnificently.

Yet this passage also gives me a sense of awe. It makes me want to draw us all in to reflect on the majesty of God. It makes me want to repeat its words over and over. It makes me just want to point to Christ and say, “Look at Him!” Isn’t He awesome? Isn’t He beautiful? Isn’t He worthy of all praise? He is awesome. He is beautiful. He is worthy of all praise.

Verses 2 and 3 say many things about Jesus. He has been appointed heir of all things. God created the world (and the universe, and everything) through Him. He is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of God’s nature. He upholds the universe by His word. He died for our sins. He sat down at the right hand of God the Father, the Majesty on high.

Some of these things might confuse us. If Jesus created everything, how was He then appointed heir of everything? Wasn’t He already master of everything? If Jesus is the Son of God, and God in the flesh, how could He die? How can God sit beside Himself? I think these are good questions, but I don’t want to answer them this morning.

The point of the text is simply that Jesus is awesome.

Most of the things that verses 2 and 3 say about Jesus are fairly straightforward. When it says He was appointed heir of all things, it means that Christ is over all, owns all, and Lord of all. When it says that God created the world through Him, it means just the same as John 1:3. When it says that Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature, it means that all of God’s qualities, such as His holiness, wisdom, love, wrath, and justice are in Christ as well, to the exact degree that they’re found in God the Father. When it says that Jesus upholds the universe by the word of His power, it means exactly that. That the universe and everything in it is sustained by Christ’s command. But there’s one illustration of Jesus in this passage that might not be abundantly clear to us (v. 3)

Christ is the radiance of the glory of God! It’s saying that Jesus is like the rays of sunlight shining from God. When we look at the sun in the sky, we don’t actually see the sun. We see the light the sun produces. Yet when we think of the sun, we don’t think about the gases, we think about the light. The sun wouldn’t be much of anything if it weren’t for the light that it produces. Any illustration about God breaks down if you press it too far, but the Bible is saying that when we look at Jesus, we’re actually seeing radiance of the glory of God. We’re seeing God’s nature. We’re seeing God’s greatest work. We’re seeing who and how God wants to be seen. God wants us to know Him by knowing Jesus. Look at what Jesus did for us (v. 3b).

The text this morning lifts our eyes to focus on the divine, the extraordinary Jesus. As we’ve already noted, the world is impressed with the extraordinary. So many are content to stop where we’ve already looked and say, “Wow, Jesus was extraordinary.” But there’s a problem with stopping there. The problem is that we’ve all sinned. We’ve all broken this extraordinary God’s commands. So if we stop in the realm of pondering this awesome Jesus, we haven’t gone far enough. It might make us feel better about ourselves. But wondering about Jesus doesn’t solve our problem.

But there’s also a solution to our problem. Christ made purification for our sins. He died for our sins. Christ’s work is totally finished. He sat down at the right hand of God. In order for Christ’s work on the cross to be applied to you, you must simply place your faith in Christ. Forgiveness doesn’t happen automatically. Forgiveness doesn’t happen just because you think about Jesus once in awhile. God forgives you when you look to Christ and say, “I need you as my Savior.”