FROM SHADOW TO SUBSTANCE: From What to Who

I confess. The Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon

is brought to you by Resurrection Life Church

in Apex, North Carolina, a congregation of the

Presbyterian Church in America. This week, we

begin a new sermon series through the book of

Hebrews, From Shadow to Substance. Now, here's

our pastor, Dr. Mark Kadesh. I'm just really

excited. to do this because I've been wanting

to preach through this book for a long time.

And so often I've referred to it, I've quoted

it in sermons, but to really be able to sink

our teeth into this book is just, it's just gonna

be a real honor. So this will take us. few months

to go through, probably take us to summer. So

just wanted to invite you to prepare your heart

for that and perhaps even read it devotionally

or just read it through a couple times from now

until the next few weeks just to get a little

bit familiarized with what is going on here,

what's the context. If you want to know how to

read it, you really should join the D -Time class

because Pastor Jeff will teach you how to read.

the book of Hebrews. But anyway, this morning,

we're going to start from the beginning, right

at the beginning, the first three verses. Only

three verses, but just jam -packed with goodness,

like a good Snickers bar. And so please join

with me as we read from Hebrews 1, 1 to 3, where

it says this, long ago at many times and in many

ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by

his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things,

through whom also he created the world. He is

the radiance of the glory of God and the exact

imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe

by the word of his power after making purification

for sins. He sat down at the right hand of the

majesty on high. So, brothers and sisters, in

Jesus Christ, the early days of aviation was

a little tricky. when you didn't have all the

dials and everything. I just snagged a couple

of pictures of what cockpits looked like from

the 1920s compared to more recent cockpits. One

is more complicated. And that old one there,

you know, obviously doesn't give you all the

measurements that pilots needed to measure speed

and altitude and orientation and direction and

vertical movements, all that stuff. And so one

trick of the trade in those early years of aviation

was pilots would take a look at their shadow,

the shadow of the plane that is. And so the closer

that they would see in relation to obviously

the sun, in relation to the ground, that point

of reference of the shadow would help them see,

okay, when am I actually, when is this puppy

actually going to land? And the closer that the

shadow obviously would get to the land, you would

see then, how close you are to the ground. And

so the purpose of the shadow was to give you

a sense of orientation, right? There was an aviation

saying, the shadow lands first. Why do I focus

on the concept of shadow? Well, the whole sermon

series is focused on this picture right here,

from shadow to substance. The shadow came first.

And that is the whole Old Testament providing

us orientation of what to prepare for and who's

to come. And then once Christ lands, we see the

substance. We see what's real. This title is

best explained or revealed to us not in the book

of Hebrews, but in the book of Colossians. Colossians

2 .17, where it says, referring to Old Testament

activities, these are a shadow. Of the things

to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Or Hebrews, there's two references to shadows

in Hebrews. Hebrews 8 .5, they, that is the priest

in reference to the temple, they serve as a copy

and shadow of the things, of the heavenly things.

Or Hebrews 10 .1, for since the law has but a

shadow of the good things to come, instead of

the true form of these realities. And so Christ

has come down and this book helps orient us to

the significance of who he is as the substance.

So the way we're going to talk about that today

in the sermon is in four parts. Three parts broken

down to the three parts in our passage. And then

the fourth point really is, okay, well, what

does that mean for us then? So what was versus

who is. Who is. is the divine cosmocrat, and

who is, is our sacrifice and priest, and then

our confidence and commitment in response. So

let's begin with what was versus who is. I'm

going to reread for us verses one and two. Long

ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to

our fathers by the prophets. But in these last

days, he has spoken to us by his son. Now, one

of the really cool things about what the writer

of Hebrews does here is he has alliteration in

the biblical text. The letter P pops up all over

the place. It's like an engine moving. It's like,

okay, things are happening. Things are moving

here with this letter P emphasizing what? Emphasizing

a difference that's happening between what was

and who is. It's a lot of, in a very short amount

of words, it's a lot of comparing that's happening.

So for example, he writes long ago versus these

last days. And so there's like this progressive

revelation that happens throughout the whole

Old Testament, these shadows, and then the reality

comes, but then, but that's the end of the progression.

Progressive revelation that we have revealed,

that's revealed to us in scripture, that's The

canon, that is God's word for us. So it was building

up and then in the last days, boom, Jesus. And

then you have at many times versus these last

days. At many times has the sense of like, what

was revealed, what God wanted us to know was

revealed in sort of like a choppy way over time,

many, many times. But then we have then, but

now in these last days, There's again a finality

to what is happening over here. The infrequent

manyness to now like just this last season. You

have in parts. So in many ways and in many parts.

In the passage it says in many ways when you

read it. But it's actually what it's trying to

emphasize there is that there's parts. It came

in parts. So it happened many times but also

in like sections. Again, it was like divided

up. It wasn't like this constant thing that was

going, like something that's revealed wholly

and fully in a person. And so you have in parts

versus through a person. The addressee is also

to our fathers. The address is to the fathers,

which has an element of disassociation with it.

So God in the Old Testament is speaking to those

fathers who came before. But now we have this

revelation given to us. So where there's things

that are a little choppy and a long time and

many times and only two fathers, now we have

to us in a season by person. You also have the

conduit, the medium of the message is by prophets.

Again, by prophets, this is like they're just

merely human. But then over here, you have by

God's Son. So there's a whole new era. When that

plane touched down, it was everything changed.

From all the parts and pieces and time over here

to now being revealed in God's Son as a person

with a sense of finality to it. And then what

that does for the rest of the next several chapters

is it provides for us the context. Okay, so Jesus

is now the new revelation, and he's the final

word. And so now the author goes into, well,

then Jesus is, and I'm going to list a number

of things. This is the number of things he deals

with, and we'll be dealing with these things

in the future weeks, in the coming weeks. Jesus

is greater than the prophets, which we just heard.

Greater than the angels. That's the next one.

Greater than Moses. Greater than Old Testament

high priests. Greater covenant. Greater tabernacle.

Greater law. Everything is greater. Everything

is better. Everything is more pure and more final

and clear. The substance has been revealed in

Jesus. I love my years working at Marspan growing

up. So from when I was 16 to just before we got

married, really, so I was 24 at the time. Most

of those summers, not all, but most of the summers

I worked in a truss shop. And as the years progressed,

I was able to be a sawyer, which was a lot more

fun because you got to use your brain. But working

the saw was just really cool. It had these conveyor

belts. And it had five saws. So you had three

on one end and you had two on the other. And

it could cut like two foot two by fours to like

20 foot two by twelves. When I first worked there,

we had the orange saw. And the orange saw, man,

when I first saw it, I was like, wow, this is

amazing. And in order to get the degrees just

correct, the angles just right with the saws,

you had these cranks. So hand over hand, you

had to like. turn the blades to get them to the

right spot. And you had to do it all five. And

even the distance, I believe we had like a drill

at the time. A drill would move the saw on the

one end to figure out like how long does this

board need to be cut. So it had all these just

measurements and had all these like dials and

numbers and you had to move everything. It took

a lot of effort to move, to transition from one

cut piece of board. To another. That was the

orange saw. I believe it was my second or third

summer there. We got the blue saw. And the blue

saw was awesome. The blue saw had Windows 95.

Attached to the saw. And so it had a touch screen.

And you would go. And you would look at the screen.

And in order to go to the next piece. You just

had to push a button that said. Next piece. And

you go like this, and the whole saw would just

go. And all the blades would change at the right

angle. And they had to figure out whether the

wood would come in exactly the same amount you

needed with the exact board you needed at that

time. And boom, there you go. You're just off

to the races. The amount of productivity. It

was incredible what that technology was able

to do. Having that blue saw changed everything.

The orange saw is sort of like the shadows of

the Old Testament. Everything had to be done

by hand and everything was very physical, but

the shadows don't have the same kind of capacity

or ability or functionality or accessibility

or convenience than the blue saw did. Everything

changes with Christ. And so let's dive into a

little bit more now. Well, who is this guy? Well,

there's two main aspects here. And they're broken

down in a number of different items here. But

the next verse here, who is the divine cosmocrat?

So listen to this. Try to actually understand

what this is saying here. So whom he appointed

the heir of all things, through whom also he

created the world. He is the radiance of the

glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

And he upholds the universe by the word of his

power. And so we now have this son. And now,

well, what is his credentials? Why should we

listen to him? Well, that's what this list is

all about. God appointed all things to Jesus.

And when it says in the text, in the English

Standard Version, all things, the word things

actually isn't in the text. And that's a little

unfortunate because when we think of things,

we think of things that are tangible, you know,

things we could kick, things we could cut, whatever.

But it's just the word all. Time, space, all

of it. He is the heir of all. And I really want

you to hear this. Some of you may know the reference

to Ron Swanson who asks for bacon in a restaurant.

For those of you who do not know, it's a scene

where this character named Ron Swanson in Parks

and Recreation, he's depressed about the closing

of his favorite steak place. And so he goes to

a diner, and he says, he orders food, and he

says in a depressed state, just give me all the

bacon and eggs you have. Wait, I worry what you

heard was, give me a lot of bacon and eggs. What

I said was, give me all the bacon and eggs you

have. Do you understand? And the guy nods like,

yes, sir, right away, sir, right? It's like this

with the author of Hebrews. It's like him saying

this, when I wrote he is appointed inheritor

of all, I'm concerned what you heard was he's

inheritor of spiritual things or your soul or

churchy kind of things. What I said was Jesus

is the inheritor of all. Do you understand? It

says that the next part here, through whom also

he created the world. Again, a little unfortunate

translation with the word world, because the

word world there is actually the word ages. It's

plural. It's about not merely, if the first portion

here, all things emphasizes, perhaps all things,

but emphasize a little bit more of the material.

This is emphasizing the time aspect of what he

owns. He owns all the ages. He created all the

seasons of life. Psalm 2 .8 says, ask of me and

I will make the nations your heritage and the

ends of the earth your possession. Everything

God owns and has been given to Jesus as his heir.

But the point is not that Jesus is a creation.

He's the heir of all things, but also the creator

of all things. Next, he's the radiance of the

glory of God. This is the only reference to radiance

in scripture, this particular word. And it's

referring what commentators like to focus on,

effulgence, radiance. It's the, what someone

once said, what sunshine is of the sun. And that's

important because this is not saying that Jesus

is a reflection. No, he's the radiance of the

glory of God. So in other words, Jesus is the

sunshine. The sunlight, but it's not saying that

Jesus is the moon. The moon just reflects light,

and it can be really bright at night. But this

is not the point. The point is that Jesus himself

is the sunlight. And commentators throughout

all time and history have picked up on this word,

even from the third century. Athanasius, one

of the great African church fathers, writes this.

Who does not see that the brightness cannot be

separated from the light? but that it is by nature

proper to it and co -existent with it and is

not produced after it. Or the fourth century

Ambrose. Think not that there was ever a moment

of time when God was without wisdom, any more

than that there was ever a time when light was

without radiance. In some radiance of the glory

of God is not the moon, but more like the particle

-like waves emanating from the sun. He is, to

summarize how Calvin views this, he is why and

how we could experience the Father. He is the

light that gives us the ability to see and to

live what is not accessible to us without Christ.

All right, so more ways in which Jesus flexes

his credential here is he's the exact imprint

of his nature. The word imprint here is where

we get the word character from. The more typical

word for image, is icon which would which is

used but this is the word character it's like

an engraving engraving onto something especially

for coins engraving so characters when you think

of characters they are engraved imaging engraved

they're like images of what is what is out what

else is out there so you have actors who portray

something and they try to really really be that

And some actors do what's called method acting.

They're the kind of characters who not only practice

pretending to be this person in this play or

this movie, but even off camera, they're thinking

about how can I take on the emotions and the

persona of this person over here. They're trying

to make an exact imprint, an exact character

of this. It's a very interesting documentary

that came out in 2017. It's called Jim and Andy

Kaufman, The Great Beyond. And it's a bizarre

documentary. It's about how Jim Carrey, the actor,

plays Andy Kaufman in a movie called The Man

on the Moon. So it's a documentary about how

Jim Carrey prepared for this movie. And it's

weird. Jim Carrey, literally, he takes on the

personality of Andy Kaufman, not only on camera,

but off camera. And Andy Kaufman plays all these

weird, different kind of characters. He takes

on all those weird characters. It gets so strange

in the movie, in the documentary, that Andy Kaufman's

children wanted to meet with Jim Carrey as a

way to almost hear from their dad. This is like

an extreme method, extreme method of acting.

To the point where Jim Carrey even says, I felt

like the soul of Andy Kaufman came into me. and

took over. Jesus never, Jesus was eternally,

eternally the exact imprint of the nature of

God. He didn't suddenly become it. He was always

God's son, regardless of where and what time

in history. The triune God is always, always

existent. And I thought about this documentary

and I was thinking about how Jesus is the exact

imprint of God. He's exact. He's not playing

a part. He is God. Jesus is the engraved image,

the character of God, how he behaves, what he

says, his persona. It's all an embodiment of

God, the exact imprint of God's nature. And this

word with nature, the word nature is loaded in

one dictionary. It's called the New Testament

Dictionary of, sorry, the Theological Dictionary

of the New Testament. It covers this word. with

7 ,236 other words. And I won't bore you with

all of that, but it has theological, metaphorical,

philosophical, and medical significance attached

to this word, just this word nature. But in sum,

it means substance, the reality. So Jesus wasn't

like method acting. Jesus was and is the son

of God, the exact imprint. Same way like how

technology changed for many of us in the 80s,

where instead of sitting there with a cassette

tape, and trying to wait for our song to come

on the radio and record that song. It never sounded

the exact same as when it sounded on the radio.

Well, why is that? It's because with that technology,

with the magnetism that this cassette tape used

to create the sound, you get what's called generational

loss. And if you recorded a recording of that,

you get a little even more generational loss.

And you do that several hundred times, you get

something that you could hardly even hear anymore.

But when CDs came out, CDs was an exact imprint

of the original because it was using zeros and

ones, zeros and ones. There was no generational

loss, as they say. Now, there are other issues

with CDs, obviously, but let's not go too far

down this analogy. With Jesus being God's son,

there is no generational loss. There's no method

acting. He is the exact imprint, exact impression

of God's essence. The last part here upholds

all things by the word of his power. Just real

quickly on this. Not only is Jesus the creator,

but he's also the sustainer. Think about this.

So commentators like to point out that this is

where Jesus differs from the God, the Greek God

Atlantis. You know, the Greek God Atlantis is

holding the whole world on his back. He doesn't

actually, you see pictures of or statues of Atlas.

He's sort of just looking down. He's not a very

personal God. He's just holding up the earth.

But as someone once, someone more recently shared,

and I can't remember exactly who it is. Jeff

and I were talking about this more recently,

about how we were talking about the providence

of God and how it unfolds throughout time and

history. It's more like an unraveling of a scroll

through time and through space. And so we see

Jesus intimately involved then. And when he upholds

all things by the power of his word, It's not

that Jesus is disconnected and looking away.

No, as the exact imprint of God, he's also intimately

connected with how the plan unfolds. And that's

what leads us to this next point. Who is our

sacrifice and priest? This point won't be as

long, but it's still very important. Because

what the author of Hebrews is trying to get us

to see is like, we have this new voice coming

to us in Jesus Christ. He's now the voice box

of God. These are his credentials. But he's also

personal. He also did something for us. Again,

he doesn't stay aloof like Atlas. No, he is very

much involved with us by what? By making purification

for sins. Two times God makes something in this

passage, in our passage. One is God makes creation,

and now Jesus makes purification. He makes a

cleansing. He made a cleansing. And it's a huge

theme of this book. Paul goes back to this over,

or the writer, I shouldn't say, People think

Paul may have written it, but we don't know who

wrote this book. So the author of this book goes

back to this over and over again, how Jesus is

the purest form of purification. And we see that

with this other emphasis here. Jesus, I want

to share, our kingly high priest. He sat down

at the right hand of the majesty on high. So

when I read that for the first time, I thought,

oh, that's emphasizing the kingship. You know,

we have prophet, we have priest, we have king.

But this is actually emphasizing his work as

a kingly priest. Because what we read later in

the book is we see how the priests aren't sitting.

They're standing. They're working over here,

making sure all the cows are going to come and

all the lambs and all the sacrifices are going

to happen. They're working all that they can

do. Keep turning those levers. Keep turning those

levers. But in the final days, we have the final

method. Of making purification, which is Jesus

Christ's sacrifice on the cross. And then right

after that, we get this whole Easter story in

one sentence. He sat down at the right hand of

the majesty on high. He resurrected. And so for

this writer to say he sits means the job's done.

What needed to get done over here for so long

and all these cut up, chopped up times and spaces

is now fulfilled in Jesus Christ on the cross.

And he now sits. The work is done. Jesus Christ

accomplished it all for us. And so I love that.

I love that juxtaposition between Jesus sitting,

work done, and then later saying, well, in the

Old Testament, they had to stand all the time

because they were working all the time. But no,

Jesus' work is different than the priesthood

over here. So what does this mean then for us?

We've been talking so far today about Jesus,

who Jesus is, his credentials, what he did for

us personally on the cross, and what he's doing

today. What does that mean? What does that mean

for us? Well, I think what it means for us is

the same thing as what it meant for Christians

in the first century when they first read this

book. It was intended to give them a sense of

confidence and a sense of commitment. If Jesus

is the all -powerful cosmocrat, then we should

have confidence. And if Jesus is the all -effective

sacrifice, then we should be committed. And how

he summarized the theme of the book of Hebrews,

Raymond Brown writes this. This magnificent letter

to the Hebrews was written to a group of first

century Christians who were in danger of giving

up. How could these Jewish Christians endure?

What would enable them to stand firm in hazardous

times? They must look to Christ. Folks, when

we look to Christ, we find our confidence. We're

going to explore some of the most important prose

of theology in the entire Bible in the next few

months. We're going to explore the vast riches

of how Christ fulfilled all Old Testament purpose

and prophecy. We are going to learn how Christ

didn't leave one iota unturned. Hebrews 1, 1

to 3 is a snapshot of what's to come. And it

begins with Christ's overwhelming reach and rule

through time and space. He's the universal, universe

unifier. He's the greatest and the best. Who

Jesus is as the all -powerful cosmocrat should

give us confidence to never, ever give up. To

face trials with strength, resolve, encouragement,

and courage. Some of you may have had a discouraging

week. I know Jeff has, and perhaps others of

you have as well. Some of you may feel sad, grieved,

beat up. Some of you may feel discouraged for

setting goals for 2026 that you've already given

up on long ago. Some of you may struggle with

a more chronic issue of low self -esteem. You

just don't like yourself all that much. In fact,

you regularly may wish you were someone different

with different gifts and with different abilities,

with more money, more popularity, or more whatever

it is that you want more of. And this passage

screams in our faces like a coach yelling from

the sidelines, don't give up. Don't ever give

up. Remember who is on our side. Remember who

is in control. Remember the one who rules. Get

over yourself by focusing on Christ, your captain.

This passage says we have the goat. We have the

greatest of all time. And he created you and

he sustains you and he provided for you a way

to receive forgiveness in a place where he will

rule forever. And as he rolls the scroll through

time and space, nothing surprises him. He knows

your inabilities. He knows your inabilities.

He knows your failures. He knew how you would

view yourself, your life, your trials. the social

situation we find ourselves in today. Folks,

this is no self -help therapeutic, just pick

yourself up by the bootstraps call to confidence.

This is a call to look to Jesus who gives us

confidence for it is he who is and what he desires

to do in your life and through you by his sustaining

power, even through hardships and even through

trials, which we will get to later on in the

book of Hebrews. In fact, especially through

hardships and trials, especially. So don't ever,

Give up because Jesus. Second, if Jesus is the

all -effective sacrifice and is the priestly

king, then we should be committed to him. We

could have confidence in him, but we should also

be committed to him. Peter O 'Brien writes this

about this book. It summons believers, this book

does, just as it did the first listeners, to

unqualified commitment, unflagging perseverance,

and a willingness to suffer for one's faith.

George Guthrie writes this about this book. Members

of this church were becoming discouraged about

Christian commitment. We see reflected in Hebrews

a community of believers who were struggling

against spiritual lethargy, which if not addressed

could lead them to abandoning their Christian

confession. So that is confidence in Christ should

strengthen our commitment to Christ. The two

go hand in hand, right? Christ didn't dilly -dally.

Neither should we. We should be committed to

following this Jesus. This Jesus with all his

credentials and not putting any of those credentials

in a box or dismissing them. We are called to

be committed, not merely here and now as we worship

where it's simple, where we see other people

worshiping and we're comforted by that. And that

is part of why we gather, to grow in confidence

together, to grow in commitment together, to

grow in the comfort that we have in Jesus, but

also as a way to go out with strength, with commitment.

Some of you may be struggling with spiritual

lethargy. Just don't know. I just don't have

enough in my tank right now. And this book of

Hebrews is going to challenge us. Don't allow

that slippery slope to dictate your commitment

to Jesus. And so as we wrap up, the scale of

this passage, folks, is so large. This divine

prophet, this kingly priest, all coming together

as ruler and sustainer of all time and space.

But then we get this personal relationship emphasis.

That this Jesus made purification for us and

rules in heaven for us. It's to him that we must

turn to for confidence. And it's to him we ought

to be committed to. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly

Father, we thank you for Hebrews 1, 1 to 3. These

words that are just, they're majestic. They're

incredible. They describe a reality that our

brains actually don't know how to comprehend

fully. but we trust them to be true. And if we

do trust them to be true, we pray that we will

grow in confidence in Christ and we'll grow in

our commitment to him. But I think of some of

the young people in this room, I think of the

children who are in nursery right now, trying

to raise next generation of those who have confidence

in Christ, those who will be committed to him,

to Jesus and stay committed to him, even when

they're outside of our control, perceived control

that is. Lord, I think of, all of us who are

going through tough times right now, those who

may be going through trials, who have weighty

issues going on, or those who are just more lazy,

experiencing some spiritual lethargy. We pray,

Lord, that this sermon will kind of redirect

us and get us back on track to growing confidence

in Jesus. As we commit our lives to him, we pray

in Christ's name alone. Amen. You have been listening

to the Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon from Resurrection

Life Church in Apex, North Carolina. Resurrection

Life currently meets in the Apex Middle School

Auditorium at 400 East Moore Street near downtown

Apex with additional parking off of Highway 55,

East Williams Street. Resurrection Life Church

is pastored by Dr. Mark Kanesh of Apex and Associate

Pastor Jeff Smith of Cary. Resurrection Life

meets for worship every Sunday morning at 10

a .m. Join us this Sunday. And if you found this

podcast to be a blessing to you, share it with

a friend. And be sure to subscribe so you don't

miss next week's Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon.

I can face tomorrow because he lives. All fear

is gone because I know he holds the future and

life. is worth the living just because he lives