The Heir of All Things

Well, this past week I've been reading from an Advent devotional which draws from the Bible book of Hebrews.

And for me, Hebrews is a familiar and precious book of the Bible.

! But I don't think I've really thought too much about how some of the things in that book relate to Christmas and the birth of Jesus.

The book of Hebrews begins in this way.

In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.

There's quite a lot of the Bible's history covered by these words.

The prophets, men who spoke for God, go back as far as the days of Abraham, thousands of years before Jesus was born.

We're reminded here that God has been speaking for a long time.

He spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And He spoke to and through men like Moses, Samuel, King David, and Elijah.

These words really do invite us to think back over the whole story of God and all that He has said.

And as we do, there is so much.

What would we know about God had He not spoken in many times, at many times and in various ways?

We might deduce from the natural world that the Creator is powerful and wise.

But beyond that, what would we know of Him?

Almost everything we know about God is because He has deliberately spoken to us at many times and in various ways.

It's how we know He is loving and kind.

It's how we know He's just and righteous.

It's how we know that He's compassionate and generous.

It's how we know that He rules over all, even the hearts of men.

Because He has spoken at many times and in various ways.

We know what He requires of us.

We know His commands, which He's given for our benefit.

And we also know His many great, wonderful promises.

The promises He's made to His people through the centuries.

Just think of the entire Old Testament.

God has said quite a lot over the years.

But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.

We get a sense from these words that Jesus is the great climax of God's revelation.

There was all that was said for thousands of years before.

But as Tim Chester, the author of the devotional I was reading, put it,

Jesus is the final word.

It's not as though God never speaks after the arrival of Jesus in various ways.

He does.

But if we think about how God speaks after Jesus' arrival, it all comes back to Jesus.

The apostles are sent by Jesus.

They speak on His behalf.

The Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus.

The great ending to the story of our world, which is told to us in the book of Revelation,

at the end of the Bible, even it has Jesus.

The Lamb has the central figure.

And the throne that He sits on and the city that He brings for His people.

In that book, Jesus says,

I am the Alpha and the Omega.

That's the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet.

The beginning and the end.

Jesus really is the last word.

The final word of God.

He is God's ultimate and greatest revelation.

Jesus said on more than one occasion,

I am the light of the world.

And what does light do?

It illuminates things.

It enables us to see.

It reveals.

To say it another way,

the thousands of years of history in the Old Testament

are in some ways like the dark ages of our world.

But with the coming of Jesus,

God's Son,

the dark ages are forever over.

Light

has dawned

for mankind.

What God did through the prophets

long ago

pales in comparison to this.

This is not just another prophet.

This is God's own Son.

And let's see how this is so different

in the words

that follow.

But in these last days,

He has spoken to us by

His Son,

whom He appointed heir

of all things,

and through whom

also

He made

the universe.

The Son

is the radiance

of God's glory

and the exact representation

of His being,

sustaining all things

by His powerful word.

So what God is doing

through His Son

is different

than what He did

through the prophets

in all kinds of ways.

First,

He tells us

who this

Son of God is.

He is the one

whom God has appointed

heir

of all things.

That alone

we could ponder

a long time.

What does it mean

to be the heir

of all things?

Heir

speaks of inheritance.

We think naturally

of what a person receives

when

a parent dies,

if anything was left

in the estate.

You might wonder

if you will receive

an inheritance

from your parents

when they die,

and if so,

what it will be.

Or,

you might be thinking

even now

of what your kids

will get from you

when you die.

Will there be much

left for them

from your working years

if you die

at an old age?

what is inherited

by the Son of God?

And the answer

He gives

is all things.

Everything.

God has appointed

His Son

heir

of all things.

That's mind-blowing.

Let's think of

some of that,

what that includes.

It includes

everything that

belongs to God.

Everything that there is.

We could start

with a list

of some small stuff.

The stuff of earth.

Land.

All the land.

The houses.

The possessions

of people

who live on the earth.

The treasures

of the earth.

The creatures

of the earth.

Even we.

He made us.

We belong to Him.

All included

in all things.

The earth itself

as a whole

is part of the

all things

that He

is heir of.

The sun.

The moon.

The stars.

The distant

galaxies.

The whole universe.

God has appointed

His Son

to be heir

of all things.

Everything

that there is.

Which means

that God's Son

Jesus

will be

over all.

Ruler

of everything.

Master

of all.

Owner

and King

of all.

the Lord

of the universe

and everything

in it.

How does

Jesus get

this crazy

inheritance?

Well it says

that God

appointed Him

heir.

It's God

Himself

who made

the decision

that He

would receive it.

And God

can do that

because everything

in the universe

belongs to Him.

and so He

can give it

to His Son.

There was

nothing like this

happening with

the prophets

of the Old Testament

times.

This is what

makes the Son

of God

the ultimate

and the greatest.

God has

appointed Him

to inherit

all things.

Lying there

in the manger

in Bethlehem

was not just

the Messiah

but God's

heir.

The one

God will make

Lord

of the universe.

And with this

He's just getting

started.

Just in case

we didn't know

the author

of Hebrews

reminds us

that it was

through His Son

that God

made the universe

in the first

place

and through

whom also

He made

the universe.

This is one

of the great

mysteries of our

faith.

God made

the universe

through His

Son

before Jesus

was born

in Bethlehem.

How can that

be?

We wonder.

Well passages

like these

in the Bible

remind us

that the Son

of God

existed long

before

Jesus was

born.

The birth

of God's

Son

wasn't the

beginning

of His

Son.

As the

Apostle John

wrote,

He became

flesh

and dwelt

among us.

The Son

of God

already

existed

and He

simply took

on human

flesh

at a moment

in time.

the Divine

Son

was united

with

humanity.

He became

one of us.

The Eternal

Son of God

became a

true Son

of Man.

It wasn't

just God's

heir to all

things lying

there in the

manger.

This is difficult

to grasp but

it was the

One who

Himself

made all

things lying

there in

the manger.

The Creator

of the

universe

in a

feeding

trough.

And again

the author

of Hebrews

is just

getting started.

Listen to

what more

he has to

say about

the Son

of God.

Verse 3

The Son

is the

radiance

of God's

glory

and the

exact

representation

of His

being

sustaining

all things

by His

powerful

Word.

Wow.

Here's the

ultimate

contrast between

the prophets

of old

and the

Son of

God.

They were

men,

mere men

speaking on

God's

behalf but

the Son

of God

is Himself

the radiance

of God's

glory and

the exact

representation

of His

being.

These are

deep words

the radiance

of God's

glory.

We know

that God

is glorious.

His glory

is in

the devotional

I was

reading

Tim Chester

referred to

it as

His

perfections.

His glory

is His

perfections.

It's the

things about

God,

the things

about His

character

that are

good,

beautiful,

powerful,

praiseworthy.

Who He is

glorious.

And so

what does

it mean

that the

Son is

the radiance

of His

glory?

Well,

radiance

is what

shines

forth.

It's the

light that's

cast by

the flame.

It's the

rays of

the sun,

what we

see from

the light.

And so

Jesus is

the visible

shining forth

of God's

glory.

to say

it another

way,

what is

glorious

about God

is truly

visible in

Christ Jesus,

His Son.

God's glory

is on display

in and

through

Jesus.

This is

why I'm

eager as a

pastor to

spend years

of the life

of our

church and

of my

life preaching

through the

Gospels.

The glory

of God

can be

seen in

the person

of Jesus

Christ.

He is

the

radiance

of God's

glory.

Not only

that, but

He's the

exact

representation

of God's

being.

This is

quite a

thing.

Sometimes we

might be

tempted to

think that

Jesus is

somehow just

a shadow

of who

God is.

A dim

reflection.

But no,

the very

glory of

God is

on display

in and

through

Jesus.

And there

is nothing

misrepresented.

He perfectly

images to

us the

Father.

We may

speak of

Jesus'

human flesh

veiling

His glory.

Or we

may speak of

the Son of

God temporarily

laying some

measure of

His glory

aside to

come down

and save

us.

But in

all this,

the perfections

of God

were and

still are

perfectly

represented

in Jesus.

This is why

Jesus could

say, if

you've seen

me, you've

seen the

Father.

This is how

He could

say, I

and the

Father are

one.

Get to

know Jesus

and you

get to

know God.

He is the

exact

representation of

God's being.

What Jesus

lacked in

glory while

He walked

the earth,

we will see

someday when

He returns

as the

exalted

heir of

all things.

This is one

reason why

the birth of

Jesus is so

worth celebrating.

Not just

the Messiah,

not just

the heir,

not just

the Creator,

but the

fullest,

most visible

revealing of

God to us

has come

with the

birth of

this baby

boy.

The

radiance of

God's glory

and the

exact

representation

of His

being lay

there in

the manger.

Things the

prophets could

never convey

to us

there in

the manger.

water.

If all

that wasn't

enough

wonder to

behold,

the author

of Hebrews

reminds us

that the

Son is

the one

who is

right now

sustaining

all things

by His

powerful

Word.

Again,

this is

truly

mind-blowing.

We can't

even fathom

how He

does this.

Yes,

He is

man,

one of

us,

but He

is also

divine.

He is

also

God.

He is

right now

doing what

God alone

does.

He's

holding the

universe

together

by His

powerful

Word.

When I

look around

at the

world that

we live

in,

and I'm

talking about

the natural

world,

what I see

is amazing

complexity

and

astonishing

order.

The way

the weather

changes,

somewhat

predictably

according to

certain patterns,

and yet often

we can't

predict it.

There's a

balance,

there's an

order to

the weather

which keeps

our whole

world from

freezing to

death,

or from

being scorched

to death.

There's the

rain cycle.

cycle.

I'm not

even well

versed enough

in it to

explain it

well, but

you've probably

heard something

like that

before.

All of

these things

work together

to sustain

life.

Break some

of these

systems and

cycles and

many living

things on

the planet

would die.

Then there's

the complexity

of life

itself.

Consider

the numerous

systems at

work just

in the

human body.

systems which

give us

sight,

voice,

touch,

and feel,

hearing.

It's

amazing.

I can't

even

comprehend

how a

pump can

circulate

blood to

all the

cells in

my body

continuously

bringing them

the oxygen

they need

to sustain

that cellular

life in

each

different

kind of

cell in

each

different

organ in

my body.

The pump

is controlled

by the

brain.

And the

brain is

sustained

by the

pump.

By the

blood flowing

to it from

the pump.

Who keeps

these things

from falling

apart in a

day or

two?

The answer

is Jesus,

the Son of

God.

He sustains

all things

by his

powerful

word.

It was

the

sustainer

of all

things

who lay

there

in the

manger

in

Bethlehem.

One more

line here.

The author

of Hebrews

still in

verse 3

says,

Finally, we

hear something

about our

redemption.

And

surprisingly,

maybe,

it's not even

the main

point.

Jesus,

the Son of

God,

provided

purification

for our

sins.

This is

what Jesus

accomplished

by his

death on

the cross.

He

provided a

way for

us to

be made

clean and

pure of

that guilt

that we

have because

of the

sins that

we've

committed.

An

amazing gift

of grace,

and the

author of

Hebrews will

return to

talk about

that a

lot later

on in

this letter.

But his

main point

here is

actually in

the last

line.

And it's

what Jesus

did after

he had

provided

purification

for sins.

After he

had provided

purification

for sins,

he sat

down at

the right

hand of

the majesty

in heaven.

Jesus

took his

seat on

the throne

at the

right hand

of God.

Right now,

Jesus is

sitting on

heaven's

throne

with his

father.

The one

to be

heir of

all things

has reached

the highest

position of

authority

that there

is.

The son's

birth in

Bethlehem is

something worthy

of celebration.

We should

look back to

the manger

with joy

and I

hope we

do this

Christmas.

But far

greater than

that is

where Jesus

is now

and what

that means

for all

of us.

We should

look up

to heaven's

throne

where the

one who

was born

now sits

as heir

of all

things

and lord

of the

universe.

He rules

now.

And in

the fullness

of time

his rule

will break

forth the

fullness of

it upon

our world.

He will

come again

and he

will fulfill

the rest of

God's good

promises to

us.

Christmas

points us

ahead.

And so

as we head

into our

celebrations

again this

year,

I just

want to

encourage us

to fix

our eyes

on Jesus,

the Christ

of Christmas.

Let's

celebrate

him,

the final

word of

God to

us,

the heir

of all

things,

the maker

and sustainer

of all

things,

the radiance

of God's

glory,

the one

who provided

purification

for our

sins,

and the

one who

now sits

on heaven's

throne.

It's his

birth that

we celebrate.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus,

as Christmas

draws near,

we ask that

we wouldn't

be caught

up in

the things

that so

often and

easily distract

us at this

time of year.

We ask that

we wouldn't

be drawn

into the

emptiness of

our world's

celebration

celebration of

what they

now call

the holiday.

we want to

fix our

eyes on you,

Jesus.

Help us

do that.

Thank you

that you

are all

these things.

We give you

praise for

that.

We can

barely fathom

these things.

God,

we ask for

your help

to share

this good

news about

who you

are to

others this

Christmas.

Put that

news on our

lips.

Give us

courage.

Give us

boldness to

share.

Help us to

be watching

and waiting

for those

opportunities to

speak of you.

we love

you and we

pray these

things in

your name.

Amen.