Christ Incarnate: The Radiance of God’s Glory (Hebrew 1) 21st December 2025

Amen.

Well, I just want to extend

uh a welcome to you. Whether it's your

first time here, whether it's your

hundth time here, you are more than

welcome here at Passage Baptist Church

this morning. Would you open your Bibles

if you have a Bible with you, open it to

Hebrews chapter 1. There are Bibles at

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

the back. If you don't have a Bible with

you, feel free to grab those. We'll be

looking at Hebrews chapter 1:es 1 to4

this morning. Hebrews chapter 1. Let me

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

pray as we come to the Lord's word this

morning. Let's pray.

Lord, we need your help this morning to

understand your word. So Lord, we ask

that you would speak.

Lord, would you speak through these

words this morning? Help us to know that

you are Christ incarnate who dwelt on

this earth. That Christ is the radiance

of the glory of God. Father, help us.

Reveal your truth to us by your spirit

now in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

We will be looking at Hebrews chapter 1

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

this morning verses 1 to4. Let me read

that.

Hebrews chapter 1 verse one says this.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

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 he created the world. He is

the radiance of the glory of God and the

exact imprint of his nature. He 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, having become as

much superior to angels as the name he

has inherited is more excellent than

theirs. That is God's word for us this

morning as we continue our series in

Christ incarnate about Christ incarnate.

God who came and dwelt among us in the

flesh. Today we're going to look at

Christ incarnate. The radiance of the

glory of God. The radiance of God's

glory. Jesus the son, the word made

flesh that we looked at last week. He is

the radiance of the glory of God.

I went into Bean and Leaf during the

week there. Um she and Kiting and I went

in there with Josiah and Payton used to

work in Bean and Leaf in the coffee shop

there and we went in with Josiah and the

workers there hadn't seen Josiah in

months. So the lady behind the till,

she's thrilled to see Josiah with me.

He's got so big. She's super excited.

And the first thing that she says to me,

the first thing the lady says to me is

that Josiah looks so much like his mom.

Josiah looks so much like Payton. And

she is right in fairness. She is right.

Josiah looks a lot like Pittton. He

looks He looks like the spitting image

of Pittton. It's clear when you look at

Josiah that he is Pittton's son, that

he's our son. He looks so much like her.

He's the spitting image of her. Children

look like their parents. It's through

genetics. We know the truth. She uh we

know that truth that children, they look

like their parents. We could say that

Josiah, he reflects that he has our

genetics in his face when we look at

him. Well, Jesus, he radiates God's

glory.

God's glory radiates, reflects in Jesus,

in Christ incarnate, in God himself who

made, who came in flesh, God's glory

shines through Jesus.

In the same way in verse three, as it

says that Jesus is the radiance of the

glory of God, it says he's also the

exact imprint of his nature. Everything

that Jesus is,

everything that Jesus does, his

personality, his character, who Jesus

is, all of it reflects God. All of it

reflects God because he is God. We

looked at that over the last two weeks.

Jesus is God in the flesh.

Similar to how Josiah radiates that he's

our son through how he looks. So much

more so Jesus radiates that he is the

son of God that he is God himself. Jesus

he proclaims this truth himself when he

says in John 14 what was read whoever

has seen me has seen the father that he

and the father are one and that whoever

has seen Jesus has seen the father.

Whoever has seen Jesus and seen who he

is they have seen God. Jesus is God

incarnate

and therefore he radiates God's glory.

Jesus radiates, he reflects God in

himself. The the son is is God himself.

He is God incarnate. Christ incarnate

who is the radiance of the glory of God.

And so because Jesus is the radiance of

the glory of God today as we look

through this passage, because of this,

because of who Jesus is, I want you to

be encouraged today to firstly listen to

the sun, then to worship the son, to

trust the son, and to believe in the

son. Those are our four points this

morning. Firstly, I want to encourage

you to listen to the son because he has

spoken. Look at verses one and two with

me. The son has spoken. So let's listen

to in verses one and two. Long ago at

many times and in many ways God spoke to

our fathers by the prophets. But in

these days in these last days he has

spoken to us by his son. Last week I

mentioned these verses as we looked at

John 1 because Jesus is the word made

flesh. The word of God made flesh. God

himself made flesh and Jesus came to

bring the word of God.

This passage in Hebrews 1 verse one

talks of a time speaks of a time that

was long ago. That time long ago is what

we now call the Old Testament, the first

testament where God he spoke to his

people. He established his word to his

people through prophets who were

inspired by him. Prophets who were

inspired by God. They declared the word

of God and that word that God declared

through them was written down and what

we now have as the Old Testament was

formed. It was established, the Bible

was established as the very word of God

long ago. God, he established his word

to his people. God established

covenants. God established laws. God

established kings.

God established his word through to his

people long ago in the Old Testament.

God as he created covenants, as he

created vows with the nation of Israel,

he created a vow that he would bless

them and that there would be an eternal

covenant, a covenant forever with God's

people, an eternal covenant. And in that

covenant, there would be a savior who

was to come,

one who will pay the ultimate sacrifice

as God. He established his law. When God

established his law, he established the

sacrificial system of the law as well in

which the people of Israel, they would

constantly offer sacrifices to God

for the forgiveness of sins. But the

issue with this was as the sacrificial

system was formed, the issue was that as

people as the people of Israel, they

sacrificed, then they would sin again,

and they would sacrifice and they would

sin again. and they would sacrifice.

They would sin again. There's never

enough sacrifice to forgive their sins.

These sacrifices were never going to

take away their sins. Hebrews 10:4 tells

Hebrews 10:4

us that it's impossible for the blood of

bulls and goats to take away our sins.

The sacrificial system, the systems

under the Old Testament long ago, they

were never meant to save God's people.

The old covenant, the old laws were

never meant to save them. They were

supposed to point to the ultimate savior

who was to come. And that's Jesus, the

sufficient savior. The Old Testament,

long ago, they were looking forward to a

savior, the Messiah, who was to come and

have the final word.

Jesus came and he was the last piece of

the puzzle. He had the final word. And

that's why in verse two, the author

calls these the last days. So the author

calls these last days because when Jesus

came, he was the ultimate fulfillment

and the last piece of the puzzle for all

that God had promised.

He completed all the old covenant

promised.

He was the last one that was needed to

fi fulfill God's covenant promise. the

ultimate completion.

And in completing this, Jesus as he went

to the cross, he established a new

covenant with his people. And when he

established this new covenant, this new

um teaching, this new covenant that he

established, he makes the old one,

Hebrews 8:13 tells us, he makes the old

Hebrews 8:13

one obsolete.

Those covenants established long ago are

made obsolete when Jesus, the ultimate

fulfillment, comes and completes them

all. In these last days through Jesus

sacrifice

a covenant is established and the first

one is made obsolete.

Jesus came he established his new

covenant and when Jesus came he also

established corrective teaching. He

brought corrective teaching and we

looked at this dur during the summer as

we looked at the sermon on the mount. If

you weren't here during the summer you

can look it up on YouTube. You can watch

our sermon on the mount series as Jesus

as we look through how Jesus he taught

corrective teaching about the old

testament laws corrective teaching and

understanding from God because Christ

incarnate came who's the radiance of

God's glory God himself came and he

brought God's words to his people he

brought these words these corrective

words these true words these words from

God he spoke God spoke by his done as it

says in verse two. And because God spoke

by his son, we should listen to him.

We should listen to the words of the son

who came and established the new

covenant. Listen to the words of Jesus.

I want to encourage you today to listen

to the words of Jesus who is the

radiance of God's glory. So many of

people in this world want us to listen

to their words.

You flick on social media and for in the

first two minutes you have someone

telling you their opinion or their

thought. Whether it's a restaurant

review or a political view or a business

trying to promote something.

People around us want us to listen to

them. We hear people's words all around

us. The news as well is like this. The

news makes headlines dramatic and

frantic because they want you to listen

to the full article. They want you to

listen to what they have to say.

Your friends, your family, people around

you want you to listen to their words.

People in this world around us want us

to listen to their truth.

They want us to listen to their truth.

What they see as true. They want us to

listen to their truth. And what they

might tell you is, "Oh, it would be

silly for you to go to a church service

on a Sunday morning. That is just

ridiculous. My truth would say that's

ridiculous and therefore it's fact.

So many people want us to listen to

their words, believe in their truth and

follow them. But there is only one

person,

one person's word who we can fully

trust, who we can listen to and we can

obey. One person whose word is

absolutely true, whose word is powerful

and whose word is lifechanging.

The words of Jesus should hold ultimate

priority in our lives because these are

the words of God.

The words of the eternal creator God

himself. The radiance of the glory of

God. His words. Those are the words that

we should rely on and listen to. How are

we to listen to the words of God this

morning? The words of Jesus this

morning. Well, I talked about it

earlier. Jesus, he spoke and it was

written down.

We have the very word of God in our

hands this morning. So I want to

encourage you to listen to God by

reading his word, by looking at his

word.

Listen to God by studying the Bible

regularly, spending time in God's word,

reading, studying, listening to

teaching.

And we should pray to God. We can

converse with God. God invites us, he he

commands us to converse with him, to

listen to him, to pray to him. Let's

listen to God this morning. The son who

is the radiance of the glory of God. He

spoke and he gave us the words of God

and we should listen to those words. But

the son, he's also the creator God who's

the heir of all things and we must

worship him. That's my second point that

the son is the heir and we must worship

him. Look at the second half of verse

two.

whom he appointed the heir of all things

through whom he also created the world.

Jesus is the heir of all things as this

tells us. But what does that mean? Well,

an heir is typically by definition is

someone who's entitled to a specific

property or rank. That's how we would

understand the heir in this world. For

Jesus then to be the heir of all things

means that he's entitled to rule over

all things. He's entitled to rule over

all things. Jesus has rule over all

things. He's entitled to his kingdom

which is the world.

Jesus from the beginning has been

entitled to all things. And he's been

entitled to it as heir of all things

because as the end of the verse says, he

created it.

He is heir of all things because he

created it. And so he's entitled to all

things. He's entitled to rule over all

things, to be king over all things.

Jesus is entitled to the kingship of the

whole world.

Jesus is the king of kings, the ultimate

king. the Old Testament, it was always

alluding to the fact that there would be

a better king. Pointing to this fact

that there would be a better king,

longing for a better king. From the

moment that the Israelites asked for a

king like the other nations, they were

always looking for a better king.

Always looking for a better king. And

David, who was a great king in the Old

Testament, one after God's own heart,

was not a perfect king by any means. But

God, he promised David this in 2 Samuel

7. And he said this that he would never

lack a man to sit on his throne and his

throne would be established forever.

David's throne, the throne of the king

of Israel would be established forever.

Jesus, the son, the heir, who came from

the lineage of David, who came out of

that line of David, came as the ultimate

king to fulfill this covenant promise

that God was talking about. Jesus came

in the lineage of David as the perfect

king, demonstrating that he's the

Messiah, the savior of the world, the

promised one, demonstrating that he's

the ultimate fulfillment of all that was

written before. Jesus came the king of

kings, the ultimate fulfillment of all

that was before. Jesus being heir of all

things, the king over all things, who as

verse three also says is sitting at the

right hand of the majesty on high is in

the greatest position.

Jesus is king. And what do people do

with kings?

Well, people with kings, they honor

their kings. We don't love talking about

kings in this country. I understand

that. Um, but I did grow up in a place

that was under the rule of a monarch uh

in the UK. Um, and I'll not get too far

into it, but in these kingdoms, many

people honor the king. They sing songs

about the king. They sing God save the

king. Um, they watch what the king does

and they long for a meeting with the

king. People who are under the rule of

kings, they long for meetings with the

king. They just can't wait to meet with

the king. They do as much as they can to

meet with the king. And then what's the

first thing that people do when they

meet a king? What's the first thing that

they do when they meet a king? Well,

they should bow.

They should bow to the king.

You're told that you should bow. Now, in

this day and age, it's a little like a

little bow. But bowing is a sign of

respect. It's a sign that you

acknowledge that the person that you're

meeting, the person that you're meeting

holds more authority than you or is in

higher position than you. When you bow

to someone, it's showing that they have

a higher position. It's a sign of

humility, a sign of respect. So in the

countries that have kings, people bow to

the king.

So then what should we do for the

ultimate king? The king of kings who is

king over all things. If people bow to

human kings to show humility, what

should we do for the King of Kings?

We shouldn't just do any of these little

little boys. No, we should worship him.

The King of Kings, the Lord of the

universe, the radiance of the glory of

God. We should worship him. We should

bow down and worship him. We must

worship him. We need to worship the King

of Kings.

He is the ruler over all and we must

worship him, the heir of all things.

Worship him. Worship the son who's the

radiance of the glory of God because he

is worthy to be worshiped more than

anyone else, more than any of these

human kings. Jesus is worthy to be

worshiped. But how do we worship him?

Well, we need to live our lives for him

in whatever you do. Do it all for the

glory of the Lord. Live your life in

worship to the Lord. We attend worship

services. We call these worship services

because we come here to worship the

Lord. We come here to worship God. We

come here with other believers regularly

to hear his word preached,

to enjoy fellowship together, and to

sing together. As we sing to God, we

glorify his name. We make much of his

name. We glorify him. So what I want to

encourage you to do is humbly come and

worship the heir of all things, the

perfect king, the Messiah, Christ

incarnate. Worship him who is the heir

of all things, the king of kings.

Worship the one who created it all.

Worship him and trust in him because

he's the one who holds upholds the

universe. That's my third point to the

son. He upholds the universe. So we

trust him. Look at verse three with me.

He is the radiance of the glory of God,

the exact imprint of his nature. And he

upholds the universe by the word of his

power. Jesus is the radiant, a

reflection of God. He is God. He reveals

God to all. As I talked about earlier,

all of Jesus nature is God's nature

because Jesus is God.

And therefore in Jesus, we see God.

Jesus reveals God's nature to all

people. He's the exact imprint. He looks

exactly like God because he is because

he's God incarnate.

And because Jesus is God incarnate,

because of who he is, he is upholding

the universe.

Because of who Jesus is, he upholds the

universe. He created it all as verse two

says, as we looked at earlier, and he

upholds it all.

If you didn't know God who created the

whole universe, he created it all in

Genesis 1. We read it there. He is also

the one who sustains all things. He

sustains all life. All life is sustained

by God.

While God has created the world to

reproduce and to sustain itself, there's

no way that this world would actually be

able to continue

without God.

God, he causes everything to continue.

The word upholding used here in Hebrews

1 literally means that he maintains the

universe or he causes it all to

continue.

God, he maintains the universe. He

sustains the universe and he causes it

to continue.

The son Jesus, he maintains the

universe. He upholds the universe. He

maintains it. I used to work in a ship's

engine room when Payton and I were on

the ship Logos Hope. Um a Christian

mission ship. We I was on there for a

year and I used to work in the engine

room

and you cannot just leave an engine room

to just work by itself. You can't just

leave those engines to function and

never touch them. You have to maintain

them. If we just left the engines to run

by themselves, never check the fuel,

never check the oil, never check the

coolant, disaster. Disaster would

happen. When you are working in an

engine room on a ship, you are required

to have someone in that engine room at

all times. It's a legal requirement to

have someone in there at all times,

24/7, at least one person in there. We

had to keep watch during day and night.

We had different shifts. There would

always be someone in the engine room.

And that's because the engine room can't

maintain itself. The engines can't just

maintain itself. They can't cause

themselves to continue.

So during every watch, we had to be

aware of alarms. We had to clean

machines so that oil wouldn't clog. And

if an alarm ever popped up, we had to

respond immediately. I was in the engine

room once by myself and one of the

engines it malfunctioned. The engine

itself doesn't know how to fix itself.

The the engine it malfunctioned and

didn't know how to fix itself. It needed

someone to cause it to continue. So I

called the chief engineer, the chief

engineer and I we fixed the engine there

and we caused it to continue. We

maintained it and helped it to continue.

There's no way that the engine could

have just done that by itself. The world

in a similar way cannot just continue by

itself. It needs God watching over it,

maintaining it. And that's exactly what

Jesus does. He upholds the universe. He

is upholding the universe. He is causing

the universe to continue.

He causes his creation to continue. And

he's not just passively sitting back

watching the universe fall apart. No,

he's causing it to continue.

But he isn't just the maintenance man

like in an engine room. Jesus causes the

worldi to continue. He has power over

the whole world. And the good news is

that the God who upholds the whole

universe. He is good and he is

compassionate. I read last week from

Exodus 34:6 and it says this about God's

Exodus 34:6

character that the Lord the Lord is a

compassionate and gracious God. He's

slow to anger and he's abounding in

steadfast love and faithfulness.

Not only does God maintain the universe,

but he has compassion and grace to those

that he's created and he plays an active

part in your life. God is active in your

life. God sustains you and upholds you.

God does all these things for a purpose.

He's intentional

in how he upholds the universe.

And because this is the God who upholds

the universe, I want to encourage you

today to trust him. Trust Jesus who

upholds the universe.

Trust that he is a compassionate and

gracious God.

In our culture, it's so hard to trust

those around us.

Our culture is so secretive. We'd rather

our business stay our own.

The media continues to feed that we

should never trust

anything.

That trust is is nothing.

The media wants us to um to to throw

away the idea of trust.

Don't trust what people say. We hear

lies all the time. We struggle to trust.

And while we may struggle to trust

today, I want to encourage you to trust

in God who's upholding you. God who's

keeping you. God who's active in your

life and is upholding this whole

universe. Do you know that God sees and

knows what you're going through?

God, he knows all things. He sustains

all things. He sustains you through

sickness, through good days, through bad

days. God. He upholds you because he is

compassionate toward you.

Trust in him. Lean on him. What does

Proverbs 3 verse 5 and six say? Trust in

Proverbs 3:5

the Lord with all your heart. Lean not

on your own understanding. In all your

ways acknowledge him and he will make

straight your paths. Trust in the Lord.

Trust in him. He will make straight your

paths.

1 Peter 5:7 says this, "Cast all your

1 Peter 5:7

anxieties on him because he cares for

you."

God cares for his people. So trust in

him. The God of the universe who upholds

the universe cares for you. Trust in him

today. Trust in Jesus who is the

radiance of the glory of God because

he's upholding the universe.

And finally, the son who is the radiance

of the glory of God. He is superior

and so we must believe in him. The son

is superior and we must believe in him.

Look at the end of verse three into

verse four with me.

After making purification for sins, he

sat down at the right hand of the

majesty on high.

having become as much superior to angels

as the name he has inherited is more

excellent than theirs.

The son is superior to the angels. He's

become superior to the angels. And the

son Jesus being superior is one of the

key themes in the book of Hebrews. The

author constantly is writing giving many

examples from different people

throughout scripture in the world. And

Jesus is always greater. Jesus is

superior to them all. And one area that

Jesus is superior mentioned later in

Hebrews in Hebrews 10, Jesus, he is the

superior once and for all sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:12 says this that Jesus he

Hebrews 10:12

offered a once and for all sacrifice and

then he sat down at the right hand of

the father. When Jesus came to this

earth, Christ incarnate,

God incarnate came, he was born to die.

Jesus came knowing that when he came to

this earth, when he was born, and that's

what we remember at this time of year,

he was born to suffer.

Jesus, the one who upholds all things,

the radiance of God's glory, came.

He knew that he was coming to suffer and

die on the cross. The king of kings,

the perfect one, the one who upholds the

universe. He suffered and died. Why?

Well, as verse three says, to make

purification for sins.

He came as the want and for all

sacrifice for our sins.

There always had to be a price paid for

the wrong that we've done. We've all

done wrong. We know that. And there had

to be a price paid for the wrong that

we've done. There had to be a sacrifice.

As I said earlier, the blood of bulls

and goats, they were never going to take

away sin.

So Jesus, he came, the one who committed

no wrong, no sin, God himself in human

form, Christ incarnate, came to die so

that he could make purification for

sins.

Christ, he didn't only die three days

later. He rose again.

He rose again showing that he has

complete power over sin and death.

He completed the ultimate sacrifice and

he showed his ultimate power. And then

he sat down the right hand of the

majesty on high completing it all. Sat

down. He sat in his throne after

completing it all.

When Jesus came to this earth and he

died on the cross, he rose again. He sat

down at the throne. The verse says that

he became as much superior to the

angels. In saying that he became, it's

it's not saying that he was under the

angels before. That's not what it's

saying. He was always superior to the

angels. Jesus was always greater. Always

greater than everything else. Always

superior.

As the position that he inherited was

more excellent than theirs. He is the

son and so he's greater. He is God

himself and so he's greater.

He always held a more superior position

than anything else. Jesus is always

greater.

And knowing that Jesus is superior and

knowing that he is the ultimate

sacrifice, the superior one, the once

and for all sacrifice. Knowing that, I

want you today to believe in him.

To believe in that truth. believe that

Jesus is superior and that his sacrifice

it is fully atoning. It covers over all

of your sin.

As you hear that Jesus is the radiance

of the glory of God. As you hear that

Jesus is God himself who dwelt on this

earth and who died to make purification

of sins. As you hear that this morning,

it requires a response.

As you hear the gospel, the good news

about Jesus, it requires a a response.

Either you think that I'm standing up

here talking absolute nonsense.

You think that this is just some madeup

story, something ridiculous.

You think it's ridiculous for someone to

believe in Jesus and who he is. Or

you've heard the facts.

You've heard the truth about Jesus.

You've listened to the truth. And you

understand that you need to believe in

Jesus, the radiance of the glory of God.

Do you believe in Jesus? Why do you need

to believe? Well, he tells us to believe

in him. You should you should believe in

Jesus. And then by believing, John

writes in his gospel at the end of his

gospel that you will have life in his

name. The only way to find life is by

believing in Jesus. Eternal life is

found only in believing in Jesus.

John 3:16, "All who believe will not

John 3:16

perish, but they will have everlasting

life."

Jesus, he commands us to turn away from

our sin,

to trust in him, and he will give us

life eternal.

Because Jesus, the superior one, paid

the ultimate sacrifice for our sins,

we can believe in him and you will have

life eternally in heaven. He covered

over all of your sins. He made

purification for sins. So understand

today that Jesus, he is the superior

one. That Jesus, he is God. That he's

the radiance of God's glory.

That he's a superior son. That he's a

superior sacrifice.

And so we must believe in him. We must

listen to his words. We must worship

him.

We must trust in him who upholds the

universe. Christ incarnate is the

radiance of God's glory. Believe in him

this morning. Let's pray.

Lord, we understand as we hear your word

taught that it demands response.

Help us to respond.

Help us to believe.

Help us to listen and read your word.

Help us to worship in spirit and in

truth.

Help us to trust in you this morning,

Lord. Help us to know you, to love you,

and to obey you. We do love you. We

thank you for this time in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. We're going to have our next

song now. So stand with me. We'll sing

our next song.