The exclusivity of Christ in a pluralistic world

Great to have you here today. You're obviously over here for the whole week, and I think maybe a bit longer,

but maybe just tell us a little bit about where you come from and a bit about your family, and I'll ask you something else.

That could take a while. Well, we'll make it short.

Originally, for the first 18 years of my life, I grew up and born and raised in Canada, outside the Toronto area.

So, halfway between Toronto and Niagara Falls.

And then I went down to the U.S., been there since, did my university seminary training there, and presently I'm teaching in Kentucky.

I have a wonderful wife from New York State. People always say she's from New York, and they always confuse that with New York City.

And she says, no, no, it's not New York City. New York State, and then we have five children, from three boys, two girls, 26 to 16.

And you're obviously teaching theology at this stage, and you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Did you grow up in a Christian home, or how did you come to faith?

Yeah, I was raised with parents who were Christians, who loved the Lord.

And even though you are raised in a Christian home, it doesn't make you a Christian.

So, I heard God's word every week, and was taken to our local church, but around 16 years old, the Lord was working in my life,

where by the Spirit, He convicted me that I was a sinner.

I needed the Lord Jesus.

I can't just have my parents' faith.

And people would say, are you a Christian?

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

I'm a Christian.

But I wasn't.

And by God's grace, I came to know the Lord Jesus, turned from my sin, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ at 16 years old.

And that heritage that I had was wonderful, where so much was taught.

And then from there, I felt that the Lord wanted me to serve Him in church and teaching and that kind of work.

And that's where I've gone from there.

So, have you always been involved in teaching theology, or did you do something else?

Yeah.

In between.

I was always, after I was converted at 16, then I'm thinking of what's next in terms of schooling, right?

So, getting out of high school.

I was greatly influenced in my Christian life by reading a man named Francis Schaeffer years ago,

and just trying to think how is I, you know, why is, I'm a Christian, but how do I communicate that to others,

and why do I believe what I believe?

And I knew that I, I had a sense that I wanted to go into Christian ministry.

So, in my university training, I did a science education.

Wasn't sure just how it would all work out.

So, I never really worked in that area, but I was trained to be a teacher.

And then went to seminary, and then, so really my whole life has been either pastoring or teaching after that.

Okay.

Well, we look forward to you communicating to us the truth of God's word.

So, I'm going to pray for Stephen, and then over to you.

Father, we thank you so much for your church worldwide, for the people that you have gathered to yourself,

and we thank you for the gifts that you have given to people.

We thank you for Stephen and his gift to understand your word, to teach, and to communicate.

And yet, Father, we need the help of your Holy Spirit so that it is not just information to our minds,

but that it is truth to our hearts that change us,

and shape our lives to follow you and to walk with you.

So, please help us, and please help Stephen, as he speaks your word to us today.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, it is a great delight to be with you this morning,

and we're going to be reading from the book of Hebrews.

And if you have your Bibles, that will be Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

And if you have a Bible that came in when you came in from the church,

it is page number 1201.

Right? 1201.

The book of Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

It's a great delight to be here.

It's my second time to Ireland.

And always two years ago, and now in between then.

Two years ago, Ross and Joy housed me.

And then Joy's come over to the U.S., and we've seen her in between,

and now back again.

So, I think that's a great opportunity to be back here with them.

And my mother is, on my mother's side, is all Irish in Canada.

Right?

So, she said, as I come to Ireland, she says,

I'll go talk to the homeland.

Right?

So, that's what she said.

So, it's great to be here.

We're going to read Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

We're going to look at the first three verses.

First three verses.

And this is the introduction to this wonderful, wonderful letter that we'll get into.

But we're going to read these first three verses.

And then we'll begin to look at what God has to teach us from this section of Scripture.

God's Word says this.

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

But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things,

and through whom He made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of His being,

sustaining all things by His powerful Word.

After He had provided purifications for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven.

We'll leave it there.

But then verse 4 will become a transition.

So He became.

And then He goes on to compare Him to angels, right?

Well, thinking of what to speak on this morning,

I understand that you're going through the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians.

You're at chapter 14.

And I know Johnny will do a great job on that.

So I left that to him.

He says, do you want to handle that passage?

It sometimes gets controversial.

In the church.

And we said, no, no, you'll do a fine job.

So come next week and you'll learn about prophecy in the church and all the spiritual gifts

and those challenging issues that we wrestle with as we apply the Scripture to our lives.

Instead, I wanted to return to something familiar but never, ever too familiar.

And that is the glory of Christ.

And there's many places we can turn.

I'm so pleased to see that Colossians 1 was read this morning.

And that's a wonderful passage.

Colossians 1, 15 through 20.

There's many, many, many key passages in the New Testament that present to us who Jesus is

and all of his glory and splendor and his work.

This passage here is one of those passages.

And it's in a book that I think maybe we say this of every book of the New Testament or the Bible,

but this is one of my most favorite books of the entire Bible.

The book of Hebrews is a precious book to me,

and it speaks so strongly to myself and I think the church today for a couple of reasons.

First is when we think about who this book is written to.

We live 2,000 years from these people.

Yet, if we know something about the audience of the book of Hebrews,

we realize that we have a lot in common with them.

They have a lot of similarities, both good and bad, that we have.

And then the message that the author gives to these Christians in the midst of their life

and the busyness of their life is the glory of Christ.

And for those two reasons, the book of Hebrews is such a precious one to me

because I can identify with these Christians,

and more importantly, I am presented the answer to my problems

in terms of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Now, in terms of these early Christians,

a little bit of speculation on this,

but I think we're on good grounds to say

these are probably Jewish Christians.

Now, why is that?

Well, because so much of the book is devoted

to the Old Testament,

showing that Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

So it's probably those who've come out of a Jewish background

who are now believers.

They've been believers for probably a generation.

It's probably around the mid-60s in the first century

before the fall of Jerusalem,

which changed everything in the first century

because there's no mention here of the fall.

There's all discussion of the sacrifices and tabernacle,

but there's no mention of the fall of Jerusalem.

So we probably think it's written early on.

We know from the book

that these Christians had walked with the Lord.

They had faced trials and persecution.

Some of them had lost.

You read chapter 10.

Some of them had lost their jobs.

Some of them had lost their homes.

Some of them have been castaways in society.

Yet, so far, they had remained firm.

Yet, they were also facing probably a more serious problem

than just simply pressures from the world.

They were, as this author writes to them,

it seems as if they're facing spiritual compromise.

That's why so much of the book is,

if you know the book of Hebrews,

so much of it is dealing with

the dual themes of encouragement and warning.

It's famous for its warning passages.

The author of Hebrews comes alongside these believers

who have begun well,

who have professed faith in Christ,

who are facing incredible pressures around them.

Pressures to give in and to cave and to compromise.

Yet, he then warns them.

He encourages them with the truth of who Christ is.

But he warns them, don't depart.

Don't go backwards.

Now, that kind of people, I mean, I can identify with.

We can grow up in the church.

We know that the society around us is seemingly changing.

We feel the sense of how difficult it is sometimes

to live as a Christian

who wants to honor the Lord in our lives

in the world around us.

We face pressures from family.

We face pressures from the larger society.

I can identify with these people

who feel persecution and struggles.

And so what is encouraging to say,

you know, what I'm going through in my own life,

they're going through similar things.

Now, obviously, there's differences.

Yet, there's a similarity.

I can see what they're going through.

They can remind me of some of the struggles

that I'm having.

But more than that,

not just simply identification with them,

what's most important is how the author addresses

these struggling Christians.

How does he encourage them to press on?

How does he warn them of the dangers?

Well, what he does,

and of course, this is the entire theme of the book,

is he presents to them the glory of Christ.

He calls them back

to remind them of who they have trusted in,

who it is that has redeemed them,

the Lord and Savior that is the Lord of the universe.

And by so doing,

he accomplishes the dual task of encouraging them.

He encourages them in the truth of who Christ is.

He encourages them that their faith has not been misplaced,

that their faith is not in vain,

that as the pressures of the world come in upon them,

that they can have confidence

that Christ is who He is.

And at the same time,

that warns them,

given the glory and the wonder

and the excellency of Christ,

if you depart from Him,

danger.

So at the same time,

and often in Scripture,

you have sort of a dual side of the coin.

Encouragement warning,

warning encouragement,

you don't just have one without the other,

and in the center of it

is the presentation of the glory of Christ.

Now the opening verses that we read

present this to us immediately.

The theme of the book of Hebrews is

Christ is better.

Christ is greater than anything you can compare Him to.

And throughout the book,

there's an entire series of contrasts

that the author makes with angels.

That's where he goes in the first couple of chapters.

With Moses,

some of the great leader from the Old Testament.

with covenants,

and kings,

and priests,

and all of that is

comparing,

contrasting Christ to the Old Testament.

And the author argues,

your faith has not been misplaced.

Christ is who He is.

You can have confidence in

your confidence in Him

and what He's accomplished.

And in light of that,

press on.

Now these opening verses

get immediately to that larger truth

that the book of Hebrews is communicating.

The glory of Jesus Christ the Lord.

This is unlike any other letter.

Most letters,

when you read them in the New Testament,

have the author's name.

I, Paul, write to such and such, right?

All of that's missing.

We're not exactly sure who this author is.

He dispenses with any introduction

and immediately goes

to the main point of the book.

And in this,

and in fact,

in the original,

when you have verses 1 to 3,

it's one sentence.

We've broken it down

in terms of our Bibles.

But in one sentence,

that is centered around

the subject and the verb.

And the subject of the verb

of this one sentence

is God spoke.

And then around that,

the author says,

God spoke in the past,

God spoke definitively in Christ.

And in Christ,

he has brought all of his plans

and purposes to pass.

And even more than that,

he has brought about our salvation.

And this then opens the book,

which he then develops and expands.

And everything thereafter in this book

gives us then Christ

as God's spoken word,

final word,

only Savior,

encourages them in this,

at the same time warns them,

don't depart from him.

Keep pressing on.

He who has done a good work

will see it to the end.

You have placed your faith

in the truth

of the Son of God

who has come and who has died.

Your confidence is sure.

And that's what then undergirds

the confidence and encouragement

that he is giving to these people.

Well, we want to look at this,

in some sense,

opening statement of the book

that is just simply developed

throughout the book.

And we'll look at it

in three ways that the sentence,

or at least these three verses,

the one sentence is given to us.

We're going to focus first on

the fact that the author

begins with this statement

that God is the God who speaks.

That's the opening subject of the verb.

God has spoken.

And then we will see

how he moves from the fact

that God has spoken

to God has spoken

definitively and finally

in Christ, in the Son.

And then we will move to

the fact that he says

God has spoken in His Son

and provided a Savior for people.

So those are the three areas

that we want to just look at

as we work through this passage.

God has spoken.

God has spoken in His Son

definitively and finally.

And God has now given us

a Savior for people.

Well, first, the idea of God has spoken.

And that comes through,

as I said,

in terms of the main subject and verb.

In the past, God spoke.

And then he will develop this

in verse 2.

In these last days,

God spoke.

Now, there's going to be a difference

between the past

and what He has now done in Christ.

We'll come to that

in the second area.

But the first area here

is that He lays down

for these people.

And remember who they are, right?

The people are facing

trials and difficulties.

He begins with the statement

that God has spoken.

He's spoken in the past.

He's spoken in the present.

He's spoken definitively in Christ.

And it's a good reminder here

before we move to

what He says about Jesus

to just think a little bit

about this truth

that He lays out for us.

God has spoken.

Right?

Why is that important?

Right?

Well, if I were to ask you a question

sort of coming in

by the side here,

what,

you know,

we live in an age

where there's all kinds of

religions and viewpoints

and this type of thing.

What makes

the God of the Bible

different

than other gods?

Right?

Well,

there's a lot of things

that can be said there.

First thing that comes to mind

immediately

is the God of the Bible

is a triune God.

That's unlike anything else

and of course

tied to the doctrine of the Trinity

is the uniqueness

of the Lord Jesus,

the Son of God.

But another truth

that makes

God unique

than all of the gods

out there

is that God

who is the triune God

has spoken.

It's important to remember

in a couple of ways

in our day.

Right?

When we go to the opening

chapters of Genesis,

the universe came into existence

by God's spoken word.

Right?

That opening verse

of chapter 1 of Genesis.

In the beginning,

God created

the heavens and the earth.

God said,

boom,

there's the universe.

God's speech

is also found

in His

telling us

who He is.

So He not only

creates universes

by His speech,

He also makes Himself

known to us.

Now,

this seems basic,

elementary,

Christian thought

and what the Bible teaches.

Why is this important?

Why was it important

for these Christians

to know this?

Well,

in their own personal lives,

they are facing trials

and difficulties

and persecution.

How do you face?

some of these Christians

eventually

were put on light poles

and burned to death.

How do you encourage people

to go to death

for their convictions?

How do you encourage people

to stand firm

in the midst

of life's difficulties?

How do you give confidence

to people

when they face

and all of us face

in our just everyday lives

life and death circumstances,

news of cancer,

news of difficulties?

How do you encourage

people to remain firm?

Well,

Scripture will come back

to the fact

that the only way

we can encourage people

is that we have to give them

a true

word

from God.

We can't just give people

nice thoughts.

We can't just

read poetry to them.

We can't just say

think pleasant thoughts,

everything will be good.

Well,

it doesn't work that way.

We need to have

a sure

word

from God.

We need to know

that God is real,

that His promises

are sure,

that what I have

banked my life upon

in faith and confidence

is really true

even in the midst

of

martyrdom,

even in the midst

of suffering,

even in the midst

of trials and difficulty.

And that's why

I think this author

begins with

God has spoken.

God has spoken.

What He has said

is sure.

Now,

He's going to

move quite quickly

to these Christians

to say,

God has spoken

definitively in Christ

and your faith

in Him.

But He,

before He even

gets there,

He reminds them

and He reminds us

that our only hope

in life

and in death

and any confidence

and certainty

we can have

of our present

and the future

is that God

has not remained silent,

that God

has spoken to us

a sure word

that we can

build our lives on it,

that we can have

confidence in it,

that we can trust

His word more

than anything else.

And that's why

I think this author

begins in the way

that he does.

One other area

where I think

this is important

as well,

as we wrestle

with our society

around us,

our society

that can be

characterized

in a number of ways,

but I think

a fair way

of characterizing it

as we live

in the Western world,

this type of thing,

is it's a very

pluralistic society

in the sense

of mentality,

mindset.

Everywhere around us

is the viewpoint

that everyone's view

is acceptable.

We see that

in religious viewpoints.

Various religions

have their own way

to talk about God

and to know God

and Christians

are one way

and Muslims

are another

and Buddhists

are another

and all of this mindset.

It's important

to realize

that the answer

to that

is not just

adopting that mentality

but realizing

that the only way

we can know

that we are right

versus someone else

is that God

has spoken to us.

That God

who exists,

the God

who knows all things

has made

Himself known.

And that's precisely

what Scripture says.

Often Christians

are presented

as bigots

or as narrow-minded

because they say

we believe the truth.

We have to always

remind people

that we didn't

make this up.

We didn't say

I want you to believe

this because

I think it's true

and I don't care

what you think.

No, we are saying

we are saying

these things

because God

who has made

all things,

who knows all things,

who rules

over all things

has now made

His plan

known to us.

It's on that basis

that we can then say

this is a sure word.

This is a word

not only for your life

but it's a word

of truth.

It's a word

that we can govern

all of our lives

in light of.

These Christians

needed to know

that in the first century.

We in the 21st century

need to know

the same thing as well.

Now of course

the fact that God

has spoken

also entails

that we hear His word.

That we don't just

carry it around

but we're readers

of that word.

We're obeyers

of that word.

The author is going

to encourage them

with that as well.

Follow God's word.

Know God's word.

Study God's word

so that is then

part of our life.

God has spoken.

That then means

be hearers

and doers of it.

So that's the first area

that He begins

as He gives to them

this opening letter

speaking to these Christians

in all of their

difficulties and trials.

God has spoken.

But of course

the point of

God's speech here

is to move quickly

to Jesus Christ.

He reminds them

and this is probably

if they're Jewish Christians

they know of God's speech

from the Old Testament.

They may even be

tempted to go back

to that Old Testament

and maybe compromise

their commitment to Christ.

So the author

quickly moves

to this second area.

God has not only spoken

but He's spoken

decisively

and finally

in Jesus the Christ.

Now that's

the point of

verse 1 and 2

a comparison

and contrast

that's going on

and you probably

noticed that

as we began

to read this.

In the past

and then in verse 2

in the last days.

Obviously there's

a contrast here.

In the past

God spoke.

In the last days

God spoke.

But then He goes on

to say

in the past

He spoke to our

forefathers

through the prophets.

In the last days

He's spoken

by Son.

In the past

He's spoken

in many times

and in various ways.

But verse 2

implicitly

if not explicitly

here is

in speaking

in the Son

it's not various

and diverse

in many ways.

There's completion

to it.

There's these

comparison and

contrasting

that He has here.

You can see it

first in the sense

of whom God

has spoken to

and through.

Right?

In the past

referring to the

Old Testament era

He spoke to

the prophets.

Moses

and Isaiah

and Jeremiah

and all the

Old Testament prophets.

Those prophets

spoke God's

word truly.

Yet

this phrase

here many times

and in various

ways

not only speaks

of repetition

but it speaks

of

you know

the book of Hebrews

speaks a lot

about repetition

and repetition

conveys notions

of incompleteness.

that's the two

ideas.

It's many times

but it's also

fragmentary

or incomplete.

It's not

fully given.

The Old Testament

is true

and reliable

and authoritative

but it's not

the complete

fullness

of God's plan.

That's the point

that He's getting

at here

with the contrast

with but.

God spoke

through the prophets

many times

diverse ways

but in

these last

days

what's

last days

referring to.

Well last days

is an Old Testament

term.

Last days

is a term

that comes

from the

prophets

of the Old

Testament

that as they

looked to

the future

they looked

for God

to bring

His great

salvation plan

to pass

in the future

the last days.

Well the author

of Hebrews

is saying

those days

that the

prophets

looked forward

to

are now

here.

Those days

that the

prophets

longed for

have arrived.

How have

they arrived?

They've arrived

in the

Son.

They've arrived

in the Lord

Jesus Christ.

What is He

saying here?

Well He's

reminding

these Christians

that God's

spoken word

has come

to completion.

Finality.

in Christ

the prophets

look forward.

Christ has

now come.

In Christ

all of God's

plans and

purposes have

come to

pass.

In Christ

all of God's

redemptive

work is now

complete.

In Christ

all of God's

revelation

from the

past which

is true

and authoritative

has now

reached its

end point.

That's the

emphasis here.

And it's

quite a statement

right?

Now how would

this encourage

these Christians

right?

Well they

place their

faith in

Christ.

They may

be now

in light

of trials

and persecution

wondering is

this a good

place to put

my faith?

And the

author of

Hebrews is

coming back

and saying

yes.

You will

find only

God's

finality of

his revelation

and finality

of his plan

and finality

of his truth

in one place

alone.

The prophets

deliberately

and purposely

were looking

forward.

Christ now

is the one

who's brought

it to

pass.

And then

the author

develops this

throughout the

book, right?

In the Old

Testament you

had priests

and sacrifices.

They have

now all

reached their

finality in

the great

priest, the

great sacrifice.

Moses was a

great leader but

he has been

eclipsed by

the coming of

Christ who

has now

fulfilled all

that Moses

anticipated and

so on and so

on and so on.

And this is

how the

greatness and

glory of

Christ is

presented.

Now if we

really understand

what he is

claiming here,

and this is

quite a claim,

right?

All of God's

revelation has

come in Christ.

All of the

truth of God

is now found

in him.

All of God's

plans and

purposes are

centered in

one individual

alone.

You have to

say to yourself,

man, that's a

lot for one

individual to

carry, isn't

it?

How is that

possible?

Our world

stumbles over

this.

How can

one man

be the

one who

is the

truth of

God?

How can

one man

be the

one who

is the

savior of

the world?

How is

that possible?

Well, the

author makes

it very clear

how it's

very possible.

He goes

on then to

give you

reasons why

God's

revelation has

come to

finality in

Christ.

And there

you have a

description

here that

we can just

simply run

through quickly

which describes

then this

son, this

Lord Jesus

Christ who

has come, the

word made

flesh.

How is he

described?

Well, just

look in

verse 2.

He is

heir of

all things.

Why is

Christ the

definitive truth

of God?

Well, he

owns everything.

He's the

heir of all

things.

He's not

only heir because

he's been the

eternal son of

God, but also

by his very

coming he

has accomplished

a work.

He has won

back.

He is

redeemed as

Colossians 1

speaks about

him reconciling

all things.

I mean, he

has done a

work which

he now owns

the universe.

He owned

it from the

beginning and

he owns it as

a result of

his work.

He knows

all things,

owns all

things.

He's heir.

Well, that

gives you

reasons why

he indeed

is the

truth.

And then it

goes back

even to

the creation.

We saw

this in

Colossians 1.

We see it

here.

He's heir of

all things

through whom

he made

the universe.

The

through picks

up the

relationship to

God, the

Father.

This is

triune, but

it's the

Father through

the agency of

the Son.

The Son who

is eternal is

the one who's

the agent of

creation.

So he's heir of

all things and

through him,

Father through

Son by

Spirit,

created this

universe.

John 1

will say the

same thing

as well.

So you

say, well,

why should

we bank

our life

on him?

Why should

he, we

think that

he is the

fulfillment of

the prophets?

Well, he's

the creator of

the universe,

right?

He is the

heir of all

things.

And then, of

course, in

verse 3, if

you skip down

sort of halfway

through the

verse, you

combine creation

with ruling

over the

universe,

right?

So he

says he

sustains all

things,

by his

powerful

word.

So again,

you have

here the

triune God

in and

through God

the Son.

That's who

the Lord

Jesus is,

God the

Son.

Through him

creation is

made.

Through him

he sustains

all things

by a word.

So the

word creates

the universe

and the

word sustains

you.

Now,

I spend a

lot of

time just

thinking about

the rise

of technology

of being

able to

know something

about the

vastness

of this

universe.

It's huge,

right?

And then

think of

the developments,

you know,

not too long

ago of

micron,

microscopes,

and all that

we can go

down to

the smallest

of the

cell and

we now

know that

it is

complex and

designed and

ordered and

all.

And you

think,

this world,

this creation

is phenomenal.

It's amazing.

It's designed

and ordered

and purposed

in our

bodies.

And then

you think

of the

one who

is the

one who

brought that

into being,

the triune

God through

the sun.

The one

who sustains

every single

element of

the universe

is through

this sun.

And then

we say,

why should

we think

that in

him the

truth of

God is

found

completely?

Why is

he the

final revelation?

Why is

he better

than Moses

and prophets

and priests

and kings

of the

Old Testament?

Who

he is?

Who

he is?

He's

God,

the sun.

And then

verse 3,

we skipped

the first

part of

this.

This emphasizes

the same

point.

Here's a

verse that,

I mean,

all these

references here

speak of

the deity

of the

sun.

But this

one here,

he's the

radiance

of God's

glory.

So all

that the

father is,

he is.

He radiates

the very

glory of

God.

And then

you have

this phrase

here,

he is the

exact

representation

of

God's

being.

There's

no other

way,

and this

is the

way the

church

throughout

history

has sought

to think

through these

passages.

If they

ask the

question,

who is

this

son?

Who

is this

Lord

Jesus

Christ?

They

have to

conclude

with one

voice from

this

passage

and many

others,

he is

God

the

son.

He

is

God

the

son

who

became

flesh.

John

1,

14,

the

word

became

flesh.

This

isn't

just

a

man.

He

is

a

man.

He

took

on

our

humanity.

But

he

is

God.

He

is

God

the

son

from

eternity.

Creator,

sustainer,

heir,

the

one who

is the

radiance

of the

father.

Jesus

can

say

in

John

14,

if

you've

seen

the

father,

you've

seen

me.

Not

that

they're

the

same

person,

but

by his

very

work and

you

have

this

powerful

statement.

Now,

again,

why is

the

author

beginning

with

this

to

these

Christians?

Well,

they're

in

danger

of

maybe

denying

this.

Or

they're

in

danger

of

compromise.

And

they're

in

danger

of

standing

still

in

their

Christian

lives.

And

what

does

the

author

do?

He

says,

wait a

second,

I

know

you're

facing

difficulties,

but

realize

the

one

you

put

your

confidence

in

will

see

you

flagpole.

He

is the

Lord of

the

universe.

There's

an

eternity

before

you.

He

will

come

again.

I

mean,

all

of

that

is

what's

encouraging

them

to

live

in

this

life

with

confidence

and

trust

in

him

and

in

him

alone.

You

have

all

of

that

grounding,

this

glory

of

Christ

to

give

them

incentive

to

press

on,

give

them

incentive

to

live

their

life

even

when

the

world

around

them

is

encouraging

them

to

not

live

that

life

or

it's

crashing

around

them.

And

then

he

finishes

with

one

last

point

here

and

we'll

wrap

it

here

with

this

last

phrase

and

he

develops

this

through

the

entire

book.

This

is

just

the

opening

statement.

God

has spoken

definitively

in

his

Son.

Why?

Because

of

who

he

is.

Heir,

creator,

sustainer,

radiance of

God's

glory,

exact

representation

of

being.

But

then

he

moves

in

verse

3

to

then

shift

which

of

course

assumes

that

this

Son

who

is

creator

and

sustainer

has

now

come

to

this

world.

He

has

become

flesh.

He

has

become

man.

Why

does

he

assume

that?

Because

he

was

able

to

provide

purifications

for

sins.

That

happened

in

history.

He

was

able

to

come

to

this

world.

He

was

able

to

live.

He

was

able

to

die.

And

in

his

death

he

brought

all

of

the

Old

Testament

types

and

shadows

to

their

fulfillment.

He

brought

everything

to

pass.

This

is a

priestly

picture

here.

He

provided

purifications

for

sins.

All

of

that

set

in

the

context

of

the

Old

Testament

where

a

priest

would

have

to

offer

something

on

behalf

of

the

people.

God

who

is

holy

and

we

as

sinners

we

have

sinned

against

God

ultimately

in

the

Bible

God

is

going

to

have

to

provide

someone

to

stand

for

us

in

order

to

meet

his

demand.

In

the

Old

Testament

it

was

pictured

in

terms

of

animals

but

you

read

the

Old

Testament

that's

never

going

to

be

enough.

Ultimately

all

of

that

has

to

come

in

the

final

sacrifice

the

giving

of

his

son

who

is

not

just

a

man

who

does

this

for

us

the

son

who

becomes

man

in

order

to

stand

in

our

behalf

to

meet

our

need

to

stand

in

our

place

to

pay

for

our

sin

and

notice

what

he

says

here

and

again

this

is

in

contrast

to

the

Old

Testament

he

sat

down

right

Old

Testament

priests

never

sat

down

they

were

constantly

working

but

this

one

sat

down

and

he

sat

down

at

the

right

hand

picture

of

power

it's

a

picture

of

authority

it's

a

picture

of

completion

it's

a

picture

of

a

redeemer

think

of

this

in

terms

of

the

Lord

Jesus

as

we

pull

this

together

here

where