The Radiance of the Glory of God in Our Prophet, Priest, and King (Hebrews 1:1-3)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

We now turn to God's word, specifically. The

New Testament Book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter

one. We began our sermon series in this book

last Sunday and we just looked at the first verse

and a half or so. Today we're going to recover

that verse and a half, but also take it through

the end of verse. three and I would ask you to

give careful and close attention then for this

is God's word Hebrews one one through three 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 This

is God's word. Let's pray. Father, we bless you

and we thank you for this word that sets the

foundation for all that is to come in Hebrews.

As we desire to understand this book, help us

to understand this marvelous introduction. Would

you guide us through it by your spirit? We pray

in Christ's name, amen. How many of you have

bucket list items that you long to see in this

life? Maybe you long to see the Grand Canyon

in all of its grandness. Maybe you long to see

the Northern Lights to watch those lights dance

across the sky. Maybe you long to see some special

kind of animal in its own habitat, like a safari

in Africa or something. Maybe you long to see

maybe your favorite band play in some famous

venue. Maybe you long to see your favorite baseball

team play in Wrigley Stadium. Been there, done

that. What is it that you just long to see that

would really be something special for you. One

of you even mentioned the pyramids of Egypt to

me last week. And so what is it? Well, friends,

as great as those things may be, there is one

thing that we should all long to see. And it's

not a thing. It's our God. We should all long

to see God Matthew 5 8 says blessed are the pure

in heart For they shall see God But at the same

time as we hear that we also may be thinking

of scripture like Exodus 33 where God says to

Moses no one can see me and live or Paul writing

to Timothy who said he who is the blessed and

only Sovereign the King of Kings and the Lord

of Lords who alone has immortality who dwells

in unapproachable light whom no one has ever

seen or can see to him be honor and eternal dominion.

And so what gives? Can we see God or not? Well,

aside from the discussion on how God does not

have a body like men, let's really think about

this. And let's think about this from the top

of a mountain. You'll remember that in Matthew

17 and in Mark chapter nine and Luke chapter

nine, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John

up on a mountain. And as Jesus began to pray,

his face began to change, shining like the sun,

and his clothes became dazzling white, and suddenly

there was Moses, and there was Elijah, and then

this voice came from heaven, this is my beloved

son. with whom I am well pleased, listen to him."

Those three disciples saw, even if just for a

few moments, the glory of Christ. Or from our

text here, we might say the radiance of the glory

of God. John Calvin said, the radiance in the

substance of God is so mighty that it hurts our

eyes until it shines on us in Christ. You see

the only way to understand, to experience, to

see the glory of God is to know Christ Jesus,

to look on him in faith and know that one day

your faith will be turned to sight. Jesus said

it best for us. If you have seen me, you have

seen the father. And so here's what I want us

to see today. This passage shows us the relationship

of the father to the son and that the son is

our prophet, our priest and our king. Let's start

with prophet. What comes to mind when I say the

word prophet? And no, I'm not talking about money.

I'm talking about prophets as people who speak

what God would have them to speak and so who

comes to mind when I say the word prophet is

It Isaiah Is it Daniel? Is it Obadiah is it Zephaniah?

Is it Alexander Payton the prophet? You can read

about him in the historical building. Side note,

one time some teaching and ruling elders from

the presbytery were here and they wanted to go

into the historical building so I took them and

they were quite amazed to see that Fairview has

its very own prophet. That's a story for another

day though. You can come back on September 26th

and maybe hear a little more about it. But what

this text shows us is that Christ is our better

prophet. What a prophet does is to reveal God

through a message delivered. What a prophet does

is to act as God's mouthpiece. But friends, whoever

you're thinking about, be it Jeremiah or Ezekiel

or Elijah, Elisha, whoever it is, Christ does

it better. Christ reveals God. Shorter catechism

says Christ executes the office of a prophet

in revealing to us by His word and spirit the

will of God for our salvation. Jesus is able

to do this because of what verse three says.

Look there, the beginning of verse three. He

is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the

exact imprint of his nature. You see, Jesus is

not merely a likeness of God. Jesus is not a

caricature of God. Colossians 1 .15 says he is

the image of the invisible God. He is one with

the Father. He is of the same substance or the

same essence, or we might say Jesus is of the

same stuff as God. We've kind of already seen

this in the Nicene Creed that we read as our

affirmation of faith part of it reads again begotten

of his father before all worlds God of God light

of light very God of very God Begotten not made

being of one substance with the father by whom

all things were made Yes, Jesus is one with the

Father. And the Father instructed those disciples

on the Mount of Transfiguration. He said, this

is my son. Listen to him. And that's exactly

what the people were to do with the prophets.

To ignore a God -appointed prophet was to ignore

God Himself. Be it Ezekiel or be it Joel. And

if these prophets were to be listened to, how

much more should we listen to the one who is

the exact imprint of God's nature? God spoke

through those prophets as their words were his

words, but the final word is Christ. And therefore

we do not expect ongoing prophecy. For the scriptures

are sufficient to do what they were intended

to do, which is to point us to Christ, to speak

of Christ. Or as Christ speaks through them,

we must recognize, friends, that what we have

in Jesus Christ as the one who is called the

word, that he is sufficient for us. I wonder

if I can illustrate this for you. Do you remember?

Do you remember Jesus on the road to Emmaus after

His crucifixion, after His resurrection? He joins

these two disciples on the road and they are

prevented from recognizing Him. And they begin

to tell Him all the events that have happened

over the last few days. It's actually pretty

funny when you think about it because it's all

about Christ. He knows. And then Luke 24 says

this. That Jesus beginning with Moses and all

the prophets Interpreted to them in all the scriptures

the things concerning himself The scriptures

all the way from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 are

speaking of Christ Yes, it's true then friends

Christ is our better prophet But Christ is also

our priest This is a big theme a prevalent theme

in the book of Hebrews with within the Protestant

tradition and the reformed Protestant tradition.

We don't have priests and Actually, I think our

knowledge of the priesthood is pretty limited

Old Testament priesthood Because I've had very

few of you actually only two that I can think

of ever say to me You know what? I really want

to study Leviticus But we should because in order

to understand Christ as our priest we should

understand what the priest did and so I'm gonna

take you to Leviticus just for a minute Leviticus

Leviticus 1:3

chapter 1 verses 3 & 5 as we see the primary

responsibility of the priests Leviticus 1, 3

to 5. If his offering is a burnt offering from

the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish.

He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent

of meeting that he may be accepted before the

Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the

burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him

to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill

the bull before the Lord and Aaron's sons the

priests shall bring the blood and Throw the blood

against the sides of the altar that is at the

entrance of the tent of meeting and on and on

we could go through Leviticus to see this but

I want you to understand the primary responsibility

of these Old Testament priests Was to make sacrifices

on behalf of the people God. Now, why don't we

have these sacrifices anymore? Why don't we do

these things now? Go back to Hebrews 1 and look

at verse 3. We don't do these things now because

we don't have to. About the middle of verse 3,

after making purification for sin, There is no

need for these ongoing sacrifices because Jesus

has done it. He has made purification or your

text, your translation may say that he has purged

us of our sin. It's all communicating the idea

of how we were terribly unclean in our sin, that

we are polluted, that we were dirty in our hearts,

in our minds, in our bodies. We are in the most

desperate need of cleansing. But Christ is pure.

Christ is spotless. And in this way, he is our

priest. However, he is also the sacrifice. Jesus

is our priest, but he's also the sacrificial

lamb. Larger Catechism 44 says Christ executes

the office of a priest. and is once offering

himself a sacrifice without spot to God to be

a reconciliation for the sins of his people and

in making continual intercession for us. Friends,

this is why we don't have priests. We've got

pastors who are to shepherd people towards the

good shepherd, but we don't have priests. We

don't need them. Because Jesus is our great high

priest and he has made purification once and

for all on the cross This is why if you happen

to read the confession or the catechisms of Westminster

Regarding the Lord's Supper, you'll see that

these documents go out of their way to explain

that when we come for the Lord's Supper We do

not come to repeat the sacrifice of Christ. That's

what the Catholics teach. We don't do that. Why?

Again, because we don't have to. Jesus has done

it once and for all who would trust in him. And

yet if you can remember the people when Jesus

was crucified, what do they say? Oh, he can save

others, but he can't save himself. And so why

didn't Jesus just call upon the angels to swoop

down and take him off of that cross? He did it

for you. He did it to reconcile you to holy God.

And in that way, we must recognize this, then

they, the people, did not take his life from

him. He laid it down. He laid it down voluntarily

for all of you. What that should do in our hearts,

right? How that should manifest itself in our

lives that we ought to be just forever grateful

and thankful. We ought to be here. We ought to

be worshiping because we realize what Jesus went

through for us. that Jesus was the sacrifice.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I do this

a lot with Hebrews. You can almost illustrate

the entirety of Hebrews as you just go through

the first few verses. But Hebrews 9 22 says this.

Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified

with blood. And without the shedding of blood,

there is no forgiveness. of sins. So those Old

Testament sacrifices that involve the blood,

they're pointing ahead to the true sacrifice,

to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It's through

His stripes, His wounds that you are healed.

Real atonement was made there. Not temporary

atonement, not like those Old Testament priests

who had to keep sacrificing again. and again,

but forever atonement. And you can see this forever

idea in verse three, because what does he do

after he makes purification for sin? He sat down

at the right hand of the majesty on high. Did

you know that there were no seats in the temple?

Why not? Rick Phillips at Second Pres explains,

His atoning sacrifice was the one to which all

the others had merely pointed. He sat down because

there was no more sacrifice to be made. In other

words, Jesus did something that no other priest

had ever done. Jesus finished his work and then

he sat down. For the work of the sacrifice was

complete. Can you imagine being one of these

Old Testament priests continually offering sacrifices

day in and day out, night in and night out? As

long as there was sin, these Old Testament priests

had job security. Because they were going to

have to keep doing it on and on until Christ

came. This work. must have been incredibly taxing.

But you don't really have to wonder about how

taxing it is, because if you have not come to

Christ, you're kind of doing the same thing.

By your own efforts, you are saying to God, look

at me, look what I'm doing. This is enough, isn't

it? Friends, if you have not come to Christ,

you are trying to save yourself. You're trying

to make atonement based upon your own works,

and it'll never be enough. Those works are not

sufficient. It's like you are being your own

personal priest. To use the words of Ecclesiastes,

you are striving after wind. You are doing something

that you ought not do. You're doing something

you cannot do. So instead, if you have not placed

your faith in Jesus Christ, consider his words

on this. come to me all who labor and are heavy

laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke

upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and

lowly in heart and you will find rest for your

souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

And so yes, Christ is our better priest. But

finally, thirdly, Christ is also our King. Look

at verse two. He is the appointed heir of all

things. Perhaps the author of Hebrews has Psalm

2 -8 in mind that says, ask of me and I will

make your nations your heritage and the ends

of the earth your possession. We should remember

that Adam and Eve were essentially these heirs.

The Adam and Eve were appointed to rule on the

earth. Genesis 128 says to them, be fruitful

and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it

and have dominion over the fish of the sea and

over the birds of the heavens and over every

living thing that moves on the earth. Adam and

Eve should have been thought of as the king and

the queen of the earth, but through their sin,

they lost that authority and they were kicked

out of the garden. But Christ comes and the authority

is now his one commentator says the dominion

Originally promised to Adam was gained by Christ

because Christ is now the king of all and not

only is he the king but this text also says That

he's the one who created all of it, isn't he?

How often do you think of God the Father is the

creator? We should right And how often do we

think of the Holy Spirit being involved in creation?

He was, right? But do we really think that much

about the Son and His creative efforts? Where

does the Son fit in? He's right there. This text

very literally says the Son is the one. through

whom God made the ages. Combine this with John

chapter one, which makes the point that all things

were made through him and without him, not a

thing was made that was made. So you see this

King that we have, this Jesus is also our maker.

God made all things through him. But we're not

done, for look at the middle to about the end

of verse three. After he makes this purification

for sins, he sits down at the right hand of the

majesty on high. What does he sit down to do?

Does Jesus now say, I get to relax here? Does

Jesus sit at the right hand of the father to

watch Netflix? Of course not. What does Jesus

sit down to do? He sits down according to verse

3 to uphold the universe by the word of his power.

Jesus sits down to uphold and he continues to

uphold. Shorter catechism again. Christ executes

the office of a king in subduing us to himself.

in ruling and defending us and in restraining

and conquering all his and our enemies. What

other king could ever rule like that? The answer

is obvious. There is no other king who could

rule like that. 1 Corinthians 15, 25 says, God

has put all things in subjection under his feet.

Do you remember how last Sunday I said that the

book of Hebrews kind of acts like a commentary

on Psalm 110 that begins like this? The Lord

says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I

make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

That's a Psalm that's written by David. And so

what's he saying there? The Lord, Yahweh, says

to my Lord, the Christ, sit at my right hand.

all things are going underneath your feet. And

yet people, especially in his incarnation, have

doubted. They doubted, and they still do today,

his rule and his reign. He just, to some, just

doesn't look like a king, does he? He certainly

didn't meet the expectations of the people of

his time, what they thought a king should be.

He came riding in on a donkey and it didn't take

long for their praises to turn into curses and

then Pontius Pilate is there and he asks Jesus

Are you the king of the Jews and he's looking

at Jesus with skepticism saying you're not a

king But Jesus stuns him when he says my kingdom

is not of this world. And then he elaborates

to show Pilate that he's a different kind of

king, the sort of king who would allow himself

to be handed over in order to be crucified. Yes,

it's true. Jesus is a different kind of King

than the world has ever known He is the sort

of King who doesn't take his kingdom by force

but takes it by laying down his life You see

friends the way to the throne for Jesus is through

the cross But thanks be to God He was raised

and so Jesus is on the throne now But lastly

as we conclude here, let's look at how he upholds

How he upholds all things the text says by the

word of his power. It's it is a truly remarkable

thing That our God speaks Just let that sink

in our God speaks He speaks in his son and the

very same way that he spoke the world into existence.

Now Christ upholds the world by speaking. I started

thinking, what would encourage our hearts today

when it comes to Christ speaking? Well, along

with ruling and defending us and protecting us

by the word of his power, There is another way

in which Christ speaks today. He speaks prayer

to the Father. Hebrews 725. Consequently, he

is able to save to the utmost those who draw

near to God through him, since he always lives

to make intercession for them. Does it then encourage

your hearts to know that the one who upholds

the universe, he prays for you. That's another

function of his priesthood. And so knowing that

you belong to the triune God who through his

son, the radiance of his glory, he has defeated

sin and death on the cross, he has made purification

for your sins, knowing that he is powerful enough

to keep it all going by the word of his power.

Would you Christian take comfort that God has

you in his grasp that you are prayed for And

he will not let you go No matter what you go

through