So I'm back there preparing my heart, finally, before the sermon, as I am prone to do. And I don't think my ears deceived me. I thought I heard clapping. Thank you. You know, I will offer a friendly pastoral exhortation. The Bible does say, clap your hands all you Baptists, shout to God with the voice of triumph. Right? I mean, don't... I had this... It's funny, I had this conversation. I think it was with you, Tommy. We were at the Petra concert or something, and we were talking about worship and how sometimes it can seem very lackluster, and then you look at the Old Testament, and it was appropriately a celebration of who God is and continues to be. And so, you know, if God hasn't changed, why should the celebration? So let me encourage you that if you are prone to clapping your hands, do so. And if someone accuses you of just trying to get attention or being self-centered, I'll tackle them. Right? Worship should be a joyful occasion, absolutely. I have spoken. And that is the sermon title for this morning. So please open your Bibles, if you're not only there, to the book of Hebrews. Book of Hebrews. Thankfully, this passage will match the singing, the songs we sang this morning. Here we go, the letter to the Hebrews. Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James. We're gonna get through as much as we can through the first three verses. There's just a lot of substance here, so we're going to do the best that we can. But if you would follow along, Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through... Let's do 1 through 4, actually. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they." This is the Word of God. So of course, we want to explore this morning, and this is just a wonderful passage. You know, when we experience the times like these as a church, it's a good time to step back and just remind ourselves Who is at the center of all of this? And really, it's not accurate to say centered. Jesus is everything, right? It's like the same way we say it's gospel-centered. Well, what do you mean by that? The gospel reaches everywhere, right? It speaks to all of life. It's not just a foundation. It covers the entire edifice. And so it is with Christ, because it is His gospel. And what I want to do this morning is simply offer a word of encouragement from the book of Hebrews regarding how God has spoken of His Son. We do live in a world, and we'll continue to do so until the consummation, where there are a lot of opinions regarding who Christ is. You ask any old person, and they will have a variety of opinions on who Jesus is. And so what we want to do in getting an accurate answer to that is we don't go to mere men, we start with God. I've lectured you on this countless times. Our starting point is always God. For every endeavor, for every thought, for every doctrine, for every desire, for every question, we start with God. And you want to find a real expert on Jesus, same thing. You're going to go to God. As much as we have concerning our books, our books by our beloved and favorite theologians, maybe our podcasts that we just love to listen to, or anything in between, we start with the expert. And you notice that the first word in the book of Hebrews is God. Well, that's a wonderful place to start. We start with God. I have spoken. And so we have to answer the question, what has God spoken? Think about the way this is phrased. I have spoken. It's in the perfect verb tense. Past action. Ongoing reality. Ongoing implications. God has spoken. He has spoken clearly. He has spoken finally. He has spoken authoritatively. He has spoken graciously. He has spoken loudly. There is no mistaking that this is the voice of God. And so it behooves especially His sheep, who identify with the Lord Jesus Christ, that we listen to God on this matter. And so let us use this time to draw our hearts to Him, because God has the final word. God has spoken. So let's, while I find my place here, let's start in verse one. And the first point is this. Here's the first thing that God has spoken. God has spoken through his son, perfecting his revelation. And we see in this Jesus as the ultimate and final word of God. Often when we think of the word word, what do we think of? We think of an expression. We think of someone who is saying something and there is a particular message being sent. There is a particular point, particular purpose to it. And so here is the speaker, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son. And so one thing we realize here, right off the bat, is that God has always had something to say. God has never really been silent. God has always had a word. After all, this should not surprise us. He created this world. He created people. He created His image bearers. From the get-go, if you go as far back as Genesis, he has had something to say to his creation. He speaks it into being, and it happens. It was so, and God saw that it was good. And then he gives man life. And then he gives man a command to subdue the earth, to fill it, to be fruitful and multiply. Then he gives him a command regarding his relationship to creation and the Garden of Eden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Life, and all the things that are there. Gives him a particular command to be obeyed. And he continues speaking. Long after man fell, God still, we find, has something to say. And he speaks it clearly. And what the writer of the Hebrews does here is he mentions how, well, at one point, God spoke in a particular way. He spoke long ago to the fathers. To the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. So when you look back and survey the Old Testament, you find that that is precisely the way things were. God spoke through many people. He had many different ways of making Himself known. And as long as He's spoken, the people of God have not lacked. We have found His revelation true. We have found it accurate. We have found it sufficient. So as long as the people of God have been His people, we have had the Lord speak to us. Think about the variety of ways. In many cases, when the Lord spoke to someone, it was audibly, right? Whether it was a man of God or a prophet or a king, the Lord would, the Lord spoke, that person would hear a voice, and then typically we would see a response of some sort. The Lord spoke to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and said, go, get out of your country, go to a land I will show you, He spoke to Noah, the Lord told Noah to build him an archearchy. He revealed that to him. We find it necessary. Otherwise man is wandering blind without any direction, without any truth. God must reveal himself to his people. He did it to the fathers. He did it to Adam, he did it to Noah, he did it to Abraham. All throughout the Old Testament we find God revealing himself to his people in many ways. Many portions. We find that God spoke also to Elijah through the still, small voice. You know, if you were like me and you were raised in Christian school, we were told to listen to the still, small voice of God. God in the fire, He in the whirlwind, in the storm, or whatever avenue. No, you've got to listen to that still, small voice, we were told. And we're like, what does that sound like? I don't know, but it's still and it's small and it's a voice. And we could drive ourselves crazy trying to detect something that we hope maybe God said to us in a still small fashion. But in truth, we can look back and say, okay, well that was for a particular time and place. I say this because Christians still feel a sort of desperation to hear the voice of God. And that is totally appropriate. If we are believers in Jesus Christ, As new persons in Him, we have this natural desire, this natural inclination to hear the voice of God. We'd be hard-pressed to tell someone or say of someone, they are a Christian, but they have no interest in hearing what God says. They have no interest in knowing the mind or the heart of God. They have no interest in being obedient to Him. But the Christian does. There is a hunger and thirst for the Word, right? That's how Peter characterizes it. To be filled, to be satisfied, to be nourished on the pure milk of the Word. So we're constantly feeding ourselves, constantly growing, constantly being strengthened, and in turn we are able to nourish and strengthen and care for others, right? The Word of God is the gift that keeps on giving. But I think what Hebrews 1 does here is it expresses to us a very real issue and troubling issue in the church, is that we read a passage like this and we have a really hard time accepting it. It's like we want to go back to the Old Testament and almost demand that God speak to us through the same mode of operation that He spoke to Old Testament saints. to the fathers, to the prophets in many portions and in many ways in still small voices. And yet we forget what we have now. Something written 2,000 years ago that is for us today. That God has spoken to us through His Son. This is how He speaks to us today. It says, in these last days, has spoken to us in His Son. That is now how God communicates to us. It's buried throughout history, and yet now, in this age, until Christ returns, God has spoken to us through His Son, perfecting His revelation. God has spoken as clearly as ever. As perfectly as ever. He has made Himself known. And for that reason, the church can be of good cheer. That God does, in fact, speak to us clearly. And yet we seem to stumble over that fact as if Him speaking to us through Christ is somehow insufficient. It's amazing that we can be filled with this and still act like we are unsatisfied. Still act as if God has shortchanged us. And so we can go through so much of life pressing even to God Himself. Lord, there must be more. I just want to hear from You. I just want to hear a still, small voice. And it's as if God's response to that is, why do you want a still, small voice when what I have given you today is a proclamation from the rooftops? This is shouting. This is proclaiming. This is preaching. That God has spoken to us through His Son gives us the clearest picture ever of what God desires. Of what God has to say. In Christ, we know the heart of God. And we lack nothing in His revealing of Himself through Christ. We know His heart. We know His will. We know His great love for us. We know how it is expressed. That it is expressed in sending His Son to this earth. That we may be brought to Him alive, forgiven, filled with peace and assurance. Given rest. We have everything we need. And this is how He continues to speak to us. Not in the shadows, not in bits and pieces, but clearly. The picture has been made clear. So there is a transition that has happened here. Think of it as like a work of art. You guys are into art at all. You have something called mosaics. Some of you may have mosaic tile. And often what a mosaic does, it's a bunch of different pieces and it comes together to create a picture. That's kind of what the Old Testament was like. You know, we say, what was the point of the Old Testament? To give us promises regarding the coming Messiah. Even Jesus said, the Old Testament writers wrote of me. Moses and the prophets, they wrote of me. They point to me and what I will accomplish in God's timing. So a mosaic is very appropriate. It's a very appropriate name. But in Christ, we have something closer to a portrait. We don't just have bits and pieces pointing to the same thing. We have the actual substance. We actually have the complete picture. You know, you look at the details and you see the brush strokes, you see the shadows, you see the lighting effects. But you see in all of those things a perfect picture, a perfect portrait of what God intended to tell us all along. He intended to tell us of His Son. He intended to disclose to us Himself in the person of Christ. It's also the difference, think of it as a transition between someone who writes you letters or even makes a phone call. Way back in the day, there was something called a telegraph. The difference between that and an actual in-person visit. It's kind of hard for us to wrap our minds around that because we just prefer texting to each other. Let's not have face-to-face meetings. Let's not have phone calls where we can hear each other's voice. Let's just text messages to each other and avoid each other and make it as awkward as humanly possible. I'm very thankful in light of that that God did not make it awkward. God didn't make it weird. He showed up in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. So that He could be fully known. That we could know God as humanly possible. By Him sending Christ and speaking to us in His Son. There's nothing unclear about it anymore. God has perfectly revealed Himself. He has perfected that revelation in His Son. I think we need to take heart. We don't have to worry about the silence of God. We don't have to worry about the lack of clarity of how God speaks. We don't have to look over and under and this way and that way, wondering where the voice of God is. The voice of God is in His Son. And His Son has been communicated in His Word. And we never need to deviate from that. And that continues to be a challenge to the church today. And yet we need look no further. Look no further than Jesus Christ. That is how God has spoke to us. Specifically focusing on this amazing teaching called the Incarnation. That God has taken on human flesh, born of a virgin, in a real body, grew up into a man, lived a righteous life, died on a cross for sins and for sinners, and rose to dead on the third day. See, all of the Old Testament, speaking to the Fathers, speaking to the Prophets, all pointed to this reality, and now we have a perfect picture of what God has to say of this. We read about that this morning, from John 16, when the Comforter comes, He will testify concerning me. Now the Holy Spirit bears witness of Christ. And we are living in these last days. Some would say the last days meaning pointing to the old covenant era. Some would say these last days are the entire gospel era. No matter how you shake it, it all points to the same truth. That we look to Christ today for the voice of God. God has spoken. And God testifies of His Son through the Holy Spirit. God continues to speak. So moving on in the text, God has spoken through His Son perfecting His revelation. Secondly, God has spoken through His Son declaring Him the heir of all things. Look at verse 2. In these last days He has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." So we see this great connection between who Christ is, but also the plan that the Father had for Him. He made Him heir of all things. All things belong to Him. All things are for Him. That's why we read Colossians. Things invisible, things visible. Thrones, dominions, you just go down the line. The point of Colossians is to say that you see it or you don't see it, Christ is over all of it. He didn't just create it, but He is in charge of it. He is sovereign over it. He rules all over it. He subjects it to Himself for His pleasure. Why? Because God, God the Father, has appointed the Son, as there are of all things, always in the mind of God to do this. And surely, if Adam had not failed, you know, it's hard to dwell on the hypotheticals. But when God created man, the intention was for there to be a faithful image-bearer, who if he faithfully carried out his command, would inherit the world. But God had a greater plan in all of this. To appoint His own Son to inherit all of creation. In Psalm 27 we read this, today you are my Son, or you are my Son, today I have begotten you. Speaking again of the incarnation. And then in the following verse, ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. It is often joked among Reformed circles that Jesus did not forget to ask God for the nations as his inheritance. That's why we read of the Great Commission in Matthew 28. What does Jesus say? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. That has been made crystal clear. He did not forget to ask, and the Father granted Him all of that authority. The nations is His inheritance, and we see that inheritance grow and blossom as men are brought to Christ and as His enemies are put under His feet. The earth is His possession. But also listen to verse 9, "...you shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware." But the Lord Jesus has been given authority to put down even His enemies. So as much as the Lord communicates Himself through the Son, We must not fail to appreciate the presence and the expression of God's justice. We love to talk about how the Lord Jesus expresses God's grace and mercy and kindness and patience and forgiveness, but we cannot ignore the fact that the Son expresses the Father, all of who God is. He is the perfect expression of who God is. So we're not going to compartmentalize the Lord and say, Jesus only expresses God's love or God's forgiveness. No, He communicates God's justice. Even 1 Corinthians 15 says He must rule until He has put all His enemies under His feet. So all that we are to know about God, Christ communicates faithfully and perfectly. It is in His position as heir of all things that He will conquer His enemies and crush all satanic rebellion. We read further on in Hebrews 10, but he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. So in this passage, we see the connection between Christ's sacrifice and his status as heir. There is no crown without a cross. So Jesus underwent death, death on a cross, so that he may be raised as the Son of God with power, and inherit all of creation. But there was no sitting down at the right hand of the Father until He secured our redemption, until He satisfied the demand for justice against sinners. And now we find joyfully that in His position as heir of all things, we are co-heirs with Him. It's amazing that we forget that so often. What a privilege that is for the saint that we are co-heirs with Christ. That we are seated with Him even now in the heavenlies. His inheritance becomes our inheritance. Moving on in the text. Through whom also He made the world. So Christ gets to inherit the very world He creates. All things exist because of Him. That is what we bear witness to. His creative power continually. Once again, going back to Colossians 1. The image of the invisible God. The firstborn over all creation. Doesn't mean that He is the first created being. It means that He is the prototokos. He is preeminent over creation. And why is He preeminent over creation? Because He created creation. And in Christ, we have a Creator who cares for the things that He has made. Especially us. He is attentive. to His creation. He sustains it by the Word of His power. And it says here very clearly, that Christ is the one through whom God made the world. He was with the Father at creation and was the power behind it. We read the very same thing in the opening chapter of the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. He was the same in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him. Nothing was made that was made. We get the point among the many made in that opening passage. He was in the beginning with God. exercising all of that creative power and majesty. Revelation 3.14 calls Christ the beginning of the creation of God. That is, He is the origin of creation. He's the brains behind the operation, if you will. Whether material or immaterial, everything owes its existence to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would say that that is a cause to joy and worship from the saints, that we serve a God in all of His creative power and majesty. We are meant to marvel at His creation. I mean, some of you were able to see at a particular time last week the Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Lights, all the way down here in Colorado. because of an unusual solar storm. It's magnificent the way that the atmosphere reacts to that and puts on this beautiful light show. It's those details, even those small details we rarely think about where we can turn to God and say, wow, you are an amazing God. What a creation. How creation bears witness of your power and your majesty. And I would say even your genius. And that we are able to look at something like that and glorify God. Wow, lights. It's amazing. We are told of this creative work from Isaiah 44, 24. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer and the One who formed you from the womb. I, the Lord, am the Maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone. So what this tells us is that God was alone at creation, accomplishing it by Himself. And so we link that to what we read in John 1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. So if God is alone at creation and yet someone was with Him, what does that tell us? That whomever was with God must also be God. And that's why the text says the Word was not only with God, He is God. And if creation is dependent upon the presence of the Word, then the Word must be divine. That's where we conclude. Otherwise, we have to conclude that God was dependent upon a created being to do His work of creation. But that's not what the text says. The text says very clearly that it is God who created the world. So we can see how God expresses Himself, how He speaks through His Son and His creative power. He is the heir of all things through whom also He made the world. And let's go to verse 3. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. God has spoken through His Son, revealing His glory. Very simple. When we discuss God, what the purposes of God are, say what is God, who is God, but why is God? I think the reason is clear. God wants us to glorify Him. Why God? Why should we know about God? Because God desires fellowship with us, and yet He also desires and demands that we worship Him. And one of the catalysts for that is to reveal His glory. And what it says here is that Jesus is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. So when we talk about glory, what do we usually think of? We usually think of light. In Hebrew, the word for glory is also the same word for weight, right? A presence, what we call gravitas. But there is something about the presence of God drawing near that brings with it a profundity, a weightiness, a weightiness that can't be ignored. This is what I believe is going on here, that the writer of the Hebrews is saying that Jesus is the radiance of God's very presence. What is radiance? Radiance is thought to be the expression or brilliance of something. If you read some of these scholars, they'll use the word outraying. Interesting way to put it. It's a light that flows forth from a luminous body. We typically think of the sun. I happen to believe that the writer of the Hebrews had that in mind. We think of the sun. We think of a bright star. When we think of radiance and light and brightness, we think about the sun. And I love, you know, it's a great illustration, you know, a great practical outflow of this text is that we're all done worshiping here together and we eat our food and we have a meeting. We can all go outside and we can just stare at the sun together. Stare at the sun and be amazed by its beauty and brilliance. You stare at the sun for a few minutes. And what are we looking at? It's hard to really see the sun itself. You can put on some special glasses maybe, look through a special telescope to actually see the surface of the sun. But when we go outside and stare at the sun with the naked eye, we're not seeing the sun per se. We're not going to really see much after that anyway. But what are we seeing regarding the sun? We're seeing its radiance. We're seeing its light. We're seeing its brilliance, we're seeing the beams that flow out of it, but we can't understand the sun without the light of the sun. And that's why sometimes the Trinity, the Trinity is, or the sun is used as an illustration to explain the Trinity, and that's bad, that's partialism, Patrick, don't do that. However, some of you got that, but however, The Son is a good way of understanding how Jesus reveals the Father. Because of its radiance. And you look at, of His glory, and if we understand the glory of God, speaking of His presence, then how do we know that God is there? Through Jesus. That's what the writer of the Hebrews is saying. We read in Psalm 84.11, the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. So even the book of Psalm illustrates God is a sun. Something that is bright. So if God is to be portrayed as a bright star, as he is in the scripture, then Jesus is the very radiance of the light of that star. He is the brightness of the star itself. And that's what Hebrews here simply means to convey. And think of it this way, because we are maintaining here that Jesus is God. Jesus is the eternal God. He is Yahweh from the Old Testament. And so as it pertains to the relationship between Father and Son, like a star, God has never been without His glory. A star is never without its radiance. A star is never without its light. It's part of the star's very nature. But as long as the star is around, so is the radiance. And as long as God has been, so has been the radiance of His glory that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't see a star without beholding its brightness. Even if you look through today's modern telescopes, you look through the James Webb, or you put a solar filter on a telescope you may own at your house, you're still beholding the star, right? You wouldn't be able to see the star without the light. Even though a filter may dim the light, there is still no seeing the star without the light. And the point is clear. There is no seeing God without seeing Christ. Very important in today's pluralistic society, where there is this narrative pushed among others that all things are equal. That all gods really are kind of the same. You just happen to worship your God in a Western world. But this would say something entirely different. That Jesus, and only Jesus, reveals to us the true and living God. He is the only way we can perceive God. It is the only way by which we may know God in His fullness. That is why Jesus tells Philip, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Read the Gospel of John, it lays it out clearly. In John 1.18, we read this, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. You want God explained? Look to Christ. You want God explained in the midst of all this pagan idolatry and false gods? You're going to need a clear voice. You're going to need a clear revelation. You're going to need to look to God who has said, You want to know me? You want me explained? Here is my Son. This is the only way you can ever understand me. This is the only way you can know me the way I intend to be known. And there is no other way. And we have God Himself as witness to that. To try to know God in any other way is an insult to Him. And yet, until we come to Christ, that is what we do. That is our motive of life. That is our trajectory. We want to know God on our own terms. Guys, we're flailing at the wind if we try to do that. That is simply the way that God has rigged his universe, if you will. When God says, know me, he also says, you will only know me on my own terms. And don't try any other way. And yet we keep denying God that. We keep resisting him in that way. How stiff-necked our generation is when we refuse God's terms concerning himself. You, this little This little peon human being thinks that you have a right to tell God how He's going to reveal Himself to you? We think we have a right to tell God how He ought to make Himself known? When He has made Himself known fully in Christ? Some of us need to show big-time repentance when we demand of God such things. Acting like we know better. acting like He is somehow going to bow and submit to our demands, when in fact His demand is clear. You want to know me. You want me to explain. Here is my Son. Look to Him. This is my beloved Son, He says at the Transfiguration. Listen to Him. It is only by Jesus Christ that the true character and glory of God is made known to His people. Listen to Matthew 11, 27. No man knows the Son but the Father. Neither does any man know the Father except for the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. You think, wow, that'd be tragic for us all if the verse ended after that, right? Neither does any man know the Father except for the Son. So glad in our English Bibles there's a comma there. Because we'd be pretty hopeless if there was a period. But he says, and he, and all of humanity should breathe a collective sigh of relief there. Sometimes we just gloss over these passages and we don't think about the implication of, wow, what if that's all Christ had to say? No one knows the Father except for the Son. Boom. Well, we're pretty lost then. We're pretty hopeless. We're pretty ignorant. We're pretty condemned. But there is a way to know the Father. If the Son reveals the Father to us, then we can know God. We can know God truly, know God fully, know God savingly, and come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Come to a conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment as we read this morning. It is only Christ who can not only reveal God to us, but can also bring us to God. This 1 Peter 3 that says that Christ died for sin once for all, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to God. Therein lies our hope. Think about it. In what way does Christ reveal God to us? By bringing us right to Him. Right to the throne of grace. That we can receive help and mercy in time of need. That's a far cry from from Mount Sinai, no one shall see My face and live. And yet now we can see the face of God in Christ and not only live, but be resurrected. That's the effect. That seeing the brightness of God's glory affects us. And we can know God in Christ truly. Old school book. It's in my library, Halley's Bible Handbook. It started out as this little pamphlet and then it grew to 800 pages somewhere along the line, something like that. He sums this up well. He says, God himself became a man to give man a concrete definite, tangible idea of what kind of person to think of when we think of God. God is like Jesus. Jesus is God incarnate in human form. We'll thank the Lord for Christ because all of us out there are often very poor and pitiable examples of what God is, right? That's the That's the beauty of sanctification, right? In justification, we're declared righteous, right? We're declared not guilty. But in sanctification, we are becoming more and more like Christ. That is the great marvel of redemption. That is the great marvel of the fact that God became a man in Christ, revealed Himself to us, died on a cross and rose again, is that in that work, in the continuing of that work, we become like God as much as a man can without actually becoming God. But we are in Christ, and we can live our lives before God with all of His favor, with all of His grace and mercy. It's amazing the provisions that we are provided with Christ as heir of all things, as creator of the world, and as the radiance of the glory of God. He brings the presence of God to bear amongst His people. That's the benefit. We can look at Jesus and know exactly what God is like, but we must look only to Him. Otherwise, who's to say what God is like if we don't have Christ? Any old person can say, oh yeah, you want to know about God? Come talk to me. That guy over there, he knows a thing or two. He's been through a lot. Or he's highly educated. He's emotionally intelligent. We have all these categories we love to create and fill when it comes to what God is like, but we only know in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So everything that Jesus is, we know God to be. In human flesh. Think about it. Is Jesus gracious? Is He merciful? Is He wise? Is He righteous? Is He powerful? Is He judge? Does He tell the truth? Is He perfect? You can make an infinite list about what we know about God, and yet we find that perfectly exemplified in Christ. You see the way that even Scripture describes God. God is Redeemer, God is Lord, God is Savior. And Jesus is all of those things. All of those perfect character qualities and attributes that we see in Christ are in perfect harmony with the Father. We'll close with this part of the passage. He is also the exact representation of His nature. So that is connected with this idea of revealing the glory of God. See the exact representation of His nature. So it's interesting here, we look at the Son When we look at the sun, we just sort of see the brightness. We can't see a lot of details. But then we have this next illustration to kind of solidify this illustration, this picture that Hebrews 1 is painting. It says that Jesus is the exact representation of his nature. Not only this blinding, beautiful radiance of his glory and of his presence, but he is also the exact representation of his nature, which we've already discussed in some depth. But there's a word here used in the Greek. You Greek scholars can correct me if I got the wrong one, but I think I got the right one. Character. Character. That's a familiar word in the English language. occurs here and nowhere else in the New Testament. Now, in the dictionary, character is defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. In our day, we think of a character almost on a fictional level. Hey, I saw this movie, and it had this guy in it. Well, what character did he play? We almost think of character as something not real. We think of it as fictional. And yet when we read it in the context of Hebrews 1, we see the real. We see the concrete reality of God expressed. And yes, we do see these moral qualities distinctive to an individual, but we see this, the exact representation of His nature. God is as real as can be in the person of Christ. So doing a little background study on this word, that from which our word character is derived. It simply means, it refers to an engraving tool. We don't see a lot of that going on in our day. We have lasers now. We use laser engraving. We don't appreciate the work of the human hand like we used to. But there was a time where people engraved things using hand tools. It refers also to something that is stamped, such as a letter, a mark, or a sign. Be interesting, I encourage you guys to chase this down. Fascinating study. So in those times, there would be images stamped on coins, seals, wax, and it expresses a very important idea. That if God can be represented under the idea of a substance or being, then Christ is the exact resemblance of that as an image is of a coin or a stamp, right? Even when we look at a quarter, if I hold up a quarter, And I say, what is this on the quarter? You guys know, do you know who's on a quarter? Tear, pop, quiz, American history. George Washington. But you're not gonna say, it's an image of George Washington. You think, oh no, that's George Washington. Sort of what we think here. No, that's, we see Christ. We don't merely say, we don't merely look at Jesus and say, oh yeah, he's just a picture of God. No, he is God. He represents who God is with such exactitude, with such accuracy, with such precision. We must conclude that He is God, not just a picture of God. And yet all that God wanted to represent about Himself to His image bearers is captured in Christ. He is that character. He is that stamp. He is that which is impressed into the wax of the divine. He is that engraving. One Greek philosopher said of God's character that it was simple without any definite characteristics. I mean, you think about being a first century Christian, your assertions about Christ would be scandalous to the Greek mind. No, we do have something that is definite. We have something that is concrete, tangible in Christ, undeniably clear, and that is Jesus. He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. You see the clarity to this. And it's another encouragement to us and sometimes a rebuke of how we can just muddy the waters concerning our view of who God is. When Scripture just tells us simply, look to Christ. You want to know what God is like? Look to Christ. This is what I love. There's so much out there, especially in the cults. This assertion, I think it happens in Islam too, that the Bible never says that Jesus is God. Well, I would contend that from John 8, 58, before Abraham was, I am. I mean, there's not much of a clearer way to say that. But I will submit this to you. that there's more to the point than the Bible just saying that Jesus is or is not God. Because it was always Scripture's purpose to go far beyond that, right? What are we going to do with a statement that says Jesus is God and then says nothing else? No, Scripture exceeds our expectations. And we'd be wise to remember this whenever we are doing apologetic work, is that The Scriptures, namely among them Hebrews 1, but also Colossians 1, they don't just tell us that Jesus is God. They tell us what God is like in Christ. The point is that Jesus is Yahweh. He's not just any old God. He is the Lord. He is the Lord of Scripture. He is the Lord of creation. He is Lord of all things. So let us not think that somehow In defending the faith, God has shortchanged us. He has told us much more than simply, Jesus is God. He has said, Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is the Lord of all. And He tells us exactly what God is like. Not just that He is God, but who is God? What is He like? What does He accomplish? What has He done? What does He continue to do? And so we close it with this, and He upholds all things by the Word of His power. So God has spoken through His Son, perfecting His revelation. God has spoken through His Son, declaring Him heir of all things. God has spoken through His Son, revealing His glory. And finally, God has spoken through His Son, demonstrating His sustaining power, His sustaining power over all creation. And yes, we have just talked about this. Note what he says here, he upholds all things by the word of his power, right? That kind of caps off that statement nicely. You know, many of us have an aversion to exercise. Many of us don't see any kind of fun or enjoyment in picking up things and then putting them down, for fun or for health or otherwise. I happen to think it's loads of fun, but you may not. But here's the thing, think about how when you are doing any kind of exercise activity or even just working, if you're lifting weights or if you're carrying a bag of concrete or something like that, eventually, you get tired. Eventually, you have to put that thing down and rest. Now, note the infinite power at work here. that the Lord Jesus, as He exercises care and authority over all His creation, upholds all things. And this is a case where all things means all things, without exception. He upholds all things by the word of His power. There's no use of muscles here. It's just by a spoken word. Wouldn't you want to be able to just say, you have to lift a heavy load, like maybe a desk? You have to lift a desk up a flight of stairs or something, and you just say, desk? go up, right? Any kind of thing. Car, drive. Children, obey, right? There is so little weight to our words. I mean, we feel frail enough as it is just using our bones and muscles to accomplish work, but think of how little our words mean. In life sometimes, we just say things and nothing happens. We would love to be able to speak with some kind of authority, with some kind of gravitas. We would love to be able to say something and people believed us, or say something and people listen. Instead, we say something and it's either met with silence or, what? Or, hey, do this. No, I don't think so. You do. And yet, in Christ, we see the, We see this expression of perfect, even mind-blowing power and authority over creation. He upholds all things by the word of His power. It's almost like there's other words, but he has a word of, let's just talk about the word of power for a minute here. But whatever this word is, whatever it entails, it keeps the universe in perfectly working order, right? And we can barely grasp how big or wide the universe is. I think last time I checked, it was like billions of light years across or something, and one light year is six trillion miles. That's a really big creation to manage and oversee. You know, I love, some of us work in a place and we have that employee, you know, or that boss, and he's like, oh no, everyone look busy, the micromanager is coming. He wants to make sure that you're doing exactly what you were instructed to do. And in some sense, the Lord Jesus is similar, but without being annoying or obnoxious. He does all this stuff and we don't even think about it, right? When we encounter a typical micromanager, oh, we know they're there, we know they're present, because they're barking orders at us. And yet, and yet, this Word, this spoken Word that comes forth from Christ, in a very real sense, micromanages everything. From the largest galaxies, to the smallest, to atoms and quarks and neutrinos, Everything in creation is held together. And you think, such authority, such authority behind this, that if this Word suddenly went silent, the entire universe would cease to exist. Can we just sit here and grasp, friends, for a moment, the grace at work here? that in this universe so elegantly made, there are people who think that they have a right to tell God what He should and should not be. They think they can raise their fist at God and curse His name, and rebel against Him, and worship themselves, and engage in all kind of wickedness and immorality. And all the Lord would have to do is stop speaking. And yet He doesn't. how the Lord cherishes creation, how the Lord desires to not only uphold creation, but He upholds creation so that He can make all things new, including the very people who hated Him. He makes us new. He gives us new minds, new hearts, so that we love and obey Him, and follow Him, and serve Him, and that we can love one another. and not live in a self-interested way. So there is a lot of implications that flow from this text, that when He upholds it by the word of His power, His power is at work to not only sustain this creation, but to redeem it to the uttermost. So He is not this detached, disinterested watchmaker, nor is He this only vengeful, angry God who is going to destroy everything because we've made Him mad. And you know He'd have every right to. He would have every right to. But He is a God who is gracious and who saves and who draws us to Himself. And He continues to uphold this all of creation by this word going forth to bring many sons to glory and to bring creation, all of creation, to a definitive and glorious end. That is how God has spoken to us, and He has spoken in no unclear language. And so with that, saints, be encouraged this morning. We have a God who continues to reveal Himself to us in a most clear and abundant and gracious way, and that is through His Son. And so the closing exhortation is that now that you have known this, do not harden your hearts toward the voice of God. Do not close your ears to His voice. Open your ears. and hear the voice of the Good Shepherd who calls us to Himself. Answer and go to Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You again for Your Word, for what Hebrews has to say to us regarding the nature of the Son. He is the Son indeed. As Son, He is heir of all things. And Lord, what a privilege it is to, by faith in Him, stand to inherit what He does, that we may rule and reign with Him forever. We thank You for His sustaining work in all of creation, that He holds everything together by the word of His power. And that word continues to go forth, Lord, that we need not fear the implosion of the universe, even the destruction of ourselves, knowing that we have sinned so greatly against a mighty and awesome God who hates sin, who cannot look on sin, and yet can look upon His Son with favor. And if we are in Him, He can look upon us with that same love and favor and joy. O Lord, may we fear You this morning. May we turn our hearts to You. May we love and delight in You. Humbly, Lord, bow the knee to our great Savior, who is all powerful, who is almighty, who is God in the flesh, the exact representation of who the Father is. Lord, we have so much to rejoice over, so much to be thankful for. So please gladden our hearts this morning, even in the midst of so many challenges that we continue to endure, and help us to see your mighty hand in this. Lord, we belong to you. You are the good shepherd. You are Lord of this church. And may you have your way with us. Be gracious to us, Father.