Let’s turn in our Bibles to the passage just read, Hebrews 1:1-4. Some have called Hebrews 1:1-4 the greatest, Greek sentence in the NT. It is a glorious piece of writing. And it is one sentence, by the way. It’s one sentence made up of 72 words! The English translations break this up into separate sentences, and that’s because our anglicized minds and our anglicized tongues can’t handle long, complex sentences. 

In fact, full disclosure this morning. I have spent a fair amount of time in my life grading papers as a seminary professor. And one of the things that I often say to my students is “Avoid run-on sentences. Short, crisp sentences are better than long, convoluted ones.” 

And one of the things that my students could say in response is, “O Yeah, Dr. Caffey. What about Paul in the NT? What about Hebrews 1:1-4?” And they might have a point with that. But if they do say that—which they haven’t yet—but if they do, I’m going to say, “Well if you can write a sentence as majestic and beautiful and glorious as Hebrews 1:1-4, then I’ll allow it.” 

But this is a glorious sentence in Scripture! And it’s a glorious exaltation of the Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it’s almost as if the author of Hebrews is answering the question, “Who is Jesus? And why is Jesus better than the other religious leaders of our world?” If that’s the question he was answering, what an answer! 

And what’s remarkable too is that these are the first words in the book. No greetings. No pleasantries. No introduction. This author flies out of the gates and throws down the gauntlet in the first sentence of the book. 

So let’s unpack this great sentence about the Superiority of the Son. And I want to do that by breaking this sentence up into nine statements—nine statements substantiating the Son’s superiority over anything else in this world. Nine! Write these down. 

Now, just a caveat here. I won’t be able to be comprehensive, with each of these terms, but I do want to be fulsome. So here we go. Write this down as #1.

1) The Son is the Communicator (1:1-2a) 

The author says in verse 1,

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 

Let me just read this passage to you briefly in Greek. I won’t do this every week, but I want to show you some of the artistry of this author. He uses great alliteration in this statement. 

Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις 

Do you hear the repeated “p-sounds” in that statement (the Greek pi)? That’s evidence of alliteration by the author. There is great artistry and also great theology in that statement. And by the way, one of the things that author of Hebrews shows us is that those categories are not mutually exclusive. Great artistry and great theology can go together! We don’t have to choose between one or the other. 

And here’s the theology of what he is writing. He’s saying that God has spoken to us. “God is a speaking God.” God is a God who discloses. He’s a God who talks to us—his creation—and he reveals himself to us. He didn’t have to do that. He could have just ignored us. 

And in this statement, the author says this communication took place first in olden times, when God spoke to our fathers by the prophets—prophets like Abraham and Moses and Samuel and Ezra; prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; prophets like Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi. 

By the way, in the Hebrew Bible, you don’t just have the latter prophets of Isaiah-Malachi. You also have the former prophets. That’s how the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings were designated. So it’s possible that this author was speaking about the latter prophets. It’s possible also that he was speaking about the former and the latter prophets. It’s even more probable that he was speaking of the OT as a whole as this grand prophetic work. 

Not only that but he says, “at many times and in many ways.” God employed writing prophets, but he also employed prophets and seers that didn’t write down their oracles. He also spoke in different ways. Theologians differentiate between what’s called general revelation and special revelation. General revelation is messaging by God through general means like creation (see Ps. 19:12; Rom 1:20). We look out on our world and see created things and we say to ourselves, “I didn’t create this—the stars, the sun, the moon, the trees, the oceans. There must be a higher power that did this.” That’s general revelation. 

But there is also special revelation. God spoke to some people in the OT through dreams. God spoke to some people in the OT in visions. God spoke to Moses face-to-face, so to speak. He dialogued with him. God even spoke through a donkey once (Num 22:28-30). And he also spoke through the Scriptures that were passed down from Israelite to Israelite. And by the way, he still speaks through the Scriptures. He still speaks to us through his Scriptures. “When Scripture speaks, God speaks.” 

But the ultimate form of communication, the purest and most direct form of revelation comes through his Son. The Word of God is fulfilled in the WORD of God. 

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, 

And the Son is the fulfillment of Scripture. He’s the one the prophets pointed towards. The Word of God (the Scripture) testifies to the WORD of God (the Son). 

Tell me if you’ve heard this before, church. “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1a)? What’s the Word? Who’s the Word? Well “the Word was with God, and the Word was God!” (John 1:1b)! That Word, that logos, that communication of God was God in the Flesh. He took on flesh and lived among us and spoke on behalf of the Father. This is Jesus. This is the Son. He’s better than the prophets because he doesn’t just speak for God, he is the visible Word of God. He is the logos incarnate, the Word made flesh. 

And what has he communicated to us? What has he spoken? Well he speaks forgiveness. He speaks salvation. He communicates God’s love for us and God’s plan of redemption for us. The OT prophets prophesied about hope. The OT prophets talked about a coming Messiah. Jesus is the embodiment of that hope. He is the Messiah who died and took away our sin. 

Go ahead and write this down as #2. Not only is Jesus the Great Communicator of God, but he’s also the Great Inheritor of God’s kingdom. 

2) The Son is the Inheritor (1:2b)

At the end of verse 2, we see this statement, which is a relative clause,

2b whom he appointed the heir of all things, 

The “he” there is a reference to God the Father. So God the Father has appointed God the Son as the heir of all things. He doesn’t get some things. He doesn’t get most things. He gets “all things.” 

I told my son the other day, “Son, bring me a cold beverage out of the refrigerator, and I’ll give you half my kingdom.” And Alastair said, “Dad, I’m your only son. I’m already going to inherit everything you own.” Touché. 

Well Jesus is God the Father’s only begotten (Greek: μονογενής) Son. He is the Inheritor of everything which God owns… which is everything. 

And some of you might ask, “Aren’t we sons and daughters of God too, Pastor Tony? The Bible says that we are.” Yes, we are the collective sons and daughters of God. I would even say it more directly than that: “I am a son of God. I am a child of God. You are the children of God.” But there is only one “the Son of God.” There is only one μονογενής Son, and that’s Jesus. And our inheritance is linked to his inheritance. Our identity as heirs is linked to his identity as “the heir of all things.” 

By the way, there’s an echo here to Psalm 2. Remember Psalm 2? “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (2:7-8). God the Father promised the future Messiah, the future Son of David, a thousand years before Jesus’s incarnation, that he would inherit everything. And now the author of Hebrews is clarifying for you, “Psalm 2 was about Jesus.” More on that next week! 

And speaking of our inheritance and our identity as the children of God, there’s a place later in Hebrews where the author says that Jesus isn’t ashamed to call us “brothers” (Heb 2:11). And that’s because he has sanctified us and reconciled us to the Father in heaven. And therefore everything that we have and all the hope that we have is bound up in our big brother, Jesus Christ. He is the Inheritor of everything, and we are his hangers-on. 

Listen everything you have in terms of an inheritance for eternity is dependent on Jesus. Everything! “No, no, no, Pastor Tony. I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul!” Yeah, well that’s how you captain your soul right to hell. Trust me, you don’t want to be the captain of your own soul. You want Jesus, the Inheritor, to be the captain of your ship. 

Write this down as #3. 

3) The Son is the Creator (1:2c)

The author of Hebrews is going to get even more theologically precise at the end of verse 2. He’s going to go back to eternity past. And he says of the Son… 

2c through whom also he [God the Father] created the world. 

I know it’s easy to get lost in the pronouns here. So let me make this as clear as possible. And this is a great exercise for you whenever you are interpreting Scripture. Try to identify the referents for all the pronouns. It helps us understand and interpret the text. 

So let me do that for you in verse 2. 

“…but in these last days God the Father has spoken to us by God’s Son, 

The Son, God the Father appointed the heir of all things, 

And through the Son, also God the Father created the world.”

So God the Father created the world through the agency of the Son. And that means that God the Son wasn’t “created” 2,000 years ago. He wasn’t brought into being at Bethlehem. The Son existed in eternity past with the Father. And he brought this world into being with the Father. 

Think of it this way. Let’s say I owned a construction company, and I was contracted to build a building here in San Antonio. But I conscripted my son, Alastair, to be the foreman and oversee the project. When people drove by that building after it was completed, what would they say? Would they say Tony Caffey built that building or Alastair Caffey built it. Well, both statements are true. 

And we see that same agency at work here in verse two. God the Father built the world through the agency of His Son. So Jesus is the Creator of the world. Paul says something similar in Colossians 1:15-17: “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Speaking of Jesus being the image of the invisible God. Write this down as #4. 

4) The Son is the Radiator (1:3a)

Starting in verse 3, the author says…

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God

Remember what I said earlier? In English, our minds get tired, so the English translations start a new sentence here. But in Greek this is just another relative clause. The “He” in the ESV is technically just another “whom.” And in terms of grammar, the controlling subject and main verb of this sentence is verse 2: “he [God the Father] has spoken.” God has spoken to us by his Son. That’s the primary thought that’s being expounded upon here. The rest of this sentence is just a long, vivid description of how awesome the Son is. 

And speaking of how awesome the Son is, the author says, “He [the Son] is the radiance of the glory of God.” Not the reflection of the glory of God. That’s key. He’s not the reflection. We are the reflection. The moon reflects the light of the sun, but the moon doesn’t radiate light. The moon is just a big rock circling the earth. Jesus is not the moon. We are the moon. We reflect the light of God. Jesus doesn’t reflect light, he radiates it! 

The word “radiance” here is the Greek ἀπαύγασμα. Remember last week I mentioned those words that only show up once in the NT called hapax legomena? This is one of those. It only shows up once in the NT, and the author of Hebrews, who has a massive vocabulary, uses it here to describe Jesus. Jesus is the Great Radiator, who radiates God’s glory. 

And that idea of radiance is derived from the understanding of “shekinah glory” in the OT. Jesus radiates God’s glory. As the Nicene Creed says, “He is very God of very God. Light of light. God of God.”  

Write this down as well as #5. The Son is the Radiator, but also…

5) The Son is the Representor (1:3b)

He is…

3b the exact imprint of his nature, 

Jesus is the exact representation of God the Father’s nature. He is of the same stuff as the Father. They are both intrinsically God. 

And this is where a father/son analogy really breaks down. Alastair is an imprint of my nature, but he’s not an “exact imprint.” He’s not made of the same exact stuff as me. He’s got Caffey DNA inside of him, but he’s also got Puljiz DNA—that’s Sanja’s maiden name. He’s also got Moore DNA in him—that’s my mom’s maiden name. He’s also got Deak DNA in him—that’s my mother-in-law’s maiden name. He’s also got Patton DNA in him—that’s my Grandma’s maiden name. He’s also got Hagins DNA in him—that’s my Granny’s maiden name. Alastair is of similar stuff to me, but not the exact stuff. But God the Son and God the Father aren’t like that. They have the same essence, the same substance. They have the same make-up, even though they are distinct as persons. 

In the early church, there was this battle between these two terms: homoousios (“same substance”) and homoiousios (“similar substance”). Is Jesus the same stuff of God the Father (homoousios)? Or is he of similar stuff (homoiousios)? The difference between those two words is literally one iota. And our church fathers battled the heretics of their day over that one iota. And they concluded at the Council of Nicaea, based on Hebrews 1:1-4 and other passages that Jesus is not like unto God but is very God himself. Al Mohler said once, “The difference between getting the identity of Christ ‘right’ and ‘almost right’ is infinite.” We can’t whiff on this, church. We’ve got to get this right. 

Jesus is, to use the language of Hebrews 1, the “exact imprint of [God the Father’s] nature.” The Greek word for “imprint” here is χαρακτήρ. And we derive our English word “character” from this. But let’s not impute that later meaning into this ancient word. The Greek word meant imprint or stamp. And it means an engraved character like on a die or a seal or a coin. The Son is a perfect imprint. He’s the perfect stamp. He’s the exact character of the Father in terms of his nature.

You might say, “This is pretty heady stuff, Pastor Tony.” Yes, it is. And notice that the author of Hebrews doesn’t start with pragmatics or how to live your best life now. He goes right to sound, biblical theology. George Guthrie said once, “Right theology lays an important foundation for a Christian life robustly lived. A neglect of theology, on the other hand, has detrimental effects on the church and individual Christian lives.” The famous author Dorothy Sayers echoes that statement. She said, “It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.…” She’s preaching to the choir as far as I’m concerned. I live for this stuff. And we’ve got to get this right. 

So, in verse 3, the Son is the Radiator. He’s also the Representor. He also this—write this down as #6 in your notes. 

6) The Son is the Sustainer (1:3c)

3c and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. 

Back to Colossians 1:17: “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Jesus upholds the universe. Jesus sustains the universe by the word of his power. The Greek here is φέρω, which often carries the nuance of “carrying” or “bearing.” But this isn’t a description of Jesus like the Greek god Atlas bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. Jesus doesn’t uphold the earth on his shoulders. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. 

What does that sound like? That sounds like Genesis 1 doesn’t it. God said let there be light and there was light. God spoke things into existence ex-nihilo. Jesus did that! And Jesus is still doing that. He’s that powerful. 

Listen briefly if you would to the following except from Kent Hughes and his commentary on Hebrews. “Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking, who has been called ‘the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein,’ says in his best-selling A Brief History of Time that our galaxy is an average-sized spiral galaxy that looks to other galaxies like a swirl in a pastry roll and that it is over 100,000 light-years across —about six hundred trillion miles. He says, ‘We now know that our galaxy is only one of some hundred thousand million that can be seen using modern telescopes, each galaxy itself containing some hundred thousand million stars.’ It is commonly held that the average distance between these hundred thousand million galaxies (each six hundred trillion miles across and containing one hundred thousand million stars) is three million light-years! On top of that, the work of Edwin Hubble, based on the Doppler effect, has shown that all red-spectrumed galaxies are moving away from us—and that nearly all are red. Thus, the universe is constantly expanding. Some estimates say that the most distant galaxy is eight billion light-years away—and racing away at two hundred million miles an hour. Finally, the fact of the expanding universe demands a beginning, though Hawking now doubts that a Big Bang was its beginning.” 

This is the universe that, according to Hebrews 1:1-4, Jesus created. And Jesus sustains. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. 

And that makes the incarnation that much more meaningful, right? That makes Bethlehem that much more marvelous. Doesn’t it? Hughes writes, “We cannot create the tiniest speck of dust, much less a mayfly, but [Jesus] created the universe. He can do what we can never do, materially and spiritually. He can [even] create in us clean hearts. The God of the Universe, Jesus Christ, voluntarily set aside some aspects of his power in order to be born into this world and die a gruesome death on a cross (see Phil 2:1-11 for more on that). The one who upholds the universe by the word of his power became powerless in order to save the powerless — us! — from our sins. 

And speaking of saving us from our sins, write this down as #7.

7) The Son is the Purifier (1:3d)

3d After making purification for sins, 

How did he make purification for sins? This is OT language again. This is what the animal sacrifices did in the OT. This is what the scapegoat did in Leviticus 16:8-22. They laid the sins of the people upon that scapegoat. But whereas that scapegoat ritual had to be reenacted every year in Israel, the purification for sins that Jesus enacted was a once-for-all-time deal. So your sin and my sin, all of it, was paid for at the cross of Jesus Christ. And our faith in that finished work on the cross purifies us and redeems us. 

Some of you might say, “But you don’t know what I’ve done, Pastor Tony. You don’t know the depth of my sin and the horrible things I’ve done and continue to do.” I heard a pastor say once, “If you knew the sin that was in my heart, you probably wouldn’t let me preach from this pulpit.” And he also said, “If I knew the sin that was in your heart, I probably wouldn’t let you through that door.”

The truth is I don’t know the depth of your sin. And you don’t know the depth of my sin. But God knows everything, and he’s willing to forgive everything. Because Christ Jesus died on the cross for every sin that you committed. 

And you don’t need to walk on coals. You don’t need to do penance. You don’t need to make up for that or pay Jesus back for that. You can’t pay Jesus back for that. That’s ludicrous! All you do is put your faith in the finished work of Jesus. You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that he rose from the dead, and you will be saved (Rom 10:9-10). 

You put your faith in the Purifier. And you put your faith in the Intercessor. Look at the end of verse 3.

3d After making purification for sins, 

3e he [Jesus] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 

Write this down as #8. The Son also is the Intercessor. 

8) The Son is the Intercessor (1:3e)

In his commentary on this passage, Bill Lane says the following: “That the Son has been exalted to God’s right hand means that he lives and rules with the authority and power of God himself.” 

You know one of the things I like about Hebrews 1:1-4 is the amazing juxtapositions in this text. The author juxtaposes Christ’s humanity and his deity. The author juxtaposes Christ’s cosmic glory with his incarnational humility. The author juxtaposes Christ’s creative work with his redemptive work. And that comes together in verse 3. The author writes, “After making purification for sins, he [Jesus] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:3). The God of the Universe who created the universe humbled himself, came to earth to die and make purification for sins, but now he returns to the Majesty on high and sits down at the right hand of the Father. 

By the way, sitting down is important. That’s a sign of authority. That’s a King on his throne. But it’s also a sign of a finished work. He sits, because it is finished! Jesus said τετέλεσται from the cross (John 19:30). It is finished. That’s what is symbolized here at the end of verse 3. It’s finished. 

And just by way of symbolism, one of the things that you notice in the book of Leviticus is that there is no place to sit in the Tabernacle. The temple in the OT had a lot of furniture. There was a table, a basin, a lampstand, and an ark. But there’s no chair to sit on. There was a mercy seat, but you wouldn’t dare sit on that. That’ll get you killed in the Holy of Holies! There’s no chair in the temple, because the priest was always working, he was always standing, and he was always offering up fresh purification for sins. 

But Jesus isn’t a standing priest. He’s a sitting priest. He sits down. NO more sacrifices. No more purification, τετέλεσται. It is finished. 

And not only is he seated at the right hand of Majesty on high, a statement of his ultimate authority, but he is also according to Romans 8 interceding for us. This is what theologians call Christ’s session. He sits before God and intercedes for us. Romans 8:33-34: “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” The Son is our great Intercessor. 

And finally. Write this down as #9. 

1) The Son is the Communicator 

2) The Son is the Inheritor 

3) The Son is the Creator 

4) The Son is the Radiator 

5) The Son is the Representor 

6) The Son is the Sustainer 

7) The Son is the Purifier 

8) The Son is the Intercessor 

And ninthly… 

9) The Son is greater than the angels (1:4)

The author of Hebrews brings this sentence to a close in verse 4.

4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 

This is an important statement, because the angels are sometimes referred to as “the sons of God” in the Bible (see Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; possibly also Gen 6:1-2). But just like I said about us being the sons and daughters of God, there is a difference between the sons of God and “The Son of God.” Jesus is a true and better Son. Jesus is the Son of God in a way that humans and angels will never be.

Jesus is greater than the angels. Jesus is superior to them. Remember that word I gave you last week for “greater”? The Greek word— κρείττων. Jesus is κρείττων. He’s greater than the angels. Angels reveal; they don’t redeem. Jesus reveals, but he also redeems. The word “angel” in Greek (ἄγγελος) means “messenger.” Angels are messengers. They are not redeemers. Only Christ redeems. 

Now this prompts the question: Why in the world would this statement need to be said in this book? Of course, Jesus is greater than the angels! You guys know that. I know that. Why would this author need to say that? In other words, what was going on in that location, in the place where the author of this letter sent this letter, that he would need to emphasize this point—Christ is superior to the angels? Well there’s a reason for that. There’s a context for that. And it leads us right into the next passage of this book—Hebrews 1:5-14. And I’ll tell you all about it… next week. 

But can I say this? Let me close with this. This can’t wait till next week. Everyone listening? Here’s my closing questions for you: “Do you know the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as your Savior? Do you know this Radiator, this Sustainer, this Purifier, this Intercessor? Do you know the Son?” 

1 John 5:12 says this: “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (NKJV). We’ve talked about a lot of heady, sophisticated theology today, but in reality, salvation is very simple. Salvation is simply putting your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Everything hinges on that! Do you have the Son? Do you have saving faith? If not, then today is the day to put your faith in him.