Is Your Jesus Too Small?

Hebrews 1 and the cosmic grandeur of Christ.

21 years ago, my wife and I were living in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island, and we had decided to move onto the mainland, so I could be closer to my job, which at the time was at Logos Bible Software in downtown Bellingham.  With two small daughters - our oldest was 2 and our second wasn’t quite a year old yet - we had decided that a 75-minute commute each way, every day, was just not a good idea for our family.

So we started looking.  We looked in Bellingham.  We looked in Sedro-Woolley. And we looked in Mount Vernon.  And if you’ve ever been house-hunting before, you know what that means - realtors.  It’s the realtor’s job to try to sell you a house, so for every house you look at, the realtor will spend a lot of time telling you about the wonderful qualities that this house has that you won’t find anywhere else.

Car salesmen do the same thing - this car has heated seats, tinted windows, and GPS navigation.  It’s a list of reasons why you should prefer this car to others you may consider buying.

What we find in the first verses of Hebrews is a list of qualities as well, so in a sense, the author of Hebrews is making something of a sales pitch.  But he’s not telling you the wonderful qualities of a car or a house, but of the Son of God himself.  He wants his readers to be convinced of the superiority of Jesus, so they won’t be tempted to turn away from Jesus to their former faiths.

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, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1-4)

I want to look at these descriptions of Jesus under four headings:

• Jesus’ Relation to History

• Jesus’ Relation to His Father

• Jesus’ Relation to the Universe

• Jesus’ Relation to His Children

Jesus’ Relation to History

First, let’s look at Jesus’ relation to history.  Look at the end of verse 2:  “his Son, whom we appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Let’s take the second part first.  Jesus, according to Hebrews, is the one through whom God created the world.  That word “world” is not the word “kosmos”, which is what you would expect, but the word “aion”, which references the whole of space and time.  In other words, Jesus is God’s agent of creation, such that he is the one who creates all of space, all of time, all of history.

We see this same language in John 1:3:  “All things where made through him, and without him was not anything made that has ever been created.”  In other words, if it is created (and everything other than God Himself is created), then it was created through the activity of Jesus.

But Jesus is more than the one who starts the ball of history rolling - he’s also the one who is the final goal of history as well.  Jesus “has been appointed the heir of all things”.  When history comes to a close, we’ll find that everything will ultimately be put in right relationship with Jesus Christ.

Listen to Ephesians 1:9-10: “Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”  God’s plan is that at the end of history, Jesus will be Lord over all.  All of his enemies will be under his feet, and his rule will be uncontested.

We see a beautiful picture of this in the book of Revelation, chapter 5.  In this chapter, God holds a scroll that is sealed up with seven seals.  In the Roman Empire, this type of sealed scroll was typical for a deed to a property that would be given to an heir coming into his inheritance. In this context, this scroll represents the ownership of the entire universe.  Look with this chapter with me:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

(Revelation 5:1-10 ESV)

Jesus is the heir of all things because that is the inheritance he has been given by God the Father.  He was there at the beginning, creating it all.  He’ll be there at the end as the heir of all things.  He is Lord over all of history.

And by the way, if Jesus is the one through whom all things are made, then that must mean that Jesus himself is not a created being.  In other words, he is not a creature, but he is God.

Jesus’ Relation to God the Father

And that raises a question: If Jesus is God, then what is Jesus’ relationship to God the Father?  We’ve already seen that Jesus is called “son”, so we’re meant to infer that the relationship between Jesus and God the Father is something akin to the relationship between an earthly son and an earthly father.

But there’s more that can be said about this relationship, and the author of Hebrews gives us more in verse 3:  “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.”

What does it mean to say that Jesus is the “radiance of the glory of God”? The glory of God is the showing forth of all of his many perfections.  And Hebrews says that Jesus is the radiance - the “shining forth” - of that glory.  Put another way, Jesus is the way in which the glory of God is most fully seen.

Similarly, to say that Jesus is the “exact imprint of God’s nature” is to say that if you want to know what God’s nature is like, look at Jesus.  To understand what he means by “exact imprint”, think of making a coin.  You have a master coin, then you make a die of it, then use the die to impress a blank coin with the exact imprint that was on the master coin.  If you want to know what is on the master coin, all you have to do is look on the imprint - it’s a perfectly faithful copy.

Similarly, if you want to know the nature of God, look at Jesus - he is a perfectly faithful representation of God’s nature, because Jesus shares the same divine nature.

Jesus’ Relation to the Universe

We’ve seen that Jesus is at the beginning of the universe creating everything, and that he’s at the end of the universe as the heir of everything, but what about that long period between the beginning of the universe and the end?

Photo by Arnaud Mariat on Unsplash

Hebrews tells us that “he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”  Now you may not realize that the universe is something that needs upholding, but it does.  After all, we’re spinning on a ball of rock, flying around a ball of fire at 68,000 miles per hour.  Something better be upholding it!

Back around the time when this country was being founded, there were a very fashionable theory going around called Deism.  Deism was the idea that God created the universe and got things off to a good start, but once he got things in motion, he took a hands-off approach to his creation.  It was like a clockmaker winding up a clock and getting it going, but refusing to ever mess with the clock once he’s wound it up and set it in motion.

Hebrews shatters the idea of the clockmaker God.  Jesus Christ doesn’t just wind things up, set history in motion, then step out for a nice vacation.  No, he upholds the universe - literally, he carries it along.  The idea is that he is sovereignly moving the course of history to fulfill his purposes.

That means that God is in complete control of what happens in this universe he has made. He is in complete control of what happens in your life, too.

Remember the story of Job, when God allowed Satan to destroy the bulk of Job’s possessions and even kill his children?  Do you remember what Job said?  “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  Now you’d think that God would be upset that Job is blaming God for something that Satan in fact did, but the author of the book tells us, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”  Why was it not a sin? Because even though Satan was acting with evil intent, God was in charge.

Jesus’ Relation to His Children

Finally, let’s look at Jesus’ relation to his children - to those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.  Look at verse 4:  “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

The word translated “purification” he is a technical term that comes from the Old Testament sacrificial system, and it indicates that something has been declared to be clean as a result of a sacrifice being made.  If you sinned, you would bring a sacrifice to the temple - say a sheep - as a sin offering.  The priest would then kill that animal as a sacrifice, and your sin would be regarded as forgiven.  But you would sin again.  And so another trip, another sheep, another death.

But listen to the words of Hebrews chapter 9:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

(Hebrews 9:11-14 ESV)

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he died as a sacrifice, but it was a much greater sacrifice.  Whereas the blood of goats and bulls could only provide temporary purification, the blood of Christ actually takes away the guilt of our sin permanently.  This is a true purification for sins, not some temporary measure that has to be repeated over and over again.

And when he had accomplished this purification, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  If you study the design of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament, one thing that you’ll note is that it has a lot of ornate furniture.  Altars. Tables. Sinks for washing.  But you know what the Tabernacle (and the Temple after that) doesn’t have? Chairs.

Why not? Because the priests were always busy.  Their work was never finished.  The sacrifices were never completed - they never could be completed, because as it tells us in Hebrews 9, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”  The sacrifices were just temporary coverings.

But when Jesus acted as both priest and sacrifice, offering up the greater sacrifice of his own life, that sacrifice was sufficient to cover sins.  So Jesus’ work as priest was completed, and he did what we all do when our work is done - he sat down.

Jesus sat down.  His saving work is completed. It cannot be added to by your own efforts. As Paul said it in Romans 4, quoting from Psalm 32:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Does that describe you? Are you the one whose lawless deeds are forgiven?  Are your sins covered?  Are you a man or woman against whom the Lord will not count your sin?

It’s not enough to acknowledge Jesus as the creator and heir of the universe. It’s not enough to acknowledge him as the very image of God the Father, as the sustainer of all things.  You can agree with all those statements, and yet be dead in your sins.  Because if Jesus is not the one who purifies you from your sins, you are hopelessly lost and will spend eternity experiencing not God’s love, but God’s holy wrath.

If you want to your sins to be forgiven, to be purified from your ungodliness, if you want to be then you must place your trust in Jesus.  Turn away from your sins, and turn to Jesus in full trust and faith.  And you will find that, as the Bible says in Romans 10:13,  “everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”

And to those of you who have already trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, remember this: Jesus sat down.  He is sitting now at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  His work for you is finished.  Your debt has been paid in full.  You don’t have to work to gain God’s favor - Jesus secured God’s favor for you on the cross.  That means that our work for Jesus is not based on trying to secure his good will, but rather comes from gratitude for what he has done for us.

May we rest in the fact that Jesus is the creator, sustainer and heir of the universe, the image and reflection of God himself, the one who purifies us from our sins.  And because he sat down, his work for us completed, we are called to rest in his finished work for us.

Is your conception of Jesus as big as the author of Hebrews?