Jesus: The Glorious King Who Speaks

The second type of revelation spoken of in Scripture is special revelation. This is the type of revelation referred to by Hebrews 1:1-3. This type of revelation is direct, verbal revelation that comes from the very mouth of God. Special revelation is what we have in Scripture: when Scripture speaks, God speaks.

Hebrews 1:2

In this verse the author is contrasting two different periods of time: what took place “long ago” among the fathers and prophets (in the former days), and what has now taken place in Christ Jesus (“in these last days”). Verses like this help shape our biblical theology and remind us that the overarching schema of reading the Old and New Testaments in relation to one another is one of promise and fulfillment. As the writer of Hebrews will meticulously demonstrate in the coming chapters, the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament. The climax of God’s redemption is found only in Jesus Christ.

In one sense, the fact that God has spoken is not new. As we already discussed, the gospel must be understood within the context of the revelation already provided by God. Jesus is the conclusion to an already existing story found in the Old Testament. Yet, in another sense, God’s revelation through his Son is new. The gospel story is the long-awaited conclusion that fulfills all promises and realizes all types and shadows of the Old Testament.

A clear qualitative difference exists between a prophet and a son. Further, this Son is defined in Hebrews in a way that demands that readers recognize the divine character of the Son. God is no longer merely speaking through the prophets; he is now speaking through a son—his Son. The Son is the fullest, most complete revelation of the Father possible since he shares the Father’s divine nature as the second member of the Trinity.

This Son is designated as the “heir of all things.” The writer of Hebrews is using traditional categories of Hellenistic Judaism that his audience would have understood. To be an “heir” was to be invested with everything. The son is given full authority. To do business with the son means to do business with the father. Moreover, if you are going to know this Father, you can only do so through his Son (John 14:6-7).

The next phrase, he “made the universe through him,” recalls the language of John’s prologue:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. (John 1:1-3)

The Son is not only the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the pinnacle of God’s saving works in history, he is also the agent of creation. Jesus is, thus, the beginning and the end. He is the Creator and the telos of creation. It is significant that the author of Hebrews connects the doctrines of redemption and creation. This is because the God who creates is the God who redeems. As followers of Jesus Christ, we must recognize that if we do not have the right doctrine of creation, we will not have the right doctrine of redemption. Creation and the gospel are inextricably linked.

Hebrews 1:3

Verse 3 is an exposition of how the Son reveals the Father to us. The idea of “radiance” goes back to the notion of the shekinah glory in the Old Testament. The shekinah was a shining, visible glory that demonstrated the majesty of God, as in the exodus (Exod 13:21; 40:34-35) and at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:10-11). Looking at Christ is the way we see most fully the glory of God. More than that, Christ is the exact expression of the Father’s nature. Christ shares the divine nature with the Father as the Second Person of the Trinity. This is where the divine Son is different from a human son. No human son is the exact representation of his father. There is a close relation, but not an exact representation. Christ, however, is an “exact representation.” He and God are of the same divine essence.

There are almost innumerable applications to the doctrine of the Trinity as expressed here in Hebrews 1. For example, this is one of the reasons Protestants have been opposed to the use of icons. There is no need to hang icons on a wall when you believe in the One who was hung on a cross. A Trinitarian Christology is of vital importance to the health of the church. The author of Hebrews is clear: we only understand Christ rightly when we see him in a redemptive-historical context as the climax of God’s revelation, and in a theological context as the Second Person of the Trinity.

As this important divine figure, the Son is not only the active agent of creation, but he is also active in the preservation of creation. He sustains “all things by his powerful word.” If the Son ever ceased to will the universe to remain, then the universe would cease to exist. The power to create is also the power to preserve, the power to control, and the power to bring to an end. Hebrews tells us the Son possesses this kind of power.

These are deep waters. The inner workings of the Trinity are indeed a profound and glorious mystery. Martin Luther, the great Reformer of the sixteenth century, was once asked by a young theology student a speculative question about the nature of God. Luther responded, “I think an angel would be scared to ask that question.” Similar reverence should accompany our own study of the doctrine of the Trinity. There are certain questions we simply cannot ask since God has not revealed an answer to us. What is revealed, however, is that the Father through the Son accomplished creation and continues to sustain it.

The transition to “purification for sins” happens rather suddenly. Yet we must see in this how tightly the Bible intertwines the person and work of Christ. The word purification is not one we typically use to summarize the gospel. This word encapsulates the priestly work of Christ and recalls the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The rest of Hebrews, particularly Hebrews 9–10, will further expound on the significance of purification. The author introduces the term here in order to prepare readers for the trajectory of the rest of his argument.

The final statement highlights the kingly authority of Christ. To be at someone’s “right hand” is to be in a place of favor and authority. For Christ to be at the right hand of the heavenly “Majesty” means he is above all powers and he rules over the cosmos. The place of Christ in heaven at God’s right hand also alludes to his work of intercession for us (Rom 8:34).

In short, the first three verses of the Epistle to the Hebrews are some of the most remarkable in all of Scripture. Consider the doctrines embedded in them:

Even more, consider the wonderfully high Christology that the author has presented in just a few words. Christ is the . . .

Hebrews is not for the theologically faint of heart. Hebrews is for those whose endurance will be richly rewarded with a remarkable portrait of Christ. Let us treasure him, our Creator and Redeemer. He is worthy, for he is supreme over all things.

Christians have often been troubled by the question, How do we rightly read the Old Testament? Thankfully, the book of Hebrews provides us with important directions on how to interpret the Old Testament rightly, now that Christ has fulfilled all things. However, the history of theology and the history of the church demonstrate that there are disastrously wrong ways to read the Old Testament.

The first major error made in approaching the Old Testament comes down to reading it as if it is a book that does not belong to the church. This way of reading the Bible assumes that the Old Testament belongs to the Jews, whereas the New Testament belongs to the church. Sometimes the way we describe our congregations can unintentionally lend to this type of understanding. For example, Protestants (and Baptists in particular) are very concerned about ordering their church life so that they are legitimately a “New Testament church.” By this we mean that we are seeking to follow the ecclesiology modeled in the New Testament by the apostles of the Lord Jesus. Of course, this is certainly right and good, but we must be careful that when we describe ourselves as a “New Testament church” we do not give the impression that our Bibles begin in Matthew as opposed to Genesis. Instead, the Old Testament Scriptures belong to the church because they bear witness to and provide the redemptive-historical context of the gospel of Christ (Rom 3:21).

Marcion, a famous heretic in the days of the early church, epitomized the worst form of this type of Old Testament interpretation. He posited that the God of the Old Testament was not the same as the God of the New Testament. He ultimately tried to do away with the Old Testament and almost everything in the New Testament that was in any way favorable toward Judaism. The early church quickly smelled the scent of heresy in Marcion’s teachings—the stench of deadly error. Many of Marcion’s heresies, however, are perpetuated in modern liberal theology, which asserts that the Old Testament portrait of God is crude and rudimentary. Regrettably, this way of thinking often sinks into certain sections of evangelical churches as well.

A similar though less pernicious version of this error, perhaps more common within evangelicalism, is simply to ignore the Old Testament. The temptation to ignore it is quite strong for many Christians. Many simply do not understand the Old Testament because it seems so alien to our culture and difficult to comprehend. Anchoring our quiet times in Philippians is easier than trying to focus them on Leviticus. Yet, as we will discover in the rest of Hebrews, the Old Testament cannot be ignored, for it provides us with the theological and redemptive-historical context for understanding the gospel.

The second major error associated with reading the Old Testament is equal and opposite to the first. This erroneous hermeneutic assumes that Christian theology is primarily grounded in the Old Testament without recognizing the significant redemptive-historical transitions that have occurred because Christ has inaugurated God’s eschatological kingdom. To be certain, there is continuity between the Old and New Testaments, but there is also significant discontinuity. We are a New Testament people and a new covenant people. Therefore, when we read the Old Testament, we must read it in light of its fulfillment in Christ; that is to say, we must employ a distinctively Christological hermeneutic.

Christians, therefore, must not resent, ignore, dismiss, or uncritically exalt the Old Testament. Christ did not come to abolish the Old Testament but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17). His followers must always remember that our Bible begins with Genesis, not Matthew. The Old Testament was written for our instruction and is profitable even now in the new covenant era “for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). Further, in Romans 15:4, Paul writes,

For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

The Old Testament, which was “written in the past,” is for our “instruction,” “hope,” and “encouragement.” In order to live faithfully before God, we must not only read the Old Testament, but also learn to read it rightly in relation to Christ. Hebrews will help us to that end.