Slices
Prepare
God has spoken. Do you want to hear his voice today?
Bible passage
God’s final word: his Son
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
Explore
Do you ever wonder if God could really love you? The things you shouldn’t do… The things you should... How often do we cut ourselves adrift from God because we think we’re too impure for him? But the writer to the Hebrews blasts our navel-gazing out of the water! God has given his final word to us: Jesus! Who he is and what he has done secure us in God’s love.
The writer gives us seven pillars – foundations of our salvation – and they’re all about Jesus, God’s eternal Son. Can you see them in verses 2 and 3? The Son is the heir of all things – his is the supreme place in all the universe (v 2)! It was through him that the universe was created (v 2)! And when we look at Jesus, we see exactly what God is like in the brightness of his glory (v 3). Even more incredible: the oxygen we breathe, the molecules that make up our bodies, the whole universe, are only in existence because Jesus says so (v 3)! This glorious one humbled himself to purify us from sin (v 3). And now he’s sat at God’s right hand. His work is complete (v 3).
Respond
When we look at ourselves it’s easy to feel our salvation hangs in the balance. But when we look at Jesus… Is this One able to save me? Can he make me pure in God’s sight? Of course!
Deeper Bible study
‘In the beginning was the Word … and the Word was God.’1 Allow these opening words of John’s Gospel to focus your attention on the eternal glory of Jesus.
In this glorious opening statement, the writer follows the standard practice of his time by setting out his purpose and the direction of his argument. His intention is to glorify Jesus and ensure that he is the readers’ unchanging focus; he starts with one of the most profound statements about the person of Christ in the New Testament. God’s self-revelation in the Old Testament was valuable and important but preparatory, his revelation through his Son so much better and more complete. The word translated ‘radiance’ (v 3) is rare; it recalls John’s statement, ‘we have seen his glory’.2 The word behind ‘exact representation’ was used to describe the stamp for minting coins, suggesting an exact replica and recalling Jesus’ own words, ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.’3 The focus is not only on who Jesus is, but on what he has done. Here at the outset is the reminder of his completed work of redemption, to which the writer will return; already we see both a priestly (purification for sins) and kingly (at the right hand of the majesty) roles.
In the light of such a supreme revelation of God, in the face of ‘so great a salvation’,4 why look for anything else? Nothing else provides the answer to the human predicament. The challenges we face are unlike those of the early readers, but the underlying message is the same. God is both Creator and Redeemer. The world is God’s world, created and sustained through the Son; the Christian cannot see it as solely the product of random natural forces. The world is redeemed through the love of God, demonstrated in the Son.5 The new relationship we have with God is achieved only through Christ; in a world of clashing ideologies and other attractions, there is no alternative – this is the central theme of the letter-sermon.
In the face of such glorious truth, there is no adequate response. Praise God in the way you feel most appropriate.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Leviticus 8,9; Matthew 7
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that the young people who came to the Tri-Sports mission in Gateshead in the summer will continue to think about the difference that Jesus can make to them and pray for Matt the local youth worker to have wisdom as he decides how best to build on this.