Hebrews: 1: 1-2a

“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.”

Introduction: Thirty-some years after the fact, I can still remember the spiritual challenges of my Seminary experience.  The fact that I managed to maintain a spirited orthodoxy, when the majority of my fellows accepted the party line in order to find places of service – I must credit to having been grounded in the confession shared with me by my father.  It was not that the local church stood solidly on that confession, but the fact that the majesty of the opening paragraph of the Westminster document has always expressed a certain poetry of the faith -that caught my fancy and was buried deep in my heart by the Holy Spirit long before I understood the implications of what I had read in the face of inordinate opposition and persecution.

Let me share with you this vital echo of the passage before us for study today:  “Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation.  Therefore it please d the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manner, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing: which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.” (Westminster: 1.1)

A dozen and more scripture proofs are carefully listed as the higher essential witness for that wonderfully crafted human confession of faith.  And it is to those higher authoritative statements that we must rest our case for what we believe as well as how we live and move and have our being – from the gracious hand of the Triune Creator God.  F.F. Bruce argues the same case in these words:  “This initial affirmation is basic to the whole argument of this epistle, as indeed it is basic to Christian faith.”

A classic commentator (recognized as such by the Banner of Truth Trust), is a certain Scot by the name of John Brown, whose agreement is also well attested:  “In these words the Divine origin both of the Jewish and of the Christian revelation is distinctly asserted; and so asserted, as that the superior importance of the latter is strikingly exhibited.”

Another commentator, while asserting the same essential truth, does give us pause in two significant words.  Thomas Hewitt writes “the main purpose of the writer is to show the absolute supremacy of the gospel revelation in the Son, who has accomplished a full and final reconciliation of God and man, over the imperfect revelation in the prophets.”

“Reconciliation” and “imperfect” are the words that I would question.  I always cringe when I hear that word “reconciliation”, even though it is a theme in the scriptures.  It is not a word in my mind that reflects the absolute sway of our Holy God and Creator.  In the notorious “Confession of Sixty-seven”, which relegated the Westminster to the scrap heap, the reconciliation theme was predominant.  It was so predominant, that those of us who held to the old confession were ushered out of the church because we were irreconcilable to the new age mantras which were significantly replacing the older, firmer confessional order.

In addition, the reconciliation movement in counseling within and without the Church by necessity will not consider the rightness or wrongness of any actions or thoughts but only suggest that all the victims of misunderstanding must come to a friendly consensus that defies the freedom to hold irreconcilable intellectual or religious positions in any way shape or form.

I would also take issue with the implication of “imperfection” in the revelations given to us throughout the Old Covenant period.  The Old Covenant revelation is the same word from the same Triune God; only more clearly stated and now newly administered by the Son of God.

Through all of this discussion thus far, I am in complete agreement with the orthodoxy of the Christian faith stated clearly and succinctly in our text today:  “God has spoken”!  It was the comprehension of that fact that kept me orthodox through the trials and persecution of the old liberal church and led me to the safer sounder ground of our denomination (PCA) where this declaration of fact is still a safe refuge for all who would minister in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Development:  Our second point of discussion this morning will be focused on not only the equality of the voice of Christ to that of the prophets, but will also lay the proper Christian foundation for holding to a finality and superiority of the revealed word of Christ, which was preached directly to the people of God for their and our own personal benefit. To prepare ourselves towards that end, let us break our text down into four distinct portions and analyze each carefully.

1. “Long ago, at many times” reads the first two phrases of our text.  What an economy of words to describe the revelation record of our Triune God from the time of Adam to that of Malachi.  For untold centuries – the record probably remained oral, until at the latest, the prophet Moses composed and organized the first five books of the Torah into a written revelation record.  Samuel and David or course, Solomon and the psalmists in the temple,  Ezra and Nehemiah, and the prophets of course - all played essential their parts in contributing the heart felt words of the Holy Spirit, as the book of books was published, lightly edited, organized and compiled for posterity.

The Godly visions which inspired the prophets all were sufficient to reveal not only the plan and purpose of God’s unfolding history of the world, but also the greater gift of His love, grace and mercy.  We certainly believe and teach that not only the associated parts but also the whole of the Old Covenant record was accomplished and ordered purposely to prepare the way of the Lord’s Anointed, the Messiah: Jesus Christ Himself.

John Owen defines the text ”at many times” in these words:  “The gradual discovery of the mind and will of God, by the addition of one thing after another, at different times, as the church could bear the light, and as it served the purpose of reserving all the pre-eminence to the Messiah, is what this expression intends to convey.  The expression denotes the whole progress of divine revelation from the beginning of the world.” We understand this doctrine, not only from the Apostle Peter, but also from the Apostle Paul and the implied understanding of all the other New Covenant records that the Old Covenant Scriptures were the very words of God Himself.

Peter’s pointed thoughts are most beneficial to explain this: “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”. (2 Peter 1: 19-21)

2. The second passage in our text is this: “and in many ways.”  Again we must be impressed with the economy of words here, because in those four short words we have Adam’s and Moses’ experience face to face, the visitation of heavenly persons in earthly forms to Abraham, Lot, Daniel and his friends.  There is also the still small voice known by Elijah, and the fire from heaven upon his altar at Mt Carmel.  Then there was burning bush for Moses, the vision of the wheel within a wheel for Ezekiel, the temple presence for Isaiah.  Jacob and Moses wrestled with the Divine presence; the people themselves recognized the Shekinah on Zion’s holy hill as well as the Pillar of Cloud of Something which led them through the desert.

And thereby that list, we have barely touched upon the revelation record given down through a millennia and more before the whole Old Covenant revelation record was in its final form.

3. Now, let us remember that all we have discussed thus far was written principally to affirm the entire work of God in this regard, even as our record records: “God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.”  We must always realize and understand that the word “prophets” here indicates all of those who recorded God’s revelation for the people of their time as well as providing the written record for all of us who were untimely born.

F.F. Bruce reminds us that the Divine revelation is “seen to be progressive, but the progression is not from the less true to the more true, from the less worthy to the more worthy, or from the less mature to the more mature.  How could it be so, when it is one and the same God who is revealed throughout?  Men’s conceptions of God may change, but the evolution of the idea of God is quite a different thing from the progress of divine revelation.  The progression is one from promise to fulfillment, as is made abundantly clear in the course of this epistle: the men of faith in Old Testament days did not in their lifetime experience the fulfillment of the divine promise in which they had trusted.”

Dr Bruce commends to us the further wisdom of our author recorded later in our letter:  “And all these, [the Old Covenant Saints] though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11: 39-40)

Paul admonished the younger Timothy to remember what he had read and learned in the Old Covenant revelation because: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”  (2 Timothy 3: 16-17)

4. Our last phrase in our text moves us forward in understanding the purpose of all that has gone before:  “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”  The remarkable commentator, John Owen reminds us here that “there is a difference between the Son of God revealing God’s will in his divine person to the prophets, and the Son of God as incarnate, revealing God’s will directly to the church.  This difference is insisted upon by the apostle.  So, in these last days, the Lord did with his own hands the work that from the foundation of the world he had used angels and men to do.”

This gives a whole new meaning to our theme today “God has Spoken”!  F.F. Bruce takes us through the next step in our comprehension:  “yet all the successive acts and varying modes of revelation in the ages before Christ came did not add up to the fullness of what God had to say.  His word was not completely uttered until Christ came; but when Christ came, the word spoken in Him was indeed God’s final word.  In Him all the promises of God meet with the answering ‘Yes!’ which seals their fulfillment to His people and evokes from them an answering ‘Amen!’”

Application:  “God has Spoken” clearly, distinctly and with a passion to pursue His purpose and providence leading up to the fuller revelation in and through Jesus Christ.  Matthew reports during the transfiguration experience this endorsement from the Triune God of heaven and earth regarding Jesus:  “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17: 5)

This is serious stuff here, that is why when it comes to the revelation record we tend to get a little upset when even people who claim to be well meaning, begin to tamper with the only adjectives that define who we are before Christ the King, our Savior and God incarnate.  We know from bitter experience that when the worldly handle the things of God – they will move on from mere adjectives to verbs and finally subjects so that at long last, there will be little left from nature’s God who demands that we address Him as Father, since that is the natural relationship he would have with all of us who are adopted into the very family of God.

And if we understand the spiritual tenderness of that revealed relationship to which the Holy Spirit may lead us, then all the more – we who claim the Name of Christ must affirm the doctrine of inspiration.  Not only that, but since the God of heaven and earth has indeed spoken, who are we to quibble with the tiniest portions of that word.  It is and always must be considered infallible and inerrant because of the utter simplicity of our assertion:  “God has Spoken”!

Raymond Brown summarizes the essential thought in these well chosen words:  “It is important … to emphasize that in an age of religious pluralism this letter is a constant reminder of the necessity of God’s salvation in Christ.  However sensitive one chooses to be to the claims of other world religions, it is impossible for any serious student of the New Testament to escape what has been called ‘the scandal of particularity’.  By this phrase we refer to those clear and uncompromising assertions of New Testament Scripture that the only way we can come to God the Father is through Jesus Christ his Son (John 14: 6).  … In a day when many people may try to discern some form of acceptable syncretism, whereby Christ and his gospel become merely one expression among others of the idea of salvation, Hebrews directs us to the uniqueness of Christ’s redemptive work.”

And it is the superiority of that work and word with which the author of Hebrews will be concerned through the seven points of evidence which he gives to support the superiority of Christ’s testimony.  These will be the continuing focus of our series until Thanksgiving arrives. 

While as Christians we are all the more likely to assent to the doctrine that “God has Spoken”, we have to remember the context in which this letter was written.  The Jewish Old Covenant Church had a rich and diverse heritage.  We understand their devotion to our Father God in that regard, but they were and always have been slow to move forward and accept the grace of Christ to which their own treasured texts should logically move them to accept.  Thus, for that reason of stubbornness – the apostolic author argues in a sevenfold polemic to the superiority of the Messianic understanding!

And yet, even we who belong to Christ’s Church may prosper from this exercise, because the more we understand who has spoken to us, the more likely we are to take Him and His words more seriously.  In the last few weeks, it has been made more and more public that the United States military is going to attack Iraq.  Of course, we must remember that the same rhetoric was demonstrated during the last presidency as well!  Do you remember the story of the little boy who yelled “wolf” too often to engage the attention of the armed men in his village?

To his personal disadvantage, the mad man of Baghdad has presumed that the only thing that has changed in America is the name plate on the desk in the oval office.  While he and the world will not listen to the likelihood of what our new man in the White House has determined there will be hell to pay on his part when the bullets begin to whine their way towards the personality of his prime target.

Our great and tragic problem within the remnants of the Old Covenant Church and even in the vast majority of the New Covenant Churches is quite the opposite of the word “wolf” being repeated far too often with no reality behind the warning!  Instead, it is the lack of any warning that should embarrass the Churches today.  How seldom, are the essential words of our text being held up before an ignorant world?  What are those needful words that should inform the witness of the whole Church?  Quite Simply:  “God has Spoken” not only in and through the Old Covenant prophets, but more clearly and succinctly in and through His only Son: Jesus Christ!  May we be thankful that we have heard those words and heeded the text so that we may go on to learn of the superior works of Christ and to our eternal benefit – to “listen to Him!”  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Brown, John.  A Geneva Series Commentary: Hebrews.
Brown, Raymond.  The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Hebrews.
Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews.
Hewitt, Thomas.  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Epistle to the Hebrews.
Owen, John:  Commentary on Book of Hebrews.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version

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