Hebrews 1:1-2
God Has Spoken to Us by His Son
Today, we begin a series of devotions on that book of the New Testament which brings together so much of gospel teaching, especially as that teaching relates to the high priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews is rivaled only by Romans for theological depth. Whereas the latter covers more theological topics, Hebrews delves more deeply into the priestly session of our Lord at the Father’s right hand. Though we do not know who wrote the book, it preaches Christ in agreement with apostolic doctrine; thus, it was received by the Church as the word of God.
Hebrews spends more time with the Old Testament than any other New Testament book or letter. The writer’s purpose is to show how the Old Testament anticipated the New and how the New Testament answers and fulfills the Old through the person and work of Jesus Christ. “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed,” the old-timers used to say. And Hebrews bears this truth out wonderfully. One more thing, scholars tell us that the structure of the book is really that of a sermon, so that is what I will call it throughout these devotions.
So the very first line of the sermon tells us, “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.” The truth given us here is that God speaks. He spoke in olden times through the prophets such as Moses and Isaiah, but truly the entire Old Testament dispensation would be included. And why did God speak to us through these men? Or, why the entire Old Testament dispensation at all? To prepare us for the coming of His Son which this sermon to the Hebrews will now bear out.
But there is much more in this first statement from Hebrews: Yes, God spoke through the prophets of old—but now in these last days between his first coming and his second, God has spoken to us definitively and finally through His Son Jesus Christ. There will be no greater word! All the prophets pointed to him; the whole of Old Testament preaches him (Luke 24:27). His Incarnation, death, resurrection, and seating at the right hand is the story, the anchor, the centerpiece of the world. Indeed, the Son was the one through whom the Father created the world, so it is only fitting that upon his purchase of that world that he should inherit the world in its redeemed state at his return. It was always all about Christ—the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He’s who all the Bible is about.
