Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day and his Word, and ask him to give understanding, work the Word deep into the heart, enlarge his people's view of him, and help them love and follow him.
Read
Scripture Passage
Hebrews 1:1-4
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
God formerly spoke through the prophets but has now spoken by his Son. Jesus is heir of all things, the one through whom God made the world, the radiance and exact image of the Father, and the one who upholds all things by his powerful word; after purging sins, he sat at God's right hand with a name and inheritance greater than the angels.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Hebrews 1:4
The child selects verse 4 because it brings the passage together, and Bryan explicitly agrees that it is a good selection even though his own Bible has verses 2 and 3 underlined.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Worship and serve the biblical Jesus: the supreme Son who reveals the Father, creates and sustains the world, reigns beside the Father, and loved his people enough to purge their sins.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
All right. Why are we all the way in the back? What do you think? You don't know. So we did over the last couple of years, we did Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Those were first five books of the Bible. Now we're in Hebrews. Yeah, because what does the book of Hebrews tell us? Yeah, it tells us what did everything in the Old Testament mean and point towards.
Right. So let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into guess what the first thing he wants to talk about. Jesus. You know, the whole Old Testament was talking about Jesus. Yeah, he's a supreme revelation. Want some coffee? Okay, let's pray. God, we thank you so much for this day. And we do thank you for your word. Father, we pray that you would please help us to understand your word. Please work it deep into our hearts. Please give us a bigger view of who you are. Help us to love you and follow in your ways in Jesus's name. Amen. All right. Hebrews chapter one, and we'll read chapter one through chapter nine. Just kidding. No, we're just going to read verses one through four. Go ahead.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in the time passed to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. who being all brightness of his glory, being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person. And upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels as he by inheritance obtained more excellent name than they.
Okay, so we got our three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the, and C, what are we called to do? Good. All right. So, uh, what do you think this is about? God. Okay. God. What does God in past times do? Uh, he makes everything. OK, so we made everything. So we kind of have to break this down. Right.
So God, that's how it starts with God, who at various times and in various ways, what did he do? He spoke in the times past to the fathers by the prophets. Right. So God spoke. Dreams and visions, and that's how he spoke to the prophets of old. Right. As in these last days, how has he spoken first to Spoken to us by his son. By his son. Who's that? Jesus. All right. So now it's going to talk about Jesus. So Jesus is now that one by whom he's spoken to us. Right. And let's talk about that, Jesus.
Who is he? Let's keep going in verse two. He has what? He has purged our sins. Well, before that, verse two. God appointed him heir of all things. Okay, so Jesus is heir of all things, good. Through him also he made the world. Whoa, hold on. Who made the worlds? God and Jesus. Yeah, right, the Father made the worlds through? Jesus said Jesus is the one. Who is. Involved in the creation and the eons, right? Good. Verse three.
First, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. Oh, hold on. What is Jesus? Read that again, he's the what? Run on top on top of your family. He is the brightness of God's glory. And the express image of God's person. He's the express image of the Father's person. Interesting. This is why when Jesus says that he's going and he's going to the Father and he loves to show us the Father, what did Jesus say? If you've seen Philip, how long have I been with you? If you've seen me, you have seen the father.
He's the exact imprint icon of God. So yeah, this is what we were talking about with Jesus being the God man. All right. So he's the brightness of his glory. He's the express image of his person. What else does it say about verse three with Jesus? He upholding all things by the word of his power. Oh, I said Jesus is the one who upholds all things. That's amazing. And then he goes on about Jesus, what else does it say about him? He had by himself purged our sins. Oh, so what did Jesus do? Purged our sins, in other words. Yeah, when he yeah, he so he purged us of our sins when he died on the cross.
Good. What do you do after that? He sat down at the right hand of God. Whoa! Of the majesty on high. You knew majesty on high was talking about God? The Father? Sat down at the right hand of God the Father? That's what that's talking about? So somehow Jesus is God. God makes the world through Jesus. He's the exact image of God and yet somehow he's at the right hand of the Father. This is a big view of Jesus, isn't it?
Yeah, we're not even at the summary. What's the summary in verse 4? Having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. All right. So what's Jesus being compared to there? The angels. The angels. And what's he got better than them? He's by inheritance obtained a better name. All right. So you got a better inheritance because of a better name. It's got a small view of Jesus or a big view of Jesus. Big beauty.
I never knew this about Jesus growing up That's how big Jesus is Right, I used to walk around there was a store when I grew up That you could walk in and you know what it said on the t-shirt It said Jesus is my homeboy Does that sound like this type of Jesus?
The exact icon of the Father? The one through whom he created the eons? The one who sustains the world through his power? Who sits at the right hand of the majesty on high and has a better name than even the angels? That's the Jesus we serve. That's a cool king. Has even loved us so much that he purged us of our sin. So what's this about? Jesus, that's right. Good. So what do you think the best verse is to summarize this? Good luck. Four. Oh, you think verse four? Why do you think verse four? It kind of just like brings it all together. Okay. Yeah. It brings it all together.
Actually verse four is good. Cause it's going to be kind of, um, the huge chunk of what comes next is Jesus compared to the angels. I could see verse four, although interesting. I don't have verse four underlined. Look here. No underlining of verse four instead of two and three underlined, but you have verse four.
How dare you think different than me? Let's do C, calling. What are we called to do? How does this connect to the covenant of grace, or how does this show you Jesus Christ? We should worship him. Yeah. Yeah, right. We get to worship him, right? That's how big he is. That's how amazing he is. That's how powerful he is. That's the God we serve. That's our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's the triune God. So you do do it. Yeah. Yeah, right.
I think this is a super, super cool passage. I love how the book of Hebrews starts because Jesus is that big. And so do we believe it? We believe that Jesus, this is the Jesus we serve, not the Jesus people make up in their own minds about things. But this. That's the son of God who loved me and laid down his life for me.
So you're right, we get to worship, serve him. You ready to pray or do you want me to? Okay, I'll let you pray, go ahead. Lord, thank you for this day. Please let us worship you and show you to all the world. Please let us know that Jesus is the Is the one thing that we need in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you may you worship the King of Kings the Lord of Lords May you bow your knee to him and know that he has purged you from all your sins. We'll see you next time. Bye