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In this message we will begin to consider the aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ as revealed in Hebrews, one of the greatest books in the New Testament. Every aspect of Christ revealed in this book is significant.
Christ the Son is the center, the focus, of the book of Hebrews. In the Godhead He is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of God’s substance. In creation He is (1) the means through which the universe was made (1:2); (2) the power that upholds and bears all things (v. 3); and (3) the Heir appointed to inherit all things (v. 2). In redemption He accomplished the purification of man’s sins and is now sitting on the right hand of God in the heavens (v. 3).
This book reveals to us the contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was of the law in letters and forms, of man, earthly, temporary, and by sight and issued in a religion called Judaism. The New Testament is of life, spiritual, heavenly, permanent, and by faith and is focused in a person who is the Son of God.
In Hebrews 1 Christ is revealed as the Son of God, who is superior to the angels. This chapter quotes the prophecies in the Old Testament to tell us that the Son, through whom God speaks, is God Himself (v. 8). The angels, however, are merely the servants of God and even of those who inherit God’s salvation (vv. 6-7, 14). Christ as the Son of God is God Himself, and God is certainly superior to the angels. Therefore, Christ is superior to the angels.
Christ is nothing less than God Himself. He is also the appointed Heir of all things and the means through whom the whole universe was created. Furthermore, He is the effulgence of God’s glory, the impress of God’s substance, and the One who accomplished redemption. Because our Christ is the essence of God, He is superior to and more excellent than the angels.
Hebrews 1:10, a quotation from Psalm 102:25, is applied to Christ and indicates that, as the Son of God, Christ created the heavens and the earth: “You in the beginning, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.” Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself as well as the Lord; hence, He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
All things came into existence through the Son (John 1:3; Col. 1:16; 1 Cor. 8:6). As the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Christ is the origination and the source of all the created things. His creation of the heavens and of the earth began the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan to carry out God’s intention to have a full expression in man in the universe.
The angels, which are like winds and flames of fire, are simply creatures, whereas the Son is the Creator. As creatures, the angels are much inferior to the Son, and as the Creator, the Son is much superior to the angels.
Hebrews 1:2 tells us that God made the universe through Christ the Son. The word universe in this verse literally means “ages”; the ages is a Jewish expression that means “the universe.” Ages here does not refer to the matter of time but to creation (the universe) unfolded in time through successive ages. Here the universe not only implies time and space; it also means the aggregate of all the ages.
Most Christians know that Christ created the heavens, the earth, and all things. But very few know that after His creation He is still continually forming the ages, age after age. Hence, the universe refers not only to the heavens and the earth but also to all the ages in the heavens and the earth. For example, after the creation of the heavens and the earth, Adam was created; thus, there was the age of Adam with its history. When the age of Adam was over, the age of Noah with its history began. After the age of Noah, the age of Abraham with its history occurred. When the age of Abraham was over, the age of Moses came, at which time the law was decreed. When the age of Moses was over, the age of David came. Then after all the ages of the Old Testament, there was the age of Jesus Christ, the age of the New Testament. These ages did not take place merely by human development or natural evolution; rather, they were founded, instituted, by Christ.
After creating the heavens and the earth, Christ instituted the ages, age after age. If there were only the heavens, the earth, and all things, without the succession of ages, then no events could have happened. Hence, the universe includes not only time and space but also all the events that have happened in time and space. This is the entire history of the human race.
The purpose of Christ’s forming the universe is to afford God the opportunity to obtain what He wants. All the events that have happened in time and space — all the things that have occurred successively in the universe — have given God the opportunity to capture, save, and gain His chosen people one by one and to gather and blend them together into the one Body of Christ. In other words, the universe, which is composed of all the successive ages in time, provides the opportunity for God to gain what He desires in His economy.
We also need to see that God made the universe through Christ the Creator. This implies the Divine Trinity. Christ the Son created the heavens and the earth, yet through Him God made the universe. Moreover, in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God was involved in God’s creation of the universe, for the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters in order to generate life. God the Father created the universe in God the Son and by God the Spirit.
In the Bible the trinity of the Godhead implies God’s activities for the dispensing of God Himself in His trinity into His chosen and redeemed people. Thus, God’s intention in creating the universe is to dispense Himself into His chosen people. God the Father in the Son and through the Spirit needed to make the universe in order to impart Himself in His trinity into us.
As the Creator, Christ the Son will remain forever. Although all the created things will change sooner or later, He will last forever, remaining the same. Hebrews 1:11-12 says, “They will perish, but You remain perpetually; and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed; but You are the same, and Your years will not fail.”
Verses 10 through 12 reveal that Christ will be superior to the angels in eternity. Verse 10 says, “You in the beginning, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.” This refers to His creation. Verses 11 and 12 reveal that the old creation will be terminated, that the new heaven and new earth will be ushered in, and that Christ will be the everlasting One in eternity. As the Creator and the everlasting One, He is superior to the angels, His creatures.
Verse 3 speaks of Christ the Son “upholding and bearing all things by the word of His power.” This verse indicates that Christ is not only the Creator of all things in the universe but also the Upholder of all things by the word of His power. All things subsist together under His powerful upholding (Col. 1:17).
After creating all things, the Son became the Upholder (Heb. 1:3). The earth is suspended in the air. There are no columns supporting it. After Christ created the earth, He began to uphold it. He upholds it by the word of His power. Christ the Son upholds the universe very easily. He does not do anything — He just speaks. He upholds all things by the word of His power.
In Hebrews 11:3 we are told that the universe was framed by the word of God, and in 1:3 we see that the universe is upheld by the word of His power. The Son is not only the Creator, but He is also the Upholder. He created and upholds the universe by His word.
The Greek word translated “word” in verse 3 denotes the instant word. The Son upholds and bears all things not by His work but by His instant word, the word of His power. In creation all things came into being through Him as the Word (John 1:1-3). The universe has been framed by the word of God (Heb. 11:3): “He spoke, and it was; / He commanded, and it stood” (Psa. 33:9). In salvation we are saved through His word (John 5:24; Rom. 10:8, 17). It is through His word that His authority with power is exercised (Matt. 8:8-9). It is by His word that His healing power is realized (John 4:50-51). God speaks in the Son, and the Son upholds and bears all things by His word. It is altogether a matter of speaking. When the Lord speaks, everything is in order.
Hebrews 1:2 tells us that Christ the Son is the appointed Heir of all things. This means that Christ is the legal Heir, inheriting all things in God’s economy. Since Christ is not only the Son of God but also the Heir of God, all that God the Father is and has is His possession (John 16:15). In the past the Son was the Creator (Heb. 1:2, 10; John 1:3; Col. 1:16; 1 Cor. 8:6); in the present He is the Upholder of all things and the One who bears all things (Heb. 1:3); in the future He will be the Heir, inheriting all things (cf. Rom. 11:36). Since Christ created all things, He will inherit what He created. This is the relationship between Christ and creation.
Christ, as typified by Isaac, the son of Abraham, will inherit the earth (Psa. 2:8), the kingdom (Dan. 7:13-14), the throne (Luke 1:32), and all things (Matt. 11:27). Since He is not only the Son of God but also the legal Heir of God, all that God the Father is and has is for His possession (John 16:15).
We need to also see how Christ is related to the Godhead. Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Christ the Son as the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance. God’s glory is God expressed, and God’s substance is that which exists intrinsically in His divine being. In the Godhead, Christ is both the effulgence of the expressed God and the image of God’s inner being.
The effulgence of God’s glory is like the shining or the brightness of the light of the sun. The Son is the shining, the brightness, of the Father’s glory. This refers to God’s glory. Separating the effulgence from the glory may be likened to separating the shining of the sun from the rays of the sun. The shining cannot be separated from the rays, for they are one. Likewise, we should never consider the Son as separate from God. The Son is the expression of God Himself; Christ the Son is God expressed. He is nothing less than God; He is God Himself.
Our Christ is God coming to us. He is our God reaching us. Just as the sun can reach us by the shining of its rays, Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself reaching us and coming into us. We have a God who reaches us, a God who comes into us. This is our great salvation (2:3), and this is the Son of God.
The Son is also the impress, the express image, of the substance of God (1:3). The impress of God’s substance is like the impress of a seal. The Son is the expression of what God the Father is. God’s substance is Spirit (John 4:24), and Christ is the impress of this substance.
The glory is the outward expression, and the substance is the inward essence. God has His essence, His substance, as well as His appearance. God’s essence is His substance. He has substance as well as glory. Our God is glorious and substantial. As far as God’s glory is concerned, the Son is the effulgence of this glory. As far as God’s substance is concerned, the Son is the impress of this substance.
The Son is not only the effulgence of God’s glory but also the impress of God’s substance. This means that the Son is God coming to us. When God does not come to us, He is simply God. When God comes to us, He is the Son as the impress of His substance.
Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son.” Our God is revealed because He has revealed Himself in His speaking. The living God imparts and infuses Himself into us by speaking (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Ezek. 37:4-6). When God speaks, the light shines, bringing us understanding, vision, knowledge, wisdom, and utterance (Psa. 119:105, 130). When God speaks, life is imparted, and this life includes all the divine attributes and human virtues of Christ (John 6:63; 1:1, 4). When God speaks, power is transmitted, and this is the growing and reproducing power of life.
The whole universe came into being by God’s speaking (Rom. 4:17; Heb. 11:3; Psa. 33:9). In the Old Testament, God spoke in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, in men borne by His Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). Now at the last of these days, that is, in the New Testament age, God has spoken to us in the Son, in the person of the Son. To us, Christ, the Son of God, is the mouthpiece of God, the oracle of God. The Son is God Himself speaking. To say that God has spoken to us in the Son means that God speaks in Himself. God has spoken in the Son, and the Son is God; this indicates that God speaks in Himself. God Himself speaks to us in His divine being, not through some other agent. The Son is God Himself (Heb. 1:8), God expressed. God the Father is hidden; God the Son is expressed. No one has ever seen God; the Son, as the Word of God (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13) and the speaking of God, has declared Him with a full expression, explanation, and definition of Him (John 1:18). God speaking in the Son means that the Son speaks God.
In the New Testament, God speaks in the Son, in the person of the Son. This person was first an individual and then became corporate. God today speaks in a person, and this person has been increased to be a corporate person, including all the apostles and all the members of this person’s Body (1 Cor. 14:4b, 31). Because all the members of the Body of Christ are the sons of God in the firstborn Son of God, their speaking for God is also God’s speaking in the person of the Son. The firstborn Son of God and the many sons of God are considered as one in the person of the Son. Today God is speaking through a corporate person. Therefore, “the Son” mentioned in Hebrews 1:2 is corporate.
God is still speaking in the Son, and we believers are a part of the Son. Throughout the past twenty centuries, the speaking of those who spoke forth the Lord according to the New Testament and its principles has been the Son’s speaking. In the New Testament the apostle Paul is an example of one whose speaking was the Son’s speaking.
God speaks in the sonship. The sonship in God’s New Testament economy is not only individual but also corporate. Christ is the firstborn Son of God, and we are the many sons of God (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:10). God has many sons, and the many sons have been incorporated. The Firstborn plus the many sons are the collective, corporate Son. The entire New Testament is the speaking of the processed God in the person of the Son with all His members. We are the members of the Body of Christ, and the Body is composed of all the sons of God. God begot many children to become His sons, and these sons are the components of the Body of Christ. Therefore, we are the members of the Son. Today God is still speaking in the corporate Son in the principle of incarnation.
God today continues to speak in His Son who has been enlarged to become a corporate man, the Body of Christ. The evil intention of the Jewish religionists was to terminate the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, by crucifying Him. But after His crucifixion, the Lord entered into the realm of resurrection, and in resurrection He became the Head of the Body. Before His crucifixion and resurrection, the Lord Jesus was restricted by the flesh; it was not possible for Him to be universal. But through death and resurrection He was enlarged from an individual to a corporate man. On the day of Pentecost Christ came down as the all-inclusive Spirit upon His disciples to make them members of His Body. This Body, a corporate man, includes the resurrected Christ as the Head and the millions of believers in Christ as the members. Now, just as our whole body speaks whenever we speak, so the Body of Christ speaks whenever Christ speaks as the Head. Today the Son of God is no longer merely an individual; He is a corporate, universal man. For this reason, all the members of the Body can speak the word of God.
God’s having many sons means that there should be “many speakings.” A son of God should speak for God everywhere. As the sons of God, we all need to be those who speak forth Christ. All the sons in the divine sonship should speak Christ, and Christ speaks for God. In the New Testament God speaks in Christ as His firstborn Son, indicating that all the brothers of His firstborn Son as His many sons, the members of the Body of Christ, should be the word of God, speaking for God.
In the four Gospels the Son came to speak God, not only with clear words but also with what He was and what He did. He is altogether the Word of God and the speaking of God. Sometimes He spoke with words, and other times He spoke with actions. All that He was and all that He did spoke God. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). The entire four Gospels were His speaking, either by word directly or by what He was. He spoke much by words, but He spoke even more by what He was. Whatever He did, whatever He spoke, whatever He worked, and however He behaved was altogether His speaking.
Whenever the Son speaks, He is the Spirit. The speaking Son is the Spirit. The Son of God is the Word. When the Word speaks, it becomes the Spirit, and when the Son speaks, His word is the Spirit (6:63). Eventually, to the churches He is the speaking Spirit. At the beginning of each of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3, the Son speaks, but at the end of each epistle, it is the Spirit speaking to the churches. God speaks in the Son, and when the Son speaks to the churches, He is the speaking Spirit. By His speaking, the churches will become one with Him. At the end of Revelation the Spirit and the church speak as one (22:17). God speaks in the Son, the Son becomes the speaking Spirit, and the speaking Spirit is one with the church speaking for God. This is the speaking history of our God, a history that is a speaking story.
This speaking story is recorded in the Bible. The entire Bible is a history of God. This history is a speaking story. When God created all things, He did so by speaking. When He contacted humanity in the Old Testament times, He did it by speaking in the prophets. When He came to mankind in the New Testament age, He spoke in the Son, in the person of the Son as His Word. He comes into the churches today by speaking as the speaking Spirit. By speaking as the Spirit, He makes Himself one with the churches. Eventually, this speaking story consists of not only God Himself but also of all the churches. Meeting after meeting, the church life is a speaking story. We are a speaking people. By this speaking, God is transfused into people. By this speaking, many human beings are being infused and saturated with the divine element. This is the church life. This is God speaking.
The essence of the Epistle to the Hebrews is God’s speaking in the Son. God speaks in the Son, the Son speaks as the Spirit to the churches, and ultimately, the Spirit speaks with the church. It is altogether by this speaking story that God is brought into man, and man is brought into God. God and man, man and God, become one. This is the wonderful church life.
