Let us turn to the book of Hebrews, beginning with Hebrews 1:1-3, and then Hebrews 2:5-10.
God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners,
hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son,
whom He appointed heir of all things,
through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance,
and upholding all things by the word of His power,
when He had made purification of sins,
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
For not unto angels did He subject the world to come, whereof we speak.
But one hath somewhere testified, saying,
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels;
Thou crownedst him with glory and honor,
And didst set him over the works of Thy hands:
Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet.
But now we see not yet all things subjected to him.
But we behold Him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus,
because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,
that by the grace of God He should taste death for every man.
For it became Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
We thank the Lord that He has given us this opportunity for all the brothers and sisters to gather before Him. Our theme is: “But we see Jesus.”
Our brother last night used Matthew 16:17-18 as the basis for his fellowship. This morning, Lord willing, I would like to share with the brothers and sisters from the book of Hebrews.
The book of Hebrews is a message concerning a turning of time, a changing of time. The law was over; grace had come.
Our Lord came into this world. He lived on the earth for thirty-three years, went to the cross, and completed for us the work of redemption. Then He was resurrected, ascended to the highest heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent into this world. One hundred and twenty disciples were baptized in one Spirit into one Body, and from that time the church began to testify for the Lord.
Although the church was opposed and persecuted by the Jews, in the eyes of the Roman Empire it was initially considered a sect within Judaism. Therefore, the church at that time was actually protected by the Roman Empire.
But in A.D. 64, Nero, the emperor of Rome, burned the city of Rome. We do not know why he did it. Perhaps he wanted to burn the old city so that he could build a new and greater one.
The burning of the city caused much animosity among the people. In order to pacify the citizens, Nero found a scapegoat: he blamed the Christians.
From that point on, the Roman Empire persecuted Christianity. If you confessed yourself to be a Christian, then you were considered a criminal.
Christianity began to be separated from Judaism. This was also according to the predestined will of God, because Christ could not remain forever bound by Judaism.
Although the gospel came from the Jews, the gospel could not be restrained or limited among the Jews. God used these circumstances to liberate Christianity from Judaism.
Then, in A.D. 70, the city of Jerusalem was ruined and the temple was destroyed. From that point on, Christianity and Judaism were completely separated.
This was the goodwill of God, because He wanted to bring His people into the fullness of Christ. We are not to be bound by religious forms.
But whenever God is working on this earth, Satan, the enemy, also accelerates his work.
When persecution came, many Jewish believers who had confessed Christ did not have a clear knowledge of the Lord. Their vision was not clear. When they became frustrated, they were tempted to return to Judaism because there they had a sense of safety.
Therefore, God gave the book of Hebrews to Jewish believers who had been converted to Christianity. On the one hand, this book was written to encourage them; on the other hand, it was written to warn them, that they might walk straight on the way of the Lord and enter into the riches of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, today we also are at a turning point of time.
We know that this age of grace is about to be over. From the time our Lord came to this earth and completed salvation until our own day has been the age of grace.
But the kingdom of God is about to come. The time of righteousness is to come, and our Lord is going to return.
At this turning of the age, God desires to set us free from every boundary so that we may truly enter into Christ and into the riches of Christ.
But at the same time, the enemy also accelerates his work. He uses various means so that God’s children may once again be bound by religious systems.
Though we have not come out of Judaism, in principle we must come out of religion. We must come out from organization and system, and we must enter into Christ.
Judaism, in the beginning, came from the revelation of God. God revealed Himself to Israel, and at that time it was living.
But through generations, the revelation of God turned into religion. A living revelation became a dead system.
Historically speaking, this happened when the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon. After they were taken to Babylon, scribes and Pharisees arose and attempted to interpret the revelation of God.
One generation after another interpreted the interpretations of the previous generation. It became interpretation upon interpretation, and gradually it became the tradition of the fathers.
Thus, the revelation of God was turned into a dead religious system, and many people were bound.
Why did the Jewish believers want to return to Judaism? Because there they had a sense of security. They could see something and touch something.
There was an earthly center, there were rules, there were rituals, and there was a system of priests and mediators. All these things could be seen by the eyes and touched by the hands.
But spiritual things seemed far away. Their vision became dim, and they did not clearly see the heart of God. They did not understand Christ, and therefore they were easily tempted to return to the religious system of men.
Dear brothers and sisters, today we see the same danger. In these end times, when everything seems tense, it is very easy for us to become confused.
If we do not have a clear vision of Christ, it is very easy for us to be tempted back to the religious world. Christianity today has become a religious world, with rules, places of gathering, priesthood, and systems of mediation.
When we encounter difficulties, or when we meet something we cannot explain, it is easy for us to become frustrated and to want to return to the religious world, because it seems easier to live there.
But brothers and sisters, even if we return to the religious world, there can be no satisfaction within us. Only our Lord Jesus Himself can satisfy our hearts.
Therefore, there is a great burden upon us: that we should not look to other things, but only see our Lord. May the Lord open our hearts and our minds so that we may see Him.
If we truly see Him, then we shall have liberty.
This morning, we would like to consider four matters:
We will begin with the first matter: the person of Jesus Christ.
When we see a person, the first thing we want to know is who that person is.
When John the Baptist came preaching, the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to examine him. They asked, “Who art thou? Art thou the Christ? Art thou Elijah? Art thou the prophet?” John answered, “No, I am not.”
They were investigating his identity. When our Lord cleansed the temple, they also asked Him, “By what authority doest Thou these things? Who art Thou? What is Thy identification?”
Identification gives authority and qualification. When we have the proper identification, we may speak and work, and what we do has value. Therefore, identification is extremely important.
When our Lord began to be rejected by the Jews, He went to Caesarea Philippi and asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”
Then He asked them, “But who say ye that I am?” Simon Peter received a heavenly revelation and said:
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
“You are the Christ”: that is His office. He is the Anointed One, sent by God to accomplish the work of salvation. “You are the Son of the living God”: that is the identification of His person.
Brothers and sisters, we must come to know our Lord and to know His identity.
When we examine the identity of an ordinary person, we investigate where he was born, who his parents were, who his brothers and sisters were, what education he received, and what his background was. It is easy for us to know such a background.
But it is not easy for us to investigate the identity of our Lord.
When our Lord was on earth, those who came from Nazareth said, “We know who He is. He grew up in Nazareth. His father is a carpenter. He Himself is a carpenter. We know His brothers and His sisters.”
They knew the background of our Lord Jesus, but did they know Him? They did not. They wrongly identified His person, and therefore they rejected Him.
How about today? We have the four Gospels before us, and many of us have grown up in Christian families. We may have heard the Bible and read the Bible from childhood. We may be very familiar with the story of the Lord Jesus.
But does that mean we know who He is? I have to confess that merely reading the four Gospels does not mean that I know Him. I totally did not understand Him.
It is not easy to know the identity and person of our Lord. When Peter confessed the Lord, the Lord did not say, “Simon Bar-Jonah, you are very smart.”
Rather, the Lord said:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah:
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but My Father who is in heaven.
We cannot know the person of the Lord merely through flesh and blood. We must ask the Lord to give us revelation.
It is not sufficient merely to know the letters of the Bible. We must receive heavenly revelation in the depth of our hearts, so that the words of the Bible become the living word spoken to us by the Holy Spirit.
I have to confess that it is not possible for me to cause you to see Christ. Only the Spirit of God can show you the Lord Jesus.
Therefore, as we fellowship, let us all look to the Lord. May the Spirit of the Lord enlighten His word and make the truth living to us, so that we may see the Lord Jesus from the depth of our hearts.
At the beginning of Hebrews, we are told that God has spoken. God is a God who speaks. He desires to reveal to us all that is in His heart.
If God does not speak, no one can know God. But we thank God that He is a God who speaks, and He spoke to the fathers through the prophets.
In former times, however, His speaking was limited by man. God could speak only in many portions and in many ways—He could speak only in fragments.
It was not because God was unwilling to speak, but because man had limited God.
But praise God: in these last days, God has spoken to us in His Son.
Among the Jews, “the last days” is an expression referring to the days of the Messiah. When our Lord came to this earth, that was the beginning of the last days. When He comes again, that will be the consummation of the age.
God speaks to us in His Son. When the Son speaks, it is the Father speaking to us in Him, because He is the Word of God.
Not only is God speaking when the Son speaks; when the Son walked upon this earth, He was the manifestation of God upon the earth. The revelation of God was perfectly and completely expressed in His Son.
The first thing we see, then, is that Jesus is the Son of God. When men hear Him, they hear the Father. When men see Him, they see the Father.
God has appointed His Son to be the heir of all things. God is willing to give all things to His Son as His inheritance.
Before all things were created, God purposed to create all things and give them to His Son as His inheritance. How majestic is the Son!
Not only is He the heir of all things; God created all things through Him. When Hebrews says that God made “the worlds” through Him, it speaks not merely of the planet earth, but of the whole universe.
God created the whole universe through His Son, and He has given all things in this universe to His Son. He is the only heir who inherits all things.
Hebrews says that He is the effulgence of God’s glory.
There is no way for us fully to explain the glory of God. The whole Bible shows us the glory of God, but the glory of God is God Himself.
No one has ever seen His face. Moses prayed, “Show me Thy glory,” but God said, “No man shall see Me and live.”
God is too glorious for man to behold in himself. Yet, amazingly, the Lord Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God.
The sun that we see is but the radiance of its glory, and even that radiance cannot be looked upon with bare eyes. How much more glorious is God Himself!
God dwells in light unapproachable. No one can see Him; no one can come near Him. Yet the radiance and effulgence of His glory has come among us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 4:6 we read:
Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness,
who shined in our hearts,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
When we see Christ Jesus, we see the glory of God in His face.
Our Lord is like a prism. When light shines into a prism, that light is distributed, and we can enjoy the spectrum of colors. In the same way, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
God is light, and our Lord Jesus is full of truth. God is love, and our Lord Jesus is full of grace. Our Lord Jesus emanates the glory of God to us.
Hebrews also says that He is the very image of God’s substance. He is not merely the effulgence of God’s glory; He is the exact expression of God’s very being.
The word used in the original language refers to the exact imprint made by a seal or stamp. Whatever the true substance of God is, the Lord Jesus is its perfect expression.
All the fullness of God dwells bodily in Him, because He is God. This is our Lord Jesus.
He upholds all things by the word of His power.
All things were created through Him, all things subsist through Him, and He is the power that holds all things together.
By the word of His power, He holds the whole universe together. When our Lord was crucified, the earth quaked. Why? The One who upholds all things was upon the cross.
If the universe were to lose the sustaining power of our Lord, it would melt away, because He is the One who upholds all things.
Hebrews also tells us that He made purification for our sins and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Sometimes, when we preach the gospel, we may give the impression that God is severe while the Lord Jesus is loving and compassionate. We may even think that God is unfair for allowing His Son to suffer.
But brothers and sisters, through the qualification of the Son of God, God Himself purified our sins. It was God Himself who acted to cleanse us.
God did not use another man as a sacrifice. God loves us. He came to us in His Son for us. How great is the love of God!
For this reason, God highly exalted Him, and He now sits at the right hand of God.
Our Lord Jesus is the Son of God. He inherits all things. He is the effulgence of the glory of God, the exact image of the substance of God, and the One who upholds all things.
If we truly see this glorious and majestic Lord from the depth of our hearts, we cannot but prostrate ourselves before Him and worship Him.
Our Lord is worthy of worship. Not only is He worthy of worship; He is worthy to be our Head. In all things, He should have the preeminence. He must be Lord and King within us.
We must learn to obey His word. The writer of Hebrews says that we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest we drift away.
What is the word that we have heard? It is the word of the first chapter: our Lord Jesus is the Son of God.
If we do not hold fast to Him, we may drift away. The picture is of a boat attempting to enter the harbor. If it is not careful in the tide, it may miss the course and fail to enter the harbor.
The original word also carries the thought of leaking away. If we do not hold fast to the Lord, we may drift away or leak away, and fail to arrive in the harbor.
Many people have drifted away because they do not have a clear vision of Christ. They have seen many things, but they have not seen the Lord Jesus.
But we see Jesus. If we have seen the Lord Jesus, we have seen everything. We must close our eyes and close our ears to distractions, and with one heart and one mind pursue our Lord.
Our Lord is not only the Son of God. Hebrews 2 also shows us that He is Man.
When God made man, He made man according to His own image and likeness. He also gave authority to man over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and every creeping thing.
God had a glorious purpose. He wanted man to be united with Him, to reign with Him, and to be used by Him to accomplish His purpose.
But regrettably, man rebelled against God and fell. Man lost the image of God and also lost the authority and power that God had given him.
Yet God did not give up His original purpose concerning man.
In Psalm 8, David said:
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
For Thou hast made him but little lower than God,
And crownest him with glory and honor.
This was the original mind of God concerning man. Even after man fell, God did not change His purpose.
In the fullness of time, our Lord Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem us from under the law and bring us into sonship.
The original purpose of God concerning man has not changed at all.
Sometimes man says, “I want to be an angel.” Sometimes we may wish to be something else. When I was young, I saw birds flying freely and thought how wonderful it would be to be a bird.
But thank God that He created us to be men, because God has a glorious purpose concerning man.
Although Adam fell, and the descendants of Adam also fell, God sent His Son to become a man. This is not a small thing.
God Himself became man. The Creator became a created man.
The God who is everywhere was constrained within a human body. The God who is almighty came to the earth as a baby and grew up gradually. The eternal God became a child and learned as a man.
No wonder Paul says in Philippians 2 that, though He was equal with God, He did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself.
He laid aside the glory, majesty, and riches associated with His divine position. He did not cease to be God, for He is God; but when He came to earth as a man, He took the form of a servant.
God has authority over the whole universe. He does whatever He wills, and no one has the right to question Him.
Yet when our Lord Jesus came to the earth, He took the likeness of a bondservant. A bondservant has no position and no power.
He became obedient before God, even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Why did He do this? Because He loves us. Because He loved us, He was willing to come to this earth as a man.
The Lord often called Himself the Son of Man. What does this mean?
He was not merely a man. He is the beginning of a new man. He came to the earth as a man, concluded the old race of Adam, and began a new humanity.
In Adam, we all died; but in Christ, we are all made alive. He has saved us, and not only saved us, but He is bringing us into glory.
When we consider our Lord Jesus as the Son of Man, we see how He died for us, how He was resurrected for us, and how He brought us back to life and caused us to sit with Him in the heavenly places.
How great is this salvation! Every time we consider our Lord Jesus, we desire to draw near to Him and rely upon Him.
He has not only forgiven our sins; He is going to bring us into glory. He is going to restore us to the original purpose of God concerning man.
This is all because He is the Son of Man. This is our Lord Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, we hope that in the depth of our hearts and spirits we may see Him. We have often considered our Lord too small. We have considered Him too little.
May the Lord open our minds so that we may see the Jesus who is in the heart of God. He is the beloved Son of God, and He has come to this earth as the Son of Man.
If you truly see this Jesus, the One in whom you believe, what can tempt your heart and draw you away from Him?
What is more precious than pursuing Him? We may consider all things as refuse in comparison with the excellency and preciousness of Christ.
As the psalmist said:
Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee.
Our Lord is the One who is lovable. He is the One worthy of our worship.
Our Lord, how majestic You are. You are the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God. You are so lovable, and You are the Son of Man.
Our God, open the eyes of our hearts that we may see Your Son.
Lord, let our hearts be wholly filled by Your Son. Do not let any earthly thing occupy our hearts.
Only You are all in all. Only You are worthy of our worship.
We worship You. We praise You. We adore You. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.