A Daily Walk

Announcer: When things seem to be spinning out of control, Pastor John Randall says remember Jesus is in control.

John Randall: If Jesus can hold the universe together by the word of his power, don't you know he can hold your life together tonight? I don't know if he's able. I've got a lot going on right now in my life. There is a lot of stuff happening right now. Hey, just FYI, he's holding the universe together with his word, so you're good.

He's got you. He can take care of you. "I'm falling apart." He's got you. He's got the whole world in his hands, as the song says, and that includes you.

Announcer: We are happy to have you in our listening family today on A Daily Walk as we return to Pastor John Randall's series in Hebrews. As parents, we sure light up when our kids accomplish something great, whether it's at a swim meet or at school, and especially if it's of a spiritual nature done in the name of Christ.

Well, in the book of Hebrews, you might say God is saying that his Son has done something incredible and wants to recognize it. As we come to understand who Jesus is and what he's accomplished, it will really impact our lives in a great way. So, let's seek to do that now. Here is Pastor John in Hebrews Chapter 1, which underscores seven facts that establish the superiority of Jesus.

John Randall: The Psalmist said in Psalm 19, an example of general revelation, when he said, "The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge." In other words, the Psalmist was saying when I look around at what God's created, day after day, night after night, I look up into the sky.

I don't know if you've looked up into the sky lately and how clear it's been. The other night I went outside and I just looked up and I could see the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper and the rest of the stuff up there. It was just amazing to look at. I don't have it mapped out, but you're looking at it. I knew they were stars, and I just was amazed at what I could see, that they just hang there. They're just up there and I think, "You made that."

And then you look out and you see the vastness of the ocean. You can see all the way to Catalina the last several days. It's like you can see the actual rock formations. It's so clear and the ocean's so vast, and you think, "You made all of this." It's a revelation of who he is. Day after day, I'm amazed at what I see. Night after night, I think creation is speaking in a sense, generally speaking about there is a designer behind the design. There is a creator behind creation.

Paul took it a step further. In writing in Romans Chapter 1, verse 20, this is what he said. He said, "For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that man is without excuse." Paul said you look at creation and you can see creation, and the invisible, what you can't see, attributes of God are clearly seen so that man, no matter who he is, is without excuse.

"Well, I didn't know." Look around. Check it out. See that flower? Look at it. Smell it. You're without excuse. "I don't see it." Come here, you. Let me put this up in your nose. Smell this. "I'm allergic." Okay, it's real. General revelation. But then there is not only general revelation, but then there's special revelation. Special revelation is how God has chosen to reveal himself through miraculous means.

Special revelation includes dreams, visions, the written Word of God, and most importantly, Jesus Christ himself. The writer of Hebrews points out that in the past, one of the ways that God revealed himself and his will was through a group of individuals who were called prophets. More than 133 names of prophets are mentioned in the Bible. I'd like to go through them now. No, we're not going to.

But the first one ever named, Genesis Chapter 20, verse 7, his name was Abraham. God said he's a prophet, the first one mentioned. And the prophets received their calling from God. Men like Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, on and on throughout the Bible, you'll see these names. Elijah. So many of them were raised up at different times with a word from the Lord.

And the prophets would be required sometimes to even illustrate the messages of the Lord. In the New Testament, John the Baptist was a prophet. He foretold of the Messiah. In the early church, there were prophets. A man like Ananias, who gave a prophecy about the Apostle Paul's future. And so you find these individuals. Prophets were individuals who were raised up, given words from God. They spoke and they wrote under supernatural guidance and inspiration of the Spirit of God.

But although every prophet's words were worthy of listening to and obeying, no prophet was worthy of worship. None of them. Due to the content of their message, the prophets were persecuted and imprisoned, beaten, some put to death. Jesus, you remember, wept at Jerusalem because of those who had killed the prophets that had been sent to them.

So in the past, the Lord spoke through the prophets. But what the prophets foretold pointed to Jesus. That is why the writer says, yeah, in the past he used prophets to reveal special revelation to the world. But in these last days, now, he's used Jesus to reveal who he is. In the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.

God's final revelation was given to man through Jesus Christ. Jesus came to bring the final and ultimate message of God. All that man is to know about God can be discovered in and through the person of Jesus. Do you remember Jesus said in John Chapter 14, verse 10, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I don't speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works."

You want to know what God looks like? Look at Jesus because he reveals him. The writer will highlight seven facts that establish the superiority of Jesus. Seven facts that establish Jesus' superiority. First of all, he tells us here that Jesus, you'll notice back in our text, Jesus is the heir of all things. Heir of all things.

The word heir carries the idea of dominion and authority. The truth is Jesus is the appointed heir of everything, and that emphasizes his infinite superiority. I was reading a passage of Scripture the other morning in my devotions and it said, "The earth is the Lord's." I took great comfort in that. It's yours, Lord. It's all yours. You died for it. One day you're going to redeem it. In fact, the Bible says you're going to make a new one. It's all yours.

You have infinite superiority. You're the heir of all things. That is why Isaiah prophesies in a passage that you may be familiar with around Christmas time, Isaiah Chapter 9. It says this: "A child is born unto us, a son is given. The government will rest on his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, and there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David over his kingdom, to establish it, to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this."

In other words, Jesus is the heir of everything. It all belongs to him. That is what makes him superior to everyone. It's all his. Is it all yours? No, it's all his. And thus, he is superior. The Psalmist records, interestingly, in the Old Testament, the Psalmist actually records the Father speaking to God the Son and saying, "Ask of me and I will give you the nations as thine inheritance and the very ends of the earth as thy possession."

It's all his. He's superior. In the New Testament, in John Chapter 13, verse 3, Jesus said, "Knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands." It's all his. John Chapter 16, verse 15: "And that all things," Jesus said, "that the Father has are mine." You getting the idea? It's all his. Matthew 28, verse 18: "All authority has been given unto me in heaven and earth." It's all his.

He's superior. Everything belongs to Jesus. But not only is he the heir of all things, look at this. The second thing that's pointed out here is Jesus is the creator of all things. It says, "Through whom he also made the worlds." When we study John's Gospel, if you study John's Gospel, you will know that it emphasizes the deity of Jesus Christ. More than any other Gospel, John highlights the deity of Christ.

John began his first chapter of that Gospel by saying these words, John Chapter 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made." In other words, he was saying Jesus was there creating. He's the creator.

Paul writes to the Colossians in Chapter 1, in verses 16 and 17, and this is what he says concerning Jesus being the creator of all things. It says, "For by him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible or invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist," or literally they are held together by him.

So he created it. The things you can see, the things you can't see, he created it. And he holds it all together. For him and by him, he's superior because he's the creator of everything. He's the agent that created both matter and history. Someone put it this way: Jesus is the divine agent, not only in the original creation of the physical universe, but also in the operation and the management of that universe and all its creatures all down the ages of time.

That makes him better than the prophets. No prophet was the creator of all things. So just so you know, you might respect the prophets, but none of them compares to Jesus because he is heir of all things and he created all things. But the third thing we find out is that Jesus is the brightness of the Father's glory. "Who being in the brightness of his glory." This verse is illuminating, seriously.

Like a sunbeam that comes off of the sun, so Jesus is the light that reveals the brightness of the Father. Jesus doesn't just reflect God's glory, he is God's glory. There were moments even in the New Testament when he gave his disciples a glimpse of it. Do you remember? He went up onto the Mount of Transfiguration with his disciples. Took three of them: Peter, James, and John.

Took them up onto the mountain, and it says he was transfigured in front of them. He gave them a glimpse of his glory. They saw his clothes; they were so white like no launderer, it says in the Scripture, had ever whitened. And it was like the sun shining in their eyes. They got a glimpse of the glory and they fell down. Peter said, "Lord, it's great to be here. We need to build three tents: one for you, one for Moses and Elijah. Let's just stay up here with your glory."

They loved it. They got a glimpse of it. Amazing. Jesus is the brightness of the Father's glory. Jesus said in John Chapter 10, verse 30, "I and the Father are one." In John 14, remember Philip said, "Show us the Father and that'll be sufficient, Jesus." Jesus said to Philip, "Philip, have I been with you so long that you have not known me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.

So how can you say show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I don't speak of mine own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. If you've seen me, you've seen him," is what Jesus said. Second Corinthians Chapter 4, verse 6, Paul writes concerning this and he said, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

He is the express brightness of his glory. No prophet was the express brightness of the glory of God. Only Jesus was. Thus, he is superior. You understand? He's better than all of them. But it's also, it says here in verse 3, "He's the express image of the Father." So he's the brightness of the Father's glory. Wait, he's also the express image.

The word image here in verse 3, it means the exact representation. That's who Jesus is. It's actually where we get our English word character, which describes one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual. It's used in classical Greek of an engraver who mints a coin. When you mint a coin, the image impressed upon that coin is the picture of the person. Jesus is, if you would, the express image of the Father, of God.

That's what the writer is saying. Thus, he has superiority. Colossians Chapter 1 says it this way just to back it up: "He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God." There it is. It doesn't get any clearer than that. He is the image. He's that exact imprint, as it were, the character of God, the exact representation. Thus, he is better.

But then, the fifth thing to notice is that Jesus upholds everything. Verse 3: "And upholding all things by the word of his power." When it says that Jesus upholds everything by the word of his power, it means not only with sustaining the weight of the universe but also with maintaining its consistency and carrying on its development. How does that happen? Jesus does it. He does it by the word of his power.

There's no prophet, although they spoke words with power, none of them had the powerful words that could sustain the universe. Only Jesus. Thus, he is superior. Charles Spurgeon said it this way: Just think of it, the great world of ours is upheld by Christ's word. If he did not speak it into continued existence, it would go back into the nothingness from which it sprung.

Listen, the physical universe isn't held together and regulated merely by the laws of nature. "Oh, Mother Nature..." There is no such thing, if you didn't know that. There is Father God. He holds it all together. Jesus holds it all together. There's no Mother Nature. It operates by the words of Jesus, the Bible says. And therefore, and this is what I find comfort in tonight, if Jesus can hold the universe together by the word of his power, don't you know he can hold your life together tonight?

"I don't know if he's able. I've got a lot going on right now in my life. There's a lot of stuff happening right now." Hey, just FYI, he's holding the universe together with his word, so you're good. He's got you. He can take care of you. "I'm falling apart." He's got you. He's got the whole world in his hands, as the song says, and that includes you. Not a problem for Jesus.

But then something so wonderful... It just gets better. Listen, he purged our sins. He himself purged our sin. No prophet could die for your sins. Only Jesus. And that's no easy task because in order to do so, he had to be perfect. He emptied himself of his divine privileges. He became a man. He suffered. He died in our place. He redeemed us by his blood.

He finished the work. My sins are gone. That's what makes him better. There's nobody else who can do that for you. You can't do that for yourself. Only Jesus can. You may be a great sinner, but Jesus is a great redeemer and savior. And finally, the seventh thing that is highlighted here is that Jesus completed the work. He completed it.

He completed it. It says, "He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Once Jesus completed his mission, the Bible said he ascended back to heaven. He is currently seated in control. Not pacing, "Oh man, look what's going on down there. What are we going to do? The world's crazy. Wait, hold the universe together. Wait a second." That is not the picture of Jesus.

He is seated. He is in control. The posture that is pointed out indicates that the work of redemption is done. It's done. It's finished. It's completed. Amen? And it says he's at the right hand of God. The right hand of God is often used figuratively in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testament of the Bible.

The writer of Hebrews describes this right hand of God as the place of honor and exaltation for Jesus. The right hand of God, therefore, is a reference to both the place of proximity to God the Father and the position of power above all powers. Jesus, the Messiah, our Savior, exists at the right hand of God today. The Bible says, as we'll find out later on, he makes intercession for us, praying for us.

Philippians 2 says God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, every tongue should confess, of those in heaven and those on earth and under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So what did we talk about tonight? That Jesus is better than the prophets. You say, "How could you say that, John? Why would you say that?"

I'll tell you because Jesus—this is a quiz—he's heir of all things. If you didn't write it down before, here's your chance. He's heir of all things. He's the creator of all things. He's the brightness of the Father's glory. He's the express image of the Father. He upholds everything. He purged our sins, and he completed the work. He's better. Next time we're together, we'll find out that Jesus is not only better than the prophets, but he's also better than the angels. And we'll see that next time.

Announcer: We sure will. You have that to look forward to next time on A Daily Walk, but don't go away. Pastor John Randall will be right back. Jesus is better than the Old Testament prophets. That's the great lesson we pulled out of the first few verses in Hebrews.