Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-031 (Sermon – Expository)

THE PRE-EMINENCE OF JESUS (Hebrews 1:5-14)

by Rod Benson

Novelist Damien Broderick is credited with coining the term ‘virtual reality’ in 1975. Writing in the September 1998 issue of Eureka Street about what he terms our “nanotechnological” future, Broderick speaks of “the Spike” (something like a J-curve in economics).

“The accelerating trends in computer science, trends converging somewhere between 2030 and 2100 to form a barrier of technological novelties blocking the future from us . . . We can only guess,” says Broderick, “at what lies ahead of us, up the Spike’s slope.”

In the final paragraph of his article he reminds us that the future is a journey we’ve already long since commenced. “The Spike, you see, isn’t really some incredible Apocalypse hovering dimly in the remote future,” he says. “It is the curving gradient which we already climb, day after day, into an ever-more exotic future. Start getting ready for it.”

As with all change, we have three options. We may pretend nothing is happening and live in perpetual denial; we may flee to the hills and live in secluded bliss; or we may grin and bear it, cushioning the negative impact of this global social and cultural transformation, and adapting to the new variables in our world.

People who choose the third option will do so in various ways. Some will use New Age tools; others will soldier on within a modernist worldview.

But there are others who will, with spiritual and historic insight, recognise that their best hope for a smooth ride up the Spike’s slope is to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, and build a lifestyle based on his teaching and example.

Why? Because Jesus Christ is, as the author of Hebrews points out, “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

WHO IS JESUS?

Jesus is the creator, sustainer, redeemer and end of history and humanity. He is the one reliable constant and indomitable reality in a galaxy of uncertainty and vulnerability.

If you’re looking for meaning in a meaningless world, look no further than Christ. If you’re searching for an effective value system, look no further than his teachings. If you’re seeking help to live in a changing world, choose Christ.

Many of you probably remember what you were doing on the Sunday afternoon on which Princess Diana died. Michelle and I had returned from a church camp, and spent the late afternoon riveted to the saturation news coverage of the tragic event.

Later, one of the tributes caught my attention: “She was not a saint, but she was saintly.” Many today make similar claims about Jesus Christ. They say, “He was not God, but he was godly.”

In other words, he was an outstanding moral teacher, with perhaps penetrating insight into the human condition, and an enviable commitment to his vision, but no more.

Hebrews unapologetically refutes all such ideas. Jesus Christ was and is God; his life and teachings enlighten our darkened minds; his death on the cross enables us to inherit salvation; and his resurrection life empowers us to live in a way that brings glory to God and blessing to ourselves, our families and our communities.

The recipients of this letter were at a critical stage in their spiritual journey: they were experiencing a crisis of faith and a failure of nerve. They were no longer sure what to believe, and they feared imminent persecution if they maintained their Christian beliefs. Some of them were questioning the unique claims of Christ and confusing him with the angels.

The author knows them well and responds to these concerns, setting the record straight and demonstrating from the Old Testament that Jesus is the unique, preeminent Son of God and worthy of their whole-hearted devotion and commitment.

In particular, in Hebrews 1:5-14, he marshals seven Old Testament quotations to support three truths about Jesus that encourage our devotion and commitment to Jesus, that deepen our relationship with him, and that move us to adopt a lifestyle of radical discipleship.

JESUS AND GOD’S NATURE

First, Jesus shares God’s nature (verses 5-7). The entire chapter demonstrates this truth. God has spoken through his Son, who perfectly and eloquently expresses the divine nature. Jesus is one of the three who comprise the Trinity.

The author quotes from Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14 to support his claim of a unique and fundamental relationship between God the Father and Christ the Son.

He was eternally the pre-existent Son (cf 5:8), but we may take verse 5 to imply that “he entered into a new dimension in the experience of sonship by virtue of his incarnation, his sacrificial death, and his subsequent exaltation.”

No angel participated in such a course of events. Angels are messengers; Jesus is the message. They are worshippers; he is the object of their worship (verse 6). They are created beings; he is their creator. They are transient; he is eternal.

Above all others, even above powerful angelic beings who radiate a supernatural light and whose voices command obedience, Jesus is worth hearing, understanding and obeying. To turn your back on Jesus Christ is to walk away from God.

JESUS AND GOD’S POWER

Second, Jesus possesses God’s power (10-12) – as creator of the universe. We saw in verse 2 that creating and sustaining the universe are among the Son’s responsibilities.

Verses 10-12 reiterate this truth with a quote from Psalm 102:25-27. In the Old Testament these words were applied to God; here the author unapologetically applies them to Jesus.

Leon Morris comments, “This universe that seems so solid and permanent will be rolled up, changed, and replaced by a totally new heaven and earth. But through it all the Son remains unchanged.”

Heaven and earth – the realm in which the angels serve – are subject to decay, but the Son transcends and outlasts both. He shares God’s nature, and possesses God’s power.

“All may change, but Jesus never; glory to his name!” So we sang at Sunday School in Papua New Guinea when I was a child. It’s true: in a world rushing headlong to embrace change and chaos, personal and social fragmentation, this word comes as an enormous encouragement, a clear light in the moral darkness of relativism, and a firm anchor in the storm of postmodernity: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (13:8).

JESUS AND GOD’S THRONE

Third, Jesus occupies God’s throne (8-9, 13-14) – as Saviour of humanity. Angels assist God in the implementation of his will, and the dissemination of his word, and the administration of his mission, but the Son’s role is to rule!

Quoting now from Psalm 45:6-7 and 110:1, the author invokes royal language and messianic imagery to declare that Jesus Christ not only shares God’s nature, and possesses God’s power, but that he occupies the place of highest honour and the seat of deity itself.

Angels will never share that position or glory. They are messengers and missionaries, but not in the sense that Jesus was. They serve, but only Jesus can save. As our Saviour the Lord Jesus invites our gratitude and adoration, and as our Sovereign he invites our allegiance and devotion.

In the movie The Last Emperor, the young child anointed as China’s last emperor lives a magical life of luxury with a thousand eunuch servants at his command. “What happens when you do something wrong?” his brother asks.

“When I do wrong, someone else is punished,” he replies. To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and, sure enough, one of his servants is beaten. In Christian theology, Jesus reversed that ancient tradition. When the servants erred, the King was punished. Grace is free only because the giver himself has borne the cost.

There is one more thing worth drawing to your attention in chapter one – as remarkable as it is easy to overlook. Angels are God’s servants, and they are sent from before God’s throne to serve those who will inherit salvation (verse 14).

But in applying Psalm 110:1 to Christ, the author situates God himself in the role of a servant: God will place Christ’s enemies as a footstool for his feet! Here is unparalleled honour and majesty bestowed upon the Son, and breathtaking grace and satisfaction on the part of his Father.

It was not only at his baptism that the Father declared, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17), but also in symbolic form at his exaltation, after completing the work of salvation.

WHO IS JESUS TO YOU?

Note the footnote to salvation’s accomplishment: the enemies of Christ have been vanquished through the power of the cross, and will ultimately and inevitably be rendered powerless and subject to him.

At the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord!’ (Philippians 2:10-11, CEV).

Jesus shares God’s nature, possesses God’s power and occupies God’s throne. He is worthy of your worship; crown him as your God! He is worthy of your debt; claim him as your Saviour! He is worthy of your allegiance; choose him as your Lord! He is worthy of your trust; confide in him as your friend and counsellor!

Herbert Butterfield, former Professor of History at Cambridge University, wrote these words in about 1950, but they have never lost their relevance:

“There are times when we can never meet the future with sufficient elasticity of mind, especially if we are locked in the contemporary systems of thought. We can do worse than remember a principle which both gives us a firm Rock and leaves us the maximum elasticity for our minds: the principle: Hold to Christ, and for the rest be totally uncommitted.”

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E071 Copyright (c) 2002 Rod Benson. Reproduction in any form except for commercial purposes is permitted with full copyright notice intact. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).

You can contact Rev Rod Benson by e-mail at <> To subscribe direct to his weekly sermons, e-mail him with “subscribe” in the subject.

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• Miracles and the Virgin Birth etc.

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