HEBREWS 1 COMMENTARY

TARY
Edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
I quote many authors both old and new, and if any I quote do not want their wisdom shared in
this way they can let me know and I will remove it. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com
I

1. THE SUPERIORITY OF CHRIST
His Superior Purpose (1:1-3)
His Superior Personality (1:4)
His Superior Position (1:5-6)
His Superior Power (1:7-8)
His Superior Purity (1:9)
His Superior Perfection (1:10-14)
2. He is superior as a spokesman. He is superior to all who came before Him, and there will be
none to come like Him.
2. He is superior as a son.
3. He is superior in status. Heir
4. He is superior as source. Creator of all
5. He is superior in splendor.
6. He is superior in substance. Exact replica of Father
7. He is superior as sustainer.
8. He is superior as sacrifice.
9. He is superior as sovereign.
3. PI

K begins with these words, “Before taking up the study of this important Epistle let writer
and reader humbly bow before its Divine Inspirer, and earnestly seek from Him that preparation
of heart which is needed to bring us into fellowship with that One whose person, offices, and
glories are here so sublimely displayed. Let us personally and definitely seek the help of that
blessed Spirit who has been given to the saints of God for the purpose of guiding them into all
truth, and taking of the things of Christ to show unto them. In Luke 24:45 we learn that Christ
opened the understanding of the disciples "that they might understand the Scriptures." May He
graciously do so with us, then the entrance of His words will "give light" (Ps. 119:130), and in His
light we shall "see light."

O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes and make me see;
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see Thee, Lord. --Groves
4. STEDMA

, “The epistle to the Hebrews begins as dramatically as a rocket shot to the moon.
In one paragraph, the writer breathtakingly transports his readers from the familiar ground of
Old Testament prophetic writings, through the incarnation of the Son (who is at once creator,
heir and sustainer of all things and the fullest possible manifestation of deity), past the purifying
sacrifice of the cross to the exaltation of Jesus on the ultimate seat of power in the universe. It is a
paragraph daring in its claims and clearly designed to arrest the reader's attention and compel a
further hearing.
The Author's Purpose. The author intends to present a series of arguments for the superiority of
Jesus over all rival claims to allegiance which his readers were feeling and hearing. Their
attention was easily diverted off in other directions, just as our attention is easily distracted
today. They, like us, were being tempted, frightened or pressured into following other voices and
serving other masters. In chapters 1-7, he examines these rival authorities and reveals their
inadequacies.

one was, in itself, a false or fraudulent voice. Each was ordained by God and
proper in its intended place. Each had served the people of God well in the past, and no teaching
or expectation was wrong at the time it was given. But now the final word, the ultimate revelation
from God toward which all the other voices had pointed, had come. To this supreme voice the
author directs his readers' attention, and ours, by contrasting this final word with the past
utterances.
First, there were the prophets, God's ancient spokesmen (1:1-3); then the angels, Israel's
guardians (1:4-2:18); then Israel's great leader, Moses (3:1-4:7); Israel's godly general, Joshua
(4:8-13); and finally the founder of Israel's priesthood, Aaron (4:14-7:28). Each was a voice from
Israel's past that needed to be heard but that was woefully inadequate if followed alone. It was
clearly a case of the good being the enemy of the best. Eclipsing all these, as the rising sun eclipses
the light of the stars, is the figure of Jesus, God's Son, creator and heir of all things. The abrupt
beginning here marks the intensity with which the author writes. It parallels, in that respect,
Paul's letter to the Galatians. The writer sees clearly that any slippage in the view of Jesus as
supreme is fraught with the gravest danger and must be dealt with forthrightly and thoroughly.
Since the same danger is present today, Christians must take special care that no obscuring mists
of doubt or unbelief should diminish the stature of Jesus in their eyes.
How to make Christians believe, how to make Christians act like Christians. This is what the
world is waiting to see and what the epistle was written to effect. It is addressed to a group of
Jewish Christians who had begun to drift, to lose their faith. They had lost all awareness of the
relevancy of their faith to the daily affairs of life. They had begun to drift into outward formal
religious performance, but to lose the inner reality. Doubts were creeping into their hearts from
some of the humanistic philosophies that abounded in the world of their day, as they abound in
the world of our day. Some of them were about to abandon their faith in Christ, not because they
were attracted again by Jewish ritual and ceremony, but because of persecution and pressure.
They felt it was not worthwhile; they were losing too much, and that it was possible, just possible,
that they had been deceived and the message of Christ was not true after all.

o one knows exactly where these Christians lived. Some feel this letter was written to Hebrew

Christians living in the city of Rome. Others believe it was written to the most Jewish city on
earth in that day, Jerusalem. That is my own personal conviction. If anyone wished to influence
the world of Jewish Christians, surely that would be the place to start.

o one knows for certain who wrote the letter, either. In the King James version it says, "The
Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews." It was a favorite jest in seminary to ask, "Who wrote
the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews?"

o one knows for sure. If you read this letter in English you
are almost sure that Paul wrote it, since so many of the thoughts are obviously Pauline. But if you
read it in Greek you are equally certain that Paul did not write it, for the language used is far
different than in the other letters from the hand of Paul. There have been a great many guesses
throughout the centuries, including Luke, Silas, Peter, Apollos (the silver-tongued orator of the
first century), Barnabas, and even Aquila and Priscilla. Some have felt that Priscilla wrote it; if
so, this would be the first letter of the

ew Testament written by a woman. It is my own
conviction (and I trust this will settle the problem) that the Apostle Paul wrote it in Hebrew while
he was in prison in those two years in Caesarea after his visit to Jerusalem, and that it was
translated by Luke into Greek and this is the copy that has come down to us today.
Whoever the writer was he sees one thing very clearly, that Jesus Christ is the total answer to
every human need.

ew Testament focuses upon Christ like the book of Hebrews.
It is the clearest and most systematic presentation of the availability and adequacy of Jesus
Christ in the whole of the Bible. It presents Christianity as the perfect and final religion, simply
because the incomparable person and work of Jesus Christ permits men free and unrestricted
access to God. In every age that is man's desperate need. There is no hunger like God-hunger.”
5. “THEME OF THE EPISTLE. - God has given a revelation of salvation in two stages. The first
was preparatory and transient, and is completed. The second, the revelation through Jesus
Christ, is final. The readers who have accepted this second revelation are warned against
returning to the economy of the first.”
“In the first stage of his revelation, God spake, not at once, giving a complete revelation of his
being and will; but in many separate revelations, each of which set forth only a portion of the
truth. The truth as a whole never comes to light in the O.T. It appears fragmentarily, in
successive acts, as the periods of the Patriarchs, Moses, the Kingdom, etc. One prophet has one,
another element of the truth to proclaim.”
History is full of paradoxes.
The first Jew was a gentile.
The first Christian was a Jew.
The first Protestant was a Catholic.
The first Christians were almost all Jews, for Jesus was a Jew and the Apostles were and the 3000
that joined the church at Pentecost were. It was to the Jews that the Christians preached when
they were scattered in Acts 11:19. When Paul began to bring Gentiles into the church there was
great controversy, and the big council was called in Acts 15. There it was decided that Gentiles
could become Christians and not just Jews. The strong Jews did not like this decision and they
went everywhere trying to destroy the work of Paul, and even Peter became a backslider in Gal.
2:11-14. Paul fought back and became known as the founder of Christianity as distinct from

Judaism. Paul made it so it was not just a form of Judaism. The end of Judaism was coming in
70 A. D. and if the Jewish Christians were not prepared for the loss of the whole old system they
would be damaged in their faith, and so this letter had to get them to see that the old could be let
go of, for the new and better in Christ was all they needed. They did not have to slip back to the
old when they were persecuted, for the old was only temporary and the new in Christ was
eternal.
“He explains that, as shadows are scattered and vanish at sunrise, so likewise the shadows of
former days passed away at the rising of Jesus, the sun of righteousness.” author unknown
6. EVERYTHI

EW IS BETTER
Better Messenger-the Son
Better than prophets
Better than angels
Better power source-the king of universe
Better name than angels
Better relation to the Father
Better in permanence
Better joy
Better victory that is complete
7.Dr. John Allan Lavender, “The prize jewel in the treasure chest of Hebrews is Jesus. With
characteristic directness, our writer wastes no time in introducing us to Christ, the subject of his
book. Rarely has so much been said in so short a span as in the first three verses of Hebrews. In
fewer than one hundred words, the writer of Hebrews declares the unrivaled superiority of Jesus
over every other form or word of revelation God has given to men.”
“Priest & prophet, sage & singer were in their several ways His spokesmen; yet
all the successive acts & varying modes of revelation in the ages before Christ
came did not add up to the fullness of what God wanted to say.” (F.F. Bruce)
8. Here is an interesting theory as to why there is no author named. S. Lewis Johnson provides us
with this interesting study.
Why is it an Anonymous Epistle?
Often we wonder why it is that we do not know exactly who is the human author of this epistle.
Perhaps the reason, though in no way can it be proven, is that the author wished us to be strongly
impressed with the fact that this is a "Word from God" and not from men. So by not giving his
name as well as doing a few other things that I will mention shortly, he was able to convey the
idea that this epistle was most specifically and essentially a "Word from God."
The reason that I think that this may be so is that the writer begins by saying: "God, after He
spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last
days has spoken to us in His Son" (Heb. 1:1). Thus, the things that he wants us to remember as
we read this epistle is that it is God who has spoken and, thus the author wants to give us an
accounting of what he regards as God's message to us.
Furthermore, this author uses the Old Testament very fully. Perhaps by page, he cites more from
the OT than any one else in the

T. (There are over 30 citations from the OT in the Epistle to the

Hebrews.) However, in citing these verses from the OT, the author never once mentions the
human author when he quotes from the OT. He never says "Moses saith" or "Isaiah has said".
One time he does mention David in chapter 4. Yet, he reason that he mentions him is not to
identify Psalm 95 as being from David but rather to refer to the section of the Scriptures that had
to do with David.
The author begins by saying that he has a message from God, a Word that God has spoken.
Then near the end of the epistle in 12:25, the author has the same mentality by admonishing the
readers of the epistle saying:
"See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they
refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who
warns from heaven. "
(

otice that the verb "speak" is in the present tense—it is God who is speaking this message to
men and it is a message that is still valid at the present time and we should pay attention to it.)
So while there are many unanswered questions as to the human authorship of this epistle, we
know for certain that it is a message from God!
An Interesting Speculation
One other intriguing suggestion regarding the authorship of this epistle was made by Arthur T.
Pearson, a Presbyterian minister of the earlier part of the 20th century. He was a very evangelical
minister and when C.H. Spurgeon died, Pearson filled the pulpit of the Metropolitan Tabernacle
for a lengthy period of time and in fact was asked to be the pastor of that church of which he
refused the offer. Pearson was a great expositor and he once made the suggestion that the Epistle
to the Hebrews was in essence what our Lord told the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Thus, he suggested that what we have in the Epistle to the Hebrews is a kind of unfolding of what
Jesus did when He spoke on the way to Emmaus and unfolded the things that are found in the

T. For example, we read in the following verses from Luke:
Luke 24:44-48

ow He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that
all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must
be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them,
“Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and
that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem. “You are witnesses of these things.
But even more significant were the words that Jesus said just prior to these:
Luke 24:25-27
And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have
spoken! “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things
concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Well of course it could be that that author of the Epistle to the Hebrews was acquainted with an
account of what our Lord told the Emmaus disciples. It is likely that the things that Jesus said to

them on that remarkable day were passed around and spoken about amongst the people. This is
in essence Arthur T. Pearson's speculation . What makes it even more interesting is the fact that
modern scholarship of the present time is entranced with the idea that the Epistle of the Hebrews
is not really a book, nor an epistle in the "official sense", but was probably a sermon. In fact, one
of the latest and perhaps most detailed of the evangelical commentaries on this epistle (written
by William Lane) makes this suggestion of the book of Hebrews being a sermon that was later
committed to writing. (Interestingly this suggestion goes back even to the early church.)
However, I personally do not believe that it was a sermon. If this had been preached in any
church in the 20th century, by the time the author would have begun the 4th chapter the average
congregation would have wondered, "what in the world is this man talking about?" At the point
when the author speaks of Melchizedek, the audience would have gone to sleep! This is not
because the epistle is not great, but rather because we are not in our churches today very familiar
with the Levitical cultus and the things that are discussed by the writer of Hebrews.
9. Respected Christian theologian R C Sproul once said that If I were cast into prison and
allowed but one book, it would be the Bible. If I were allowed only one book of the Bible, it would
be the Epistle to the Hebrews...because it contains our most comprehensive discussion of the
redemption wrought for us in the sacrifice of Jesus.”
God’s Final Word: His Son
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the
prophets at many times and in various ways,
1. He is not putting the OT down, for he goes on to quote it often as his authority. It is really
God’s Word and valid, but it is just not the last and final and complete Word of God. The OT is
still valid for the most part. It is only the system of law and ceremonial cleansing and that sort of
thing that is gone for good. Christian still consider the OT the Word of God, and keep its
teachings as guides to the will of God. It was God speaking and this will never change, but what
he spoke has been upgrades and so we judge all in the OT by what Jesus has said.
1B. "It is significant that the subject of the first verb is 'God,'for God is constantly before the
author; he uses the word sixty-eight times, an average of about once every seventy-three words
all through his epistle. Few

T books speak of God so often." author unknown
1C. Barnes, “God who at sundry times - The commencement of this Epistle varies from all the
others which Paul wrote. In every other instance he at first announces his name, and the name of

the church or of the individual to whom he wrote. In regard to the reason why he here varies
from that custom, see the introduction, section 3. This commences with the full acknowledgment
of his belief that God had made important revelations in past times, but that now he had
communicated his will in a manner that more especially claimed their attention. This
announcement was of particular importance here. He was writing to those who had been trained
up in the full belief of the truths taught by the prophets. As the object of the apostle was to show
the superior claims of the gospel, and to lead them from putting confidence in the rites instituted
in accordance with the directions of the Old Testament, it was of essential importance that he
should admit that their belief of the inspiration of the prophets was well founded.
He was not an infidel. He was not disposed to call in question the divine origin of the books
which were regarded as given by inspiration. He fully admitted all that had been held by the
Hebrews on that heart, and yet showed that the new revelation had more important claims to
their attention. The word rendered “at sundry times” - πολυμερῶς polumerōs - means “in many
parts.” It refers here to the fact that the former revelation had been given in various parts. It had
not all been given at once. It had been communicated from time to time as the exigencies of the
people required, and as God chose to communicate it. At one time it was by history, then by
prophecy, by poetry, by proverbs, by some solemn and special message, etc. The ancient
revelation was a collection of various writings, on different subjects, and given at different times;
but now God had addressed us by His Son - the one great Messenger who had come to finish the
divine communications, and to give a uniform and connected revelation to mankind. The contrast
here is between the numerous separate parts of the revelation given by the prophets, and the
oneness of that given by his Son. The word does not occur elsewhere in the

ew Testament.
And in divers manners - - πολυτρόπως polutropōs. In many ways. It was not all in one mode.
He had employed various methods in communicating his will. At one time it was by direct
communication, at another by dreams, at another by visions, etc. In regard to the various
methods which God employed to communicate his will, see Introduction to Isaiah, section 7. In
contradistinction from these, God had now spoken by his Son. He had addressed us in one
uniform manner. It was not by dreams, or visions; it was a direct communication from him. The
word used here, also, occurs nowhere else in the

ew Testament.
In times past - Formerly; in ancient times. The series of revelations began, as recorded by
Moses, with Adam Gen. 3, and terminated with Malachi - a period of more than three thousand
five hundred years. From Malachi to the time of the Saviour there were no recorded divine
communications, and the whole period of written revelation, or when the divine communications
were recorded from Moses to Malachi, was about a thousand years.
Unto the fathers - To our ancestors; to the people of ancient times.
By the prophets - The word “prophet” in the Scriptures is used in a wide signification. It means
not only those who predict future events, but these who communicate the divine will on any
subject. See Rom_12:6 note; 1Co_14:1 note. It is used here in that large sense - as denoting all
those by whom God had made communications to the Jews in former times.
2. Clarke, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners - We can scarcely conceive any thing
more dignified than the opening of this epistle; the sentiments are exceedingly elevated, and the
language, harmony itself! The infinite God is at once produced to view, not in any of those
attributes which are essential to the Divine nature, but in the manifestations of his love to the
world, by giving a revelation of his will relative to the salvation of mankind, and thus preparing
the way, through a long train of years, for the introduction of that most glorious Being, his own

Son. This Son, in the fullness of time, was manifested in the flesh that he might complete all vision
and prophecy, supply all that was wanting to perfect the great scheme of revelation for the
instruction of the world, and then die to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The description
which he gives of this glorious personage is elevated beyond all comparison. Even in his
humiliation, his suffering of death excepted, he is infinitely exalted above all the angelic host, is
the object of their unceasing adoration, is permanent on his eternal throne at the right hand of
the Father, and from him they all receive their commands to minister to those whom he has
redeemed by his blood. in short, this first chapter, which may be considered the introduction to
the whole epistle is, for importance of subject, dignity of expression, harmony and energy of
language, compression and yet distinctness of ideas, equal, if not superior, to any other part of the

ew Testament.
Sundry times - Πολυμερως, from πολυς, many, and μερος, a part; giving portions of revelation
at different times.
Divers manners - Πολυτροπως, from πολυς, many, and τροπος, a manner, turn, or form of
speech; hence trope, a figure in rhetoric. Lambert Bos supposes these words to refer to that part
of music which is denominated harmony, viz. that general consent or union of musical sounds
which is made up of different parts; and, understood in this way, it may signify the agreement or
harmony of all the Old Testament writers, who with one consent gave testimony to Jesus Christ,
and the work of redemption by him. To him gave all the prophets witness, that, through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins; Act_10:43.
But it is better to consider, with Kypke, that the words are rather intended to point out the
imperfect state of Divine revelation under the Old Testament; it was not complete, nor can it
without the

ew be considered a sufficiently ample discovery of the Divine will. Under the Old
Testament, revelations were made πολυμερως και πολυτροπως, at various times, by various
persons, in various laws and forms of teaching, with various degrees of clearness, under various
shadows, types, and figures, and with various modes of revelation, such as by angels, visions,
dreams, mental impressions, etc. See

ew Testament all is
done ἁπλως, simply, by one person, i.e. Jesus, who has fulfilled the prophets, and completed
prophecy; who is the way, the truth, and the life; and the founder, mediator, and governor of his
own kingdom.
One great object of the apostle is, to put the simplicity of the Christian system in opposition to
the complex nature of the Mosaic economy; and also to show that what the law could not do
because it was weak through the flesh, Jesus has accomplished by the merit of his death, and the
energy of his Spirit.
Maximus Tyrius, Diss. 1, page 7, has a passage where the very words employed by the apostle
are found, and evidently used nearly in the same sense: Τῃ του ανθρωπου ψυχῃ δυο οργανων
οντων προς συνεσιν, του μεν ἁπλου, ὁν καλουμεν νουν, του δε ποικιλου και πολυμερους και
πολυτροπου, ἁς αισθησεις καλουμεν. “The soul of man has two organs of intelligence: one simple,
which we call mind; the other diversified, and acting in various modes and various ways, which
we term sense.”
A similar form of expression the same writer employs in Diss. 15, page 171: “The city which is
governed by the mob, πολυφωνον τε ειναι και πολυμερη και πολυπαθη, is full of noise, and is
divided by various factions and various passions.” The excellence of the Gospel above the law is
here set down in three points:
1. God spake unto the faithful under the Old Testament by Moses and the prophets, worthy
servants, yet servants; now the Son is much better than a servant, Heb_1:4.
2. Whereas the body of the Old Testament was long in compiling, being about a thousand

years from Moses to Malachi; and God spake unto the fathers by piecemeal, one while
raising up one prophet, another while another, now sending them one parcel of prophecy or
history, then another; but when Christ came, all was brought to perfection in one age; the
apostles and evangelists were alive, some of them, when every part of the

ew Testament
was completely finished.
3. The Old Testament was delivered by God in divers manners, both in utterance and
manifestation; but the delivery of the Gospel was in a more simple manner; for, although
there are various penmen, yet the subject is the same, and treated with nearly the same
phraseology throughout; James, Jude, and the Apocalypse excepted. See Leigh.
2B. Pink, “"God" (verse 1). The particular reference is to the Father, as the words "by (His) Son"
in verse 2 intimate. Yet the other Persons of the Trinity are not excluded. In Old Testament times
the Godhead spoke by the Son, see Exodus 3:2, 5; 1 Corinthians 10:9; and by the Holy Spirit, see
Acts 28:26, Hebrews 3:7, etc. Being a Trinity in Unity, one Person is often said to work by
Another. A striking example of this is found in Genesis 19:24, where Jehovah the Son is said to
have rained down fire from Jehovah the Father.
"God . . . spake." (verse 1). Deity is not speechless. The true and living God, unlike the idols of
the heathen, is no dumb Being. The God of Scripture, unlike that absolute and impersonal "first
Cause" of philosophers and evolutionists, is not silent. At the beginning of earth’s history we find
Him speaking: "God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:4). "He spake and it
was done, He commanded and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:9). To men He spake, and still speaks. For
this we can never be sufficiently thankful.
"God who at sundry times . . . spake" (verse 1).

ot once or twice, but many times, did God
speak. The Greek for "at sundry times" literally means "by many parts," which necessarily
implies, some at one time, some at another. From Abraham to Malachi was a period of fifteen
hundred years, and during that time God spake frequently: to some a few words, to others many.
The apostle was here paving the way for making manifest the superiority of Christianity. The
Divine revelation vouchsafed under the Mosaic economy was but fragmentary. The Jew desired to
set Moses against Christ (John 9:28). The apostle acknowledges that God had spoken to Israel.
But how? Had He communicated to them the fullness of His mind?

ay. The Old Testament
revelation was but the refracted rays, not the light unbroken and complete. As illustrations of this
we may refer to the gradual making known of the Divine character through His different titles, or
to the prophesies concerning the coming Messiah. It was "here a little and there a little."
"God who . . . in divers manner spake" (verse 1). The majority of the commentators regard
these words as referring to the various ways in which God revealed Himself to the prophets—
sometimes directly, at others indirectly—through an angel (Genesis 19:1, etc.); sometimes
audibly, at others in dreams and visions. But, with Dr. J. Brown, we believe that the particular
point here is how God spake to the fathers by the prophets, and not how He has made known His
mind to the prophets themselves. "The revelation was sometimes communicated by typical
representations and emblematical actions, sometimes in a continued parable, at other times by
separate figures, at other times—though comparatively rarely—in plain explicit language. The
revelation has sometimes the form of a narrative, at other times that of a prediction, at other
times that of an argumentative discourse; sometimes it is given in prose, at other times in poetry"
(Dr. J. B.). Thus we may see here an illustration of the sovereignty of God: He did not act
uniformly or confine Himself to any one method of speaking to the fathers. He spake by way of

promise and prediction, by types and symbols, by commandments and precepts, by warnings and
exhortations.
"God . . . spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets" (verse 1). Thus the apostle sets
his seal upon the Divine inspiration and authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. The "fathers"
here goes right back to the beginning of God’s dealings with the Hebrews—cf. Luke 1:55. To "the
fathers" God spake "by," or more literally and precisely, "in" the prophets. This denotes that
God possessed their hearts, controlled their minds, ordered their tongues, so that they spake not
their own words, but His words—see 2 Peter 1:21. At times the prophets were themselves
conscious of this, see 2 Samuel 23:2, etc. We may add that the word "prophet" signifies the
mouthpiece of God: see Genesis 20:7, Exodus 7:1, John 4:19—she recognized God was speaking
to her; Acts 3:21!
"God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by"—better "in (His) Son" (verse 2). "Having
thus described the Jewish revelation he goes on to give an account of the Christians, and begins it
in an antithetical form. The God who spake to ‘the fathers’ now speaks to ‘us.’ The God who
spake in ‘times past,’ now speaks in these ‘last days.’ The God who spake ‘by the prophets,’ now
speaks ‘by His Son.’ There is nothing in the description of the Gospel revelation that answers to
the two phrases ‘at sundry times,’ and ‘in divers manners’; but the ideas which they necessarily
suggest to the mind are, the completeness of the Gospel revelation compared with the
imperfection of the Jewish, and the simplicity and clearness of the Gospel revelation compared
with the multi-formity and obscurity of the Jewish" (Dr. J. Brown).
"This manifesting of God’s will by parts (‘at sundry times,’ etc.), is here (verse 1) noted by way
of distinction and difference from God’s revealing His will under the Gospel; which was all at one
time, viz., the times of His Son’s being on earth; for then the whole counsel of God was made
known so far as was meet for the Church to know it while this world continueth. In this respect
Christ said, ‘All things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you’ (John 15:15),
and ‘the Comforter shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you’ (Heb. 14:26). The woman of Samaria understood this much: ‘When the Messiah is
come, He will tell us all things’ (John 4:25). Objection: the apostles had many things revealed to
them later. Answer: those were no other things than what Christ had revealed before, while He
lived" (Dr. Gouge).
The central point of contrast here is between the Old Testament "prophets" and Christ "the
Son." Though the Holy Spirit has not here developed the details of this contrast, we can
ourselves, by going back to the Old Testament, supply them. Mr. Saphir has strikingly
summarized them under seven heads. "First, they were many: one succeeded another: they lived
in different periods. Second, they gave out God’s revelation in ‘divers manners’—similitudes,
visions, symbols. Each prophet had his peculiar gift and character. Their stature and capacity
varied. Third, they were sinful men—Isaiah 6:5, Daniel 10:8. Fourth, they did not possess the
Spirit constantly. The ‘word’ came to them, but they did not possess the Word! Fifth, they did not
understand the heights and depths of their own message—1 Peter 1:10. Sixth, still less did they
comprehend the whole of God’s revelation in Old Testament times. Seventh, like John the Baptist
they had to testify ‘I am not the Light, I am only sent to bear witness of the Light.’"

ow, the
very opposite was the case in all these respects with the "Son." Though the revelation which God
gave the prophets is equally inspired and authoritative, yet that through His Son possesses a
greater dignity and value, for He has revealed all the secrets of the Father’s heart, the fullness of
His counsel, and the riches of His grace.”

3. Gill, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners,.... The apostle begins the epistle with
an account of the revelation God has made of his mind and will in former times: the author of
this revelation is God, not essentially, but personally considered, even God the Father, as
distinguished from his Son in the next verse; for the revelation under the Old Testament is divine,
as well as that under the

ew; in this they both agree, in whatsoever else they differ: and this
revelation was made at several times, at different seasons, and to different persons; and consisted
of a variety of things relating to doctrine and worship, and concerning the Messiah, his person
and office; of whom, at different times, there were gradual discoveries made, both before and
after the giving of the law, from the beginning of the world, or the giving forth of the first
promise, and in the times of the patriarchs, of: Moses, David, Isaiah, and other prophets: and this
was delivered in various manners; sometimes by angels; sometimes in a dream; at other times by
a vision; and sometimes by Urim and Thummim: and this he
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets; by Moses, and other succeeding prophets, as
David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Zechariah, Malachi, and others; who were sent to the Jewish
fathers, the ancestors of the people of the Jews, to whom they prophesied and declared the will of
God, as they were moved and inspired by the Holy Ghost: and the apostle suggests, by this way of
speaking, that it was a long time since God spake to this people; for prophecy had ceased ever
since the times of Malachi, for the space of three hundred years; and this time past includes the
whole Old Testament dispensation, from the beginning to the end of it, or of prophecy in it.
4. Henry, “Here the apostle begins with a general declaration of the excellency of the gospel
dispensation above that of the law, which he demonstrates from the different way and manner of
God's communicating himself and his mind and will to men in the one and in the other: both
these dispensations were of God, and both of them very good, but there is a great difference in the
way of their coming from God. Observe,
I. The way wherein God communicated himself and his will to men under the Old Testament.
We have here an account, 1. Of the persons by whom God delivered his mind under the Old
Testament; they were the prophets, that is, persons chosen of God, and qualified by him, for that
office of revealing the will of God to men.

o man takes this honour to himself, unless called; and
whoever are called of God are qualified by him. 2. The persons to whom God spoke by the
prophets: To the fathers, to all the Old Testament saints who were under that dispensation. God
favoured and honoured them with much clearer light than that of nature, under which the rest of
the world were left. 3. The order in which God spoke to men in those times that went before the
gospel, those past times: he spoke to his ancient people at sundry times and in divers manners. (1.)
At sundry times, or by several parts, as the word signifies, which may refer either to the several
ages of the Old Testament dispensation - the patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the prophetic; or to the
several gradual openings of his mind concerning the Redeemer: to Adam, that the Messiah
should come of the seed of the woman, - to Abraham, that he should spring from his loins, - to
Jacob, that he should be of the tribe of Judah, - to David, that he should be of his house, - to
Micah, that he should be born at Bethlehem, - to Isaiah, that he should be born of a virgin. (2.) In
divers manners, according to the different ways in which God though fit to communicate his mind
to his prophets; sometimes by the illapses of his Spirit, sometimes by dreams, sometimes by
visions, sometimes by an audible voice, sometimes by legible characters under his own hand, as
when he wrote the ten commandments on tables of stone. Of some of these different ways God
himself gave an account in

um_12:6-8, If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make
myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. ,ot so with my servant Moses:
with him I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches.

II. God's method of communicating his mind and will under the

ew Testament dispensation,
these last days as they are called, that is, either towards the end of the world, or the end of the
Jewish state. The times of the gospel are the last times, the gospel revelation is the last we are to
expect from God. There was first the natural revelation; then the patriarchal, by dreams, visions,
and voices; then the Mosaic, in the law given forth and written down; then the prophetic, in
explaining the law, and giving clearer discoveries of Christ: but now we must expect no new
revelation, but only more of the Spirit of Christ to help us better to understand what is already
revealed.

ow the excellency of the gospel revelation above the former consists in two things: -
1. It is the final, the finishing revelation, given forth in the last days of divine revelation, to
which nothing is to be added, but the canon of scripture is to be settled and sealed: so that now
the minds of men are no longer kept in suspense by the expectation of new discoveries, but they
rejoice in a complete revelation of the will of God, both preceptive and providential, so far as is
necessary for them to know in order to their direction and comfort. For the gospel includes a
discovery of the great events that shall befall the church of God to the end of the world.
5. Jamison, “Heb_1:1-14. The highest of all revelations is given us now in the Son of God, who is
greater than the angels, and who, having completed redemption, sits enthroned at God’s right hand.
The writer, though not inscribing his name, was well known to those addressed (Heb_13:19).
For proofs of Paul being the author, see my Introduction. In the Pauline method, the statement of
subject and the division are put before the discussion; and at the close, the practical follows the
doctrinal portion. The ardor of Spirit in this Epistle, as in First John, bursting forth at once into
the subject (without prefatory inscription of name and greeting), the more effectively strikes the
hearers. The date must have been while the temple was yet standing, before its destruction, a.d.
70; some time before the martyrdom of Peter, who mentions this Epistle of Paul (2Pe_3:15,
2Pe_3:16); at a time when many of the first hearers of the Lord were dead.
at sundry times — Greek, “in many portions.” All was not revealed to each one prophet; but
one received one portion of revelation, and another another. To

oah the quarter of the world to
which Messiah should belong was revealed; to Abraham, the nation; to Jacob, the tribe; to David
and Isaiah, the family; to Micah, the town of nativity; to Daniel, the exact time; to Malachi, the
coming of His forerunner, and His second advent; through Jonah, His burial and resurrection;
through Isaiah and Hosea, His resurrection. Each only knew in part; but when that which was
perfect came in Messiah, that which was in part was done away (1Co_13:12).
in divers manners — for example, internal suggestions, audible voices, the Urim and
Thummim, dreams, and visions. “In one way He was seen by Abraham, in another by Moses, in
another by Elias, and in another by Micah; Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, beheld different forms”
[Theodoret]. (Compare

um_12:6-8). The Old Testament revelations were fragmentary in
substance, and manifold in form; the very multitude of prophets shows that they prophesied only
in part. In Christ, the revelation of God is full, not in shifting hues of separated color, but Himself
the pure light, uniting in His one person the whole spectrum (Heb_1:3).
spake — the expression usual for a Jew to employ in addressing Jews. So Matthew, a Jew
writing especially for Jews, quotes Scripture, not by the formula, “It is written,” but “said,” etc.
in time past — From Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, for four hundred years,
there had arisen no prophet, in order that the Son might be the more an object of expectation
[Bengel]. As God (the Father) is introduced as having spoken here; so God the Son, Heb_2:3; God
the Holy Ghost, Heb_3:7.
the fathers — the Jewish fathers. The Jews of former days (1Co_10:1).
by — Greek, “in.” A mortal king speaks by his ambassador, not (as the King of kings) in his

ambassador. The Son is the last and highest manifestation of God (Mat_21:34, Mat_21:37); not
merely a measure, as in the prophets, but the fullness of the Spirit of God dwelling in Him bodily
(Joh_1:16; Joh_3:34; Col_2:9). Thus he answers the Jewish objection drawn from their prophets.
Jesus is the end of all prophecy (Rev_19:10), and of the law of Moses (Joh_1:17; Joh_5:46).
6. Charlie Peacock-Ashworth, “What a wonderfully written sermon to Jewish Christians in
trouble. It begins with Christology, clearly stating who Jesus is. The Christology sets the persons
and their problems in the context of true reality, a Christ-centered reality. The author wants to
remind the Hebrews of redemptive history, both distant and recent. He wants to remind his
audience that God has always cared for and sustained his people and his creation, and that He
has always faithfully spoken into human history. And most importantly, that God’s Son Jesus is
not just the continuation of this covenant faithfulness, but is in fact the climax of God’s faithful
love and revelation. Jesus is supreme love in word and in action. There is no greater.”
7. Roger Hahn, “The prize jewel in the treasure chest of Hebrews is Jesus. With characteristic
directness, our writer wastes no time in introducing us to Christ, the subject of his book. Rarely
has so much been said in so short a span as in the first three verses of Hebrews. In fewer than one
hundred words, the writer of Hebrews declares the unrivaled superiority of Jesus over every
other form or word of revelation God has given to men. And God has given many such words.
The author of Hebrews did not waste time with small talk as he began his work. The first four
verses are a single sentence in the original Greek text. They contain some of the most elegantly
written Greek in the

ew Testament. Both the author's best literary skill and most profound
theology appear in his opening words. His preaching tendencies show through in the fact that five
words in verse 1 begin with the Greek letter for "p". In addition to alliteration the author placed
similar sounding words in parallel phrases. The result was a sentence that flowed powerfully and
majestically to its conclusion. The very choice of words gave a sense of weight and importance to
the message being communicated.”
8. “Here we are given the very nature and essence of the Old Covenant.

otice that the Old
Covenant is typified by looser constraints. God’s character was no different before the coming of
Christ but he did deal with men on the basis of partial revelation. Look at the wording of
Romans 3:25,26 for a glimpse of how God worked with men during the Mosaic Covenant, "God
presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his
justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- he did it
to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who
have faith in Jesus."

otice also the similar wording of Acts 17:30 , "In the past God overlooked
such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent." In direct contrast to what
many teach today, there are distinct differences between the covenant which was outlined at
Mount Sinai and the

ew Covenant in Christ’s Blood. The Old Covenant was more forgiving to
allow for the limited revelation God had given up until that time.

ot that God was ever
imperfect, but He was looking toward the culmination of His perfect plan. It is important to note
that the

ew Covenant was not something that was a result of God reaching a point of
frustration and then deciding to send His son but it was planned from eternity past as outlined in
1 Peter 1:19,20, ‘but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was
chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." author
unknown

9. Stedman, “The epistle to the Hebrews begins as dramatically as a rocket shot to the moon. In
one paragraph, the writer breathtakingly transports his readers from the familiar ground of Old
Testament prophetic writings, through the incarnation of the Son (who is at once creator, heir
and sustainer of all things and the fullest possible manifestation of deity), past the purifying
sacrifice of the cross to the exaltation of Jesus on the ultimate seat of power in the universe. It is a
paragraph daring in its claims and clearly designed to arrest the reader's attention and compel a
further hearing.
God spoke (by prophets) to the fathers in many portions and in various ways. Amos gave God's
message by oracles and direct statements from God; Hosea by "typical" experiences in his own
life; Habakkuk by arguments and discussion. Malachi spoke God's word by questions and
answers; Ezekiel by strange and symbolic acts; Haggai by sermons and Zechariah by mystical
signs.
God addressed His people in parables and in illustrations; by warnings and exhortations; by
encouragements and promises. By every possible method He spoke through the prophets to the
fathers. Yet the word was always fragmentary and usually soon forgotten. When the Old
Testament closed, revelation was still incomplete. God was to speak again, more fully and more
effectively than He ever had spoken in the prophets.”
10. Unknown author, “GOD. What word could more fittingly stand at the head of the first line of
the first paragraph in this noble epistle! Each structure must rest on him as foundation; each tree
must spring from him as root; each design and enterprise must originate in him as source. "I

G-GOD," is a worthy motto to inscribe at the commencement of every treatise,
be it the ponderous volume or the ephemeral tract. And with that name we commence our
attempt to gather up some of the glowing lessons which were first addressed to the persecuted
and wavering Hebrews in the primitive age, but have ever been most highly prized by believing
Gentiles throughout the universal Church. The feast was originally spread for the children of the
race of Abraham; but who shall challenge our right to the crumbs? In our endeavor to gather
them, be thou, 0 God, Alpha and Omega, First and Last. In the original Greek, the word "God"is
preceded by two other words, which describe the variety and multitudinousness of his revelation
to man. And the whole verse is full of interest as detailing the origin and authority of the Word of
God, and as illustrating the great law which appears in so many parts of the works of God, and
has been fitly called the law of VARIETY I

ITY.
Think about the various times and ways God spoke in the OT:- direct revelation (Samuel) (the
prophets: mouthpieces of God)- circumstances (Elijah in the wilderness)- visions: Ezekiel, Isaiah,
Daniel- plagues (Egyptians)- chastisement (Jonah)- creation itself (Balaam’s donkey) (the
burning bush)
God Spoke in many Portions and in many Ways.
He spoke to Job out of a whirlwind.
He spoke to Joseph in dreams.
God spoke to Moses in a burning bush.
He spoke to Joshua through an angel.

He spoke to Samuel in a voice in the night.
He spoke to Elijah is a still, small voice.
He spoke to Daniel in a vision.
He is a God of variety in creation and in the many ways he communicates. He is not locked into
any one way of doing things. We dare not assume that God always works the same way in all
situations, for he may use writing on the wall or even a donkey, or a dream to communicate.
11. John Piper, “He was not silent. God communicates. He means to connect with us. He is not an
idea to be thought about. He is a person to be listened to and understood and enjoyed and
obeyed. He is a speaking Person. There is no more important fact than this: There is a God who
speaks that we might know him and love him and live in joyful obedience to him. God spoke.
“This is where I get the assurance that God is not withdrawn and uncommunicative. This
verse stresses the lavish variety of God's communication. In "many portions (or times or
places) and many ways!" This is a great comfort and encouragement. Do you know why?
Because we all know that some of those portions and ways are hard to understand. If God
had only spoken in one portion or one way and we couldn't get it, we would be very
frustrated and at a great disadvantage. But God has not done it that way. He has spoken
in many places and times and portions and in many ways.
So if you have difficulty in grasping his word in Leviticus, you may hear him clearly in Proverbs.
If you don't see the point clearly in Zechariah, you may still be deeply moved by the message of
Jonah. If you don't catch on yet to the strange visions in Ezekiel, you may be sustained by the
sufferings of Job. The point is this: God means to provide a lot of possibilities in the Old
Testament where you can hear him. He has spoken and he is not silent. He is not withdrawn and
uncommunicative. There are many places and many ways that he has spoken by the prophets.”
12. Arthur Pink, “The apostle introduces his theme in a manner least calculated to provoke the
antipathy of his Jewish readers. He begins by acknowledging that Judaism was of Divine
authority: it was God who had spoken to their fathers. "He confirms and seals the doctrine which
was held by the Hebrews, that unto them had been committed the oracles of God; and that in the
writings of Moses and the prophets they possessed the Scripture which could not be broken, in
which God had displayed unto them His will" (Adolph Saphir).
It was to our forefathers that he spoke, and so it was to a particular people this book is addressed.
It was to Jewish believers, for it was to the forefathers of Israel that God spoke. This shows that
the author was also a Hebrew. All Christians are children of Abraham by faith in Christ, and so
the Old Testament people are also our forefathers.
Pink makes it clear that whoever the original readers, we are all in need of all of the Scriptures
and so all of it is to all of us. He writes, “There are some, claiming to have great light, who would
rob the saints today of the Epistle of James because it is addressed to "the Twelve Tribes which
are scattered abroad." With equal propriety they might take from us the Epistles to the
Philippians and Colossians because they were addressed only to the saints in those cities! The
truth is that what Christ said to the apostles in Mark 13:17—"What I say unto you, I say unto
all"— may well be applied to the whole of the Bible. All Scripture is needed by us (2 Tim. 3:16,
17), and all Scripture is God’s word to us.

ote carefully that while at the beginning of his Epistle

to Titus Paul only addresses Titus himself (Titus 1:4), yet at the close of this letter he expressly
says, "Grace be with you all!" (Titus 3:15)”
Pink, “The Epistle itself contains further details which serve to identify the addressees. That it
was written to saints who were by no means young in the faith is clear from Hebrews 5:12. That it
was sent to those who had suffered severe persecutions (cf. Acts 8:1) is plain from what we read
in Hebrews 10:32. That it was addressed to a Christian community of considerable size is evident
from Hebrews 13:24. From this last reference we are inclined to conclude that this Epistle was
first delivered to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 11:22), or to the churches in Judea (Acts 9:31),
copies of which would be made and forwarded to Jewish Christians in foreign lands. Thus, our
Epistle was first addressed to those descendants of Abraham who, by grace, had believed on their
Savior-Messiah.”
Pink points out that these Jewish Christians often had to face persecution and a temptation to go
back to the old as their foundation. He writes, “In addition to their natural prejudices, the
temporal circumstances of the believing Jews became increasingly discouraging, yea, presented a
sore temptation for them to abandon the profession of Christianity. Following the persecution
spoken of in Acts 8:1, that eminent scholar, Adolph Saphir—himself a converted Jew—tells us:
"Then arose another persecution of the believers, especially directed against the apostle Paul.
Festus died about the year 63, and under the high priest Ananias, who favored the Sadducees, the
Christian Hebrews were persecuted as transgressors of the law. Some of them were stoned to
death; and though this extreme punishment could not be frequently inflicted by the Sanhedrim,
they were able to subject their brethren to sufferings and reproaches which they felt keenly. It
was a small thing that they confiscated their goods; but they banished them from the holy places.
Hitherto they had enjoyed the privileges of devout Israelites: they could take part in the beautiful
and God-appointed services of the sanctuary; but now they were treated as unclean and
apostates. Unless they gave up faith in Jesus, and forsook the assembling of themselves together,
they were not allowed to enter the Temple, they were banished from the altar, the sacrifice, the
high priest, the house of Jehovah.
"We can scarcely realize the piercing sword which thus wounded their inmost heart. That by
clinging to the Messiah they were to be severed from Messiah’s people, was, indeed, a great and
perplexing trial; that for the hope of Israel’s glory they were banished from the place which God
had chosen, and where the divine Presence was revealed, and the symbols and ordinances had
been the joy and strength of their fathers; that they were to be no longer children of the covenant
and of the house, but worse than Gentiles, excluded from the outer court, cut off from the
commonwealth of Israel. This was indeed a sore and mysterious trial. Cleaving to the promises
made unto their fathers, cherishing the hope in constant prayer that their nation would yet
accept the Messiah, it was the severest test to which their faith could be put, when their loyalty to
Jesus involved separation from all the sacred rights and privileges of Jerusalem."
Thus the need for an authoritative, lucid, and systematic setting forth of the real relation of
Christianity to Judaism was a pressing one. Satan would not miss the opportunity of seeking to
persuade these Hebrews that their faith in Jesus of

azareth was a mistake, a delusion, a sin.
Were they right, while the vast majority of their brethren, according to the flesh, among whom
were almost all the respected members of the Sanhedrim and the priesthood, wrong? Had God
prospered them since they had become followers of the crucified One? or, did not their temporal
circumstances evidence that He was most displeased with them? Moreover, the believing remnant
of Israel had looked for a speedy return of Christ to the earth, but thirty years had now passed

and He had not come! Yes, their situation was critical, and there was an urgent need that their
faith should be strengthened, their understanding enlightened, and a fuller explanation be given
them of Christianity in the light of the Old Testament. It was to meet this need that God, in His
tender mercy, moved His servant to write this Epistle to them.”
13. Is everything you say of equal importance?
Is everything the President says of equal importance?
Is everything God says of equal importance?
We are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, but does that mean that all
are equal? Is the Old Testament equal to the

ew Testament? This book of Hebrews answers all
of these questions with a resounding

o! God updates his Word to man in Christ and what he
says through Jesus is more important than what he said in the Old Testament. Much of the past
Word was to prepare for the final Word in Christ. When the fulfillment came the preparation
was finished and completed.
Jesus said he had many things to tell his disciples but they were not ready. You do not tell your
young children about income taxes and wills, for they are not ready for such things. So God’s
people needed to be prepared for they were not ready. God is like any intelligent parent and he
has what is called Progressive Revelation. He tells people what they can grasp, and then builds on
that to reveal more when they are ready. It is called going from the known to the unknown, which
is the essence of education.
The Old Testament was like the alphabet and the

ew was the beginning of reading. They needed
the foundation of the alphabet before they could understand the full revelation of God. The
world is full of truths, but only in Christ do we get the full truth. He is the highest revelation of
who God is and what his plan is. Christians do not have a monopoly on truths, for there are
truths in Judaism and most other religions, but the fullness of truth is in Jesus. He is the truth
and the last word on truth.” author unknown
14. Thomas R. Rodgers, “The word “many portions” or “diverse manners” is the word
polumeros, which means many portions like a pie. The revelations that God began to give to man
a long time ago through the prophets or fathers were divided into many parts or portions. The
divine truth is like a pie that God sliced, giving one portion to one prophet, another to Moses,
another to Isaiah. Some portions were large and some were small, but all were part of the pie -
His revelation to us.
In addition, the author said, not only is God’s truth divided into many portions served to the
prophets and fathers like a pie, He also did it in many ways. That is the word has to do with how
God did it. God took His truth and divided it into various portions like a pie, then He distributed
it in many manners progressively and in a variety of ways. God did not dump all this theology at
one time and on one person. He gave it to a variety of men in a variety of ways progressively and
divided like pieces of a pie.”
“Consider some further terminology in Hebrews 1:1: In Greek there are two words for something
old. One is the word archaios which comes into such English words as archaic and archaeology.
The Greek word means old as in a point in time. It is not the word for old used in this verse. The
word used here is palai. It means old in point of use; old as to present value, ready to be replaced
by something new.

The author of Hebrews is saying that this old revelation given to the prophets is now ready to be
replaced. These old pieces of revelation were not to be cast aside. They were part of God’s final
revelation made complete in the Person of Christ by the

ow you can
understand what the Lord is talking about in Matthew 5:17. Jesus is speaking: Think not that I
am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy. but to fulfill. There is a
continuity with the old and the new, for the new completes the old.
14. Pink, “"This manifesting of God’s will by parts (‘at sundry times,’ etc.), is here (verse 1) noted
by way of distinction and difference from God’s revealing His will under the Gospel; which was
all at one time, viz., the times of His Son’s being on earth; for then the whole counsel of God was
made known so far as was meet for the Church to know it while this world continueth. In this
respect Christ said, ‘All things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you’ (John
15:15), and ‘the Comforter shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you’ (Heb. 14:26). The woman of Samaria understood this much: ‘When the
Messiah is come, He will tell us all things’ (John 4:25). Objection: the apostles had many things
revealed to them later. Answer: those were no other things than what Christ had revealed before,
while He lived" (Dr. Gouge).
15. Pink, “The central point of contrast here is between the Old Testament "prophets" and Christ
"the Son." Though the Holy Spirit has not here developed the details of this contrast, we can
ourselves, by going back to the Old Testament, supply them. Mr. Saphir has strikingly
summarized them under seven heads. "First, they were many: one succeeded another: they lived
in different periods. Second, they gave out God’s revelation in ‘divers manners’—similitudes,
visions, symbols. Each prophet had his peculiar gift and character. Their stature and capacity
varied. Third, they were sinful men—Isaiah 6:5, Daniel 10:8. Fourth, they did not possess the
Spirit constantly. The ‘word’ came to them, but they did not possess the Word! Fifth, they did not
understand the heights and depths of their own message—1 Peter 1:10. Sixth, still less did they
comprehend the whole of God’s revelation in Old Testament times. Seventh, like John the Baptist
they had to testify ‘I am not the Light, I am only sent to bear witness of the Light.’"

ow, the
very opposite was the case in all these respects with the "Son." Though the revelation which God
gave the prophets is equally inspired and authoritative, yet that through His Son possesses a
greater dignity and value, for He has revealed all the secrets of the Father’s heart, the fullness of
His counsel, and the riches of His grace.”
16. CALVI

, “That we may understand this more clearly, we must observe the contrast between
each of the clauses. First, the Son of God is set in opposition to the prophets; then we to the
fathers; and, thirdly, the various and manifold modes of speaking which God had adopted as to
the fathers, to the last revelation brought to us by Christ. But in this diversity he still sets before
us but one God, that no one might think that the Law militates against the Gospel, or that the
author of one is not the author of the other. That you may, therefore, understand the full import
of this passage, the following arrangement shall be given, -
God spoke
Formerly by the Prophets, . . . . . . . . .

ow by the Son;
Then to the Fathers,. . . . . . . . . . . .But now to us;
Then at various times . . . . . . . . . . .

ow as at the end of the times.
This foundation being laid, the agreement between the Law and the Gospel is established; for

God, who is ever like himself, and whose word is the same, and whose truth is unchangeable, has
spoken as to both in common.”
17. Preceptaustin, “MacArthur adds that
A prophet is one who speaks to men for God; a priest is one who speaks to God for men. The
priest takes man’s problems to God; the prophet takes God’s message to men. Both, if they
are true, are commissioned by God, but their ministries are quite different. The book of
Hebrews has a great deal to say about priests, but its opening verse speaks of prophets. The
Holy Spirit establishes the divine authorship of the Old Testament, its accuracy and its
authority, through the fact that it was given to and delivered by God’s prophets." For
example the "LORD said to Moses, "See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother
Aaron shall be your prophet." (Ex 7:1) (MacArthur, John: Hebrews. Moody Press or Logos)
Thus, the prophets were the mouthpieces of God and their words were not the production of their
own spirit, but came from the Holy Spirit as emphasized by Peter who wrote that
no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God. (1Pe 1:21-note)
The prophet John the Baptist quoting another prophet Isaiah explaining that he was but
a voice of One who is crying out in the wilderness (Jn 1:23)
The One giving the message was God, John being His voice,
a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. (2Ti 2:21-
note)
The prophets received their call or appointment directly from God, and some like Jeremiah (Jer
1:5) or John the Baptist (Jn 1:13, 14, 15), were called before birth. Although not all that God had
spoken through the prophets was predictive prophecy, this aspect of God's revelation is one of the
strongest evidences that the Bible is divinely inspired.
Barclay adds that
it is no part of the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews to belittle the prophets; it is his aim
to establish the supremacy of Jesus Christ. He is not saying that there is a break between the
Old Testament revelation and that of the

ew Testament; he is stressing the fact that there is
continuity , but continuity that ends in consummation."
The KJV translates this phrase as by the prophets but the Greek is literally in the prophets.
Kenneth Wuest explains that in is
"the preposition en - Used here in the locative case...the locative of sphere. That is, the
writers of the First Testament constituted the sphere within which God spoke. He spoke
exclusively through them and through no other men, so far as the written revelation is
concerned. This preposition is used also in the instrumental case. Then the writers would be
looked upon as the instruments in God’s hands by which the First Testament Scriptures were
written down." (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek

ew Testament:
Eerdmans or Logos) (Bolding added)
OT Scriptures documenting that God spoke long ago...
God spoke to Adam and told him that the Savior would come from the Seed of the woman
(Ge 3:15).

God spoke to Abraham and told him that the Savior would come from his Seed (Ge 12:3,
18:18, 22:18).
God spoke to Jacob and told him that the Savior would come through the tribe of Judah
(Gen 49:10).
God spoke to David and told him that the Savior would be born of his house (2Sam 7:16).
God spoke to Micah and told him that the Savior would be born at Bethlehem (Mic 5:2).
God spoke to Isaiah and told him that the Savior would be born of a virgin (Isa 7:14).
See also topic - Messianic Prophecies
John Calvin writes
That you may, therefore, understand the full import of this passage, the following
arrangement shall be given —
GOD SPAKE
Formerly by the Prophets

ow by the Son;
Then to the Fathers
But now to us;
Then at various times

Many portions (4181) (polumeros from polús = many + méros = part) (only use in the

T) is
literally "many parts". It means part by part, fragmentarily. In context means that God spoke a
word here and there, now and then, some at one time, some at another, to some a few words, to
others many.
The speech of God is not unbroken chatter but episodes of speech punctuating seasons of silence.
This phrase is first in the Greek construction for emphasis (emphatic position) and refers to the
incremental and progressive revelation (Genesis gives some truth, Exodus some more truth, etc) in
which God disclosed Himself in portions of truth at different times until the appearance of the
Son, Who Himself is the consummation of Truth (Jn 1:17, 14:6), the fulfillment of the Law and
Prophets (Mt 5:17-note).
The prophetic revelation was fragmentary, piece by piece in 39 OT books delivered over some
1500 years by forty-plus writers, each contributing "portions" of divine revelation, none in
themselves complete.
Pink adds that
The Old Testament revelation was but the refracted rays, not the light unbroken and
complete. As illustrations of this we may refer to the gradual making known of the Divine
character through His different titles (Click Studies on the

ames of God), or to the
prophesies concerning the coming Messiah. It was 'here a little and there a little.'"
If is as if God had spoken in a spectrum of pure variegated lights in the Old Testament and that
the arrival of Jesus was like a "prism" Who collects all these bands of pure light and focuses
them into one final, perfect and pure beam.
Peter alludes to the fragmentary nature of the OT revelation adding that even the
prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come...made careful search and inquiry,
seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He

predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." (see notes 1 Peter 1:10; 1:11)
Jamieson comments
All was not revealed to each one prophet; but one received one portion of revelation, and
another another. To

oah the quarter of the world to which Messiah should belong was
revealed; to Abraham, the nation; to Jacob, the tribe; to David and Isaiah, the family; to
Micah, the town of nativity; to Daniel, the exact time; to Malachi, the coming of His
forerunner, and His second advent; through Jonah, His burial and resurrection; through
Isaiah and Hosea, His resurrection. Each only knew in part; but when that which was perfect
came in Messiah, that which was in part was done away" (1Cor 13:12).
F B Meyer puts it this way

o one prophet could speak out all the truth. Each was entrusted with one or two syllables in
the mighty sentences of God's speech. At the best the view caught of God, and given to men
through the prophets, though true, was partial and limited. But in Jesus there is nothing of
this piecemeal revelation. "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." He hath
revealed the Father. Whosoever hath seen him hath seen God; and to hear his words is to get
the full-orbed revelation of the Infinite. (Hebrews 1:3-4: The Dignity of Christ)
In many ways (4187) (polutropos from polús = many + trópos = a manner) points to the different
media and modes through which God disclosed His word, including dream, direct voice, signs,
angelic visitations and even in different ways to different men. He spoke to Moses in the burning
bush (Ex 3:2ff), to Elijah in a still, small voice (1Ki 19:12), to Isaiah in a vision in the temple (Isa
6:1ff), to Hosea in his family circumstances (Hos 1:2), and to Amos in a basket of summer fruit
(Am 8:1).
Many ways also alludes to the different OT literary types including law, history, poetry, allegory,
prophecy, etc. The writer's main point in this section is to emphasize that all OT revelation was
God speaking to man, albeit in a manner that was fragmentary and occasional, lacking fullness
and finality.
Pink observes that
we may see here an illustration of the sovereignty of God: He did not act uniformly or
confine Himself to any one method of speaking to the fathers. He spake by way of promise
and prediction, by types and symbols, by commandments and precepts, by warnings and
exhortations." Expositor’s adds that the people of Israel “were like men listening to a clock
striking the hour, always getting nearer the truth but obliged to wait till the whole is heard.”
MacArthur adds that
We must, of course, clearly understand that the Old Testament was not in any way erroneous
(2Ti 3:16, 17- note). But there was in it a development, of spiritual light and of moral
standards, until God’s truth was refined and finalized in the

ew Testament. The distinction
is not in the validity of the revelation—its rightness or wrongness—but in the completeness
of it and the time of it. Just as children are first taught letters, then words, and then
sentences, so God gave His revelation. It began with the “picture book” of types and
ceremonies and prophecies and progressed to final completion in Jesus Christ and His

ew
Testament...The Old Testament is only a part of God’s truth, but it is not partially His truth.
It is not His complete truth, but it is completely His truth. It is God’s revelation, His
progressive revelation preparing His people for the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ.
(MacArthur, John: Hebrews. Moody Press or Logos)

Isaac Watts expresses the thoughts of verse 1-2 in hymn:
God, Who in various methods told
His mind and will to saints of old,
Sent down His Son, with truth and grace,
To teach us in these latter days.
Our nation reads the written Word,
That book of life, that sure record:
The bright inheritance of heav’n
Is by the sweet conveyance giv’n.
God’s kindest thoughts are here expressed,
Able to make us wise and bless’d;
The doctrines are divinely true,
Fit for reproof and comfort, too.
Play "God Who in Various Methods Told"
18. An unknown author has put together this wonderful study of the ways God has
communicated. “In What Special Ways Has God Revealed Himself To Humanity?
The author the Book of Hebrews wrote that God has spoken to humanity in various ways.
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in
various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed
heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe (Hebrews 1:1,2).
The Bible records a variety of ways God has revealed Himself to humanity—primarily through
words and deeds. The Bible lists the following ways in which God has made Himself known.
1. God Directly Communicated To Humanity With An Audible Voice The Bible often records God
speaking with an audible voice. In the Book of Genesis we read.The Lord God said . . . (Genesis
2:18).Later in Genesis we read. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram,
saying . . . (Genesis 15:18).In these instances God spoke audibly in a way that human beings
could understand.
2. The Lot Was Used To Determine God’s Will One of the ways that God made himself known
was in the casting of lots. The Book of Proverbs says.The lot is cast into the lap, but its every
decision is from the LORD (Proverbs 16:33).We find an historical usage of the lot to determine
the replacement for traitor Judas. Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have
been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's

baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness
with us of his resurrection. So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as
Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of
these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he
belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles
(Acts 1:21-26). While the Bible records this use of the lot by Jesus’ disciples, there is some
question as to whether they were led by the Holy Spirit to chose the twelfth disciple in this
manner. Today we would not highly regard the use of the lot. However, in the past, it did
sometimes serve to communicate the mind of God to humanity.
3. Once God Wrote With A Huge Hand On A Wall In the Book of Daniel God revealed himself to
the evil king Belshazzar by a large hand writing on a wall.Suddenly the fingers of a human hand
appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king
watched the hand as it wrote (Daniel 5:5).
4. The Urim and Thummim Helped Determine God’s Will The Urim and Thummim (lights and
perfections) were one of the ways in which God spoke to the people. There is mystery
surrounding exactly how this worked. The Bible commanded the high priest to use them.Also put
the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he
enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for
the Israelites over his heart before the LORD (Exodus 28:30).
The high priest wore a breastplate that had a square piece of material that was folded in half.
This would open at the top like a pouch. On the breastplate were twelve precious stones on which
were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is possible that the Urim and Thummim
were two precious stones placed inside the pouch that were used, in some way, to determine
God’s will. However, exactly how the will of God was made known to the High Priest is not
certain. There are a number of examples of it being put in use. Moses wrote.
But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the decision of the Urim
before the LORD; at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and
all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation (

umbers. 27:21). Again Moses wrote.Of Levi
he said, “Let your Thummim and your Urim belong to your godly man, whom you proved at
Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah (Deuteronomy 33:8). In Samuel we
read. When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim
or by prophets (1 Samuel. 28:6). Scripture tells us that it was used until the time of Ezra.The
governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up
with Urim and Thummim (Ezra 2:63).
5. God Revealed Himself Through Dreams While dreams are a common experience of humanity,
God used them in a special way to reveal His truth. God said to Moses: Hear now my words: “If
there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision, and I speak to
him in a dream” (

umbers 12:6). The Bible says that nonbelievers, as well as believers, have
experienced God-given dreams. The Book of Genesis gives examples of this occurring. This

happened to a king named Abimelech. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said
to him, “You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a married
woman” (Genesis 20:3). God supernaturally gave a dream to a man named Laban. But God came
to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, “Take heed that you say not a word
to Jacob, either good or bad” (Genesis 31:24).
6. God Gave Visions To A

umber Of People There is some distinction between dreams and
visions. Dreams happen, of course, while we are asleep. A vision can occur while the person is
awake. Furthermore, in a dream the emphasis seems to be more on what is seen, while in a vision
the emphasis seems to be on what is heard. The Bible records that God spoke to certain people
through visions. Isaiah records. The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of
Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (Isaiah 1:1).
7. Paul Was Transported Into The Spirit World God transported the apostle Paul into the spirit
world to show him what was happening there. He testified to his experience as follos. I know a
man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the
body or out of the body I do not know - God knows. And I know that this man - whether in the
body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
8. At Times God Dictated His Truth On a few occasions God directly dictated what the biblical
author would write. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who
holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know
your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men,
that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You
have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary
(Revelation 2:1-3).
9. Sometimes God Appeared In A Human Body (Theophanies) A theophany is the temporary
appearance of God in a human body in order to reveal something specific to His people.
According to the Old Testament this has occurred a number of times. The Bible says God
appeared in human form to, among others, Abraham, Joshua, and Gideon. Before the time of
Christ, these theophanies were associated with the appearance of the Angel of the Lord.
10. God Used Angels To Bring His Message God also uses created angels to carry His message to
people. The Gospel according to Luke reveals angels appeared to shepherds at Jesus’ birth. But
the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all
the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord”
(Luke 2:10-11). It is interesting to note that in the Book of Revelation God will use an angel to
communicate to birds! And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the
birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat
the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all
people, free and slave, small and great” (Revelation 19:17-19)

11. Miracles Were Performed To Reveal God’s Power A miracle is a sign that points people to
God. Miracles reveal the existence and power of God. On the Day of Pentecost Peter preached
about the miracles of Jesus. Jesus of

azareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles,
wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst (Acts 2:22).
John recorded the reason why he recorded the miracles of Jesus. Therefore many other signs
Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these
have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing you may have life in His name (John 20:30-31),
12. God Sometimes Gave Object Lessons God communicated His truth through object lessons.
For example Jeremiah was told by the Lord to buy a clay jar from a potter and then smash it in
front of the leaders. In the same way, God said that he would smash the disbelieving nation
(Jeremiah 19:1-15). God made the prophet Ezekiel lay on his side for an entire year.
13. God Directly Intervened In History Another way in which God has revealed Himself is
through His activity in history. The people were told to remember God’s righteous acts. The Bible
says. My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled. And what Balaam son of
Beor answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might know the righteous acts of the
Lord. (Micah 6:5). Acts of judgment reveal the nature of God. The Lord told Ezekiel the
following about Himself. Therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand against you and I will
give you for spoil to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish
from the lands; I will destroy you. Thus you will know that I am the Lord (Ezekiel 25:7).
14. The Prophets Were Used To Reveal God’s Truth A prophet is a spokesman for God. One such
man was Moses. God said to him.

ow therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you
what you shall say (Exodus 4:12). The Old Testament prophets brought God’s message to
humanity. David said. The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue (2
Samuel 23:2). The

ew Testament prophets also delivered the Word of the Lord. Paul wrote
about the truth revealed in the

ew Testament. Which was not made known to people in other
generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets
(Ephesians 3:5). They spoke with authority because they were communicating the Word of the
Lord. Today a preacher or teacher today does not qualify as a prophet, in this sense of the term,
since he proclaims or explains God’s Word, that has been previously given and recorded in the
Scriptures.
15. Jesus Christ Was God’s Final Word To Humanity God’s final word to humanity was through
the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to earth to reveal God to humanity. God, who at various
times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last
days spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1,2). The coming of Jesus Christ was a major avenue of
special revelation. He explained what God was like.

o one has ever seen God, but God the One
and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known (John 1:18).

16. The Bible Records All These Different Means Of Special Revelation The record of God’s
direct communication, the theophanies, His miracles, His message to the prophets, and the
coming of Jesus Christ is found in the Bible. However the Bible is not merely the record of the
revelations from God. The Scripture also contains additional truth not revealed by these other
sources. Thus the Bible is the record of different aspects of special revelation as well as special
revelation itself.
Summary, “Special revelation is God informing humanity concerning Whom He is and what He
requires of us. The record of these divine revelations is contained in the Scriptures. The Bible
records God revealing Himself in the following ways. Direct communication, the lot, the Urim
and the Thummin, by a hand writing on the wall, transportation into the spirit world, dreams,
visions, dictation, theophanies, angels, miracles, object lessons, direct events, prophets, Jesus
Christ, and the Bible.”
19. Thomas Goodwin 1-2 sermon I, “I will not spend much time to shew who is the author of this
Epistle, which indeed among divines is doubtful; our translation hath prefixed Paul’s name to it,
being most probable that it is his. And though the author of it be not certainly known, yet it is not
to be excluded from the canon, for there are other books of Scripture that the authors of them are
not known, or at least not prefixed by themselves; as the Epistles of John, his name is not
mentioned in them; prefixed it is by the church, from one age to another, known by the style that
it is his. The reason why I chose to speak out of this epistle is, because it doth mention and speak
of Christ and of his offices, but especially of his priesthood, more than any other book of
Scripture I know. I will not profess an exact handling of all things therein contained, but raise
here and there some observations and meditations.
The scope of the apostle may appear, if we consider to whom he wrote he wrote to the Hebrews,
which were Jews. He did not write to the Hebrews not yet converted, as may appear by all the
passages in the whole Epistle. But he spake to those that had been already enlightened and knew
Christ, that had entertained the doctrine of the gospel. And this we may observe, that no book of
the Scripture was written to any other but professors, believers, not to unbelievers.

ow the Jews
did stick most to the law, ceremonies, and legal sacrifices, all which were but types of Christ, and
they were ignorant of the true excellency, nature, worth, and prerogative of Christ revealed to
them, and especially of his priesthood and sacrifice which he offered up above all the rest. The
apostle’s scope is to set up the gospel above the law, to raise up their hearts to a high esteem of
Christ, to shew that Christ was the end of the ceremonial law; so that all types should now cease.
And because he wrote to the Jews in that regard, whatsoever he doth speak he doth prove out of
the Old Testament through the whole book, and it is qnoted upon all occasions; because the Old
Testament had authority with the Jews, and he doth make everywhere now and then a short use
of the doctrinal points he doth deliver. He doth spend this chapter to prove that the Lord Jesus
Christ was God as well as man, and he doth make this short use of it, chap. ii., ver. 1, ‘Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard.’
The first chapter doth prove that the Lord Jesus Christ is more than a man; though he speaks
something of him in this first chapter, which belongs to him only as God, yet all the rest that he
speaks of him as mediator doth argue him to be more than a man. The second chapter proves
him to be man, so that as you have the scope of the two first chapters, so of the whole epistle.
In the first verse he breaks in upon the argument of the whole epistle, being to advance the
gospel, and Christ and the doctrine of the gospel, before the doctrine of the law, and that by

reason of Christ revealed in it, and Christ revealing it.
He makes a comparison between the times of the law and the time of the gospel, and he prefers
the time of the gospel before the time of the law; ‘God spake unto the fathers by the prophets, but
unto us by his Son.’

ow look, how much the Son of God doth exceed the prophets, so much the
doctrine of the gospel the doctrine of the law ; and look, how much the sun, which is the fountain
of light, doth exceed the stars, and the light of the sun the light of the stars, so much doth the light
that Christ hath brought us in the gospel exceed the light of the law.
Secondly, he spake to the fathers but by degrees, ‘by parcels;’ they had a little light now, and
anon a little more light, but they had not all at once. But in the time of the gospel all is poured out
to you at once.
Thirdly, under the time of the law the Lord did speak by several ways and manners, but now ye
have but one way, and that a plain way. Before, in the Old Testament, he revealed himself
obscurely, he was fain to mould his speech into many forms. As men, when they have notions that
are something obscure, are fain to use several expressions to make them plain, so the law being
dark and obscure, God was fain to deliver it several manner of ways, as in a riddle, by Urim and
Thummim, by the prophets, &e. ; ‘but now he speaks,’ plainly and clearly, ‘ by his Son;’
therefore he is called the brightness of his glory,’ the image, the character, and lively expression of
God.
Obs. 1. The same God that spake in the Old Testament speaks in the

ew ; he that spake to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he speaks to you now; that God that spake by the prophets, speaks
now by his Son ; therefore certainly the faith of the fathers is not contradictory to the faith of us.
Heb. xiii., ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and the same for ever ;‘ the same Christ
from the begiuning of the world, the same God that spake ; therefore all the promises that are in
the Old Testament, ye may apply them all now. Why? Because it is the same God which spake to
them, and speaks now to us; that God that heard the prayers of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the
Old Testament, and granted their petitions, with whom they were so familiar; we may have
fellowship with the same God. That promise that was made to Joshua in particular, ‘ I will not
leave thee nor forsake thee,’ chap. i. the apostle, Heb. xi., doth apply to all believers; and it is
founded upon this, that the same God which spake in the Old Testament, speaks in the

ew. Look
over all the Old Testament, and look what a God you find him there, the same God you shall find
him in the

ew. Look what punishments he brought on them of the old world, the same he will
now. And look how he dealt with his servants, as he was angry with Moses for a small sin, so in
the same manner he will deal with you, if you walk in the same ways. And as he pardoned men
under the Old Testament, so also will he under the

ew. And as we have the same God, so we
have the same faith, 2 Cor. iv. 13, ‘We have the spirit of faith,’ &e.;
Obs. 2. Onr great God doth not speak immediately unto men, but immediately by others. Before,
he spake to men by his prophets, but now by his Son, who took our nature upon him, that he
might be a fit speaker. As we cannot see God and live, so we cannot hear God and live. The Lord,
when he delivered his law, began first to speak himself, and the people hear his own voice, Deut.
xviii. 15, 16, Exod. xx., but the people could not hear God’s voice, for they said to Moses, ‘Speak
thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ They being sinners, as
we are, they were not able to hear God from heaven, for his voice speaks thunder, and striketh
dead. Upon this request that the people made to Moses, see what God says, Deut. xviii. 17, ‘ They
have well spoken that which they have spoken. Therefore what will he do? I will raise them up a
prophet from amongst their brethren,’ &c. See his mercy; upon their request he takes an
advantage of promising the Messias, being one of the clearest promises that they had till now. It is
true, he would send many prophets before, as forerunners of Christ, but in the end he would send
Christ, which should be a prophet like unto Moses, to speak unto them, &c. God doth take
advantages to make promises, when the poor people did shiver and quake, because God spake to

them. What doth he promise? He promises Christ. Thus the Lord takes a small occasion to make
the greatest promise of Christ.
Use 1. Therefore, seeing the Lord, when he doth speak, doth speak by others, and tbere is a great
deal of reason for it, because it is your own request, let not God fare the worse in delivering his
word; do not contemn it because men are fain to deliver it to you, for it is your own request. If he
should speak himself, he would strike you dead at every word; therefore do not take advantage
because God doth not back it with thunder, but receive the word as the word of God; for God
himself would speak to you, if you were able to bear him ; but because you are not, therefore he
speaks by others.
Use 2. It should teach ministers not to abuse God’s voice ; they should take heed that they speak
nothing but what God hath revealed. Though false prophets speak what is contrary to God’s will,
and God hear for a while and doth not manifest his wrath (for be can for a while dispense with
himself), yet the time will come when God’s wrath shall wax hot against them. They are not to
abuse the people in venting their own thoughts instead of God’s. For see what God says of such,
Dent. xviii. 20, ‘That prophet that shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not
commanded him to speak, even that prophet shall die.
Obs. 3. God spake in his prophets; we translate it by them, but the onginal is in them. A king,
though he be never so far off, and is not by to back it, yet he may be said to speak by, though not
in the ambassador; but when the Lord speaks by his faithful ministers, he doth not only sit in
heaven, and speaks by them, but be speaks in them, assisting them; he is in their hearts, and upon
their tongue, God goes along with the word into the hearts of the hearers.
Use. Lest ministers therefore labour to get the Holy Ghost into their own hearts, that he may not
only speak by them (for so he doth by wicked men), but in them, that that Spirit which takes
possession of them as saints may speak in them as ministers, that so the word which they deliver
may be the adminisration’ of the Spirit to the hearts of those that hear them. Obs. 4. We come to
the manner how God spake to them of old, he spake, by parcels, by piecemeal, by many parts, for
so the word signifies. The Lord at first brought in but one promise, and that obscure; he let drop
but one word to Adam in paradise of the promised seed, He gave only an intimation, a hint that
there should a Messias come. Then he went on further, and when he came to Abraham he
renewed that promise, and added a little more, Heb. vi. 18, he added an oath; and he shewed to
Abraham, not only that he should be a man, but that he should come of his seed, and that ‘in him
all the nations of the earth should be blessed;’ thus he enlarged the former promise. Bn all this
while there was no sacrament; here was a promise and. au oath, but no sacrament; then he goes
on and gives Abraham circumcision, which answers to our baptism; afterwards he adds the
passover, which answers to the supper of the Lord; and then he reveals to Moses divers types of
the ceremonial law. Then he reveals more clearly te David the resurrection and ascension of
Christ; then to Isaiah, that he should be born of a virgin, chap. liii., that he should be
circumcised, that he should bear our sorrows, and be a ‘man of sorrows,’ and ‘pour out his soul
even unto death.’ Unto Zechariah he revealed his poverty, and unto Malachi his forerunner. Thus
by piecemeals he reveals, not all at once. The old world began with a little knowledge; they had
the worship of God and the sacrifices, and they knew the day of judgment, as Enoch the seventh
from Adam prophesied of it. They knew some fundamental truths, the grounds of faith, but they
knew Christ by piecemeal. They knew something of themselves, because Adam fell but the other
day; but they knew little of Christ, that was revealed unto them by piecemeal.
Thus the Lord doth use to reveal himself; he hath done thus with the church in general. Although
he did reveal all, for the matter contained in the

ew Testament, that shall be revealed to the end
of the world, yet in regard of the light whereby this is discerned, God hath gone on by piecemeal.
Consider the recovery of the light of the gospel from under popery, how it was by piecemeal. Men
at first knew but a little, their hearts were only set against images and popery, they knew but a

few pieces of the truth; but Wickliffe and John Huss went further. In Luther’s time they knew
justification by faith, and then popery fell down about Luther’s ears, and he said, if they would
grant that he would go on further; but when God had unreaved all the tiles, that popery was
ready to be pulled down, then Calvin comes in, and more was revealed.
Thus God doth go on to reveal himself; and as he dealt with the people of the Jews in regard of
the matter, and as with us for the manner (for the Jews had the matter revealed to them by
piecemeal, but we had the matter given at once), so with particular Christians, he doth discover
to them first themselves, and then they think that at their first conversion they see a great deal in
their hearts; yet he goes on further to reveal more corruption unto them, and then he reveals
Christ and his electing love to them, he leads them like scholars through several forms; and
though at first in the centre, they know all that is necessary to salvation, yet things are beaten out
afterwards unto a circumference. They know enough of Christ at first to save them, and of
themselves enough to humble them; yet God suffers the wheel to go over them again and again.
In reading the Scripture, observe it; read a chapter to-day, and when a man getteth his heart into
a spiritual frame he will see many truths; let him read it the next day, and he will see something
more, &c.: the reason is because God reveals himself by piecemeal.
Reason. Because indeed men are incapable of all at once, John xvi. 12. Our Saviour, though he
came to reveal all fulness, yet how incapable were the apostles to apprehend it. He was fain to
deliver over some of them to the Comforter. Paul, when he came to preach to the Corinthians, 1
Cor. iii. 2, he had many truths which he could not reveal unto them, for so long as they were
carnal they were not capable of all truths, but as the flesh is emptying out of a man, so knowledge
grows; so Isa. xxviii. 13, he was fain to speak by piecemeal, ‘line upon line, and precept upon
precept;’ as ye teach young children a little now and a little then, for they cannot endure to be
held long to their books; so is God fain to do with his. And as in teaching young scholars, what do
tutors? They do read over first a compendium, some short grounds of logic, and then another
book which is a systema, and then direct them to such commentaries that do enlarge truths. So
God doth teach first by catechisms, which contain short fundamental truths, and then he goes
over many truths in a larger manner in their hearts. A painter draws at the first but a few lines
with a black coal; he will draw the shape of a man’s face, but afterwards he goeth over it with
colours and oil; so God doth with his church, and with private men, even as a master doth with
his apprentice, he will not teach him all his knowledge at first, but he reserves something, that
happily he will not teach him before he be to go out of his trade, he teacheth him by degrees; so
God hath bound himself by covenant to teach you to know him; but something ye shall not know
till you are to go from under his tuition. And this he doth, first, to humble his people; he will have
them know but in part. Though young converts have but a little knowledge, how proud are they!
Much more if they had all at once.
And likewise, secondly, to show the treasures in himself. In Christ are treasures that will hold
digging to the end of the world; men would be weary if they had the same light still, therefore
God goes on to discover, though the same truth, yet with new and diverse lights. Thus God
reveals himself by piecemeals.
Use 1. Let us labour to grow in knowledge; God reveals himself by piecemeal, do not therefore
stick in the first principles of religion; it is the apostle’s exhortation to the Hebrews, chap. vi.
There is a great deal of ignorance, therefore labour to go on to perfection, and grow in Christ; he
reveals himself by piecemeal, not as if he had already obtained; therefore there is more
knowledge to be had; the greatest part of that you know is the least part of what you know not.
Use 2. It may teach ministers to raise the age that they live in, in knowledge, though of the same
truths, in a clearer manner, Mat. xiii. 52. It is said he that is a right scribe, that is fit to do service
in the church of God, is like a householder, which bringeth forth things new and old; there is no
than but God discovereth to him more, or the same by a further light, than to another.

Use 3. It may humble young Christians, that think, when they are first converted, that they have
all knowledge, and therefore take upon them to censure men that have been long in Christ; and
out of their own experience they will frame opinions, comparing but a few notes together. Alas, ye
know but a piece of what you shall know! When you have been in Christ ten or twenty years,
then speak; then those opinions which you have now will fall off, and experience will shew them
to be false. They think themselves as Paul, that nothing can be added unto them; but what says
Paul, 1 Cor. xiii. 11? ‘When I was a child,’ &c. He takes a comparison from a child, as being a
man, but raised up to his spiritual estate, and thou also wilt then ‘put away childish things.’
Use 4. If God in former ages did reveal himself but by piecemeal, and if that piecemeal
knowledge, which they had by inch and inch, did make them holy; for how holy was Enoch and
Abraham that had but one promise; then how much more holy should we be, that have had so
full a discovery! If one promise wrought so much on their hearts, how much more should so
many promises on ours!
Use 5. Here we see that God doth work on men by degrees. It is Solomon’s comparison, that
righteousness shineth as the dawning of the day, till it come to perfect day. Conversion out of the
state of nature into the state of grace is called coming ‘out of darkness into light.’

ow light
comes into the world by degrees. A man that sitteth up in the night, when the first break of day is
he cannot discern; but half, or a quarter of an hour after he begins to see light. Thus it is with
many poor souls; they have light break in upon them; they can tell that they were in darkness,
but the instant when this light brake in they know not, because God reveals himself by degrees.
I am now to shew how God reveals himself. He did cast himself and his revelations into several
moulds and shapes, into several ways of expressing himself, that so he might reveal himself to the
people. As Ulysses was able to cast himself into several moulds in his several dealings with men,
so likewise God hath revealed himself after several ways.
Thus he did under the Old Testament. In Hos. xii. 10 it is said, that he ‘multiplied visions,’
because he was various in it; he used divers likenesses and expressions of himself while he spake
by the prophets. We have it more plain in

um. xii. 6, ‘If there be a prophet among you, I the
Lord will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream.’ Thus you see
that there are several ways that God did speak to men by, by visions and dreams, and in dark
speeches; but when he came to Moses, who was a type of Christ (for he is said to be a type in this
particular, when it is said, ‘I will raise up a prophet like unto thee’), it is said, that he spake to
him ‘mouth to mouth, as a man speaks to his friend,’

um. xii. 8, he speaks to him in an apparent
manner; but by all the prophets he did speak in dark speeches, in riddles. So in the vision of the
great eagle, Ezek. xvii. 2, it is called a riddle. He spake sometimes by visions and sometime by
dreams; yet the visions were more clear things than speaking by dreams; therefore it is said, ‘The
young men shall see ‘visions, and the old men shall dream dreams;’ the young men had more
acute parts, and therefore they had more clear revelation. Thus God reveal himself to Joseph in
dreams, and therefore he is called the dreamer, of his brethren; yet it is called the ‘word of God,’
Pa. cv. 19. So a hint in prayer, when it comes in with evidence, it is the word of God, as that was
to Joseph. He did reveal himself by dreams, to shew, first, that he can do that which no other
teacher in the world can; for no teacher else can teach their scholar when they are asleep, but so
the Lord did, and so he can still do. Secondly, he did it, to shew that, in revealing his message,
reason should be asleep, and that should be subject to the revelation of God. He revealed himself
likewise by visions, and in thst regard the prophets are called Seers; and he revealed himself
likewise by Urim and Thummim; only those revelations were not for matter of doctrine, but of
practice, when they were to deal in such and such a business. He revealed himself likewise by
types; all the ceremonial law was but types of things to come. All these several ways did the Lord
reveal himself to men in former times, The reasons of it are these.
Reason 1. Because he would shew forth, as the apostle in another case, Eph. iii. 10, ‘his manifold

wisdom.’ It is the property and ability of a wise man to be able to represent himself several ways,
and God hath always delighted so to do when he would reveal himself. He went two ways to work
revealing himself: First, in the work of creation, Rom. i. 20, it is said, that the invisible things of
God are seen clearly, being understood by the things that are made,’ &c.; yet this light is but a
dark light. And therefore, secondly, he revealed himself in the law, wherein the image of his
holiness, justice, and wisdom appeared. And theae two things are the angels’ catechisms (as I may
so call them), which they and the old world have studied a long time; and in the end there came
out another edition of himself, and all that is in him, and that is the gospel; and the text saith that
he hath done this, to shew forth his manifold wisdom. Thus God hath more ways than one to
represent himself to the people.
Reason 2. Secondly, because there are varieties of apprehensions; one man will be more taken by
one way of revealing, and another by another. Thus the wise men were led to Christ by a star,
God working on them according to their apprehensions. So the apostles, being fishermen, when
they had caught a great draught of fish, Christ spake to them in their own language, and said
‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’

ow there are several gifts in the church, which
are but so many several ways of God’s revealing himself; and as in ministers there are several
gifts, so in the hearers there are several apprehensions; some love a rousing ministry, others a
more rational. As men’s apprehensions are, so do they favour and relish men’s gifts; and because
men have several apprehensions, therefore hath he appointed several gifts. Thus God doth in
converting men; he converts one man by affliction, another man he converts by his word, another
man by the good example that he sees in another: 1 Pet. iii. 1, ‘That they may, without the word,
be won by the chaste conversation,’ &e. So that the Lord hath several ways to bring his work
about, revealing himself. So God lets man fall into manifold temptations, temptations of several
sorts. God’s dealings are exceeding various; some men he humbles with afflictions, others he
overcomes with mercies; sometimes he deals in one way, and sometimes in another, so that if God
hath given Christ to thee, thou mayest not stand to think at what door thou enterest in, what
wind blew thee into heaven, for God hath many ways to bring thee in.
Use. It should teach ministers thus much, to mould truths into several forms and shapes, because
they have several apprehensions to speak to. God himself used variety of similitudes by his
prophets, to this end, that he might speak to the people’s apprehenhension. Thus we are to do, for
God did it. Christ used many parables to the same purpose, expressing faith to us under several
expressions, as sometimes ‘coming to Christ,’ by ‘eating of his flesh, and drinking of his blood;’
sometimes by ‘trusting on him,’ and ‘believing in him;’ and why? Because in believers there are
several apprehensions. ‘Receiving Christ,’ is the notion that expresseth the work of faith in one
man; in another, ‘coming to Christ,’ is the notion that expresseth his faith; in another, ‘eating
Christ’ savours with his apprehension. Thus Christ hash moulded it into several ways to suit
several believers. Again, it is said ‘he spake by the prophets to the fathers.’ Those under the Old
Testament are called fathers, because they were ‘first in Christ,’ as Eph. i. 12. It is an honour now
to be an old convert, and therefore he puts it in, ‘who first trusted in Christ’; therefore they are
renowned, and their memory is everlasting. The saints under the

ew Testament, since the
apostles’ time, many or most of them, their memory is quite gone; but because these were they
that first believed, we have a record of all the old worthies to the end of the world; and they are
called fathers. And therefore it is an honour to be first in Christ, that so we may be patterns and
examples to others; and it is a great motive to turn and to come into Christ soon, for it is said,
‘They obtained a good report through their faith,’ Heb. xi.; for to begin to believe first, when
there were few examples and encouragements before them, is a great honour to faith, and it gives
faith a good report. Thus Adam believed, having but one promise; and Abraham, being called out
of a heathenish country, and having but few promises, he being the first example of all that
believed, he is called ‘the father of the faithful;’ God honoured him for it. But these, though they

are called fathers, yet in comparison of the times of the gospel, are called but children; it is the
apostle’s expression, Gal. iv. 3. The privileges of men under the gospel are exceeding far above
theirs; though they were fathers, yet those things are revealed unto us which were not unto them.
It is said in 1 Pet. . 11, 12, that ‘they ministered unto us;’ so likewise, though those that did live
many of them more near the primitive times than we that live in these times, though we honour
their memories and call them fathers, yet we may truly say that there is more of the glory of the
gospel revealed to us, in the days of Reformation, than was to them. Though they were fathers,
and saw afar, yet we being set upon their backs, see further, though children.
And he mentions the fathers, because the Jews did so stick to the religion of their fathers; because
Moses’s law was given to their fathers, and was their religion. The apostle therefore, to take away
this, because they stuck to religion simply because it was the religion of their fathers, say. that
‘God spake to them by the prophets, but to us by his Son.’ Thus may be revealed unto the
children which was not unto the fathers; so we that live in these days have greater and clearer
light than our fatheit had, that lived under popery. THE E

D
18. Thomas Goodwin 1-2, sermon II, “To come now to the other part of the words, ‘in the last
days he hath revealed himself unto us by his Son,’ &c. The first thing we may observe hence is,
why they should be called ‘the last days’? These times of the gospel are called the last days
First, That which is last implies more than one period to have gone before, for where there is
ultimus there must be primus et medius at least; and therefore there were more periods than one
that went before the revealing of the gospel; there were two eminent ones. The first was from the
creation to Moses, when the law was given on mount Sinai, and the word committed to writing;
the second was from Moses to Christ. These are days that are first and middle, and in
comparison of those he calls these days ‘the last days.’
Secondly, These are called ‘the last days,’ because ‘upon us the ends of the world are come;’ as 1
Cor. i. 11. All these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends or the perfection of the world is come. All the days that went
before were but types, and all the passages were but types; and those things that have been done
in the times of the gospel have been the perfection of those things that went before. Was there
wickedness before in the world? These last times shall be the perfection of the world in regard of
wickedness; all the sins that were committed in the old world are but the praludiums to that
villany that shall be hereafter. Was there grace stirring in the world before? It is but a type of
that grace which shall be in the new world, in these last times. This is the last time, because it is
the perfection of the other. So did God send judgment upon sin and sinners, they were types of
what more eminent judgments he would bring upon men in these days. It is the harvest of the
world; all that went before was but the sowing, this .the ripening both of wickedness and grace.
As the last act that is in a tragedy hath more in it than all the acts that went before, then comes in
all the killing and butchering, and the plot doth then unfold itself; so all the other scenes that
were upon the stage of the world make all way, to unfold this last; then comes in the bloody
persecutions and heresies, and then comes sin and likewise grace to be at their full ripeness; and
therefore the apostle saith, ‘I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last,’ &c. He doth
allude to the last of the play, when they used at Rome their fence playing, they that came up last
died for it; they went not off till one had killed the other.

ow, saith he, ‘I think that God,’ &c.,
for the last time is the time wherein heresies and persecutions abound; then come in all the
butchering, and all that went before was but a praludium of what was to come. Therefore ye shall
find that the Revelation, which writes of the state of the church under the

ew Testament, alludes
to passages in the Old, to shew that the Old was but a type of what was to be done under the

ew.
As they had an Egypt and a Sodom, so we have a worse Egypt and Sodom, ‘which is spiritually

called Sodom and Egypt.’ And as they had a Babylon that oppressed the church, so we have
worse Babylon, viz., Rome, that persecuted the saints. They which are acquainted with the
blessed book (as ‘blessed is he that readeth it’) shall find this to be true. Again, the time of

oah
is but a type of what shall be before the world endeth: ‘men shall eat and drink, and be given in
marriage;’ and as the flood came upon them, so fire and brimstone shall come upon men’s heads
in the end. Thus the last days are the perfection of time. These are perilous times, where men are
most wicked; and as they are the worst days, so they are the best days in those that are good.
Take them therefore which way you will, and they are the perfection of days.
Thirdly, They are called the last days, because we must not look for any more alteration or
change of things in the world, in regard of God’s revealing himself. When the law was given there
was an alteration made, there being a covenant made under types; but when Christ comes, he
tells us, Heb. xii. 26, 27, ‘Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.’ The apostle
speaks it in regard of an alteration of doctrine that our Saviour Christ was to bring into the
world; he was to abolish the former types, and to bring in new forms, new sacraments, spiritual
worship. He shook the heavens, whose voice shook the earth when he gave the law. ‘And this
word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are
made.’ He pulled the world of the ceremonial law about the Jews’ ears, and shook it all down,
‘That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.’ That religion which is now established
in the church, and those truths which are revealed to us, there will be no alteration in them; the
gospel is eternal, and it will eternally remain.
Fourthly, They are called the last days, because in the end he will shew us that these last days
shall have an end. He puts his people in comfort with this, for they are not called the last days,
because the day of judgment shall presently come, for it is 1600 years ago since he called them the
last days; but to shew that these days in the end will have an end, these days, I say, of sin, and
wickedness, and oppression of the church. The angel in the Revelation swears that ‘time shall be
no more.’ The time will come when ‘the heavens shall be no more;’ and if not the heavens, which
are the measure of time, that spins out time, much less time.
Use 1. ‘Lift up your heads, therefore, for your redemption draweth nigh.” It is ‘nigher than when
ye first believed;’ these days will have an end, and the longer you live, and the more you grow in
grace, the nigher you are to the end. The apostle useth this as an encouragement, we shall not
always stay for the day of judgment, every day speeds upon it. Those that have been in heaven, as
Abel, that have been there for so many thousand years, have stayed a long time for the day of
judgment; but our redemption is nigh, we are fallen into the last days.
Use 2. We should provoke one another so much the more, because these are the last days: Heb. x.
25, Exhort one another to be more faithful in the word, because they are the last days. The devil,
the shorter his time is, the more he rages, and therefore seeing these are the last days, the nigher
the day approacheth, the more shall we endeavour to do God service. And we that live in these
last days, are so much the more engaged to do this, because God, out of the riches of his patience,
hath suffered this wicked world, that is lost unto him, to stand so long, that we in these last times
might be brought forth; he hath built a world and before that we came on it there were many
stages removed. He hath borne with many wicked men before us, that at the last these last days
may come, wherein he hath still a people to bring home unto himself. A man that goes to a fair or
market, and hath set up a shop, and took little for the whole day, desires and expects customers
to come in at last; he hath been at the pains to stand there all the while, and he expecteth
something at last. So God hath built this world, and hath set up his shop (for Christ is said to set
up his shop), and he hath invited men to come in and deal with him, to receive him and salvation;
but he hath had but little custom in the world, and he hath suffered the world to stand still till
these last days, and now he expects the more to come in.
Use 3. If they be the last days, look for perilous days, look for more opposition of godliness,

worser enemies than the Pharisees were, if worser can be; look for as bloody persecutions as
there have been, as damnable heresies. As there hath been Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, so there
shall be the spawn of these in those days, for those are the last days. And as in the kennel, the
lower it is the more dirt is swept down into it, so all the sins of our forefathers are swept down to
us. The world is now more wicked, they are the last days, and more perilous; and therefore look
for such times, though in the end there are great promises of great prosperity to the church. For
therefore the apostle saith, that ‘in the last days he hath spoken to us by his Son;’ for all the
promises by the prophets ran into the latter days, and therefore the apostle mentions it; and
happily in the latter of the last days, there may be better times, wherein the Lord may more fully
reveal and discover himself to the church, though not with so great an alteration as Christ when
he came. There are better days coming, for the last days are the perfection of the former days,
they are the perfection, as of sins and wickedness, so of grace and godliness, and happily of peace
and prosperity. What God hath to do in the end we know not; there are great promises made of
making ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ which signifieth the bringing in of the Jews and
Gentiles; these things are to be done in the last days, and these we are to expect.
Having thus explained what is meant by the last days, I am now to give the reasons why the
coming of Christ was deferred to those last days.
First; Christ was to come last, after all the prophets, because he was the great promise.
Secondly; As also to convince the world the more; as it is in the parable in Matthew, ‘The lord of
the vineyard sent forth his servants to the husbandmen: them they slew; then he sent forth other
servants, more than the former’ (for God will increase means to convince a people): ‘and last of
all he sent his son.’
Thirdly; When all other wisdom failed, then Christ came, there being but one remedy, to magnify
it; it was fit that all other means should be tried first, therefore for 4000 years God let them try
what philosophy could do, and natural conscience, and the law. ‘When the world in wisdom knew
not God,’ then he sent ‘the foolishness of preaching,’ 1 Cor. i. 21, the subject of which is, Christ
crucified, ver. 23, ‘When we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly,’ Rom. v. 6; the
world was without strength before, but God would have them know it fully, and then was a fit
time for Christ to come.
Fourthly; To shew God’s faithfulness: Rom. iii. 25, ‘Whom God hath set forth a propitiation, to
declare his righteousness, for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.’
The meaning is this God hath pardoned many a sin under the Old Testament, through his
forbearance, for as yet he had received no satisfaction, but was long out of purse, and trusted
Christ upon his bare word 4000 years; therefore Christ came, ‘in the fulness of time,’ to shew his
own faithfulness, God having trusted him so long, and his Father’s faithfulness also, having
promised his Son so long.
Fifthly, and lastly; Because the last revelations are always the clearest; so God deals with
particular men. Upon your deathbed it may be God will speak more to you, by his Son and Spirit,
than in all your life before. God revealed himself more fully to St Paul than to all the rest, because
he came last; God’s last works put down his former: ‘They shall remember no longer their
deliverance out of Egypt, but of the north country;’ -'88 was a great deliverance,( from the
Spanish Armada) but the gunpowder treason was a greater.
He hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. The general observation from hence is this-
That our condition under the

ew Testament is much better than theirs under the Old. So that
though they be here called fathers, yet they are elsewhere called children: Gal. iv., ‘Blessed are
the eyes that see the things,’ &c.; therefore our times are better.
First, In regard of the things revealed, they are more and more excellent.
Secondly, The things revealed to them were not so clearly revealed, neither did they so clearly
understand them, 1 Peter i. 10, 12. The prophets are there said to inquire by prayer, search by

reading, &c., concerning the glory which should follow upon the suflerings of Christ; when many
glorious truths were to be revealed unto the church, and all that they could get after their inquiry
was this, ‘that not unto them, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported,’
&c.; -that is, they in their own writings did reveal many things unto us which they themselves did
not understand, therefore, Mat. xiii. 8, 5, it is said that ‘Christ taught things which had been kept
secret from the beginning of the world.’
Thirdly, As in regard of knowledge, so in regard of grace, our times are more excellent, there
being a greater dispensation of grace now than there was under the Old Testament: Zech. xii. 8,
‘The feeble shall be as David;’ that is, so great an improvement there shall be when Christ shall
come, that the feeble under the

ew shall be as those that were strongest under the Old.
Use 1. Labour then to make this good in your lives. Look unto the holy men in the Old Testament,
and consider there is more grace expected of you, as there is more grace promised to you, than
there was to them, therefore labour to shew in your lives.
Use 2. If your condition be better in regard of knowledge and grace, then we may well content
ourselves, though it be outwardly worse. Many of them had great prosperity joined with their
profession of the truth, as we see in Abraham and David; though we want this and suffer
persecution, yet let us be content, because our spiritual condition makes us amends, even as times
of the gospel hath brought forth more grace and knowledge, so more persecutions, than ever were
in the time of the law, as butcherings in the primitive times.

ow we will shew wherein our condition is better than theirs; and it is better in three regards, as
it is implied by the opposition in the text.
First, Under the Old Testament God spake by the prophets, now by his Son.
Secondly, Under the Old Testament he spake by piecemeal, now he hath spoken all at once.
Thirdly, He did it obscurely divers ways, bat now he hath done it plainly and clearly; therefore
our condition is better.
1. First, under the Old Testament be did it by piecemeal, now but once; therefore Jude ver. 3 calls
it 'the faith once revealed unto the saints.’ Under the Old Testament the fathers received truths
by retail, but we by wholesale; yours is a new edition of truths come forth in folio. John i., the
apostle, comparing Christ and Moses, saith, ‘The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ;’ that is, yours is as much grace, so much truth, that Moses revealed not, that
hath been since brought to light, which the corrupt church of the Samaritans had no inkling of,
John iv. 25, where though the woman was ignorant of many things, yet she referred it to the times
of the Messias, who, ‘when he comes, would tell them all things.’ ‘In him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge,’ Col. ii. 3, which treasures were then brought forth. False teachers
would have drawn them away by the knowledge of angels and philosophy, he.

o, saith the
apostle; study Christ, ‘for in him you are complete;’ nothing can be added to the knowledge of
him, ‘in whom are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ John xv. 15, ‘Whatsoever I have
heard of my Father,’ &o. You have now the original copy; the prophets were but transcripts out
of Christ, now a leaf and then a leaf; but saith he, I am the original copy, and ‘whatever I have
heard of my Father,’ necessary to salvation, ‘I have delivered unto you.’
Use 1. Adore then and admire the doctrine of the gospel, and the perfection thereof; for it is
delivered but once, not as it is with the papists this truth discovered in one pope’s days, another
in another; but be hath done it once. The Scripture is said to make the man of God perfect, which
cannot be said of any science in the world. There is not philosophy enough in all men’s books to
make a man a perfect philosopher, but there is Scripture enough to make a man a perfect divine.
Secondly, Contend for it, for it was but once delivered. St Jude exhorts to contend for it upon this
ground: if all, both magistrates and ministers and people sell the truth, it is gone, for it is as in a
lease in which three have share; if one will not consent, it is not sold; so if any of these hold the
truth it shall not depart; therefore contend for it; if you lose it, you will never have it again, for it

was given but once, as Esau when be sold his birthright.
Thirdly, Study the word, let it dwell plentifully in you, for it is the word of Christ: P. cxix. 96, ‘The
law is exceeding broad,’ but the gospel is much broader; the vast treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are laid up in it. St Paul had abundance of that knowledge, it is all hid in the word.
Christ had a world of knowledge: be hath hid it in the word; therefore never think you have
knowledge enough; study the word more fully, for there is no truth laid up in t but shall be
revealed in it before the day of judgment. ‘

o man lights a candle and puts it under a bushel.’
2. In the time of the gospel he hath revealed himself, one way; before, he did it by visions and
dreams and types, etc., which were very obscure; for thus we have the things and see them
fulfilled, yet how hard are they for us to understand them; and if we do not, who have all fulfilled
before our eyes, much less they; but God hath laid all these ways aside, and hath revealed himself
only by the word and sacrament unto the hearts of men and this be hath done clearly, 1 Cor. ii.
18, ‘Suiting spiritual things with spiritual;’ that is, we speak to them plainly in their own notions;
we do not give them riddles, but speak of things in their own expressions, suitable to them, 2 Cor
iii. The ministry of the law was a veil over Moses’s face, which argues his ministry was very dark;
but under the gospel we ‘with open face behold the glory of the Lord. There are two ways to
represent a man, one by his picture, another in a glass; that under the law was a representation of
Christ by pictures, but in the gospel by a glass. In the law there were but shadows of Christ, but
now the shadows are gone, and we see his person in a glass; they saw him through a veil, we with
open face; the veil being taken away, we look with a broad eye upon Christ, God having betaken
himself to one ordinance, thereby to reveal himself to the sons of men.
Use 1. Ministers should endeavour therefore to speak plainly to the people, because ye are
ministers of the gospel, 2 Cor. iii., ‘Seeing we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech,’
and 2 Cor. iv. 3, we speak so plainly, saith the apostle, that if any man perish through ignorance,
it is because he is a lost creature.
Use 2. This condemns all ignorance likewise, for under the gospel we have no cloak for it, Christ
having spoken so plainly, as he hath in comparison to what he did under the law.
3. He speaks now by his Son, whereas he spake then only by the prophets; then the stars shined
only, but the Sun of righteousness shining, he hath put all the stars down; hence we will show,
First, How he speaks.
Secondly, Why he speaks by his Son.
First, How he speaks; he is said to speak by his Son. First, as Christ is the matter itself delivered,
therefore, Rom. i., it is called ‘the gospel of Christ,’ because he is the subject of it; whereas the
prophets were not the matter of what they delivered.
Secondly, Christ himself is the immediate speaker; he came from heaven on purpose to preach
the gospel; we had never had it else; and though he be not here bodily present, yet he is said to
preach unto this day, Eph. ii., though he never preached at Ephesus in person, for he was not
sent, that is, to preach, ‘but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;’ yet he preached peace not
only to the Jews that were near, but also to the Gentiles that were afar off. And that,
(First.) Because be brought the gospel which we deliver to light; it was spoken first by the Lord,
Heb. ii.; and we in his stead, 1 Cor. v. 20. (Secondly.) Beause he is with us ministers in delivering
of it to the end of the world; yea, Jesus Christ hath his pulpit in heaven to this day; therefore it is
said, ‘refuse not him that speaks from heaven,’ Heb. xii. 25.
(Secondly), Why God speaks by his Son? First, Because he is the Word of his Father, John i. 1,
therefore he is a fit messenger to interpret his Father’s mind; as Christ was his Word in the
creation of the old vorld, for by him were all things made, so it was necessary he should be his
Word likewise in the creation of the new. Secondly, He is the Wisdom of the Father; and we all
desire to have wise speakers, as kings in parliament choose able speakers; therefore God chose
Christ, his own Wisdom, to express his mind, that there might be no mistake, but that he might

express it as fully as he himself would do.
Thirdly, He is the idea and platform of all truths. Moses saw all in the mount, and according to
the pattern he was to frame all things; herem he was a type of that prophet that was to be raised
up like himself, who had a pattern of all in heaven, John iii. 11, 18. Whatever Christ speaks, he
speaks by experience, for he speaks nothing but what he hath seen, which no man could have
said, for he must have had them at second-hand; but Christ had them immediately, for he knew
all the counsels of his Father, being in his bosom: ‘

o man hath ascended up into heaven but he
that came down;’ that is, why do I tell you of heavenly things, but because I came down from
heaven, which no man else could have done.
Fourthly, Because Christ is next the Father, though the Holy Ghost see all things in the Father,
yet Christ must teach; this reason is given by. our Saviour saying, ‘When the Spirit is come, he
shall lead them into ‘all truths, for he shall not speak of himself, but shall take of mine and shall
shew it unto them.’ Christ being next the Father, therefore came first himself and set all truths
abroach; and then he tells them that the Holy Ghost shall come and more clearly reveal to them
what he had said.
Fifthly, Because God would have his Son all in all, therefore there is no office to be borne but he
must bear it, not only to be our king and priest, but to be our prophet also; and that not to sit in
heaven only and give out truths, but to come down and preach them to us.
Use 1. If God now speaks by his Son, then hear him: ‘This is my beloved Son, hear him.’ If a king
sent his son ambassador, shall he not be heard? God hath now sent the heir at last, saying,
‘Surely they will reverence my Son;’ let us not therefore send Christ away without his errand,
refuse not him that speaks from heaven.
Use 2. We see then the calling of the ministry is an honourable calling; Christ himself took it
upon him to be the minister of the circumcision. Gentlemen’s sons scorn to be ministers, but
Christ the Son of God did not.
Use 3. If God speaks by his Son, and his speaking is better than of all the prophets, then never
rest till you hear Christ speak to you; you may hear the minister long enough, but labour to get
Christ to speak to your hearts.
Use 4. Seeing God speaks by his Son, then call no man Rabbi upon earth; addict yourself to no
man’s opinion because of the high esteem you have of his learning or grace; let it be the doctrine
of Christ before you entertain it, Mat. xxiii. 10. Upon this ground Christ bids them call no man
Rabbi.
Use 5. Seeing God hath spoken in the last days by his Son, therefore let your last works be better
than your first, Rev. ii. 18. If God will be daily a better master unto you, be you better servants
unto him.
Use 6. God speaking in the last days by his Son; we see that the more God reveals himself in
Christ, the more clear it is; under the Old Testament they knew as much of God’s attributes as
we, but to know all these over again in Christ, that he is the power of God, and the wisdom of
God, &c., this is the excellent knowledge, The world before Christ knew God in his attributes and
in his creatures so fully, that philbsophy hath not been more perfected ever since; yea, Aristotle
revealed that to the world then that they have been studying ever since. Labour therefore to know
God in Christ. What is the reason we have more grace than they? But because we know more of
Christ who reveals the Father; the knowledge of God the Father simply, doth not raise a soul so
much as knowing of him in Christ, therefore he is said to speak in a glass by his Son (that is)
clearly, 2 Cor. iii. 18. 16THE E

D
19. William Barclay, “This is the most sonorous piece of Greek in the whole

ew Testament. It is
a passage that any classical Greek orator would have been proud to write. The writer of Hebrews

has brought to it every artifice of word and rhythm that the beautiful and flexible Greek
language could provide. In Greek the two adverbs which we have translated in many parts and in
many ways are single words, polumeros (GS

4183) in such a combination means "many" and it was a habit of the great Greek orators,
like Demosthenes, the greatest of them all, to weave such sonorous words into the first paragraph
of a speech. The writer to the Hebrews felt that, since he was going to speak of the supreme
revelation of God to men, he must clothe his thought in the noblest language that it was possible
to find.
There is something of interest even here. The man who wrote this letter must have been trained
in Greek oratory. When he became a Christian he did not throw his training away. He used the
talent he had in the service of Jesus Christ. Everyone knows the lovely legend of the acrobatic
tumbler who became a monk. He felt that he had so little to offer. One day someone saw him go
into the chapel and stand before the statue of the Virgin Mary. He hesitated for a moment and
then began to go through his acrobatic routine. When he had completed his tumbling, he knelt in
adoration; and then, says the legend, the statue of the Virgin Mary came to life, stepped down
from her pedestal and gently wiped the sweat from the brow of the acrobat who had offered all
he had to give. When a man becomes a Christian he is not asked to abandon all the talents he
once had; he is asked to use them in the service of Jesus Christ and of his Church. The basic idea
of this letter is that Jesus Christ alone brings to men the full revelation of God and that he alone
enables them to enter into his very presence. The writer begins by contrasting Jesus with the
prophets who had gone before. He talks about him coming in the end of these days. The Jews
divided all time into two ages--the present age and the age to come. In between they set The Day
of the Lord. The present age was wholly bad; the age to come was to be the golden age of God.
The Day of the Lord was to be like the birth-pangs of the new age. So the writer to the Hebrews
says, "The old time is passing away; the age of incompleteness is gone; the time of human
guessing and groping is at an end; the new age, the age of God, has dawned in Christ." He sees
the world and the thought of men enter, as it were, into a new beginning with Christ. In Jesus
God has entered humanity, etemity has invaded time, and things can never be the same again.
He contrasts Jesus with the prophets, for they were always believed to be in the secret counsels of
God. Long ago Amos had said: "The Lord God does nothing without revealing his secrets to his
servants the prophets" (Am.3:7). Philo had said: "The prophet is the interpreter of the God who
speaks within." He had said: "The prophets are interpreters of the God who uses them as
instruments to reveal to men that which he wills." In later days this doctrine had been completely
mechanized. Athenagoras spoke of God moving the mouths of the prophets as a man might play
upon a musical instrument and of the Spirit breathing into them as a flute-player breathes into a
flute. Justin Martyr spoke of the divine coming down from heaven and sweeping across the
prophets as a plectrum sweeps across a harp or a lute. In the end men came to put it in such a
way that the prophets had really no more to do with their message than a musical instrument had
to do with the music it played or a pen with the message it wrote. That was over-mechanizing the
matter; for even the finest musician is to some extent at the mercy of his instrument and can not
produce great music out of a piano in which certain notes are missing or out of tune, and even the
finest penman is to some extent at the mercy of his pen. God can not reveal more than men can
understand. His revelation comes through the minds and the hearts of men. That is exactly what
the writer to the Hebrews saw.
He says that the revelation of God which came through the prophets was in many parts
(polumeros, GS

4181) and in many ways (polutropos, GS

4187). There are two ideas there.
(i) The revelation of the prophets had a variegated grandeur which made it a tremendous thing.

From age to age they had spoken, always fitting their message to the age, never letting it be out of
date. At the same time, that revelation was fragmentary and had to be presented in such a way
that the limitations of the time would understand. One of the most interesting things is to see how
time and again the prophets are characterized by one idea. For instance, Amos is "a cry for social
justice." Isaiah had grasped the holiness of God. Hosea, because of his own bitter home
experience, had realized the wonder of the forgiving love of God. Each prophet, out of his own
experience of life and out of the experience of Israel, had grasped and expressed a fragment of
the truth of God.

one had grasped the whole round orb of truth; but with Jesus it was different.
He was not a fragment of the truth; he was the whole truth. In him God displayed not some part
of himself but all of himself.
(ii) The prophets used many methods. They used the method of speech. When speech failed they
used the method of dramatic action (Compare 1Kgs.11:29-32; Jer.13:1-9; Jer.27:1-7; Eze.4:1-3;
Eze.5:1-4). The prophet had to use human methods to transmit his part of the truth of God.
Again, it was different with Jesus. He revealed God by being himself. It was not so much what he
said and did that shows us what God is like; it is what he was.
The revelation of the prophets was great and manifold, but it was fragmentary and presented by
such methods as they could find to make it effective. The revelation of God in Jesus was complete
and was presented in Jesus himself. In a word, the prophets were the friends of God; but Jesus
was the Son. The prophets grasped part of the mind of God; but Jesus was that mind. It is to be
noted that it is no part of the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews to belittle the prophets; it is
his aim to establish the supremacy of Jesus Christ. He is not saying that there is a break between
the Old Testament revelation and that of the

ew Testament; he is stressing the fact that there is
continuity, but continuity that ends in consummation.
The writer to the Hebrews uses two great pictures to describe what Jesus was. He says that he
was the apaugasma (GS

0541) of God's glory. Apaugasma (GS

0541) can mean one of two
things in Greek. It can mean effulgence, the light which shines forth, or it can mean reflection,
the light which is reflected. Here it probably means effulgence. Jesus is the shining of God's glory
among men.
He says that he was the charakter (GS

5481) of God's very essence. In Greek, charakter
(GS

5481) means two things, first, a seal, and, second, the impression that the seal leaves on the
wax. The impression has the exact form of the seal. So, when the writer to the Hebrews said that
Jesus was the charakter (GS

5481) of the being of God, he meant that he was the exact image of
God. Just as when you look at the impression, you see exactly what the seal which made it is like,
so when you look at Jesus you see exactly what God is like.
C. J. Vaughan has pointed out that this passage tells us six great things about Jesus:
(i) The original glory of God belongs to him. Here is a wonderful thought. Jesus is God's glory;
therefore, we see with amazing clarity that the glory of God consists not in crushing men and
reducing them to abject servitude, but in serving them and loving them and in the end dying for
them. It is not the glory of shattering power but the glory of suffering love.
(ii) The destined empire belongs to Jesus. The

ew Testament writers never doubted his ultimate
triumph. Think of it. They were thinking of a Galilaean carpenter who was crucified as a
criminal on a cross on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem. They themselves faced savage
persecution and were the humblest of people. As Sir William Watson said of them,
"So to the wild wolf Hate were sacrificed
The panting, huddled flock, whose crime was Christ."

And yet they never doubted the eventual victory. They were quite certain that God's love was
backed by his power and that in the end the kingdoms of the world would be the kingdoms of the
Lord and of his Christ.
(iii) The creative action belongs to Jesus. The early Church held that the Son had been God's
agent in creation, that in some way God had originally created the world through him. They were
filled with the thought that the One who had created the world would also be the One who
redeemed it.
(iv) The sustaining power belongs to Jesus. These early Christians had a tremendous grip of the
doctrine of providence. They did not think of God as creating the world and then leaving it to
itself. Somehow and somewhere they saw a power that was carrying the world and each life on to
a destined end. They believed,
"That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroy'd.
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete."
(v) To Jesus belongs the redemptive work. By his sacrifice he paid the price of sin; by his
continual presence he liberates from sin.
(vi) To Jesus belongs the mediatorial exaltation. He has taken his place on the right hand of
glory; but the tremendous thought of the writer to the Hebrews is that he is there, not as our
judge but as one who makes intercession for us so that, when we enter into the presence of God,
we go, not to hear his justice prosecute us but his love plead for us.”
20. PRECEPTAUSTI

, “Referring to Hebrews it has said that
There is no portion of Scripture whose authorship is more disputed, nor any of which the
inspiration is more indisputable.
Irving Jensen says that...
The main theme of Hebrews may be stated thus: The knowledge and assurance of how great
this High Priest Jesus is should lift the drifting believer from spiritual lethargy to vital
Christian maturity. Stated another way: The antidote for backsliding is a growing personal
knowledge of Jesus. (Jensen, I. L. Jensen's Survey of the

ew Testament: Search and
discover. Chicago: Moody Press)
Stedman comments that
The epistle to the Hebrews begins as dramatically as a rocket shot to the moon. In one
paragraph, the writer breathtakingly transports his readers from the familiar ground of Old
Testament prophetic writings, through the incarnation of the Son (who is at once creator,
heir and sustainer of all things and the fullest possible manifestation of deity), past the
purifying sacrifice of the cross to the exaltation of Jesus on the ultimate seat of power in the
universe. It is a paragraph daring in its claims and clearly designed to arrest the reader's
attention and compel a further hearing. (Hebrews 1:1-3 Greater Than the Prophets)
God (2316) (Theos)

T Epistle comes to the point as quickly as this one. There is no
attempt to prove God’s existence. It is simply a self-evident given. Without benefit of salutation or
introduction, the writer plunges into setting forth the superlative glories of the Lord Jesus Christ.

These first four verses comprise one majestic sentence in the Greek text and read like the opening
of a formal Greek oration rather than the customary "greetings" of a letter and are among the
four most important Christological passages in Scripture (cf. Jn 1:1; , 2:7, 2:8, 2:9, 2:10, 2:11; Col
1:15, 16, 17, 19, 19, 20- see notes Co 1:15; 16; 17; 18; 19 20 ; Php 2:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-see notes
Philippians 2:6; 2:7; 2:8; 2:9; 2:10; 2:11)
Hebrews begins like Genesis and John with God. It is significant that the subject of the first verb
is God, for God is constantly before us in this epistle, used some 68 times or an average of about
once every 73 words throughout the epistle and few

T books speak of God so often. Right at the
beginning, then, we are confronted with the reality of God and the fact that he has been active in
man's story. How deftly the author unveils the Trinity as active in the revelation of Scripture,
here God the Father introduced as having spoken in time past, later noting God the Son (He 2:3-
note) and finally God the Holy Spirit (He 3:7-note) After this long opening Greek sentence, the
author immediately begins quoting Scripture in the remainder of this chapter.
Spoke (2980) (laleo [word study]) which originally referred to the chattering of birds or prattling
of children and evolved in use to the highest form of speech, the thrice holy God choosing
language as His primary medium of communication to fallen, sinful mankind.
As Francis Schaeffer's book puts it
He Is There And He Is

ot Silent.
Pink comments that
Deity is not speechless. The true and living God, unlike the idols of the heathen, is no dumb
Being. The God of Scripture, unlike that absolute and impersonal "first Cause" of
philosophers and evolutionists, is not silent.
Speak (spoke, spoken, speaking) is clearly a key word in Hebrews (Click 18 occurrences in
Hebrews in

ote that God took the initiative to speak in the past and at the last!
This "special revelation" contrasts with "natural revelation" described by Paul as
that which is known about God is evident within (all men) for God made it evident to them.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they
are without excuse." (Ro 1:19, 20-see notes Ro 1:19; 20)
David parallels this thought in Psalm 19 writing that
the heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His
hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge." (Ps 19:1, 2-
note)
Long ago (3819) (palai) means in the past, of olden times, long before now or of old. "Long ago"
is a time phrase which in context refers to the time prior to Messiah's first coming and contrasts
to the "last days" inaugurated at His incarnation. The OT revelation is thus no novelty but has
its roots deep in the past.
Guzik notes that
Hebrews has 29 quotations and 53 allusions to the Old Testament, for a total of 82
references. Significantly, Hebrews does not refer even once to the books of the Apocrypha.
(Hebrews 1)
The writer's emphasis on the Old Testament at the inception of this epistle would be especially

meaningful to a Jewish audience trained up in the truths taught by the Law and the prophets.
Paul reminded Timothy to
continue in the things you have learned...from childhood you have known the sacred writings
(Old Testament Scriptures) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (see notes 2Ti 3:14; 15)
Barnes adds that since
the object of the (author of Hebrews) was to show the superior claims of the gospel, and to
lead them from putting confidence in the rites instituted in accordance with the directions of
the Old Testament, it was of essential importance that he should admit that their belief of the
inspiration of the prophets was well founded.
The fathers (3962) (pater) refers to the Old Testament forefathers and is contrast to us in the next
verse.
The fathers would have been a term familiar to Jewish reader as illustrated by Paul's address to
the synagogue in Perga where he said
we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers that God has fulfilled this
promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm,
'THOU ART MY SO

THEE." (Acts 13:32 33).
Later to the Romans Paul writes
Christ has become a servant to the circumcision (Jews) on behalf of the truth of God to
confirm the promises given to the fathers" (Ro 15:8) (The 9 other similar uses of the phrase
the fathers in the

T - Luke 1:17; John 6:58; 7:22; Acts 13:32; Ro 9:5; 11:28; 15:8; Heb 1:1;
2Pet 3:4)
I

Y WAYS: en tois prophetais
polumeros kai polutropos: (

u 12:6, 7, 8;12:7, 12:8 Joel 2:28) (Lk 1:55;Lk 1:72 Jn 7:22; Acts
13:32)
through the prophets at many times and in various ways," (

IV)
at sundry times and in divers manners" (KJV)
God spoke in partial and various ways" (

AB)
gave our forefathers many different glimpses of the truth in the words of the prophets"
(Phillips)
In many parts and in different ways" (Wuest)
At many moments in the past and by many means," (

JB)
in many separate revelations [ each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different
ways" (Amp)
in many distinct messages and by various methods" (W

T)
in fragmentary and varied fashion" (ISV)
by divers portions and in divers manners" (ASV)
In many parts [or, Bit by bit] and in various ways " (ALT)
it was bit by bit and in many different ways" (Williams)

By scattered bits and pieces!" (College Press

IV Commentary)
in many fragments and in many fashions" (K Hughes)
The author in this statement sets his seal upon the Divine inspiration and authority of the Old
Testament Scriptures.
Stedman provides an excellent overview writing that
The author intends to present a series of arguments for the superiority of Jesus over all rival
claims to allegiance which his readers were feeling and hearing. Their attention was easily
diverted off in other directions, just as our attention is easily distracted today. They, like us,
were being tempted, frightened or pressured into following other voices and serving other
masters. In Hebrews 1-7, he examines these rival authorities and reveals their inadequacies.

one was, in itself, a false or fraudulent voice. Each was ordained by God and proper in its
intended place. Each had served the people of God well in the past, and no teaching or
expectation was wrong at the time it was given. But now the final word, the ultimate
revelation from God toward which all the other voices had pointed, had come. To this
supreme voice the author directs his readers' attention, and ours, by contrasting this final
word with the past utterances.
First, there were the prophets, God's ancient spokesmen (Hebrews 1:1-3); then the angels,
Israel's guardians (Hebrews 1:4-2:18); then Israel's great leader, Moses (Hebrews 3:1-4:7);
Israel's godly general, Joshua (Hebrews 4:8-13); and finally the founder of Israel's
priesthood, Aaron (Hebrews 4:14-7:28). Each was a voice from Israel's past that needed to be
heard but that was woefully inadequate if followed alone. It was clearly a case of the good
being the enemy of the best. Eclipsing all these, as the rising sun eclipses the light of the stars,
is the figure of Jesus, God's Son, creator and heir of all things." (Hebrews 1:1-3 Greater
Than the Prophets) (bolding added)
In the prophets (4396) (prophetes from pró = before or forth + phemí = tell) is literally one who
speaks forth and as used in Scripture refers to one who is divinely inspired to communicate God’s
will to His people and to disclose the future to them (Dt 18:18).
MacArthur adds that
A prophet is one who speaks to men for God; a priest is one who speaks to God for men. The
priest takes man’s problems to God; the prophet takes God’s message to men. Both, if they
are true, are commissioned by God, but their ministries are quite different. The book of
Hebrews has a great deal to say about priests, but its opening verse speaks of prophets. The
Holy Spirit establishes the divine authorship of the Old Testament, its accuracy and its
authority, through the fact that it was given to and delivered by God’s prophets." For
example the "LORD said to Moses, "See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother
Aaron shall be your prophet." (Ex 7:1) (MacArthur, John: Hebrews. Moody Press or Logos)
Thus, the prophets were the mouthpieces of God and their words were not the production of their
own spirit, but came from the Holy Spirit as emphasized by Peter who wrote that
no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God. (1Pe 1:21-note)
The prophet John the Baptist quoting another prophet Isaiah explaining that he was but
a voice of One who is crying out in the wilderness (Jn 1:23)
The One giving the message was God, John being His voice,

a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. (2Ti 2:21-
note)
The prophets received their call or appointment directly from God, and some like Jeremiah (Jer
1:5) or John the Baptist (Jn 1:13, 14, 15), were called before birth. Although not all that God had
spoken through the prophets was predictive prophecy, this aspect of God's revelation is one of the
strongest evidences that the Bible is divinely inspired.
Barclay adds that
it is no part of the purpose of the writer to the Hebrews to belittle the prophets; it is his aim
to establish the supremacy of Jesus Christ. He is not saying that there is a break between the
Old Testament revelation and that of the

ew Testament:
Eerdmans or Logos) (Bolding added)
OT Scriptures documenting that God spoke long ago...
God spoke to Adam and told him that the Savior would come from the Seed of the woman
(Ge 3:15).
God spoke to Abraham and told him that the Savior would come from his Seed (Ge 12:3,
18:18, 22:18).
God spoke to Jacob and told him that the Savior would come through the tribe of Judah
(Gen 49:10).
God spoke to David and told him that the Savior would be born of his house (2Sam 7:16).
God spoke to Micah and told him that the Savior would be born at Bethlehem (Mic 5:2).
God spoke to Isaiah and told him that the Savior would be born of a virgin (Isa 7:14).
See also topic - Messianic Prophecies
John Calvin writes
That you may, therefore, understand the full import of this passage, the following
arrangement shall be given —
GOD SPAKE
Formerly by the Prophets

Many portions (4181) (polumeros from polús = many + méros = part) (only use in the

ames of God), or to the
prophesies concerning the coming Messiah. It was 'here a little and there a little.'"
If is as if God had spoken in a spectrum of pure variegated lights in the Old Testament and that
the arrival of Jesus was like a "prism" Who collects all these bands of pure light and focuses
them into one final, perfect and pure beam.
Peter alludes to the fragmentary nature of the OT revelation adding that even the
prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come...made careful search and inquiry,
seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He
predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." (see notes 1 Peter 1:10; 1:11)
Jamieson comments
All was not revealed to each one prophet; but one received one portion of revelation, and
another another. To

o one prophet could speak out all the truth. Each was entrusted with one or two syllables in
the mighty sentences of God's speech. At the best the view caught of God, and given to men
through the prophets, though true, was partial and limited. But in Jesus there is nothing of
this piecemeal revelation. "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." He hath
revealed the Father. Whosoever hath seen him hath seen God; and to hear his words is to get
the full-orbed revelation of the Infinite. (Hebrews 1:3-4: The Dignity of Christ)
In many ways (4187) (polutropos from polús = many + trópos = a manner) points to the different
media and modes through which God disclosed His word, including dream, direct voice, signs,
angelic visitations and even in different ways to different men. He spoke to Moses in the burning

bush (Ex 3:2ff), to Elijah in a still, small voice (1Ki 19:12), to Isaiah in a vision in the temple (Isa
6:1ff), to Hosea in his family circumstances (Hos 1:2), and to Amos in a basket of summer fruit
(Am 8:1).
Many ways also alludes to the different OT literary types including law, history, poetry, allegory,
prophecy, etc. The writer's main point in this section is to emphasize that all OT revelation was
God speaking to man, albeit in a manner that was fragmentary and occasional, lacking fullness
and finality.
Pink observes that
we may see here an illustration of the sovereignty of God: He did not act uniformly or
confine Himself to any one method of speaking to the fathers. He spake by way of promise
and prediction, by types and symbols, by commandments and precepts, by warnings and
exhortations." Expositor’s adds that the people of Israel “were like men listening to a clock
striking the hour, always getting nearer the truth but obliged to wait till the whole is heard.”
MacArthur adds that
We must, of course, clearly understand that the Old Testament was not in any way erroneous
(2Ti 3:16, 17- note). But there was in it a development, of spiritual light and of moral
standards, until God’s truth was refined and finalized in the

ew
Testament...The Old Testament is only a part of God’s truth, but it is not partially His truth.
It is not His complete truth, but it is completely His truth. It is God’s revelation, His
progressive revelation preparing His people for the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ.
(MacArthur, John: Hebrews. Moody Press or Logos)
Isaac Watts expresses the thoughts of verse 1-2 in hymn:
To teach us in these latter days.
Our nation reads the written Word,
That book of life, that sure record:
The bright inheritance of heav’n
Is by the sweet conveyance giv’n.
God’s kindest thoughts are here expressed,
Able to make us wise and bless’d;
The doctrines are divinely true,
Fit for reproof and comfort, too.

2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom
also he made the universe.
1. Barnes, “Hath in these last days - In this the final dispensation; or in this dispensation under
which the affairs of the world will be wound up. Phrases similar to this occur frequently in the
Scriptures. They do not imply that the world was soon coming to an end, but that that was the
“last” dispensation, the “last” period of the world. There had been the patriarchal period, the
period under the Law, the prophets, etc., and This was the period during which God’s “last”
method of communication would be enjoyed, and under which the world would close. It might be
a very long period, but it would be the “last” one; and so far as the meaning of the phrase is
concerned, it might be the longest period, or longer than all the others put together, but still it
would be the “last” one. See Act_2:17 note; Isa_2:2 note.
Spoken unto us - The word “us” here does not of necessity imply that the writer of the Epistle
had actually heard him, or that they had heard him to whom the Epistle was written. It means
that God had now communicated his will to man by his Son. It may be said with entire propriety
that God has spoken to us by his Son, though we have not personally heard or seen him. We have
what he spoke and caused to be recorded for our direction.
By his Son - The title commonly given to the Lord Jesus, as denoting his unique relation to
God. It was understood by the Jews to denote equality with God (notes, Joh_5:18; compare
Joh_10:33, Joh_10:36), and is used with such a reference here. See notes on Rom_1:4, where the
meaning of the phrase “Son of God” is fully considered. It is implied here that the fact that the
Son of God has spoken to us imposes the highest obligations to attend to what he has said; that he
has an authority superior to all those who have spoken in past times; and that there will be
special guilt in refusing to attend to what he has spoken. See Heb_2:1-4; compare Heb_12:25. The
reasons for the superior respect which should be shown to the revelations of the Son of God may
be such as these:
(1) His rank and dignity. He is the equal with God Joh_1:1, and is himself called God in this
chapter; Heb_1:8. He has a right, therefore, to command, and when he speaks, people should
obey.
(2) The clearness of the truths which he communicated to man on a great variety of subjects
that are of the highest moment to the world. Revelation has been gradual - like the breaking of
the day in the east. At first there is a little light; it increases and expands until objects become
more and more visible, and then the sun rises in full-orbed glory. At first we discern only the
existence of some object - obscure and undefined; then we can trace its outline; then its color, its
size, its proportions, its drapery - until it stands before us fully revealed. So it has been with
revelation. There is a great variety of subjects which we now see clearly, which were very
imperfectly understood by the teaching of the prophets, and would be now if we had only the Old

Testament. Among them are the following:
(a) The character of God. Christ came to make him known as a merciful being, and to show
how he could be merciful as well as just. The views given of God by the Lord Jesus are far more
clear than any given by the ancient prophets; compared with those entertained by the ancient
philosophers, they are like the sun compared with the darkest midnight,
(b) The way in which man may be reconcile to God. The

ew Testament - which may be
considered as what God “has spoken to us by his Son” - has told us how the great work of being
reconciled to God can be effected. The Lord Jesus told us that he came to “give his life a ransom
for many;” that he laid down his life for his friends; that he was about to die for man; that he
would draw all people to him. The prophets indeed - particularly Isaiah - threw much light on
these points. But the mass of the people did not understand their revelations. They pertained to
future events always difficult to be understood. But Christ has told us the way of salvation, and
he has made it so plain that he who runs may read.
(c) The moral precepts of the Redeemer are superior to those of any and all that had gone
before him. They are elevated, pure, expansive, benevolent - such as became the Son of God to
proclaim. Indeed this is admitted on all hands. Infidels are constrained to acknowledge that all
the moral precepts of the Saviour are eminently pure and benignant. If they were obeyed, the
world would be filled with justice, truth, purity, and benevolence. Error, fraud, hypocrisy,
ambition, wars, licentiousness, and intemperance, would cease; and the opposite virtues would
diffuse happiness over the face of the world. Prophets had indeed delivered many moral precepts
of great importance, but the purest and most extensive body of just principles of good morals on
earth are to be found in the teachings of the Saviour.
(d) He has given to us the clearest view which man has had of the future state; and he has
disclosed in regard to that future state a class of truths of the deepest interest to mankind, which
were before wholly unknown or only partially revealed.
1. He has revealed the certainty of a state of future existence - in opposition to the Sadducees of
all ages. This was denied before he came by multitudes, and where it was not, the arguments by
which it was supported were often of the feeblest kind. The “truth” was held by some - like Plato
and his followers - but the “arguments” on which they relied were feeble, and such as were
untitled to give rest to the soul. The “truth” they had obtained by tradition; the “arguments”
were their own.
2. He revealed the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. This before was doubted or denied
by nearly all the world. It was held to be absurd and impossible. The Saviour taught its certainty;
he raised up more than one to show that it was possible; he was himself raised, to put the whole
matter beyond debate.
3. He revealed the certainty of future judgment - the judgment of all mankind.
4. It disclosed great and momentous truths respecting the future state. Before he came, all was
dark. The Greeks spoke of Elysian fields, but they were dreams of the imagination; the Hebrews
had some faint notion of a future state where all was dark and gloomy, with perhaps an
occasional glimpse of the truth that there is a holy and blessed heaven; but to the mass of mind
all was obscure. Christ revealed a heaven, and told us of a hell. He showed us that the one might
be gained and the other avoided. He presented important motives for doing it; and had he done
nothing more, his communications were worthy the profound attention of mankind. I may add:
(3) That the Son of God has claims on our attention from the manner in which he spoke. He
spoke as one having “authority;” Mat_7:29. He spoke as a “witness” of what he saw and knew;
Joh_3:11. He spoke without doubt or ambiguity of God, and heaven, and hell. His is the language
of one who is familiar with all that he describes; who saw all, who knew all. There is no hesitancy

or doubt in his mind of the truth of what he speaks; and he speaks as if his whole soul were
impressed with its unspeakable importance.

ever were so momentous communications made to
people of hell as fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus (see notes on Mat_23:33); never were
announcements made so suited to awe and appall a sinful world.
Whom he hath appointed heir of all things - see Psa_2:8; compare notes, Rom_8:17. This is
language taken from the fact that he is “the Son of God.” If a son, then he is an heir - for so it is
usually among people. This is not to be taken literally, as if he inherits anything as a man does.
An heir is one who inherits anything after the death of its possessor - usually his father. But this
cannot be applied in this sense to the Lord Jesus. The language is used to denote his rank and
dignity as the Son of God. As such all things are his, as the property of a father descends to his
son at his death. The word rendered “heir” - κληρονόμος klēronomos - means properly:
(1) One who acquires anything by lot; and,
(2) An “heir” in the sense in which we usually understand the word. It may also denote a
“possessor” of anything received as a portion, or of property of any kind; see Rom_4:13-14. It is
in every instance rendered “heir” in the

ew Testament. Applied to Christ, it means that as the
Son of God he is possessor or lord of all things, or that all things are his; compare Act_2:36;
Act_10:36; Joh_17:10; Joh_16:15. “All things that the Father hath are mine.” The sense is, that
all things belong to the Son of God. Who is so “rich” then as Christ? Who so able to endow his
friends with enduring and abundant wealth?
By whom - By whose agency; or who was the actual agent in the creation. Grotins supposes
that this means, “on account of whom;” and that the meaning is, that the universe was formed
with reference to the Messiah, in accordance with an ancient Jewish maxim. But the more
common and Classical usage of the word rendered “by” (διὰ dia), when it governs a genitive, as
here, is to denote the instrumental cause; the agent by which anything is done; see Mat_1:22;
Mat_2:5, Mat_2:15, Mat_2:23; Luk_18:31; Joh_2:17; Acts , Act_2:22, Act_2:43; Act_4:16;
Act_12:9; Rom_2:16; Rom_5:5. It may be true that the universe was formed with reference to the
glory of the Son of God, and that this world was brought into being in order to show his glory;
but it would not do to establish that doctrine on a passage like this. Its obvious and proper
meaning is, that he was the agent of the creation - a truth that is abundantly taught elsewhere;
see Joh_1:3, Joh_1:10; Col_1:16; Eph_3:9; 1Co_8:6. This sense, also, better agrees with the
design of the apostle in this place. His object is to set forth the dignity of the Son of God. This is
better shown by the consideration that he was the creator of all things, than that all things were
made for him.
The worlds - The universe, or creation. So the word here - αἰών aiōn - is undoubtedly used in
Heb_11:3. The word properly means “age” - an indefinitely long period of time; then perpetuity,
ever, eternity - “always” being. For an extended investigation of the meaning of the word, the
reader may consult an essay by Prof. Stuart, in the Spirit of the Pilgrims, for 1829, pp. 406-452.
From the sense of “age,” or “duration,” the word comes to denote the present and future age; the
present world and the world to come; the present world, with all its cares, anxieties, and evils; the
people of this world - a wicked generation, etc. Then it means the world - the material universe
creation as it is. The only perfectly clear use of the word in this sense in the

ew Testament is in
Heb_11:3, and there there can be no doubt. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were
made by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear.” The passage before us will bear the same interpretation, and this is the most obvious
and intelligible. What would be the meaning of saying that the “ages” or “dispensations” were
made by the Son of God? The Hebrews used the word - צולם ‛owlaam - in the same sense. It
properly means “age, duration;” and thence it came to be used by them to denote the world -
made up of “ages” or generations; and then the world itself. This is the fair, and, as it seems to

me, the only intelligible interpretation of this passage - an interpretation amply sustained by texts
referred to above as demonstrating that the universe was made by the agency of the Son of God.
Compare Heb_1:10 note, and Joh_1:3 note.
1B. PI

K, “"In these last days" (verse 2). This expression is not to be taken absolutely, but is a
contrast from "in time past." The ministry of Christ marked "the last days." That which the
Holy Spirit was pressing upon the Hebrews was the finality of the Gospel revelation. Through the
"prophets" God had given predictions and foreshadowings; in the Son, the fulfillment and
substance. The "fullness of time" had come when God sent forth His Son (Gal. 4:4). He has
nothing now in reserve. He has no further revelation to make. Christ is the final Spokesman of
Deity. The written Word is now complete. In conclusion, note how Christ divides history:
everything before pointed toward Him, everything since points back to Him; He is the Center of
all God’s counsels.”
2. Clarke, “Last days - The Gospel dispensation, called the last days and the last time, because
not to be followed by any other dispensation; or the conclusion of the Jewish Church and state
now at their termination.
By his Son - It is very remarkable that the pronoun αὑτου, his, is not found in the text; nor is it
found in any MS. or version. We should not therefore supply the pronoun as our translators have
done; but simply read εν Υἱῳ, By a Son, or In a Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things.
God has many sons and daughters, for he is the Father of the spirits of all flesh; and he has many
heirs, for if sons, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; but he has no Son
who is heir of all things, none by whom he made the worlds, none in whom he speaks, and by
whom he has delivered a complete revelation to mankind, but Jesus the Christ.
The apostle begins with the lowest state in which Christ has appeared:
1. His being a Son, born of a woman, and made under the law. He then ascends,
2. So his being an Heir, and an Heir of all things.
3. He then describes him as the Creator of all worlds.
4. As the Brightness of the Divine glory.
5. As the express Image of his person, or character of the Divine substance.
6. As sustaining the immense fabric of the universe; and this by the word of his power.
7. As having made an atonement for the sin of the world, which was the most stupendous of
all his works.
“’Twas great to speak a world from nought;
’Twas greater to redeem.”
8. As being on the right hand of God, infinitely exalted above all created beings; and the
object of adoration to all the angelic host.
9. As having an eternal throne, neither his person nor his dignity ever changing or decaying.
10. As continuing to exercise dominion, when the earth and the heavens are no more! It is only
in God manifested in the flesh that all these excellences can possibly appear, therefore the
apostle begins this astonishing climax with the simple Sonship of Christ, or his incarnation;
for, on this, all that he is to man, and all that he has done for man, is built.

3. Gill, “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,.... This is the Gospel revelation, or the
revelation in the Gospel dispensation; which though it comes from the same author the other
does, yet in many things differs from it, and is preferable to it; and indeed the general design of
this epistle is to show the superior excellency of the one to the other; the former was delivered out
in time past, but this "in these last days"; the Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, and
several other copies, read, "in the last of these days": perfectly agreeable to the phrase באחרית
הימים , used in Gen_49:1 to which the apostle refers, and in which places the days of the Messiah
are intended; and it is a rule with the Jews (m), that wherever the phrase, "the last days", is
mentioned, the days of the Messiah are designed: and they are to be understood not of the last
days of the natural world, but of, the Jewish world and state; indeed the times of the Messiah, or
Gospel dispensation, may be called the last days of the natural world, according to the tradition
of the house of Elias; which teaches, that the duration of the world will be six thousand years,
and divides it into three parts, the last of which is assigned to the Messiah, thus; two thousand
years void, (or without the law,) two thousand years the law, and two thousand years the days of
the Messiah (n): but it is best to understand this of the last days of the Mosaic economy, or Jewish
dispensation; for the Messiah was to come before the Jewish civil and church states were
dissolved; before the sceptre departed from Judah, and before the second temple was destroyed;
and he was to come at the end, or toward the close of both these states; and which is called the
end, or ends of the world, Hab_2:3 and quickly after Jesus, the true Messiah was come, an end
was put to both these: from whence it may be observed, that the Messiah must be come; that the
Mosaic economy, and Jewish worship, will never be restored again; that the Gospel revelation
being made in the last days, ought to be regarded the more, it being the last revelation God will
ever make. Moreover, this differs from the former in this respect, that was made to the fathers,
this "to us"; meaning either the apostles in particular, or the Jews in general, to whom the
apostle is writing: this shows that the Gospel revelation was first made to the Jews; and it being
made to them personally, they were under great obligation to regard it; and that God had not
cast off his people; and that though he had greatly indulged their fathers, he had showed greater
favour to them, having provided some better thing for them: and there is a difference between
these two revelations in the manner in which they were made; the former was at sundry times,
and in divers manners, the latter was made at once, and in one way; that was delivered out in
parts, and by piece meal, this the whole together; the whole mind and will of God, all his counsel,
all that Christ heard of the Father; it is the faith that was once, and at once, delivered to the
saints; and it has been given out in one way, by the preaching of the word: to which may be
added, that formerly God spoke by many persons, by the prophets, but now by one only, "by his
Son"; who is so not by creation, nor by adoption, nor by office, but by nature; being his own Son,
his proper Son, begotten of him, of the same nature with him, and equal to him; and so infinitely
preferable to the prophets: he is a Son, and not a servant, in whom the Father is, and he in the
Father, and in whom the Spirit is without measure; and God is said to speak by him, or in him,
because he was now incarnate; and what he says from God should be attended to, both on
account of the dignity of his person, as the Son of God, and because of the authority he came with
as Mediator: whom he hath appointed heir of all things; which must be understood of him not as
God, and Creator; for as such he has a right to all things; all that the Father has are his; the
kingdom of nature and providence belongs to him, he being the Former and Maker of all things;
but as Mediator, who has all things committed to him, to subserve the ends of his office; and has
a kingdom appointed him, and which he will deliver up again the word all may refer either to
persons or things; to persons, not angels, good or bad, though both are subject to him, yet neither

are called his inheritance; but elect men, who are his portion, and the lot of his inheritance; and
to things relating to these persons, and for their use and service, in time, and to all eternity; as all
temporal things, and all spiritual ones, the blessings and promises of the covenant of grace, the
gifts and graces of the Spirit, and eternal glory and happiness, the saints' inheritance, who are
joint heirs with Christ.
By whom also he made the worlds; this is said in agreement with the notions of the Jews, and
their way of speaking, who make mention of three worlds, which they call, the upper world (the
habitation of God), the middle world (the air), and the lower world (o) (the earth); and sometimes
they call them the world of angels (where they dwell), the world of orbs (where the sun, moon,
and stars are), and the world below (p) (on which we live); and it is frequent in their writings,
and prayer books (q), to call God רבון כל העולמים , "Lord of all worlds"; See Gill on Heb_11:3,
these God made by his Son, not as an instrument, but as an efficient cause with him; for by him
were all things made, whether visible or invisible; and the preposition "by" does not always
denote instrumentality, but sometimes efficiency; and is used of God the Father himself, and in
this epistle, Heb_2:10.
4. Henry, “It is a revelation which God has made by his Son, the most excellent messenger that
was ever sent into the world, far superior to all the ancient patriarchs and prophets, by whom
God communicated his will to his people in former times. And here we have an excellent account
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1.) The glory of his office, and that in three respects: - [1.] God hath appointed him to be heir
of all things. As God, he was equal to the Father; but, as God - man and Mediator, he was
appointed by the Father to be the heir of all things, the sovereign Lord of all, the absolute
disposer, director, and governor of all persons and of all things, Psa_2:6, Psa_2:7. All power in
heaven and earth is given to him; all judgment is committed to him, Mat_28:18; Joh_5:22. [2.] By
him God made the worlds, both visible and invisible, the heavens and the earth; not as an
instrumental cause, but as his essential word and wisdom. By him he made the old creation, by
him he makes the new creature, and by him he rules and governs both. [3.] He upholds all things
by the word of his power: he keeps the world from dissolving. By him all things consist. The
weight of the whole creation is laid upon Christ: he supports the whole and all the parts. When,
upon the apostasy, the world was breaking to pieces under the wrath and curse of God, the Son of
God, undertaking the work of redemption, bound it up again, and established it by his almighty
power and goodness.

one of the ancient prophets sustained such an office as this, none was
sufficient for it.
5. Jamison, “in these last days — In the oldest manuscripts the Greek is. “At the last part of these
days.” The Rabbins divided the whole of time into “this age,” or “world,” and “the age to come”
(Heb_2:5; Heb_6:5). The days of Messiah were the transition period or “last part of these days”
(in contrast to “in times past”), the close of the existing dispensation, and beginning of the final
dispensation of which Christ’s second coming shall be the crowning consummation.
by his Son — Greek, “I

(His) Son” (Joh_14:10). The true “Prophet” of God. “His majesty is
set forth: (1) Absolutely by the very name “Son,” and by three glorious predicates, “whom He
hath appointed,” “by whom He made the worlds,” “who sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high;” thus His course is described from the beginning of all things till he reached the
goal (Heb_1:2, Heb_1:3). (2) Relatively, in comparison with the angels, Heb_1:4; the confirmation
of this follows, and the very name “Son” is proved at Heb_1:5; the “heirship,” Heb_1:6-9; the

“making the worlds,” Heb_1:10-12; the “sitting at the right hand” of God, Heb_1:13, Heb_1:14.”
His being made heir follows His sonship, and preceded His making the worlds (Pro_8:22,
Pro_8:23; Eph_3:11). As the first begotten, He is heir of the universe (Heb_1:6), which He made
instrumentally, Heb_11:3, where “by the Word of God” answers to “by whom”’ (the Son of God)
here (Joh_1:3). Christ was “appointed” (in God’s eternal counsel) to creation as an office; and
the universe so created was assigned to Him as a kingdom. He is “heir of all things” by right of
creation, and especially by right of redemption. The promise to Abraham that he should be heir
of the world had its fulfillment, and will have it still more fully, in Christ (Rom_4:13; Gal_3:16;
Gal_4:7).
worlds — the inferior and the superior worlds (Col_1:16). Literally, “ages” with all things and
persons belonging to them; the universe, including all space and ages of time, and all material
and spiritual existences. The Greek implies, He not only appointed His Son heir of all things
before creation, but He also (better than “also He”) made by Him the worlds.
6. Spurgeon, “It is not possible that any language can fully express WHO JESUS IS; yet, by the Holy
Spirit’s gracious teaching, I must tell you what I know of him.
First, Jesus is God’s own Son . What do I know about that wondrous truth? If I were to try to
explain it, and to talk about the eternal filiations, I should but conduct you where I should soon
be entirely out of my depth, and very likely I should drown all that I could tell you in floods of
words. Deity is not to be explained, but to be adored; and the Sonship of Christ is to be accepted
as a truth of revelation, to be apprehended by faith, though it cannot be comprehended by the
understanding. There have been many attempts made by the fathers of the Church to explain the
relationship between the two Divine Persons, the Father and the Son; but the explanations had
better never have been given, for the figures used are liable to lead into mistake. Suffice it for us
to say that, in the most appropriate language of the

icene Creed, Christ is “God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God.” He is co-equal with the Father; though how that is, we know not.
He stands in the nearest possible relationship to the Father,— a relationship of intense love and
delight, so that the Father says of him, “This is my beloved Son.” Yes, he is one with the Father,
so that there is no separating them, as he himself said, in reply to Philip’s request, “Shew us the
Father,” “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.”
Let me just pause here, and say to everyone who is seeking salvation,— What a comfort it should
be to you that he, who is come to save men, is Divine! Therefore, nothing can be impossible to
him.

ay, I do not say merely that he is Divine; I will go further, and say that he is the Deity
itself; Christ Jesus is God, and being God, there can be no impossibilities or even difficulties with
him. He is able to save you, whoever you may be. Though you have gone to the very verge of
eternal ruin, you cannot have gone beyond the range of omnipotence; and omnipotence is
inherent in the Godhead. O dear friends, do rejoice in this wondrous truth, he that was a babe at
Bethlehem, was God incarnate! He that, being weary, sat on the well at Sychar, was God
incarnate. He that had not where to lay his head was God incarnate. And it is he who has
undertaken the stupendous labor of the salvation of men; and, therefore, men may hope and trust
in him. We need not wonder that, when angels heard of Christ’s coming to earth, they sang,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,” for God had taken
upon himself human mesh that he might save the sons of rien. So, the first words in our text —
“His Son”— are full of good cheer.

ow notice, in the next place, that Jesus Christ is the “Heir of all things .” Of which nature of
Christ does the apostle speak in this sentence, “whom he hath appointed heir of all things”? I do

not think that Paul here separates the two natures, so as to speak with absolute reference to
either one or the other; but he speaks of the person of Christ, and in that person there is God,
and in that same person there is most surely and most truly man. But we must take this
description of Jesus Christ as appointed “Heir of all things” in his person as man, and as God
and man combined; for, as God alone, Christ is necessarily “Heir of all things” without any
appointment; but in his complex person as God and man conjoined, the Father has appointed
him to be “Heir of all things.”

ow, what does this mean but that Christ possesses all things as an heir possesses his inheritance,
that Christ is Lord of all things, as an heir becomes lord and ruler among his brethren. This
appointment is to be fully carried into effect by-and-by; for, “now we see not yet all things put
under him.” Christ is Lord of all the angels; not a seraph spreads his wing except at the bidding
of the “Heir of all things.” There are no bright spirits, unknown to us, that are beyond the control
of the God-man, Christ Jesus; arid the fallen angels, too, are obliged to bow before his
omnipotence. As for all things here below, material substances, men regenerate or unregenerate,
God has given him power over all mesh that he should give eternal life to as many as his Father
has given him. He has put all things under his feet, “and the government shall be upon his
shoulder.” He is Heir, or Master, and Possessor of all things; — let me say, of all sorts of blessings,
and all forms of grace, for “it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell;” and, as
surely as time revolves, and you mark the fleeting minutes upon the dial’s face, the hour is
coming when Christ shall be universally acknowledged as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Already I seem to hear the shouts go up from every part of the habitable globe, and from all
heaven and all space, “Hallelujah! for the Lord God, omnipotent reigneth.” All must willingly, or
else unwillingly, submit to his sway, for his ’Father hath appointed him “Heir of all things.”
To my mind, this is another wondrous encouragement to anyone who is seeking salvation. Christ
has everything in his hand that is needed in order that he may save you, poor sinner. Sometimes,
when a physician has a sick man before him,— suppose it is on board ship, — he may have to say
to him, “I think I could cure your disease if I could get such-and-such a medicine; but,
unfortunately, I have not the drug within my reach.” Or the doctor might have to say to the
sufferer, “I believe an operation would effect a cure, but I have not the instrument that is
necessary for it.”

ever will the great Physician of souls have to talk like that, for the Father hath
committed all things into his hand, Oh, have we not beheld him as the glory of the Father, full of
grace and truth? You great sinner, you black sinner, Christ is not lacking in power to save you;
and if you come, and trust yourself in his hands, he will never have to look about to find the balm
for your wounds, or the ointments or liniments with which to bind up those putrefying sores of
yours!

o, he is “Heir of all things.” So again I say, “Hallelujah!” as I preach him to you as the
blessed Savior of sinners, the Son of God, the “Heir of all things.”

otice, next, that Jesus Christ is the Creator: “by whom also he made the worlds.” However many
worlds there are, we know not. It may be true that all those majestic orbs that stud the midnight
sky are worlds filled with intelligent beings; it is much more easy to believe that they are than
that they are not, for, surely, God has not built all those magnificent mansions, and left them
untenanted. It were irrational to conceive of those myriads of stupendous world, vastly bigger
than this poor little speck in God’s great universe, all left without inhabitants. But it matters not
how many worlds there are; God made them all by Jesus Christ: “All things were made by him;
and without him was not any thing made that was made.” I see him standing, as it were, at the
anvil of omnipotence, hammering out the worlds that fly off, like sparks, on every side at each
stroke of his majestic arm. It was Christ who was there,— “the wisdom of God and the power of

God,” as Paul calls him,— creating all things. I love to think that he who created all things is also
our Savior, for then he can create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me; and if I
need a complete new creation,— as I certainly do,— he is equal to the task. Man cannot create
the tiniest midge that ever danced in the summer evening’s ray; man cannot create even a single
grain of dust; but Christ created all worlds, so he can make us new creatures by the wondrous
power of his grace. O sinners, see what a mighty Savior has been provided for you, and never say
that you cannot trust him! I agree with good Mr. Hyatt who, when he was asked on his death-bed,
“Can you trust Christ with your soul?” answered, “If I had a million souls, I could trust them all
with him” And so may you; if you had as many souls as God has ever created, and if you had
heaped upon you all the sins that men have ever committed, you might still trust in him who is
the Son of God, “whom he hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.”

ow go a little further, and see what Christ is next called: the brightness of His Father’s glory .
Shade your eyes, for you cannot look upon this wondrous sight without being dazzled by it. The
Revised Version renders it, “the effulgence of his glory;” but I do not see much more in that
expression than in the word “brightness.” Some commentators say — and it is not an ill figure,
yet we must not push any figure too far,— that, as light is to the sun, so is Jesus to the glory of
God. He is the brightness of that glory; that is to say, there is not any glory in God but what is
also in Christ: and when that glory reaches its climax, when God the Ever-glorious is most
glorious, that greatest glory is in Christ. Oh, this wondrous Word of God,— the very climax of
the Godhead,— the gathering up of every blessed attribute in all its infinity of glory! You shall
find all this in the person of the God-man, Christ Jesus. There is a whole sermon in those words,
“the brightness of his glory;” but I cannot preach it to-night, because then I should not get
through the rest of my text.
So let us pass on to the next clause: “ and the express image of his person .” I said, a minute ago,
“Shade your eyes;” but I might now say, “Shut them,” as I think of the excessive brilliance
described by these words: “the express image of his person.” Whatever God is, Christ is; the very
likeness of God, the very Godhead of Godhead, the very Deity of Deity, is in Christ Jesus: “the
express image of his person.” Dr. John Owen, who loves to explain the spiritual meaning in the
Epistle to the Hebrews by the types in the Old Testament, which is evidently what Paul himself
was doing, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,— explains the brightness of the Father’s glory
by a reference to the Shekinah over the mercy-seat, which was the only visible token of the
presence of God there. An extraordinary brightness is said to have shone forth from between the
cherubim.

ow, Christ is God manifesting himself in his brightness. But, on his forehead, the
high priest wore a golden plate, upon which was deeply engraven, in Hebrew letters, the
inscription, “Holiness to [or of] Jehovah.” Dr. Owen thinks there is a reference, in this “express
image of his person,” — this cut-out inscription of God, as it were, — to that which was on the
forehead of the high priest, and which represented the glorious wholeness or holiness of Jehovah,
which is his great glory. Well, whether the apostle referred to this or not, it is for you and me to
take off our shoes from our feet in the presence of Christ, “the brightness of his Father’s glory,
and the express image of his person.” To me, these words are like the bush in which God dwelt,
yet which was not consumed, they are all on fire; what more shall I say of them?

ow, Christ being all this that Paul describes, who will dare to turn his back on him? If this be
the Shepherd who has come to seek the lost sheep,— O poor lost sheep, wilt thou not be found of
him? If this be God’s Ambassador, who comes, clothed in the crimson robe of his own blood, to
redeem the sons of men, who will refuse the peace he brings?

ote yet once again what Christ is, as I mention the sixth point in the apostle’s description: “
upholding all things by the word of his power ,” Just think of it This 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 whence it sprang. There exists not a being who is independent of the Mediator,
save only the ever-blessed Father and the Spirit. “By him all things consist,” that is, continue to
hold together. Just as these pillars uphold these galleries, or as the foundations uphold a house, so
does Jesus Christ “uphold all things by the word of his power.” Only think of it; those
innumerable worlds of light that make illimitable space to look as though it were sprinkled over
with golden dust, would all die out, like so many expiring sparks, and cease to be, if the Christ
who died on Calvary did not will that they should continue to exist. I cannot bring out of my text
all the wondrous truths that it contains, I only wish I could; but, surely, if Christ upholds all
things, he can uphold me. If the word of his power upholds earth and heaven, surely, that same
word can uphold you, poor trembling heart, if you will trust him. There need be no fear about
that matter; come and prove it for yourself. May his blessed Spirit enable you to do so even now!
Where there is so much sea-room, I might well tarry, but I must hasten on to the next point.
—————
II. Follow me with all your ears and hearts while I now speak to you about what Jesus did.
He who is all that I have tried to describe, did what? First, he effectually purged our sins: “when
he had by himself purged our sins.” Listen to those wondrous words. There was never such a task
as that since time began. The old fable speaks of the Augean stable, foul enough to have poisoned
a nation, which Hercules cleansed; but our sins were fouler than that. Dunghills are sweet
compared with these abominations; what a degrading task it seems for Christ to undertake,— the
purging of our sins! The sweepers of the streets, the scullions of the kitchen, the cleansers of the
sewers, have honorable work compared with this of purging sin. Yet the holy Christ, incapable of
sin, stooped to purge our sins I want you to meditate upon that wondrous work; and to remember
that he did it before he went back to heaven. Is it not a wonderful thing that Christ purged our
sins even before we had committed them? There they stood, before the sight of God, as already
existent in all their hideousness; but Christ came, and purged them, This, surely, ought to make
us sing the song of songs. Before I sinned, he purged my sins away; singular and strange as it is,
yet it is so.
Then, further, the apostle says that Christ purged our sins by himself; that is, by offering himself
as our Substitute. There was no purging away of sin, except by Christ bearing the burden of it,
and he did beat it. He bore all that was due to guilty man on account of his violation of the law of
God, and God accepted his sacrifice as a full equivalent, and so he purged our sins. He did not
come to do something by which our sins might be purged, but he purged them effectually,
actually, really, completely. How did he do it? By his preaching? By his doctrine? By his Spirit?

o “By himself.” Oh, that is a blessed word! The Revised Version has left it out, but the doctrine
is taught in the Bible over and over again. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree.” “By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats. and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?” He gave himself for us; not only his blood, but all that
constituted himself, his Godhead, and his manhood. All that he had, and all that he was, he gave
as the ransom price for us; can any of you estimate the value of that price? The acts of one,
Divine as he is, are Divine actions; and there is a weight and force about them that there could

not be about the deeds of the best of men or even of all the holy angels: “he by himself purged our
sins.”

ow, let every believer, if he wants to see his sins, stand on tiptoe, and look up; will he see them
there?

o. If he looks down, will he see them there?

o. If he looks round, will he see them there?

o. If he looks within, will ho see them there?

o. Where shall he look, then? Where he likes, for
he will never see them again, according to tlirt ancient promise, “In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of
Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” Shall I tell you
where your sins are? Christ purged them, and God said, “I will cast all their sins behind my
back.” Where is that? All things are before God. I do not know where behind God’s back can be.
It is nowhere, for God is everywhere present, seeing everything. So that is where my sins have
gone; I speak with the utmost reverence when I say that they have gone where Jehovah himself
can never see them. Christ has so purged them that they have ceased to be. The Messiah came to
knish transgression, and try make an end of sin, and he has done it.|
O believer, if he has made an end of it, then there is an end to it, and what more can there be of
it? Here is a blessed text for you; I love to meditate on it often when I am alone: “As far as the
east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” This he did on
Calvary’s cross; there effectually, finally, totally, completely, eternally, he purged all his people
from their sin by talking it upon himself, bearing all its dreadful consequences, cancelling and
blotting it out, casting it into the depths of the sea, and putting it away for ever: and all this he
did “by himself” It was indeed amazing love that male him stoop to this purgation, this expiation,
this atonement for sin; but, because he was who and what he was, he did it thoroughly, perfectly.
He said, “It is finished,” and I believe him. I do not — I cannot — for a moment admit that there
is anything to be done by us to complete that work, or anything required of us to make the
annihilation of our sins complete. Those for whom Christ died are cleansed from all their guilt,
and they may go their way in peace. He was made a curse for us, and there is nothing but blessing
left for us to enjoy.
—————
III.

ow, lastly, I have to speak of WHAT CHRIST

JOYS : “When ’he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.” Here again I shall have to say
that I am quite out of my depth; I have waters to swim in, but I am not a good swimmer in such
blessed deeps as these.
There is an allusion here, no doubt, to the high priest who, on the great day of atonement, when
the sacrifice had been offered, presents himself before God.

ow Christ, our great High Priest,
having, once for all, offered himself as the sacrifice for sin, has now gone into the most holy place,
and there he sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

otice, first, that this implies rest . When the high priest went within the veil, he did not sit down.
He stood, with holy trembling, bearing the sacrificial blood, before the blazing mercy-seat; but
our Savior now sits at his Father’s right hand. The high priest of old had not finished his work;
the next year, another atoning sacrifice would be needed; but our Lord has completed his
atonement, and now, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin,” for there remaineth no more sin
to be purged. “Rut this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” There he sits, and I am sure he

would not be sitting if he had not finished the salvation of his people. Isaiah long before had been
inspired to record what the Messiah would say, “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for
Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go faith as brightness, and the
salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.” But Christ is resting now; my eye, by faith, can see him
sitting there, so I know that—
Love’s redeeming work is done;
Fought the fight, the battle won.

otice, next, that Christ sits in the place of honor: “on the right hand of the Majesty on high” Of
course, we are talking figuratively now, and you must not interpret this literally. Jesus site on the
right hand of his Father, he dwells in the highest conceivable honor and dignity. All the angels
worship him, and all the blood-washed host adore him day without night. The Father delights to
honor him.
The highest place that heaven affords
Is his, is his by right,
The King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And heaven’s eternal light.

ot only does Jesus sit in the place of honor, but he occupies the place of safety .

one can hurt
him now; none can stay his purposes, or defeat his will. He is at the powerful right hand of God.
In heaven above, and on the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, and on every star,
he is supreme Lord and Master; and they that will not yield to him shall be broken with a rod of
iron, he shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. So his cause is safe; his kingdom is secure,
for he is at the right hand of power.
And, last of all, Christ at the right hand of God signifies the eternal certainty of his reward . It is
not possible that he should be robbed of the purchase of his blood. I tremble when I hear some
people talk about the disappointed Christ,— or about his having died at a peradventure, to
accomplish he knew not what,— dying for something which the will of man might give him if it
would, but it might possibly be denied him. I buy nothing on such terms as that, I expect to have
what I purchase; and Christ will have what he bought with his own blood; especially as he lives
a.gain to claim his purchase. He shall never be a defeated and disappointed Savior. “He loved the
church, and gave himself for it;” he hath redeemed his loved ones from among men; and he shall
have all those whom he has purchased. “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied;” therefore, let us again say, “Hallelujah!” and fall down and worship him.
It does seem to me that there is no proof of men’s natural blindness that is so conclusive as this,
that men will not go and trust in Jesus. O sinners, if sin had left you sane in heart, you would
come at once, and fall down at his feet! There is all power laid. up in Jesus, and there is all the
Father’s love concentrated in Jesus; so come and trust him. If you will but trust him, you will
prove that he has given himself for you. That simple trust is the secret mark that distinguishes his
people from all others. “My sheep bear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” To those
who rejected him when he was upon the earth, our Lord said, “Ye believe not, because ye are not
of my sheep, as I said unto you.” O poor souls, do you mean for ever to wear the damning mark
of unbelief? If you die with that brand upon your soul, you will be lost for ever. Oh, may you
have, instead, that blessed mark of faith which is the token of the Lord’s people! May you even
now hang out the scarlet line as Rahab hung it out of her window,— the scarlet line of confidence

in the crimson blood of Jesus! And while Jericho falls,— while all the earth shall crumble in one
common ruin,— your house, though built upon the wall, shall stand securely, and not one who is
within its shelter shall be touched by the devouring sword, for all who are in Christ are in
everlasting safety. How can they be otherwise, since he has purged their sins? God give to every
one of you to have a part and lot among this blessed company, for his dear name’s sake! Amen.”
7. Scott Grant, “Most of us at times think that it would be nice if God would speak to us directly.
Then, we think, we could be absolutely clear about what he wants of us. Alas, God doesn't seem
to relate to most of us on that basis, at least not very often. His efforts to communicate don't seem
all that effective, and we long for more clarity.
The writer of Hebrews, on the other hand, seems quite satisfied with God's efforts to
communicate. In fact, he seems to say that God has already said all that he really needs to say.
And God really doesn't need to say anymore because of the greatness of what he has already said.
God has spoken, and his message concerns his Son. God's final, greatest word to us is personified
in his Son, Jesus Christ.
This is what the writer of Hebrews tells us in the first four verses of the book. So if we're longing
for something more direct from God, something absolutely clear, let's listen to these verses, and
see if we can hear God's direct, clear message to us - his final, greatest word.
The structure of these verses revolves around the verb "to speak." God has spoken. Why do we
speak? We speak because we want to be heard. We want our thoughts to be understood by
another. Why do we want our thoughts understood? We want connection. We want to relate. It's
no different with God, who created us in his image, somewhat like him. Why does God speak? He
wants connection; he wants to relate - he wants to connect and relate with us. In the first two
verses, it is recorded that God has spoken to people, to "the fathers" and to "us." God has not
spoken to himself, he has not spoken into the air; he has spoken to people, because he wants to
relate with people.
He begins by acknowledging that the Judaism was of Divine authority. This confirmation
establishes the fact that the Old Testament believers had indeed been given the oracles of God.
The Old Testament is indeed truth and God-breathed. Having established this fact, the writer to
the Hebrews then begins to describe the contrast between the Old and the

ew Testaments. This
contrast, however, is based on the unity of the two. Unlike the Greek and Roman mythology and
the false worship of other gods the Old Testament is also of God and it's impossible to understand
the contrast until we first understand the resemblance of the two. We cannot look at the contrast
as one that would be between light and darkness because both testaments are born of the truth of
God and therefore are light to us.
The contrast would be seen better in a picture of the lights of night being contrasted with the
light of day. Go outside some clear night and look to the heavens. It is a beautiful sight. Tiny
lights fill the sky but distance causes them to be unable to shatter the darkness that is around us.
Even the moon reflecting the rays of the sun seems to shine brilliantly, however it to is unable to
shatter all of the darkness. Both could represent to us the action of the prophecy and typology of
the Old Covenant reflecting the light as the moon or emitting light from the distant stars but
unable to completely shatter the darkness that surrounds. Then morning comes. The sun rises
and completely dominates the sky shattering all of the darkness. This is the way we can view the

ew Covenant. Christ does not destroy the prophets reflection or the types light He amplifies
their power so that we can see them clearly.

This brings us to question 1. We have then expectations that the Old Testament saints did not
have, what are some of them?
1. Since God has now spoken through His son we can:
a. Have a clearer picture of God and his plan. The vale that separated the Old Testament saints
has been eliminated and we are able to come into His very presence.
b. Know that God has opened the way for more intimate fellowship with us.
c. John 1 tells us that Christ is the creative force of God. Jesus Christ is indeed the very Word of
God. So His speaking to us in these last days should be a life giving force in our lives.
Having this advanced form of fellowship given to us also requires responsibility on our parts.
What do you think God requires from you as a result of this action?
1. When a person learns a new language they need to have access to those who know the language
best. If I desired to learn German I would naturally go to a person fluent in that language to
teach it to me. In the same way the language of God is heavenly, spiritual and supernatural- it is
altogether divine. Only the Holy Spirit can teach me to understand so I must be willing to submit
to Him as my only teacher.
2. God in speaking expects action on my part. If indeed His words bring life I must be willing to
put His words into action in my life in order to expect His fulfillment in my life. I can only know
what God is speaking about if I yield myself to that new nature that He has given to me.
Having presented us with the fact of improved relationship and our expectation and
responsibility in that action, the writer of Hebrews then begins a comparative study.
How do you think that fellowship with the son is better than that with the prophets?
In both the Old and

ew Testaments it was God that spoke. The prophets in the Old, and the Son
in the

ew, were equally God’s messengers. God spoke in the prophets not less truly than in the
son. But in the Old Testament everything was external and through the mediation of man. God
could not yet enter and take possession of man and dwell in him. In the

ew we have the power
and reality of life inside of us. We have the reality that was only a shadow and hope to the Old
Testament saints.
1. Let none of us be content to live in the lower stage. Receiving the Word of God indirectly from
a means other then the enlightening power of the Son who indwells us through His Spirit. It is
that personal relationship with God that we are called to enjoy not the reception of his truth
indirectly.
2. The Old Testament Saints knew the Word of God inside and out yet they lacked the power of
personal relationship. We may come to know much of the Bible and the words of God yet we will
remain feeble in our walk stumbling at the smallest obstacle placed in our way if we reject the
personal relationship with the living Word of God in His Son.
3. It is important to study the Old Testament. All of the prophets point to the son, as the true

Prophet. Use them as teachers to point you to the full revelation of Christ.
8. Unknown author, “there is a song by Michael Card entitled, "The Final Word," that gives a
great illustration of this verse. One line of the song is, "When the Father's wisdom wanted to
communicate His love, He spoke it in one final perfect Word. He spoke the incarnation...." In
other words, the incarnation and resulting atonement was the act of God speaking to His people
in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Another line in the song states, "...eternity stepped into
time so we could understand." God stepped out of the glory and majesty and humbled Himself
so that a bunch of sinners deserving of eternal condemnation would not have to pay the just
penalty for their deeds.

o man's love can amount to that! With that in mind, we should certainly
be willing to be servants of God rather than man.
Michael Card has given us such a message, based on these verses in Hebrews. In his song "The
Final Word" he sings this about the Son:
You and me we use so very many clumsy words
The noise of what we often say
Is not worth being heard
When the Father's Wisdom
Wanted to communicate His love
He spoke it in one final perfect Word
He spoke the Incarnation
And then so was born the Son
His Final Word was Jesus
He needed no other one
Spoke flesh and blood so He could bleed
And make a way divine
And so was born the baby
Who would die to make it mine
And so the Father's fondest thought
Took on flesh and bone
He spoke the living luminous Word
At once His will was done
And so the transformation
That in man had been unheard
Took place in God the Father
As He spoke that final Word
9. Kevin Hartley, “The Son has always been the revealer of God. By this we mean more than He
is the one who speaks about God. Rather, we mean that Christ, I

, reveals God.
We may say, "God is love." But Christ IS the God who is love. We may preach about the
sovereignty of God, but Christ IS the sovereign God. Even the Spirit of God instructs in the
things of God, as the Spirit of Truth, by "taking from what is [Christ's] and showing it to us." He
who would learn God must learn Christ. Most, if not all, spiritual error and heresy comes from a
deficient or erroneous view of Christ. Since to whatever degree a man knows Christ he knows
God, to whatever degree he is in error concerning Christ, he does not know God. In Christ we

behold both the goodness and severity of God, the grace and justice, the wrath and mercy.
In John’s gospel, chapter 17, verses 4ff, we have Jesus’s very own testimony as to what He
has spoken/declared of the Father, through either word, or deed:
I have glorified thee on the earth:
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world: thine they were;
I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;
I have kept...those that thou gavest me;
I have given them thy word;
I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it:
Is it any wonder that the Father glorifies the Son. What was His purpose?
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them.
Well done good and faithful Servant!
10. Maurice Bergeron, “The Pauline perspective of history is always divided by not only the old
covenant and the new covenant, but by the correlative concept of the "past" and the "last." The
old is "past", even obsolete (8:13), and the "last" in the sequence (Greek word eschatos from
which we transliterate the word "eschatology") is the new reality that God has made known in
His Son, Jesus, who is the "last Adam", the Eschatos Man (I Cor. 15:45); God's "last word" for
mankind singularly, completely, decisively and finally. (cf. last things) Eschatology is often
mistakenly understood to be the study of the future and that which is yet to transpire. Properly
understood, eschatology is the study of "last things", and God's last and final arrangement for
man is in Jesus Christ. In the first proclamation of the early church, Peter commenced by saying
that Joel's prophecy of the "last days" (Joel 2:28) was fulfilled by the Pentecostal manifestation
of the Spirit of Christ (Acts 2:17).

ow Paul commences with the same theme that "in these last
days God has spoken to us in His Son." The "last days" are not future. Rather, they began in the
past when God historically revealed Himself incarnationally in the Son, and they continue
throughout the new covenant "day of salvation" (cf. II Cor. 6:2) unto the "last time" (cf. I Peter
1:5) of the future. Although Jewish eschatology was always future-focused, Christian eschatology
is focused on Christ, the fulfillment of God's "last things", and must necessarily be based on
what Christ has already accomplished on our behalf in His "finished work" (John 19:30), all the
while recognizing the perpetuity and continuum of His eternal work into the future. Christian
eschatology will always recognize the "already" and the "not yet" of God's "last things" in Jesus
Christ.
Writing to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, Paul wanted to emphasize the inaugurated and
realized eschatological realities in Jesus Christ. The Jews in Palestine in the middle of the seventh
decade of the first century (mid 60s A.D.) were anticipating a hoped-for future of deliverance
from Rome and consequent self-rule. The Zealot theme of patriotic Jewish nationalism was at a
crescendo. They were confident this would reestablish the Davidic kingdom which they
considered to be their God-given right of self-rule in the Palestinian land that they regarded as
given to them by God. Paul did not want the Jewish Christians to accept the false hopes for a
physical utopian kingdom being offered by the Jewish religionists, but wanted them to base their
hope in Jesus Christ alone (cf. I Tim. 1:1).

Although this letter primarily contrasts old covenant and new covenant, Judaism and
Christianity, it is important to note that there is both continuity and discontinuity in the
connection and contrasts. Continuity is evident in that it is "God who spoke to the fathers in the
prophets" (1:1), and the same "God who has spoken in His Son" (1:2). Judaism and Christianity
are historically linked, and God's action in the old covenant must not be regarded as irrelevant or
of no value by those who participate in the new covenant. Though the previous revelation of God
was temporary and preparatory as a pictorial prefiguring, it was nonetheless foundational and
necessary, having been enacted by God. Paul's point is that the old arrangement has been
superseded by all that is new and better in Jesus Christ. So it is that he commences by noting the
diverse and fragmentary modality of the prophetic proclamation of God in the old covenant as
contrasted with the superior, singular modality of God's self-revelation in the Son, who Himself
declared, 'I AM the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes unto the Father but by Me" (John
14:6).
To teach us in these latter days. Watts
Jesus was not just another in a long line of Hebrew prophets. He was not merely a spokesperson
for God. Jesus was the singular and unique God-man, the Son of God incarnated in the humanity
of a man. As such, He provided the only provision of God for the needs of mankind, superior to
all previous and prior revelatory pronouncements about God in the old covenant. Jesus did not
come to tell us more about God, or to give mankind more information about God's attributes and
God's intentions.

o, Jesus came as God the self-revelation of God. His every act was invested
with the very Being of God, and the very Being of God was fully operative in every act. The self-revelation
of God in Jesus necessarily implies the oneness of His Being and act. Jesus was not the
"virtual reality" of God, "as if" He were God in action; nor was He the "remote action" of God,
manipulated from a position of transcendence to produce a secondary and mediated action of
God.

o, Jesus was the real action of the very reality of God, the ontological dynamic of the very
essence of God operational in the man, Jesus. I do not believe that this in any way overstates the
point Paul sought to make in his contrast with the prior prophetic pronouncements of God in the
past.
God spoke in a spectrum in the Old Testament; Jesus is a prism which takes all those bands of
light and focuses them into one pure beam The answer God will give to all who ask, “Is that your
final answer?” is, ”Yes, Jesus is my final answer.”
Have you ever left a certain part of a meal to be the last bite because you wanted to finish with
the most delicious taste in your mouth? Have you ever had a candy bar or ice cream cone and
dropped the last part of it and felt so bad because it is so good to eat that last bit? Good to the
last bite or drop is true. If something is good it is the last bite or drop that gives a sense of
satisfaction and completeness. God saved the best for the last in Jesus. He is the last revelation of
God and the best or greatest.”
11. PI

K “The new covenant is contrasted with the old covenant, not in the way in which the

light of the knowledge of God is contrasted with the darkness and ignorance of heathenism, for
the old covenant is also of God, and is therefore possessed of Divine glory. Beautiful is the night in
which the moon and the stars of prophecy and types are shining; but when the sun arises then we
forget the hours of watchfulness and expectancy, and in the clear and joyous light of day there is
revealed to us the reality and substance of the eternal and heavenly sanctuary" (Adolph Saphir).
“1. His Heirship.
"Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things" (verse 2). There are three things here claiming
attention. First, the character in which Christ is viewed. Second, His appointment unto the
inheritance. Third, the scope of the inheritance.
First, this declaration that God has appointed the Savior "Heir of all things" is similar in scope
to that word of Peter’s on the day of Pentecost. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ"
(Acts 2:36). In both passages the reference is to the honor which has been conferred upon the
Mediator, and in each case the design of speaker or writer was to magnify the Christian
revelation by showing the exalted dignity of its Author and Head.
That the title "Heir" is similar in force to "Lord" is clear from Galatians 4:1, "The heir, as
long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all." Yet though there
is a similarity between the terms "Heir" and "Lord," there is also a clear distinction between
them; not only so, we may admire the Divine discrimination in the one used in Hebrews 1:2.
Strikingly does it follow immediately after the reference to Him as "Son," in fact furnishing proof
thereof, for the son is the father’s heir.
The word "heir" suggests two things: dignity and dominion, with the additional implication of
legal title thereto. For its force see Genesis 21:10, 12; Galatians 4:1, etc. "An ‘heir’ is a successor
to his father in all that his father hath. In connection with the Father and the Son, the supreme
sovereignty of the One is nowise infringed upon by the supreme sovereignty of the Other—cf.
John 5:19. The difference is only in the manner: the Father doeth all by the Son, and the Son
doeth all from the Father" (Dr. Gouge). The title "Heir" here denotes Christ’s proprietorship. He
is the Possessor and Disposer of all things.
Second, unto an inheritance Christ was "appointed" by God. This at once shows us that the
"Son" through whom God has revealed Himself, is here viewed not in His abstract Deity, but
mediatorially, as incarnate. Only as such could He be "appointed" Heir; as God the Son,
essentially, He could not be deputed to anything.
This "appointment" was in the eternal counsels of the Godhead. Two things are hereby
affirmed: certainty and valid title. Because God has predestined that the Mediator should be
"Heir of all things," His inheritance is most sure and absolutely guaranteed, for "the Lord of
hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul?" (Isa. 14:27); hath He not said, "My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isa. 46:10)! Again: because God has "appointed" the
Mediator "Heir" we are assured of His indubitable right to this supreme dignity. That which is
said of Christ’s being made priest, in Hebrews 5:5, may also be applied to this other dignity:
Christ glorified not Himself to be an Heir, but He that saith to Him, "Thou art My Son, today
have I begotten Thee," also "appointed" Him Heir.
Above we have said, This appointment was in the eternal counsels of the Godhead. With our
present passage should be compared Acts 2:23, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel

and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Thus
there were two chief things to which the Mediator was "appointed": sufferings (cf. also 1 Peter
1:19, 20), and glory—cf. 1 Peter 1:11. How this shows us that, from the beginning, Christ was the
Center of all the Divine counsels. Before a single creature was called into existence, God had
appointed an "Heir" to all things, and that Heir was the Lord Jesus. It was the predestined
reward of His Voluntary humiliation; He who had not where to lay His head, is now the lawful
Possessor of the universe.
This appointment of Christ to the inheritance was mentioned in Old Testament prophecy:
"Also I will make Him My Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth" (Ps. 89:27). "Firstborn"
in Scripture refers not so much to primogeniture, as to dignity and inheritance: see Genesis 49:3
for the first occurrence. It is remarkable to observe and most solemn to discover that, in the days
of His flesh, Israel recognized Him as such: "This is the Heir come let us kill Him, and the
inheritance shall be ours" (Mark 12:7), was their terrible language.
Third, a few words now on the extent of that Inheritance unto which the Mediator has been
deputed: "Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things." The manifestation of this is yet future,
but confirmation of it was made when the risen Savior said to the disciples, "All power is given
unto Me in heaven and earth" (Matt. 28:18). At that time we will recall God’s words, "I will
declare the decree (i.e., the "appointment"), Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask
of Me, and I shall give Thee the heaven for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for Thy possession" (Ps. 2:7, 8). His proprietorship of mankind will be evidenced when He
shall "sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats" (Matt. 25:31,
32). His right to dispose of all will be witnessed at the great white throne. But it is when this
world has passed away that His universal Heirship will be fully and eternally displayed: on the
new earth shall be "the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. 22:1)!
"How rich is our adorable Jesus! The blessed Lord, when He was upon the cross, had nothing.
He had not where to lay His head; even His very garments were taken from Him. He was buried
in a grave which belonged not to Him or to His family. On earth He was poor to the very last;
none so absolutely poor as He. But as man, He is to inherit all things; as Jesus, God and man in
one person. All angels, all human beings upon the earth, all powers in the universe, when asked,
‘Who is Lord of all?’ will answer, ‘Jesus the Son of Mary’" (Saphir). Such is the reward which
God has ordained for the once humiliated One.
But most wonderful of all is that word in Romans 8:16, 17, "The Spirit Himself beareth witness
with our spirits, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ." This the angels are not. It is because of their indissoluable union with
Him that His people shall also enjoy the Inheritance which God has appointed unto the Son.
Herein we discover the Divine discrimination and propriety in here speaking of Christ not as
"Lord of all things," but "Heir." We can never be "joint-lords," but grace has made us "joint-heirs."
Because of this the Redeemer said to the Father, "the glory which Thou gavest Me I have
given them" (John 17:22).
2. His Creatorship.
"By whom also He made the worlds" (verse 2). The Greek term for the last word is "aionas,"
the primary meaning of which is ages. But here, by a metonymy, it seems to be applied to matter,
and signifies, the universe. "Aion properly denotes time, either past or future; and then comes to
signify things formed and done in time—the world . . .The aionas is plainly the synonym of the ta

panta ("all things") in the preceding clause" (Dr. J. Brown). Two things incline us to this view.
First, other scriptures ascribe creation to the Son: John 1:3; Colossians 1:16. Second, this gives
force to the previous clause: He was, in the beginning, appointed Heir of all things because He
was to be their Creator. Colossians 1:16 confirms this: "all things were created by Him and for
Him."
"By whom also He made the worlds." Here is furnished clear proof of the Mediator’s Diety:
only God can create. This also is brought in for the purpose of emphasizing the immeasurable
value of the new revelation which God has made. Attention is focused on the One in whom and
through whom God has spoken in the "last days." Three things are told us in verse 2 concerning
Christ: first, we have His person—He is the "Son"; second, His dignity and dominion—He is the
"Heir of all things"; third, His work—He has "made the worlds," heaven and earth. If, then, His
dignity be so exalted, if His glory be so great, what must not be the word of such a "Son"! what
the fullness of truth which God has made known to His people by Him!
3. His Effulgency.
"Who being the brightness of (His) glory" (verse 3). In this verse the Holy Spirit continues to
set forth the excellencies of Christ, and in the same order as in the preceding one. First, the
Divine dignity of His person, His relation to the Father—He is the Brightness of His glory. The
Greek verb from which "brightness" is derived, signifies "to send forth brightness or light," and
the noun here used, such brightness as cometh from light, as the sunbeams issuing from the sun.
The term is thus used metaphorically. So ably has this been developed by Dr. Gouge we
transcribe from his excellent commentary of 1650: "

o resemblance taken from any other
creature can more fully set out the mutual relation between the Father and the Son: "1. The
brightness issuing from the sun is the same nature that the sun is—cf. John 10:30. 2. It is of as
long continuance as the sun: never was the sun without the brightness of it—cf. John 1:1. 3. The
brightness cannot be separated from the sun: the sun may as well be made no sun, as have the
brightness thereof severed from it—cf. Proverbs 8:30. 4. This brightness though from the sun is
not the sun itself—cf. John 8:42. 5. The sun and the brightness are distinct from each other: the
one is not the other—cf. John 5:17. 6. All the glory of the sun is this brightness—cf. John 17:5; 2
Corinthians 4:6. 7. The light which the sun giveth the world is by this brightness—cf. John
14:9 . . . Thus the Son is no whit inferior to the Father, but every way His equal. He was
brightness, the brightness of His Father, yea, also the brightness of His Father’s glory. Whatever
excellency soever was in the Father, the same likewise was in the Son, and that in the most
transplendent manner. Glory sets out excellency; brightness of glory, the excellency of
excellency."
That which is in view in this third item of our passage so far transcends the grasp of the finite
mind that it is impossible to give it adequate expression in words. Christ is the irradiation of
God’s glory. The Mediator’s relation to the Godhead is like that of the rays to the sun itself. We
may conceive of the sun in the firmament, yet shining not: were there no rays, we should not see
the sun. So, apart from Christ, the brightness of God’s "glory" could not be perceived by us.
Without Christ, man is in the dark, utterly in the dark concerning God. It is in Christ that God is
revealed.”
12. Scott Grant, “The structure of these verses revolves around the verb "to speak." God has
spoken. Why do we speak? We speak because we want to be heard. We want our thoughts to be
understood by another. Why do we want our thoughts understood? We want connection. We
want to relate. It's no different with God, who created us in his image, somewhat like him. Why
does God speak? He wants connection; he wants to relate - he wants to connect and relate with

us. In the first two verses, it is recorded that God has spoken to people, to "the fathers" and to
"us." God has not spoken to himself, he has not spoken into the air; he has spoken to people,
because he wants to relate with people.
“What does the writer say? He doesn't tell us directly, but again, his silence speaks volumes. For
instead of proceeding to describe the message, he proceeds to describe the messenger. In fact,
that's what he does throughout the entire book: He describes Jesus Christ. He doesn't tell us
about the message of Jesus; he tells us about Jesus. He shows us the Son. That's because the Son
is the message. God's final word to us is his Son, whom the Apostle John calls "the Word" (John
1:1, 1 John 1:1). He is the one of whom the prophets spoke (Mark 1:2). God is saying: "Here is
my Son. Follow him."
13. God spoke--that's the subject and the verb. God spoke. God's self-disclosure.
He did it at different times and in different ways. That's what those two terms
mean. At different times and in different ways, God revealed Himself. Primarily,
now mark it, unto the fathers-- that is to historic progenitors of the nation of Israel,
the godly men of the past--he did speak by the prophets.

ow think with me. Let's pull together what we've learned up to now. God did not
remain silent. God did not remain invisible. God did not leave Himself shrouded in
the clouds of darkness. But He shone the light of glory. First of all, He shone the
light of glory in creation. And then He shone the light of glory in the Shekinah,
those very special ways in which He invaded the life of the people of the Old
Testament. But most marvelously, and most conclusively, and most helpfully, He
disclosed Himself beyond His creation and beyond His Shekinah in the Word of
God revealed to the prophets so that the greatest revelation in time past is not the
vision of the Shekinah, it is not the comprehension of the creation, it is the
understanding of the Old Testament--for that is the word spoken by the prophets.
It says, verse 7 of Amos 3, "The Lord God will do nothing but that He revealeth
His secret unto His servants the prophets." He has disclosed Himself through the
prophets in the writings of the Old Testament.

ow listen, creation and the Shekinah is limited. The written word gives content to
the creation. It gives content to the Shekinah. We might even borrow the words of
Job. When Job contemplates the God who reveals Himself in creation, he says this:
"Lo," Job 26:14, "these are but the outskirts of His ways and how small a whisper
do we hear of Him." You see, God only whispers in His creation. God only whispers
in His Shekinah. But He speaks in His Word. And in the Old Testament, verse 1, He
spoke.

ot a whisper but in full voice.
But you know something? Even that was full of mystery, did you know that? We've
just finished the study of the book of Daniel. I doubt whether there was ever in the
Old Testament time a more godly man than Daniel. He really knew what it was to
pray. He knew what it was to walk with God. He knew what it was to live a life of
obedience. He had a sense of history, he lived over 90 years and he saw God work
through all of those years. He had revelations from God that were not equalled by
anybody else. He saw the future like no one in the Old Testament saw it. Incredible

man, given all that he was given in his personal relationship with God, given all
that he was given through divine revelation, given all of those factors, at the very
end of Daniel, chapter 12 verse 8 he says this: "I heard but I did not understand."
You didn't understand, Daniel? You didn't understand?

o, you see, that's how it
is. If all you had was creation, you'd have a whisper. If all you had was Shekinah,
you'd still have a whisper. If you had the Old Testament, you'd have God speaking
in a full voice, but even then there would be mystery. That's why 1 Peter 1:10 to 12
says that the Old Testament prophets searched what they wrote to see what person
or what manner of time it referred to. But it was not revealed unto them, says
Peter, but unto us. That's why in Hebrews 11:39 and 40 it says that they were not
perfected without us. The completion didn't come until the better thing, which is
the new covenant.
So, with all that they had there was still mystery. The fullness was still missing.
They didn't get the fullest truest complete picture of what God was really like.
Creation helped. Shekinah helped. The Word helped. But there was an
incompleteness in it all until...verse 2, Hebrews 1..."He hath in these last days
spoken again." And how did He speak this time? "By His...what?...Son."

ow that is God shouting. If He whispers in His Shekinah and He speaks in the Old Testament,
He shouts in His Son. You can't mistake it. It's unmistakable. He is God and you see all of God
manifest in Him: His judgment, His justice, His love, His wisdom, His power, His omniscience.
It's all out of Him as we watch Him walk through the world, working His work, living His life.
The fullness of God is seen as it was never ever seen in Jesus Christ. And that's why 2
Corinthians 1:20 makes a monumental statement that you ought to remember and you ought to
mark in your Bible, "All the promises of God in Him," that is in Christ, "are yes and in Him
amen unto the glory of God." Everything of the glory of God is "yes" and "amen" in Christ. He
becomes that full revelation of the glory of the Lord.” author unknown
14. “Alas, the poor, poor world”, says William R.

ewell. “in the words, we brought nothing into
the world, neither can we carry anything out, is the biography of every man. Men have struck
gold, heaped it up, and left it to be paupers eternally. Men have labored, and with genius, to
accumulate, as they say, and they have left it forever; paupers. Xerxes of Persia had no limit to
his earthly possessions, but dying without Christ to what was he heir? An eternity with nothing.
For Christ has been appointed heir of all things. The proud millionaire, yea, the billionaire is with
us today ~ for a few years he is rich, and then leaves it all and is poor forever. While some humble
servant of his, who had Christ, dying, steps out into an unspeakably glorious eternity, rich
beyond all imagination. Why? Because he is an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ, who is
appointed heir of all things. There is no greater eternal good.”
15. CHRYSOSTOM, “"Whom He appointed," saith he, "heir of all." What is "whom He
appointed heir of all"? He speaks here of the flesh [the human nature]. As He also says in the
second Psalm, "Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance." (Ps. 2:8) For
no longer is "Jacob the portion of the Lord" nor "Israel His inheritance" (Deut. 32:9), but all
men: that is to say, He hath made Him Lord of all: which Peter also said in the Acts, "God hath
made Him both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2:36) But he has used the name "Heir," declaring two
things: His proper sonship(1) and His indefeasible sovereignty. "Heir of all," that is, of all the

world.”
16. STEVE ZEISLER, “A resent movie, Back To The Future, tells the story of an ‘80’s teenager
who travels back to the ‘50’s where he encounters his parents as teenagers. One of the funny lines
comes out of his trying to convince someone that he is from the ‘80’s. When they asked who the
president would he, he replied, Ronald Reagan."

o one would believe him because obviously
Ronald Reagan in the ‘50’s had never held political office. In fact, he was an ordinary actor who
sold shirts and cigarettes in advertisements. The notion that this minor figure would become the
most powerful man on earth was ludicrous! People could not imagine what changes the
intervening thirty years would bring in Reagan--his political interest, the effectiveness of his
governorship of California and his policies that would represent what a majority of people in this
country cared about.

obody could have predicted in the mid-’50’s all the changes that would
come about in Reagan or in the course of events in this country. They could not imagine that the
focus of history would be such that Ronald Reagan would be the political heir of the events that
preceded him.
In the same way, most men and women of our day do not see that the complex universe in which
we find ourselves is on schedule in its preparation to be inherited by one who was born in a stable
and died on a cross almost 2000 years ago
It is possible to get so caught up in the things of Christ that we forget the Christ of all things. All
the universe of things gets us involved in the personal when we realize Jesus is the Lord of all
things.
The proof of Christianity is Christ Himself.

o other evidence is needed. He is the Evidence of all
evidence. Let any honest person read the Gospels without prejudice or preconceived notions, and
he must be convinced that the Jesus therein revealed is not the product of human thought. The
fact of Christ is the fact that is indisputable.
Think of a few statements that are made of Him as the Man. "

ever man spake like this Man"
(John 7:46); "This Man receiveth sinners" (Luke 15:2); "I find no fault in this Man" (Luke
23:4); "Truly this Man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39); "This Jesus hath God raised . ... hath
made ... both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:32,36); "Through this Man is preached the forgiveness of
sins" (Acts 13:38); " This ... Man offered one sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10:12); "He hath
appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath
ordained " (Acts 17:31).

ow what does the Spirit claim for "This Man"? He has spoken a message none other has given;
He does what none other does; He is what none other is -- faultless; He evidenced a personality
none other can reveal -- He is the Son of God; God has honoured Him, in giving Him the highest
place; through Him is offered what no man can bestow -- forgiveness of sins; He has performed a
work in His death that no other can accomplish; and through Him God is going to administer a
judgment, or rule, that no one could carry out.”
17. Piper, “whom He appointed heir of all things."

ow why does the author add this? Because he
wants us to dwell on the fact that the one we listen to, Jesus, the Son of God, can make good in
the end on all that he promises. Why? Because he is the heir of all things. In the end he will have

at his disposal all things. He will have in subjection to him all that is. The writer wants us to think
about this. What does it mean to listen to a Spokesman for God who in the end will have under
his complete control and ownership all things (all land, all water, all fire, all wind, all energy, all
natural resources, all nations, all military might, all buildings, all bacteria and viruses, all angels,
all demons, all spiritual and material beings except God the Father)? Well, it means that he can
make good on all his promises.
“If he says, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5) then he
can make good on that promise, because he will own the earth and have it under his
control. If he says, "

othing in all creation will separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus" (Romans 8:39), then he can make good on that promise because he will own all
creation and have it under his control. If he says, "There shall no longer be death or
mourning or crying or pain any more" (Revelation 21:1), he can make good on that
promise because he will own life and death and rule unhindered over all that causes pain
and crying.
When you listen to the Son of God it is different from listening to a prophet. God will
make good on the word of the prophets. But the Son will make good on his own word.
I wonder if you have ever asked in verse 2 why the Son is described first as the "heir of all
things" and second as the one "through whom God made the world?" Why not say first
that he is Creator of all things, and second that he is Heir of all things? Here's my
suggestion: how the story ends is more important than how the story begins, but you can't
understand the true ending without understanding the beginning.
In other words, what is ultimately at stake in my life (and your life) is how the future goes,
not how the past went. If I have a Savior who is heir of all things and makes everything
serve my everlasting joy, then the past is important only to the degree that it helps me
understand that and believe that and live in the truth of that. But it's the future where I
will live -- or not.
But the fact is, we cannot understand Jesus' being appointed Heir of all things until we
understand that all things were made through him. Until you know this, you might say,
"Oh, Jesus was a man like us and was chosen to be exalted to some special role as heir --
after all it says, he was "appointed" heir! So if he was "appointed" heir then maybe he
was not always heir and he was really adopted as a Son of God rather than being the Son
of God eternally. That would be a huge mistake.
So the writer follows his first and primary statement that the Son is "the heir of all
things" with the statement that "through him God made the world." This means at least
two things: 1) the Son existed before he came to earth in the person of Jesus of

azareth;
2) the Son already owned the universe by virtue of creating it with the Father. In fact verse
3 says, "he upholds all things by the word of his power." (See also verses 10-12.)
So he created all and he upholds all. How then is he "appointed" heir of all? I think the
answer is that, for now, much of his creation is in rebellion against him; and God has
ordained that, because of the Son's faithful obedience and death and resurrection, these
enemies will one day be subdued and all creation will bow down and acknowledge that
they are ruled and owned by Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:12-13 says this:

Having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, [Christ] sat down at the right hand of
God, 13 waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet.
In other words Christ took his seat as the active ruling heir of all things by virtue of his
death and resurrection. He not only has the right be the heir of all things because he made
all things, but also because he defeated his enemies and purchased a lost people from sin
and death through his death.
So we have double reason to give heed to a Son of God who is heir of all things: he is heir
in one sense because he made all things; and he is appointed heir in another sense because
he died and rose again to redeem for himself a people and to destroy sin and death and
Satan and everything that could make his people miserable.
He can make good on his word because he is God, because he is Creator, and because he is
the Triumphant Heir over all evil and misery. This is a better word than anything the
prophets ever spoke in many ways in the Old Testament.
This leaves one last thing to say this morning about how superior God's speaking in the
Son is over his speaking of old in the prophets.
3) This Word of God in his son is so decisive and so full that there will be no third phase of
God's speaking in history
That is what it means when it says in verse 2: "in these last days [God] has spoken to us in
His Son." The last days begin with the coming of the Son into the world. We have been
living in the last days since the days of Christ -- that is, the last days of history as we know
it before the final and full establishment of the kingdom of God.
The last days of a war are the days after the decisive battle has been fought or the decisive
bomb has been dropped. Everyone knows who will win. It is only a matter of time. The
resistance may go on for some years, but the mortal blow has been struck to the enemy
and the high ground has been captured. The days of fighting that remain are the last days
of the war.
So it is since the Son of God came into the world. In his death and resurrection, the
decisive battle with sin and death and hell has been fought and won. It is only a matter of
time. These are the last days bringing his decisive triumph to all the peoples of the earth.
But the point for the writer of Hebrews is this: The Word that God spoke by his Son is the
decisive Word. It will not be followed in this age by any greater word or replacement
word. This is the word of God -- the person of Jesus, the teaching of Jesus and the work of
Jesus.
When I complain that I don't hear the word of God when I feel a desire to hear the voice
of God, and get frustrated that he does not speak in ways that I may crave, what am I
really saying? Am I really saying that I have exhausted this final decisive Word revealed to
me so fully in the

ew Testament. Have I really exhausted this word? Has it become so
much a part of me that it has shaped my very being and given me life and guidance? Or
have I treated it lightly -- skimmed it like a newspaper, dipped in like a taste tester -- and
then decided I wanted something different, something more? This is what I fear I am
guilty of more than I wish to admit. God is calling us to hear his final decisive Word -- to

meditate on it and study it and memorize it and linger over it and soak in it until it
saturates us to the center of our being.
If you ask, What about the ministry of the Holy Spirit today, for this I direct your
attention to Hebrews 2:3-4 and to this week's STAR article. In a word, it is the passion of
the Holy Spirit to focus all our attention and all our affection on this final and decisive
Word spoken in the Son of God for these last days. That is his great work, and the aim of
all is gifts.” Copyright 1996 John Piper
18. Thomas R. Rodgers, Whom he hath appointed heir of all things. What Adam lost when he
sinned in the garden, the Son of God has now regained. Sonship leads to heirship. Galatians 4:7
and Romans 8:17 confirm this. The passage is talking about the right of heirship as firstborn. In
the old Hebrew economy the firstborn always received twice as much inheritance as the others.
That is why Esau would have had the blessing instead of Jacob. It is known as the right of
primogeniture.
To see what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself says about this look at Matthew 11:27:
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal
him.
And, as you know in Matthew 28:18: All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Everything, He says, has been turned over to Me by my Father.
The third fact about the Son given in verse 2: By whom also he made the worlds. This word “by”
or “through” is the Greek word dia which means that He is the intermediate or mediate agent of
creation. This is the same truth taught in Colossians 1:16:
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven. and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions or principalities, or powers: all things were
created by him, and for him.
All things were created in or by or through Him (same word dia) because He is the
Creator, and for Him because He is the heir. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One who is creator of
all things.”
Another interesting word in this verse is “world” or “worlds”. By that is not meant the world as
we think of it. It is not the normal word for world. Ordinarily the Greek word used for world
was kosmos, which means the inhabited world. This is a different word aionas, which is not the
inhabited world. Aionas has to do with the continuum of time and space. This is such a mind-boggling
concept that I am going read to you a quotation from Dean Alford in his exposition of
this text.
The word here includes God’s revelation of Himself in a sphere whose conditions are time
and space. So under these conditions, plus these conditions themselves consist not
independently of the Creator, but are His work, His appointed conditions of all created
existence. Thus the universe as well as its great primeval conditions, its reaches of space and

time, God made by Christ. By meaning the word aionas is not merely the vastness and
magnificence of the physical universe, but the thought of the times and ages through which
the purpose and planning of God are gradually unfolding. Thus the Son of God is the divine
agent, not only in the original creation of the physical universe but also in the operation and
management of that universe and all its creatures all down the ages of time and eternity
without end.
We are talking about the thought or idea of everything that is, the idea of D

A, of planets, of
rotation, of gravity; the idea of trillions of galaxies, and orbits, and reproduction of every species
- both flora and fauna. The idea was always there because God is omniscient and God cannot
add to His knowledge. God did not sit down one day and say, “Let me think how this is going to
work.” That would be God adding to His knowledge. The idea or thought of everything that
exists was Christ speaking everything into existence from a concept that never began but was
already there. God made all this through Christ as the Agent.

ext we see that Christ is upholding everything that is.

ot only is He the mediate Agent of
creation and the manifestation of the thought that always existed, He is also the One of whom
Paul says in Colossians 1:17: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. By Him all
things hold together. That should give you chill bumps. This is the One who came to earth and
lived and died for us. The amazing thing is what we will see in the next chapter that He is going
to bring many sons to glory because we are joint heirs with Him. God has appointed the Son heir
of all things and if you are a believer you are a joint heir with Him. That is fantastic. Eternity
without end.”
19. Thomas R. Rodgers writes about the classes of people in the world of that time.
Classes of Hearers
There were seven classes of people living at that time, excluding Gentile Christians. If you
count Gentile Christians after Acts 10, that makes eight classifications. Excluding them, we have
seven.
1. Pagans - These were 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 persons. They involved themselves in all
forms of debauchery and other licentious practices, especially as seen in the religious systems of
Greece and Rome.
2. God-fearers - There were Gentiles who did not involve themselves in such sensual
practices. They saw no value in the prostitution and homosexuality and lesbianism of their
culture, and saw the Jews as a specific, religious, clean-living, moral group of people. The
designation became a technical term for a Gentile who believed in the God of the Jews, but did
not participate in the ordinances and rituals of Judaism. Cornelius, according to Acts 10:2, was a
God-fearer.
3. Proselytes - These often began as God-fearers but then moved into Judaism. Such a one
would undergo circumcision and practice the ordinances of the law. We find them mentioned in
Acts 2:10 which speaks of visitors from Rome “Jews and proselytes.”
4. Practicing Jews - They rejected the Messiah, but they studied and practiced the Old

Testament system. Paul speaks of them in Romans 9:3-5:
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the
glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
promises; Whose are the fathers,. and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,
who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
In Romans 10:2-3, he testifies:
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge,
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their
own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
5. Judaizers - They dogged Paul’s steps everywhere he went. They probably believed in
the Messiah, perhaps only as a head knowledge. They acknowledged that Messiah had come.
They perhaps even acknowledged the resurrection, but they believed that Messiah was part of the
Jewish system and that to be a Christian one must be circumcised and practice all the rituals of
Judaism. The purpose of the letter to the Galatians was to refute these Judaizers who tried to
teach Paul’s converts that they must practice the Jewish rituals. Paul explained in Galatians
6:12:
As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be
circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
6. Messianic Jews - We still have them today, sometimes called completed Jews. They are
Jews who have accepted the Messiah. They accept the new covenant. They accept the

ew
Testament. They see and believe that their previous rituals were simply types of which Christ is
the fulfillment. They believe now that they are in a new dispensation under a new covenant.
7. Professing Messianic Jews - They believed in the Messiah. They believed in the
resurrection. However, they saw Messiah only as an outgrowth of the Old Testament. They
separated themselves from the Jews and began to worship with the Christians, but they were not
believers.
“Everything Christ is in His Person, is all that God has to say to men. It all is embodied in the
marvelous Person of His Son. All the counsels, all the gifts, all the promises, all the thoughts of
God, are embodied in Son.
Think for a moment with me. How could the heavenly Father have better communicated
to us His total revelation of Himself? By angels? I don’t think so. By fire on the mountain?

o.
Through prophets in many portions and many ways?

o. He used all
these methods because they were the many portions and many ways. Each was a specific aspect
of God’s revelation. To reveal Himself completely, the only way left was to walk and talk with
men in the form of a man. So, God, having spoken in times past, spoke finally “in Son.” That
way the revelation has culminated in one Person. In this one Person we see demonstrated all the
attributes of God.

ow we can look at the perfect life of Jesus. We see His walk, His talk, His ways, and we
see God speaking. We look at His miracles and His tender compassion. This is God speaking.
We look at His love and His patience. That is God speaking. We look at His crucifixion and

resurrection. That is God speaking. Everything that God has to say about Himself is manifested
and revealed “in Son.”
“The first time we see the word love in the Old Testament, in Genesis 22:2, God says to Abraham,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. In the

ew Testament, the first time the
word love is used in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is when God says, This is my beloved Son.”
20. Philip Mauro, “Surely it is a point of great significance and importance that the very first
Scripture cited in Hebrews is that which declares God’s blessed and unalterable purpose to place
His Son in absolute authority over the whole earth. This is the great salvation that is in prospect
for the sons of God. It is the great feature of “the world to come whereof we speak,” which God
has not put in subjection to angels, but unto Him Who stooped to become the Son of man, and
unto those who shall be associated with Him, that is to say, unto “all them that obey Him” (Heb.
5:9). The closing words of Psalm 2 doubtless refer to those: “Blessed are all they that put their
trust in Him.”
Ponder that. Had the scripture said He was heir of God's things, we would have read the obvious.
To learn He is heir of all things is incredible. The glory, riches and greatness of God? Yes. Also,
the weakness, heartbreak and brokenness of man! This Son, who will one day rule by right of
inheritance, will not be indifferent to our anguish. He knows what it's like to be human. He's
been one! He is heir of all things. Therefore, we have hope. He who will reign has borne our pain.
21. Adam lost it all, but Jesus regained it all for man. All was his by right of being the Creator,
but now he has won the right as man to possess all things, so that man can reign with God over
all forever. God waited until man could grasp this truth before he spoke finally in Christ. He
waits until man can listen before he speaks. The old was preparing man for the new, and so the
old is not the best, but preparation for the best. The old has what is sub-Christian views in a
number of areas.
22. Given O. Blakely, “The phrase "the worlds" is used 32 times in the

ew Testament
Scriptures. It is used in a variety of ways. It is translated "forever" (Matt 6:13; Lk 1:33; Rom
1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 16:27; 2 Cor 11:31; Heb 13:8; Jude 25 ) "forevermore" (Gal 1:5; Rev 1:18), and
"forever and ever" (Phil 4:20; 1 Tim 1:17; 2 Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1 Pet 4:11; 5:11; Rev 1:6;
4:9,10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 14:11; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5).
This text, however, appears to use the word in a unique way. Later, in the eleventh chapter, the
Spirit uses this word in regard to creation. "By faith we understand that the worlds were
prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible"
(

ASB). Doubtless, this refers to the expression in our text, "through Whom also He made the
worlds." Elsewhere in Scripture, the extent of creation is also mentioned. The book of Colossians
contains an expression almost identical to the one we are considering. "And He is the image of
the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the
heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in
Him all things hold together" (Col 1:15-17,

ASB). Herein is a most wonderful
declaration!

Our minds are to be stretched in our consideration of the Son! When it comes to Jesus, let men
abandon restrictive views, and stunted ideas. The heavens and the earth are involved in the
creation. It is probable this is larger than what men call "the universe." Everything in our
universe consists of things that "can be seen."
Invisible Things
There are also things that cannot be seen; i.e., do not accommodate themselves to human vision.
This is not referring to things that can be seen with the naked eye, but require a microscope, or
some other mechanism, to enlarge them for our vision! Invisible things cannot be seen with any
earthly assistance. They are not things that merely need to be made larger. They belong to
another dimension. Think of angels, spirits, cherubim, seraphim, the devil, demons, etc. These
are some things that are "invisible"--all made by and for Jesus. The only exception is God
Himself, Who also is "invisible" (Col 1:15; Heb 11:27).
Thrones and Dominions
There are "thrones . . . dominions . . . rulers . . . authorities." On the lower side of this hierarchy
are earthly kings and potentates, but they are nothing to be compared with spiritual authorities.
Daniel was told of powerful spiritual powers. Two were mentioned in particular: "the prince of
Persia," and "the prince of Grecia" (Dan 10:13,20). John the Revelator wrote of angels that had
"power over fire" (Rev 14:18), and "the angel of the waters"(Rev 16:4-5). These, together with
every other form of authority, were made "by Him and for Him." For that reason, no personality
or influence from the seen or unseen realm can separate us "from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:35-39).
The Brightness of God's Glory
This thought has challenged the greatest minds of our race--as well as that of angels. Jesus is
"radiance of God's glory" (

IV), or "the brightness of His glory" (

RSV). Darby's translation,
and the ASV, says it this way; "effulgence of his glory."
The Spirit is not referring to a physical impression of God, like Israel experienced at Sinai (Ex
24:10). God's Person is comprehended by a perception of His purpose, His work, His glorious
objectives. Looking into the face of Jesus is not an activity of the flesh, like those that beheld Him
before His death and resurrection. As it is written, "Therefore from now on we recognize no man
according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we
know Him thus no longer" (2 Cor 5:16,

ASB).
God the Father is seen most clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ. As it is written, "For God, who said,
"Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). Only in Christ is an accurate
perception of God found! Study cannot appropriate such knowledge, the analysis of nature, or a
finely-spun Scriptural hermeneutic. Men search in vain to comprehend God apart from Christ
Jesus. As it is written, “. . . so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in
order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2:2-3,

IV).
When we behold the significance of Jesus--His Person and accomplishments--we are seeing the
glory of God! We obtain insight into the "love of God" (1 John 3:16). His desire to transform and
receive men is seen in Jesus. When you are confronted with the Son of God in the Gospels, you
are beholding God! The responses of the Savior to the infirm, children, religious bigots, earnest

seekers, and those that are contrite reveal the heart of God! Jesus is the brightness of God's
glory! You could not see this glory in Moses--even when his face shone as the noonday sun! You
could not see it in Elijah, even when he was translated into heaven!

or, indeed, could this glory
be seen in the Law of Moses!
God the Father is most clearly seen in Jesus! He is not perceived with such clarity anywhere else!
The church, even though it is raised and sanctified, does not project such glory. It is not the
"effulgence" of the glory of God! If men are ever to become acquainted with God, they must
become acquainted with Christ Jesus! They must learn the significance of His words and works.
They must be captured by the glory of His Person. If the church is going to do the work of God, it
must major on Christ Jesus. It will not do to become occupied with what it conceives to be the
work of God if Jesus is neglected! To the extent Jesus is obscured, God is veiled, and His work
cannot be discerned!”
23. Given O. Blakely, “ Our text does not stop here. It continues to emphasize the
indispensability of Jesus to the work of God! In His humbled state--that of the Man--Jesus is still
"the express Image of God." The

RSV translates this, "the exact imprint of God's very being,"
while the

IV reads, "the exact representation of His being."
Paul refers to Jesus being "in the form of God" (Phil 2:6), and John calls Him "the Word" which
was "in the beginning," was "with God," and "was God" (John 1:1). However, both texts refer to
Jesus in the pre-incarnate state. Our text calls Him a glorified Man! Prior to His incarnation, the
Word could not be studied by men. He was beyond their reach, outside of the sphere of human
experience. In substance, there was no difference between the Word and God; they had the same
"form," or spiritual constitution. Both were "spirit," and, consequently, beyond the realm of
human analysis.
Prior to Jesus, men could only study the RESULT of God's work. They could, for example,
beholdHis thumb print in creation. Something of "His eternal power and divine nature" could be
seen in what He had created (Rom 1:20,

RSV). The representation, however was fragmentary,
crude, and nothing to be compared with the fulness of the glory of God!

evertheless, this is not
the case with Jesus. He is not a partial revelation of God, or an introduction to Him with Whom
we have to do! He is "the very image of his substance" (ASV), exact in every detail. In creation,
the limitation was in the revelation itself. In the Law, the same limitation existed. In Christ,
however, the limitation is in our vision, not in the revelation!
It is staggering to consider that the "fulness of God" could dwell corporately in "the Man Christ
Jesus." Yet, this is the revealed truth. Hear the proclamation, and stand in wonder. "For God was
pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him" (Col 1:19,

IV). "For in Christ all the fullness of
the Deity lives in bodily form" (Col 2:9,

IV).
This Divine arrangement makes it possible for us to receive of this "fulness"--for the Divine
nature to dwell within us! "And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace" (John
1:16). The point of the "fulness" of God dwelling in Christ is not the mere increase of
information about God--although that certainly takes place. The conferment of the Divine

ature
upon redeemed humanity is the point!

ow men can "participate in the Divine

ature" (2 Pet
1:4). This simply could not take place before. Men cannot be brought into fellowship with God

through partial means! The Law, not being "the fulness of God," could not bring men into vital
union with God. Holy men like Enoch,

oah, Abraham, Job, Moses, Samuel, and Elijah could not
make men holy. They did not have the capacity to confer the Divine

ature upon men, because
they did not possess the fulness of God.

evertheless, that is not the case with Jesus! Because
He is the "express Image of God," we can be conformed to His image (Rom 8:29). He can pour
Himself into His people without affecting His own nature. This is why the church is called, "the
fullness of him who fills everything in every way" (Eph 1:23,

IV). It is why every believer can
himself can attain "to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13,

IV).
The Holy Spirit is not giving us a philosophical view of Jesus. He is showing the relevancy of
Christ to the salvation of God! Men may imagine themselves capable of measuring up the Divine
expectations through human effort alone. That is only a vain imagination, to be cast down with
our spiritual weaponry (2 Cor 10:3-5). As indispensable as the Scriptures are, they are empty and
powerless without Jesus Christ! They are not the "express image of God"--Jesus is! The "fulness
of God" does not dwell bodily in them--it does in Jesus! The "brightness of the glory of God" is
not contained in Scripture, but in Jesus!
Let no one suppose for one moment that this is speaking derogatorily of Scripture. We will not
allow such a foolish thought to dominate our thinking! Because the "fulness of God" is found in
Jesus—because the "brightness of the glory of God" is in Him--because He, and He alone, is the
"express Image of God," it is written: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that
by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to
come to Me to have life" (John 5:39-40,

HEBREWS 1 COMMENTARY

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