The Supremacy of Christ - 3

Well, the book that we call Hebrews is called Hebrews because it was written to Jews.

My Bible says the epistle to the Hebrews and indeed it has all the characteristics of an epistle, though it does not have the opening introduction and identification of the author and the recipients that is customary in most of the epistles in our New Testament. But this is written to Jewish people who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah. I don't often talk about accepting Jesus, but in this case I've chosen that word deliberately because it is likely that not all of them had truly embraced Christ in a saving faith, and most of them, I suppose, had, but indeed some are wavering. And that's the reason why the author of this book is writing this epistle, is to urge them not to let go of that which they have professed because it is dangerous, yes, it is fatal for them to do so. And so some of them have been tempted to depart from their Christian profession prior to traditional Judaism because they had found that following Christ was harder than following their traditional Jewish religion. As Jews, they were at least recognized in society for who they were, and in most places were given the liberty to practice the Jewish religion, but Christians were being persecuted both by Jews and by Gentiles, and here they were in that strange position of being Jews who had become Christians and were getting fired at from both sides, like the soldier in the war between the states that thought he would escape with his life by wearing a blue coat and gray slacks and got fired at from both sides. And that's what was happening to these people.

They were finding just the opposite of what perhaps they had expected. And they were discovering that the cost to follow Christ was greater than they had anticipated, and so they're thinking about going back to their traditional Jewish religion. Why not go back? That was a perfectly good religion before we left it. Why not go back? That was an acceptable religion for our forefathers. Why not go back?

We have godly people in our heritage who believed and worshipped in this way and who are now in heaven. Why can't we go back? But no, you can't go back. There's no going back because you see the Messiah promised by the Old Testament prophets says, Now come, your Old Testament forefathers were looking forward to him and embracing him by faith because of the promises God had given, but now those promises have been fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and if you go back, you are rejecting the Messiah who saves, and therefore you cannot be saved. Christ is unique.

He's better than anything that existed in your traditional Jewish religion. Though it was perfect during its time and place, it has now been set aside with the coming of Christ. The old covenant has been fulfilled. The new covenant has been inaugurated.

You can't go back to the old without losing the benefit that comes with the new. And so the first chapter of Hebrews talks of these things. The opening verses declare that Jesus Christ is better than the Old Testament prophets.

God in times past in various ways spoke to the fathers by the prophets, but has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. And in the remainder of the chapter, verses 10 through 14, he shows how that Jesus is better than the angels. Angels were highly regarded. Angels were highly respected by Jewish people. Angels were recognized for their majestic being and their exalted position, but as great and grand and glorious as the angels are, and maybe they recognize that more than we are inclined to do today, but as grand as the angels were, they are nothing compared to Jesus Christ who has come. Jesus is better than the angels.

Fourteen times in the book of Hebrews the word better is used, and the first time it's used in regard to the angels. Jesus is better than the angels. Jesus is better than the prophets. Jesus is better than Moses.

Jesus is better than Aaron. Jesus is better than Levi, and so forth on through the book. There are seven Old Testament quotations to demonstrate that Jesus is better than the angels found in chapter 1, and last Lord's Day we examined five of them.

We have two to go, and so we are continuing in a very real way that which we began last week. And so we come to verses 10 through 12 and learn that Christ is the eternal creator, and that's far better than the angels. We shall see secondly in verse 13 that Christ is a supreme ruler, and that too makes him better than the angels, and we shall learn thirdly in verse 14 that angels are heavenly servants, but Christ is the Lord of glory. First of all, Christ is the eternal creator, verses 10 through 12. And the verse begins with and continuing the list of quotations that have been followed throughout this chapter. And again he says, and now quoting from Psalm 102 verses 25 through 27, You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. And they will perish, but you remain. And they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak.

You will fold them up, and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will not fail. Christ is the eternal creator, we see in this passage. Therefore, Jews who have professed faith in Christ, are you going to reject him and go back to Judaism? Now let's consider first a brief overview of Psalm 102. It's a fairly lengthy psalm, so we can't look at it in any detail if we're going to give justice to our text in Hebrews. But in Psalm 2, we find that this is a prayer to the Lord, and specifically we need to understand, it is a prayer to the name of God that we sometimes call Jehovah, but more recently has generally been considered to be pronounced as Yahweh. When you hear those two different terms, you need to understand that's just basically a greater understanding of how Hebrew works and an understanding of how Hebrew was pronounced. And so what for a long time was considered to be Jehovah, we now recognize as probably something closer to Yahweh, though nobody is absolutely certain, but it's certainly closer to the Hebrew pronunciation.

But when you find in your Bible the word Lord in all caps, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that in the Old Testament is a reference to Yahweh. So that's what we see in the beginning of Psalm 102. Hear my prayer, O Lord. It is a prayer to Jehovah, to Yahweh.

Excuse me, hear my prayer, O Lord. And as you go through the psalm, you realize that it is as much as anything a lament for the psalmist's personal suffering and for the decline that he sees in the nation of Israel. And so cry out to God for relief, for help with his suffering, and for restoration of the nation of Israel.

And praise to the eternally existent Yahweh for the preservation and protection which he and the nation need. Notice as you come to verse 12, But you, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of your name to all generations. He had just talked about how life is brief. Verse 11, My days are like a shadow that lengthens, and I wither away like grass. Man is mortal, man is temporary. The world, in fact, the creation, thank you, Steve, the creation is temporary.

It is wasting away. But not you, O Lord God, Yahweh. You are eternal. And so there's a great proclamation in this psalm of God's power, of his eternality, and of creation's dissolution. It's going to go away.

That's an overview. Now, looking closely at verses 25 through 27, and we can look at these as they are quoted in Hebrews chapter 1, because these are the three verses that are quoted from the psalm, we notice that the text emphasizes, number one, that God created the universe, the heavens are the work of your hands, but number two, that the universe is changing, it is wearing old, it is growing out. They will perish, verse 11, quoting from Psalm 102, verse 26, but the text goes on to assure us that God is not wearing out. God is not growing old. God is not perishing. God will not come to an end.

He is unlike the material universe in which we live. Again, Hebrews 1, 11, They will perish, but you remain. They will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will fold them up and they will be changed.

You are the same, and your years will not fail. So, God made the universe, but He made it to run down. Some have likened it to a great cosmic clock that God wound up. Now, sometimes deists have erroneously assumed that God wound it up and then went off and left it to itself, but of course that's not correct. God not only made the universe, but God sustains the universe, but He designed it to wear down.

It's slowly wearing down. And scientists affirm that. They tell us that our sun is going to be completely burned up in, I don't know how many trillion years, you don't have to worry about it. But it is burning up, and stars have burned up.

And scientists tell us that the moon's orbit around the Earth is slowing down gradually. It's not going around quite as fast as it did several thousand years ago. Now, it's not a big difference, but it's a noticeable difference.

It's a measurable difference. They are wearing out. They're slowing down.

They're decaying. But God created it that way. This is not beyond God's design and control. God has all power. God created the universe. This is the way He created it.

It was designed to have a conclusion in the end. There's the time coming, the psalmist tells us, when God's going to take this universe in kind of like old worn-out clothes, just fold them up and put them away. Put them in the bag that goes to Goodwill. You don't have any use for that anymore.

They're worn out. That's going to happen someday to this universe by God's design. But God does not decay. God does not change. God is not wearing out. God is not growing older. Now, what's the impact of all of this on the argument in Hebrews 1 that Jesus is better than the angels?

Well, note these items. When we look at this psalm in the Old Testament in Psalm 102, we realize that the psalmist is addressing this to Yahweh. He pointed that out to you in verse 1. But looking closely at the quotation of the three verses, verses 25, 26, and 27 in Hebrews chapter 1, we realize that the writer of Hebrews is addressing these verses to the Son.

What does that mean? Well, that means that the Son is creator. Yahweh is creator, yes, but the Son is Yahweh, mysteriously.

But indeed, that is the declaration. That is what the Scriptures tell us. And so the Son is creator. When the psalmist says, You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands, he's addressing that to the Son, to Jesus Christ, you see. And so though the universe is coming to its appointed end, we would say God is eternal and unchanging, but the writer of Hebrews applies this specifically to the Son, God the Son. God the Son is eternal. God the Son is unchanging. The conclusion, therefore, is that he's better than the angels.

He is eternal. In fact, I won't have you turn now, but according to Job chapter 28 in verses 7, the angels were witnesses to the act of creation. When God created the universe, we read in Job 28 that the angels sang with joy. The sons of God sang with joy.

They witnessed this and they rejoiced in it, but they were spectators. But though angels witnessed this glorious act of creation in the beginning, we realize according to this psalm, Christ did the creating. The angels are witnesses to it. Christ did it. The conclusion, therefore, inevitably is that angels are created beings who owe their existence to God, and Christ is the creator who owes his existence to no one.

Jesus Christ is creator. Jesus Christ created the angels. Jesus Christ is better than the angels, right? What other conclusion could you come to?

That's so obvious. The Son is better than the angels. Far, far, far, far, far, far better than the angels. Well, that's quotation number 6 from Hebrews 1.

There's one more to go. Seven quotations that prove that Christ is superior to the angels, and the second one, quoted in verse 13, tells us that Christ is not only the eternal creator, but he is the supreme ruler of that which has been created. And now we read in verse 13, But to which of the angels has he, God, ever said, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? That's a quotation from Psalm 110, verse 1. This one also is introduced with a rhetorical question. We've seen that before in verse 5. For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son?

Today I have begotten you. That's a rhetorical question. It doesn't expect a spoken answer.

It causes us to think about the answer, and it causes us to come up, hopefully, by the information that is given with the right answer. And in verse 5, the question is, To which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son? I have begotten you.

And the answer is to none of them. Now we've seen a number of other quotations that don't repeat that phraseology of the rhetorical question, though in some cases it is implied. But now we come to the exact phraseology once again in verse 13. But to which of the angels has he ever said these things?

Think about this. And he quotes Psalm 110, verse 1, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Now what is the significance of this psalm? Quotation number 6, Psalm 102, three verses out of Psalm 102. Quotation number 7, Psalm 110, just one verse out of Psalm 110. But this particular psalm, and especially verse 1, but this particular psalm, Psalm 110, is the most quoted portion from the Old Testament in the New Testament.

You'll find it quoted again and again and again and again and again. You better become familiar with Psalm 110. Christ used it to confound the Pharisees, who of course denied his claims to being the Son of God. And so after they'd asked him questions like, if a man's wife dies and he marries again and she dies and so forth, he has seven wives in heaven, whose wife is she going to be? Ha ha ha, they say. Jesus said, you are not knowing the scriptures.

And other questions. Do you pay the tax to Caesar or not? Jesus said, give me a denarius.

And whose subscriptions on it? Well, Caesar's. Well, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and the things that are God's. You can't beat that answer.

That covers all the bases. Jesus was so much wiser than they are. But after they've asked him some of these questions to try to trick him, he said, OK, I've got one for you.

And here it is. Verse 41 of Matthew 22. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what do you think about the Christ? The Christ.

They weren't ready to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. But what about the Christ, the office of Messiah, the promised Christ, whoever he may be when he comes? What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? When the Christ comes, whose son is he? They said to him, son of David.

We know that. Son of David. That is a descendant of David. Not Solomon, but a descendant of David. One of David's, well, the, David's greater son. One of David's sons and David's greater son. The line of David, and he'll be the greatest son of David of all. So they knew the answer to that.

So then he said, all right, I'll accept that answer. But then he said in verse 43, how then, if that be the case that he's the son of David, how then does David in the Spirit, inspired by the Spirit of God, another kind of a passing reference to the inspiration of Scripture, it's written by men, it's written by God, how did David in the Spirit call him Lord? If he's David's son, why is David calling him Lord? That's not the way that fathers speak of their sons. They don't say to their son, I bow to you as my Lord. But David did. And he quoted Psalm 110, verse 1.

By the way, this account is found in all the synoptics. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It's such an important occasion in the life of Jesus. But how did the Spirit call him Lord saying, now quoting from Psalm 110, the Lord, Yahweh, this is David speaking, said to my Lord, Adonai, another word for Lord, for God. So Yahweh said to my Adonai, David records, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. That's what Yahweh said to Adonai. That's what the Lord said to David's Lord.

It's quoted from Psalm 110, verse 1 in Hebrews 1, 13. And so this tremendously significant portion of Scripture quoted so often in the New Testament that certifies the deity of Christ and certifies Christ as a supreme ruler is used now by the writer of Hebrews in this section proving again and again and again and again and again at least seven times with the seven quotations that Jesus is far superior to the angels. David speaking to God says, the Lord said unto my Lord. And what he said was, you will remain on the throne, sit at my right hand, that is the enthronement of Jesus after the resurrection and ascension back to heaven when he was reinstalled upon the throne of the universe. So God said, we would say God the Father said to God the Son, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

The Son's enthronement is to endure until all the universe is brought into complete obedience and subjection to him. Sit upon this throne until I make all your enemies, all those who don't believe in you, all those who won't bow to you, all those who won't give you subjection, all those who are in rebellion against you in any form, you sit there upon your throne until all of them have been subdued, until I make them all your footstool. This is a reference to the practice down through the centuries, often practiced, of military conquerors portraying, manifesting their complete subjection by having conquered kings kneeling or lying on the ground and they put their foot on their neck. Joshua did this in Joshua 10, 24. So it was when they brought out those kings to Joshua that Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings. And they drew near and put their feet on their necks.

These kings had been completely subjected to the authority of Joshua and his military commanders and this is the portrayal of it. And that's the language that is used here. It's symbolic.

It is poetic. It doesn't mean that Jesus is ever going to literally, necessarily put his foot on anybody's neck, but it's a way of saying he is going to subdue the whole universe to himself. That day is coming and he's just going to sit on the throne of God until that day comes, but it's coming. But what's the point?

What's the point? Well, God, the question is to which of the angels has God ever said this? Did God ever say anything like that? Did God ever say to an angel, sit upon the throne until I make all your enemies your footstool?

Absolutely not. How absurd. God never said those words to any angel, but he said them to the son. He said them to the Christ.

He said them to Jesus who is the Christ. Therefore, clearly Christ is superior to the angels. Christ is superior to everyone and everything. Christ is ruler over all.

And that's the point. Christ is the supreme ruler. God didn't say anything like the words of verse 5 to any of the angels. God didn't say anything like the words quoted in verse 13 to any of the angels. He said them, however, to his son, the eternally begotten son of God. But that brings me now to the last verse of Hebrews chapter 1, which is helpful because, and though it's really a part of the answer to the question of verse 13, I've separated it because it gives us a further glimpse into the nature and purpose of angels that we probably haven't given a lot of thought to. But verse 14 tells us that angels are heavenly servants. So for those of you who are taking notes, point number 1, Christ is the eternal creator, verses 10 through 12. Point number 2, Christ is the supreme ruler, verse 13. And point number 3, angels are heavenly servants, verse 14.

And here, interestingly, we get another rhetorical question. And here, unlike the first two, the answer is yes, not no. Did Christ ever say, or did God say anything like this to any of the angels? No. Did God say anything like this to any of the angels? No. But verse 14, are they, the angels, not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

Answer, yes. That's who they are. We spend most of the chapter talking about who Jesus is in comparison to the angels and why he is superior to them in every way. But let's take a brief look at the angels to make sure we understand correctly who they are.

Who are they? Well, he tells us something about the nature and purpose of angels here. Angels are, first of all, spirits, not physical bodies. They are spirits. That is the full measure of their constituted being, unlike human beings that are both body and spirit. We have two parts to our constituted being. They can be separated.

They can be joined again as they shall be at the return of Jesus Christ. But for angels, the entirety of their nature is a spirit, like God who is a spirit. Now, it's clear that according to a particular assignment, there are times when they took upon them what appeared to be a body and they appeared to be men, but it wasn't part of their created constitution. Angels are spirits, though they do have amazing powers as spirits, but angels are spirits. And that's why they are rarely seen. Occasionally seen, we find a few examples in Scripture, where they were enabled, they were caused to appear to people so that they could be seen. They had some angels that visited him on the plane, well, close to the plane of Sodom and Gomorrah and so forth.

And you find various examples throughout Scripture where Joseph had an angel that appeared to him. When the disciples and the women went to the empty tomb of Christ, they found angels that they saw on those occasions. So angels are occasionally seen, but they're rarely seen. But just because they're rarely seen doesn't mean they're not present. In fact, even just working in this text over the last couple of weeks made me very much aware that as we sit here this morning looking around at one another in our bodies, because that's all you can see, what you can't see is that there are no doubt scores, maybe hundreds, of angels in this building with us.

Thank you for being here. We need you, as we shall also see. So angels are spirits, seldom seen but always present with the people of God. The Bible does not say that each person has an assigned guardian angel.

That's a concept that's grown up that does not have foundation in the Bible. What appears is that everybody has instant access to a host of angels, as many as and as often as needed. You don't just have one friend, you've got sometimes maybe a whole company, who knows how many. They can arrive fast. They're quicker than calling 911, I can promise you that. They can get here, bang, as many as needed. And they do. They do get here for the people of God. The second thing we're told about them is that they are not only spirits, but they are servants. They are ministering spirits. They are serving spirits.

That is their purpose. We're talking about the nature and purpose of angels. They are ministering spirits. So the first thing is their spirits. The second thing is their servants. The third thing is their sent. They're not all ministering spirits.

Sent forth to minister. So they are dispatched. They are given directions. They're given instructions. They're servants who have a master who tells them what to do, where to go, and when to do it.

And they do it every time perfectly. Spirit servants dispatched by their master and one of their assignments, we don't know what all of their assignments are, but one of their most important assignments is to minister to those who will inherit salvation. Who's that? The Lord? Have you been born again? That's you. Sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation. That's me.

That's you. I don't think we have any idea how many times throughout life we have been protected, guided, preserved, sustained by angels who were sent to protect us at a strategic moment. Most of us have times in our life when we had something pretty serious that happened and we came very near death and then we didn't die. I had an automobile accident when I was in college. The driver of the car that lost control of her car and collided with mine on the highway died. And I came out alive. I spent a couple of days in the hospital, but the highway patrolman said, I don't see how you came out of this alive. Well, I didn't think about this at that time, but I should have said, I know God had an angel there protecting me. It wasn't God's purpose for me to die at that time. I was protected by an angel for whatever reason that other driver was not.

Now, I just told a story that probably nearly every one of you could match or exceed. We've all had things like that in our lifetime. And we usually, if we're Christians, we usually correctly attribute it to the goodness of God, the power of God, the watch care of God, the providence of God. But do we ever consider what are the instruments that God uses in that particular case? And this indicates to us that God does that through the instrumentality of angels.

They are his servants that are dispatched for this very purpose to minister to the heirs of salvation. Certainly it was God. But God has means. Who saves souls? God does.

Without God, never a soul is saved. How does God do it? Through means. The proclamation of the gospel, the prayers of God's people. That's how God brings people to salvation.

That's the means that he uses to accomplish that particular purpose. How does God protect his people? Through angels.

They come at the right time. Spirits, servants dispatched by their master to help God's people to guide, guard, protect, and preserve. That's who angels are. Now, what's the relevance to this passage? What does this prove about Jesus being better than the angels?

Of course, that's not too hard to figure out, but let's think it through. Angels, we are told elsewhere, stand around the throne of God. You can read about this in the book of Revelation.

You can read about this elsewhere. When they're not out on an assignment, what do they do? They come up and gather around the throne and wait for their next assignment. And all the while worshiping and adoring God and watching him carefully at the slightest indication, the slightest word, the slightest nod like a good servant. They're off on their next assignment, but the rest of the time they're surrounding the throne of God. Angels attend around the throne, but we just learned Jesus sits upon the throne.

Sit here until I make your enemies your footstool. Jesus serves the saints, but God the Son is their supervising master who tells them what to do and when to do it. But you say, isn't Jesus a servant too? Didn't he come as a servant? Yes.

We've got to think that through for a moment. He did. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Yes, he was a servant.

What's the difference? Well, he stepped down as a servant for a particular purpose and for a particular duration of time. He stepped off his throne into this world and took upon him the form of a servant.

And this is what we sometimes call his condescension. This amazing condescension speaks of his eternal love, that he who is the supreme ruler of the universe would be willing to become the servant of those that he created who have rebelled against him, who have sinned against him, who deserve his eternal wrath, and yet he is willing to make himself a servant on our behalf and rescue us from the condemnation we deserve. Yes, this speaks of his eternal love. Yes, this speaks of his utter selflessness, something of his divine nature.

We can't get all this together in our minds. On the one hand, in his divine nature, he is majestic far beyond our comprehension and at the same time is utterly selfless and demonstrated that in becoming a servant. It speaks of his utter obedience to the Father. He subjected himself to the Father's will.

What an amazing thing that the ruler of the universe became an obedient servant and took the instructions that were given to him by another. But the truth is these things about the servanthood of Jesus, which are all true, do not define all he is in his true nature and purpose. It does define a part of him that helps us understand him more perfectly, that helps us understand the true nature of Almighty God, that otherwise we would not understand. But as to his nature, his essential nature is eternal deity, supreme ruler of all, which glorious supremacy was reinstated at his heavenly enthronement to his full majesty. However, angels are created for a particular purpose and angels' essential nature and purpose is to serve. That's not Jesus' essential nature and purpose, but that's a manifestation, a part of who he is. But angels' essential nature, who they are, what they are created to be, all they were created to be is to serve.

And they delight to serve the one who alone is worthy of such service. Angels were created to be heavenly servants forever and ever and ever. Amen. Jesus is destined to sit upon the throne of the universe and be adored and worshiped in glory and majesty forever and ever and ever.

Amen. Angels are heavenly servants. The son is the supreme ruler whom they gladly serve. The question is, do the redeemed sons of God rescued out of such deserved condemnation serve their master half as gladly, half as obediently, half as willingly as these servant spirit beings? Thank God there's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins where sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Thank God that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness because when we compare ourselves to the majesty of these angelic beings and yet realize how gladly and perfectly they serve their heavenly master, and here we are, worthless worms of the earth redeemed by such great love and condescending grace and we are so lacking in gratitude that we don't serve him half as well as they.

Well, let me wrap this up with a few lessons. Lesson number one, this passage screams the supremacy of Christ. Yes, he's better than the angels. He's above the angels. He's better than, you name it, anything, you name it.

He's better than anything you can name. And therefore, don't become overly focused on lesser things or lesser personages. Worship the son. The Hebrew professing Christians were being tempted to turn back to things, rituals. They had this fondness for the Old Testament system with the sacrifices and the priesthood and all of this ritualistic religion that appealed to them. They were being tempted to return to that and make that the heart of their worship and miss the point and miss the one who really deserved to be worshipped, Jesus the Son.

Don't do that. Jesus is better in every way. The supremacy of Christ. A second lesson, this one will surprise you. This text, I think, helps us to understand science. It's interesting that Psalm 102, quoted in Hebrews 1, makes reference to God at the beginning laying the foundations of the earth.

That's not a scientific description. The earth doesn't have a foundation like buildings have a foundation. But it is true that some of God's people taking that phrase in absolute literalness have insisted that the earth rests upon a foundation. One of the commentaries that I consult in Hebrews, the author is adamant about that. I don't care what science says and I don't care what you think about me, but the earth rests upon a foundation because the Bible says so.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is a good brother, good commentator in some respects, many respects. But he's made the mistake a lot of people make and that is failing to recognize a figure of speech for what it is. Insisting upon taking something literally that's obviously supposed to be taken symbolically.

Let me throw something out that will be helpful to you. It was to me when I came to this realization a number of years ago. Most of the times when the disciples of Christ or the Pharisees or anybody in the New Testament misunderstood the meaning of Jesus' words, and you check this out. As you read the New Testament you look closely and see if what I'm going to tell you isn't so. Most of the time when they misunderstood the meaning of Jesus' words it's because they insisted upon an exact literalism when Christ meant them to take a symbolic meaning.

I know I was brought up in a system that insisted upon literal whenever possible. You've got to take it literally if it's possible to take it literally. Well if that's so, then like the disciples of Christ you're going to miss a lot of things. And the others in Christ's day, you're going to miss a lot of things. They challenged Christ and he said, destroy this temple in three days I will raise it up.

What do you mean? It took 46 years to get this temple to where it is now. And you say you're going to raise it up in three days? But John said, with later insight when he's writing the Gospel, John said, but he spoke of his body, the resurrection of his body in three days. He didn't mean that literally of the temple. He meant that of the temple of his body.

That's just one example. Jesus and disciples got in the boat. And as they were going over Jesus said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. It's because we forgot to bring bread.

That's why he said that. Because we forgot to bring bread. No, got nothing to do with bread. He's using leaven as a symbol of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and how quickly and easily it spreads.

You've got to beware of it because it spreads so easily. But it's not bread. He said, he shited them. Why would you think I'm talking about bread? Why would you be worried about not bringing bread? Weren't you there when I broke the loaves and fed the 5000 with five loaves or however many it was? Weren't you there when I fed the 4000 with seven loaves and a few fishes? Why are you thinking about bread?

Come on, man, you should know better than that by now. Listen to what I'm saying and learn. Understand. So the foundations of the earth doesn't mean that the earth has a physical foundation. It just means whatever God used, whatever force God uses to hold it in place. Jesus did that at the beginning. He laid the foundations of the earth. But here's what this passage does teach.

You can mark it down. This is not misunderstanding the intent of the passage. This passage tells us of the true nature of the universe, namely that it is not eternal and it is decaying and it is changing and it's wearing out and it is not predictably uniform.

You can't be certain that something's going to happen in the future just because it's happened that way in the past. Because God didn't design it that way. God didn't create it that way.

And God tells us that in his word. It was created for a specific time and purpose and when the purpose is fulfilled it will be dissolved and even now it's aging. It's wearing out. It's showing its wrinkles and its gray hair. That's figurative.

The world, the earth doesn't have gray hair, you understand. But this is the way we talk. It can convey something, it communicates something, right? But when unbelievers see things changing that they can't control, they panic. They imagine that this decay can be arrested. They insist that it must have been caused by man doing something wrong and if he will correct it, it can be reversed.

Not from what I read in scripture. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't be good stewards of the universe, of the earth. We shouldn't be careless. We shouldn't pollute unnecessarily. We shouldn't just be unmindful of these things. Good folks. Folks.

I heard it on the radio just a day or two ago. Gretna, what's her name, who told us five years ago that if we didn't do something immediately that it would be too late in five years. Well, here we are. It's still here.

Right? Al Gore, who told us 25 years ago that if we didn't do something within 10 years that the melting of the ice and the polar caps was going to flood us all. Well, here we are 20, 30 years later and most of these guys have been telling us this by beach houses. Do they really believe this? If I believe this, I would buy my vacation home on the highest mountain, wouldn't you?

Not at the beach. What am I saying? Unbelievers panic because they can't understand the divine design and purpose. Believers understand it as a part of divine design and purpose and we don't panic because we believe in the God who controls it all. The God who made it to wear out and decay.

It's going to be folded and put away as a garment all in God's perfect control. As Henry Light put it, change and decay in all the world I see. O thou who changes not, abide with me. Which is why I am convinced that believing Christians make the best scientists because they can analyze science through the lens of scripture and understand things better than those who don't understand the revelation of God. But the point of this passage is that Christ is victorious in spite of what may appear to be the case. I found a very interesting quotation from John Calvin. He said, certainly if we are to believe what our eyes see then the kingdom of Christ seems to be on the verge of ruin. When did he say that? Four hundred and some years ago. It looked to him like the world was falling apart then.

Here we are. Four hundred and fifty years later it hasn't fallen apart yet, but it is. We look at it around, it's falling apart now. It won't last another generation.

It'll last as long as God desires for it to last and it will be folded up and put away when God says the time is over. And believers have nothing to fear. Unbelievers do, but believers have nothing to fear. Christians can be encouraged. Christians can be joyful.

Christians can be triumphant. But dear friend, ignoring all this is folly. How foolish to think you can successfully ignore and resist the one that is spoken of in Hebrews chapter 1. King of kings and Lord of lords, ruler of the universe is the one who died on the cross.

How can you reject and ignore him and think that you will never come to a day of awful accountability? And therefore I plead with you, surrender to this superior power and authority. Before you leave in your heart, surrender, bend the knee, bow to King Jesus, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for what it teaches us. Thank you for your son. Help us to adore and worship and serve him. We pray. Amen.