Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Dark rooms are a little scary. Walk into a dark place and you want to get the light on as soon as you can, because you need to see what's around you and where to go. But humans want more than just seeing. We're unique in creation because we long to be part of something greater than ourselves, and we believe that there should be ultimate good. That's because we were created in God's image. He made us for Himself. Within each of us is a longing that only God can satisfy. This is why Christmas is a deeply meaningful holiday. We celebrate the time that God directed His light into our darkness. When Jesus came to us, He was the radiance of the glory of God. This series from the beginning of the letter of Hebrews unpacks all that that means for us.
You're listening to part two of a message first preached on December 1st, 2024, at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Now there have been many, many counterfeits through the centuries and the millennia. Distortions, distractions, deceptions, suppression. And these come from the forces of darkness, the activity of demons, mediums.
And what do they produce in mankind? They produce fear, control, appeasement, which is a natural human way of thinking about the divine apart from the revelation of God. We know that there is a divine and we believe that there is something I must do to appease that divinity so that that divinity will smile upon me and make my life better.
That's natural human thought. Vengeance is another part of it, because if I don't appease that divinity, it will exercise vengeance upon me. All of these are counterfeits because there are divine agents by which the God of the universe has spoken through history. Angels, prophets, theophanies even, where the Son of God himself appeared in the Old Testament. It says here in Hebrews chapter one, long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. And you read those prophets and oftentimes they will talk about the latter days. Jeremiah does, Daniel does, Joel does, they talk about the latter days.
And all of that was spoken in the prophets before Christ. But what does the writer of Hebrews say here? Verse two, but in these last days, what is that? These last days are, what is this year? 2024 AD. You know what AD stands for?
It's Latin, Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. That is these last days. You see, these last days means a new age has dawned.
What is that new age? It is the fact that God has spoken to us through his Son. God has come to us in person as a fulfillment of all that was prophesied in the Old Testament about that event happening. God has spoken to us by his Son. And this one speaking to us is superior to than any other, superior to any other divine agent that has spoken to humanity, whether it's angels or prophets.
If you look down, skip down to verse four here for a second. Having become as much superior to angels, it says, and then also later on prophets, specifically the prophet Moses. What does it mean, having become as much superior to angels?
What does it mean, having become much superior? I thought he was God. I thought he was God that came to us.
Here's the, here's the sense of what he's saying here. His time on earth, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, came to us from the Father. And his time on earth, approximately 33 years, his birth, his life, his perfect life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, all the way up to his ascension. All of his time on earth, you put all that together, is a more complete and thorough self-disclosure of God than all other prior divine agents combined.
He has become much superior. The Son of God is the focus of everything God wants to say to us. The Son of God is the focus of everything God wants to say to us. That's why when the writer of Hebrews then hears, says, going back to verse three, he is the radiance of the glory of God. He is God's self-disclosure to us. God makes himself known to us in person. He is the radiance of the glory of God. What is the glory of God?
Very simply, let me explain it this way. It is the beauty of perfection. The glory of God is the beauty of perfection.
Just try to imagine it. As John says, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. He is no darkness at all.
Were you and I to look at it, it would blind us because we have darkness and we're used to it. It's a part of our natural existence. But God is light and in him is no darkness at all. And so this beauty of perfection is the perfection of infinite knowledge, absolute power, perfect justice, absolute goodness, holiness. And all of this is also, this being is gracious and loving.
Beyond anything you and I could begin to be. And so Raymond Brown says this, of the glory of God, the glory of God is the visible outward expression of the majestic presence of God. The glory of God is the visible outward expression of the majestic presence of God. Like what Wiersbe says in his commentary in Hebrews, Christ is to the Father what the rays of the Son are to the Son.
It's impossible to separate them. The glory of God is perfectly manifested in the person of his Son, Jesus. The radiance of the glory of God. Colossians 1 15, Paul says he is the image of the invisible God.
The image of the invisible God. And I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He speaks of the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
That's what Paul says. He speaks of the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. For God who said let light shine out of darkness. What does that teach us about God? God spoke and it was.
It's that simple. That God. He spoke and it was. You and I can't do that.
Sometimes we wish we could, but we cannot. We are not infinite beings. God spoke and it was. The God who said let light shine out of darkness, get this, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God where? In the face of Jesus Christ. So Mary holding the infant looks into the baby's face and she's beholding the face of God.
Contemplate that the God of the infinite God of the universe would even do that. He is the radiance of the glory of God. Jesus is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians. Jesus is God's majestic communication to the creatures that he loves. God's majestic communication to the creatures he loves. But it also says in Hebrews chapter 1 as we're looking there again, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. The exact imprint of his nature. The word that is used here is a word that speaks of an engraving.
It's a representation. You have a die and you have a coin, right? Now that's a coin is just simply a piece of metal and it's worthless, right? But you take the die and it stamps the coin. Now stamps the coin. Now what is that coin? What could that coin represent? The die represents God and who God is. The coin is when Jesus limited himself and took on flesh. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
