Jesus The Revealer

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (Hebrews 1:1–3)

Who is Jesus, and why did He have to come? Hebrews answers by showing us the Son who is God's perfect Word.

Things Lost in Translation

Have you ever spoken through a translator? It can be challenging, and it becomes even harder when you are teaching through one. Back in 2004 and 2005, I had the opportunity to move to northwest Germany to teach for a year at a small international Bible school with both German and English speakers. Several of my classes, including teaching through Romans, were done with translation. In one sense I had to relearn how to teach, learning to articulate things in a way the translator could actually render—otherwise you'd get the translator's blank stare and the words, "That's not going to work, you're going to have to fix that."

While there, I traveled four hours to hear Brother Yun, the Chinese believer who wrote The Heavenly Man. He spoke passionately and rapidly in Mandarin, hardly giving his translator time to keep up in German. I was in the back, where my friend Jeremy Kirby—now with the Lord—was relaying the German into English for me. It was a remarkable chain, and it taught me that some things are simply lost in translation.

I'll never forget a Sunday night in Siegen when Pastor Nick Long shared his testimony in English, translated into German. Animated and excited, Nick said, "I'm just thankful that the Lord has forgiven me for all the crap that I did." There's no clean German equivalent, so the whole room leaned forward waiting to hear how Christina would translate it. She turned a little red, and a laugh followed.

When Revelation Gets Misread

Companies have learned this the hard way. Pepsi's slogan "Come Alive with Pepsi" came out in Chinese as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back to life." McDonald's Big Mac became "Big Pimp" in France. KFC's "Finger Lickin' Good" became "Eat your fingers off." And "Got Milk?" became "Are you lactating?" in Mexico. Things don't always translate well.

Even sacred art bears the marks of mistranslation. Michelangelo's famous sculpture of Moses in the Church of St. Peter in Chains in Rome shows Moses with horns. Why? In the fourth century, when Jerome translated the Scriptures into the Latin Vulgate, the Hebrew word describing Moses' radiant face was very close to the word for "horns," and Jerome translated it that way. For centuries afterward, Moses was depicted with horns on his head.

This matters, because Hebrews 1:1 tells us that God "spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets." This is God revealing Himself. One of the wonderful truths of Scripture is that the Creator has spoken to us. He reveals Himself through general revelation—the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19), and Romans 1 speaks of creation and conscience as means by which God makes Himself known. He also reveals Himself through special revelation—the law and the prophets.

The Problem of Misinterpretation

But people misunderstand these revelations. You've probably had the conversation: "I don't know about this whole God thing. If there is a God, then He's not very good, or He's not very powerful—look at all the death and suffering and sickness and wickedness in the world." They see the same creation we do and conclude God must be unloving or impotent. Or when you mention sin and judgment, someone objects, "But I thought God is love. If He's loving, He'd never send anyone to hell."

Are those conclusions correct, or has something been lost in translation—misinterpreted, misunderstood, or even misused? We all have the same data. We can examine creation, consider the conscience every one of us possesses, study the law, read the prophets. Yet some people seem to have no conscience at all. It isn't that they have none; it's that their conscience has been seared and calloused. Walk over and over on hot pavement and a callous forms—a deadness develops, not because the ground is cooler, but because you've overcome the sensation. Some people have gone against their conscience so long that it has grown dead.

Jesus, the Ultimate Revelation of God

So what do we do? The author of Hebrews says God "has in these last days spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:2). Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. Creation reveals God's existence, power, and intelligence, so that man is without excuse. The conscience reveals God's morality, convicting us of wrong thoughts, words, actions, and motives. The law and the prophets reveal His nature and will—yet people misuse and misunderstand them.

In the 19th century, George MacDonald wrote, "To give truth to him that does not love it is to give him more plentiful material for misinterpretation." In the 20th century, Richard Weaver of the University of Chicago said, "Nothing good can come when the will is wrong." If your motivation is wrong, you will read the same data wrongly. This is the heart of our culture's debates about "alternative facts" and "fake news": different people, with different motivations, draw different conclusions from the same evidence. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son to reveal God's character, nature, and will perfectly. He is the ultimate revelation.

The Owner and Sustainer of All Things

This passage calls Jesus God's Son, which causes some to ask: was Jesus descended from God? Created by Him? Less than God, or the same as God? Hebrews 1:2 says God spoke "by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He also made the worlds." Jesus is the owner and sustainer of all things.

We see the same in John 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."

These four verses teach much about the one Hebrews calls the Son. He bears the title "the Word." He existed before creation—"in the beginning was the Word." He is God, yet distinct and separate from God. This is the doctrine of the Trinity: one God in three persons—the Father, the Word (who is also the Son), and the Holy Spirit. It stretches our minds, yet here it is revealed in Scripture. He is Creator: "all things were made through Him," and "without Him nothing was made that was made"—stated both positively and negatively, so nothing escapes the category of His creation. And He sustains all things in life.

The Manifestation of God's Glory, Grace, and Truth

Hebrews 1:3 says the same: "who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power." Both John and the author of Hebrews—whom I believe is likely Timothy—say this individual existed before creation, was active in creation, and sustains all things.

But there is more. John 1:14 says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And John 1:16–18: "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

So Jesus is the manifestation of all of God's glory, grace, and truth. His name is Jesus—"Jehovah brings salvation"—but He carries many titles: the Christ (the Anointed One), the Lord (Master), the Word, the Son. That can seem confusing, but each of you carries multiple titles too—engineer, police officer, mom, dad, husband, wife—while remaining the same person. Jesus is one person bearing many titles, and He came to reveal the glory of heaven.

Why "the Word" and "the Son"

Why call Him "the Word"? Because a person's word is the fullest, clearest, and most complete revelation of who they are. I might recognize your face and deduce things by watching you—he drives a truck, maybe he's a construction worker; he carries a mug, maybe he likes coffee. But until you speak with me, I don't truly know you. So Jesus is called the Word of God: we can look at creation and deduce certain things about God, but to truly know what He is like, He must communicate with us. Jesus is that clearest and most complete revelation.

Why call Him "the Son"? Not to make Him lower or merely descended. A son shares the nature of his father. The offspring of a horse is a horse; the offspring of a dog is a dog. Nature doesn't change—everything reproduces after its kind, which is what Scripture says, and what we actually observe. Jesus bears the very nature of God, now in human flesh, and so He is called the Son of God.

That is why Jesus could say, when Philip asked, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us," "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" (John 14:8–9). Because Jesus is the clearest and most complete revelation of God—in human bodily form—we behold the glory of the one true God in Him.

Jesus Dealt Fully With Sin

Did Jesus come only to reveal God's glory? Hebrews 1:3 continues: "when He had by Himself purged our sins." Creation, conscience, the law, and the prophets all make one thing clear—we live in a broken and fallen world. We experience it every day: suffering, sickness, sorrow, pain, death. Our conscience convicts us of wrong motives and words and deeds—often before the fact, that little voice saying, "Don't say that." The law exposes our inconsistencies and names our sin, and the prophets foretell the judgment to come.

General and special revelation show us that we are flawed and broken people, facing coming judgment—and that we are completely unable to fix it. We keep hoping something will: the UN, a new president, eliminating debt, medical science, escaping to Mars, virtual reality. Yet we remain powerless. Then Galatians 4 says, "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son." Romans 5 says, when we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for sinners.

Jesus fully dealt with the penalty, power, persistence, and presence of sin. His death satisfied the righteous requirement of the law—the penalty. His resurrection conquered death—the power of sin. By His grace He is now working in us through sanctification—the persistence of sin. And one day He will glorify us and remove us from this world entirely—the presence of sin. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, this corruption will put on incorruption and this mortality will put on immortality. We will be with Him and like Him, with no more sin.

Jesus Enthroned in Glory

How do we know He fully dealt with it? Hebrews 1:3 says that after He "had by Himself purged our sins," He "sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." Jesus sits enthroned in glory above all powers—earthly and angelic.

He sits in a position of rest, no longer working, because on the cross His last words were, "It is finished." Unlike the Old Testament priests, who worked every day, week, month, and year for centuries trying to deal with sin, Jesus did it once for all, and now is seated at the right hand of God.

How Does This Change Your Week?

If all of this is true—that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God, the owner and sustainer of everything, the perfect manifestation of God's glory, grace, and truth, the one who completely dealt with the penalty, power, persistence, and presence of sin, and the one seated enthroned in heaven above all powers—how does that affect the problems you are facing this week?

You know there are things weighing on you, things you're dreading on Monday and Tuesday. In light of who Jesus is, are you still trying to fix your flaws and failures on your own? Let me remind you of what you already know deep down: you have no power in yourself to fix it. But Jesus came at just the right time to die for the ungodly. I fit that category. There is none righteous, no, not one—that's me. I need His power, His authority, His goodness in my life, and so do you. There is nothing we can do apart from the grace of Jesus Christ. So God, fill us with Your grace.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, we need Your grace. I'm so grateful that this very book we're studying says You sit on a throne of grace, and that the access to that throne is always open—that we can come boldly at any time to obtain mercy and grace in our time of need. I am certain there are many here in need of Your grace and mercy. We thank You that we have access through You, Jesus, to come before that throne. We come, we stand, and we say: Jesus, we need Your grace—to face the problems we're dealing with this week, to address our failures and our sins.

And it may be that someone here realizes for the first time their need for the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. If you want to receive the forgiving grace and salvation Jesus freely gives because of what He did on the cross, pray with me: Dear Jesus, I recognize my failures. I know that I am a sinner—everything I see reminds me of it every day. Would You come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow You by faith and to serve You with my life. In Jesus' name, amen. God is good.