The Many Roles of Jesus

The heart of true Christianity is a proper understanding of, and response to, Jesus Christ. If you don’t understand Jesus, you don’t understand Christianity. If you don’t accept Jesus for who He really is, then you’re not a Christian. Everything depends on truly knowing and responding to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the book of Acts, after Stephen is killed for his faith, a great persecution breaks out, and believers in Jerusalem are scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Some of the converts end up in the city of Antioch, taking the message to Greek-speaking Jews, also known as Hellenists. Acts 11:20 says these believers went about preaching the Lord Jesus. He was their message. That is the essence of Christianity.

After some time, the twelve Apostles in Jerusalem hear this new church, and they decide to send Barnabas to help. After a short time there, Barnabas leaves to find Saul who was later named Paul. Acts 11:26 says Paul and Barnabas ministered in Antioch for one year teaching the people and watching many more come to faith. We’re also told that it was there with the church in Antioch that the disciples of Jesus were first called Christians. The word literally points to their association with the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One of God.

If you would have asked any professing Jew in the first century if he believed in the Christ, he would have easily said, “Yes.” The Jews at that time, just like many Jews today, placed their faith in the Christ.

So, both Jews and Christians believe in Christ. The difference, however, is whether or not they believe that that’s who Jesus was and is.

The Pharisees whom Jesus condemned to hell didn’t reject the idea of a Christ. What they rejected was the idea that the Christ should have to suffer, and that the Christ was Jesus of Nazareth.

Persecution from the Jews of that time helped clarify the distinction between pharisaical Judaism and biblical Christianity, but once official, government persecution started coming from the Roman Empire, the line between Judaism and Christianity started to be blurred in people’s minds. Some people thought, “If I just switch back to my Jewish roots, I can avoid all kinds of problems. I can have my life back."

But to go back to the Judaism they had grown up with would be to renounce and to reject Jesus Himself. This was the same kind of error the Pharisees had committed.

It’s also the same kind of error many people make about religion today. A lot of people think, “Who cares what someone believes, as long as they believe in God and try to live a good life. Just do whatever gives you the most satisfaction. Just love others, and do good in the world. Other than that it doesn’t really matter.” It sounds nice; it sounds well-meaning, but that kind of thinking is what leads people to eternal judgment in hell.

Our culture accepts that kind of thinking because it has equated the personal with the real. The idea is that if something is true for you, if it’s your truth, then no one is supposed to oppose. You have the right to believe whatever you want, even if it’s not biblical or logical, and everybody else needs to play along. If they don’t, some even say that’s violence.

Well, in response to the danger of the first century and the dangers of today, we have the book of Hebrews which continually points us to the heart of true Christianity—the person and work of Jesus Christ.

I’d like you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1, as we examine the opening statement of the book. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1-4. Here’s what it says—Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. [3] He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [4] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

The book opens with a clear and pronounced declaration of who Jesus is. As we look at the passage a little more closely, I want to summarize its teaching about Jesus. Who is Jesus? This passage gives us 7 answers to that question.

Number 1, as we talked about last week, Jesus is God’s definitive revelation. He is the definitive revelation.

The Definitive Revelation

The Jews understood that God had spoken throughout human history, but the author of Hebrews tells us that something has changed. God is no longer revealing Himself in fragments of information stretched out across history. No, God has spoken to us in His Son. He has personally made Himself known.

God is not detached. God is not silent. He wants us to know Him. And everything He revealed in the first half of humanity was leading to one distinct revelation, the arrival of His Son.

In 1 Peter 1:10 it says that the Old Testament prophets sought to understand the messages they received. They wanted to know who it pointed to and when it would all come to pass.

In John 5:39, Jesus says that the Jews searched the Scriptures thinking that in the Old Testament Law they could find salvation. But Jesus said that the Law and the Prophets and the Writings pointed to Him.

He is the fulfilment of the Scriptures. The Old Testament points forward to the coming of Jesus, and the New Testament point back to His first coming and forward to His second coming. This is what this book is about. It’s about Jesus Christ. He is the only way anyone comes to know God.

If you want to hear God speak, open the Bible and hear God speak in Jesus Christ. If your neighbor or your coworker wants to hear a message from God, point him to Jesus Christ in the Bible. Jesus is the definitive revelation of God.

Number 2, as God’s Son, Jesus is the victorious heir. He is the victorious heir of the Father. He is the One to whom the Father has given all things. This is what it says in the second half of verse 2. He has been appointed the heir of all things.

The Victorious Heir

An heir is someone to whom ownership has been transferred. It doesn’t take long for a little child to start understanding the idea of ownership. That’s why they say, “Mine.” Even young children feel the injustice of something that belongs to them being taken away.

The Hebrew culture understood the idea of an inheritance because according to Old Testament law, a father’s property was going to be inherited by his sons. Ownership was going to be transferred.

In the Old Testament, the Promised Land was called the inheritance of Israel. God was going to give it to them. Israel as a nation was called the inheritance of God. In that case, it wasn’t that God was gaining ownership of something, but it was the place in which His ownership was going to be specially expressed. Their ownership of the land was always under His ownership of them.

God owns everything. That’s part of what it means to say that God is sovereign. He is the King. Even though angels or people rebel, that doesn’t take away from the fact that God is ultimately in charge. And one day, God will express His sovereignty by visibly ruling over all creation.

The Jews understood that God would one day inherit the world, but the author of Hebrews tells them that the Father has chosen to grant all victory and authority to the Son. When God’s expresses His rule on the earth, His ownership will be expressed through His Son Jesus Christ.

Do you remember what Jesus said at the beginning of the Great Commission? He said—All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

That is a message that runs contrary to the ideas today that we are the final rulers of this planet, or even worse, that this planet rules over us. A lot of people take those kinds of positions.

I'd like you to turn with me to Psalm 2, where we see Christ’s authority expressed more directly. This was a very well known Psalm to the Jews, and it’s one you should know as well. Psalm 2 talks about the nations and the kings of the earth rebelling against God. We see evidence of this everywhere and in every generation. Rulers of this world long to be freed from what they consider to be the shackles of an all-powerful God.

But Psalm 2:4 says that in response to that rebellion, God who sits in the heavens, laughs. He holds them in derision. He mocks them for their foolishness. He’s not threatened in any way.

One day, according to verse 5, God will come in wrath. He’s not going to come imposing tariffs. He’s coming to terrify the world. He will say to the rulers, verse 6—As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill. The kings of this world think they own certain lands or peoples, but God has already appointed the true King of the world. He has already named His Anointed King, and He has come from Israel.

Look at Psalm 2, verse 8. This is God speaking to His chosen King. He says—Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. [9] You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

God has given to the Son all authority. In the beginning, God gave the dominion of this world to Adam as the head of mankind. Adam’s sin meant the world was then placed under the reign of Satan, to some degree. But one day, a second Adam will come, and He show himself as the true heir of all. He is the One to whom God has given everything.

So, what’s the proper response? What should the kings of the world do? And what should you and I do? Verse 10—Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. [11] Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. [12] Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

You can make the wise choice, or you can make the foolish choice. You can serve God in fear and joy by accepting the Son. Or you can reject Him and face His eternal wrath. Those are the only two choices. You will either take refuge in the mercy and love of the Son, or you will be eternally condemned by Him.

This is the Jesus of the Bible. This is the One we worship. He is the One who will one day take His place as the true King of this planet. He will end Satan’s reign and the groaning of this planet.

When you see or hear about all the ugly stuff in this world, remember that it’s all temporary. It will come to an end. Jesus is the victorious heir of all things.

Let’s continue answering the question of who Jesus is. He is the definitive revelation. He is the victorious heir. Number three, Jesus is also the powerful agent. He is the powerful agent of God.

The Powerful Agent

An agent is something that acts in order to produce an effect. It’s the means by which something happens. So, a federal agent is acting on behalf of a government. An actor, or a professional athlete, will have an agent who can make decisions or negotiate on his behalf.

What does it mean, then, to say that Jesus is the powerful agent of God? It means what the end of verse 2 says. Jesus is the one through whom God created the world. Jesus is the agent of creation.

The Jews understood that God created the world, but the author of Hebrews tells them that the Father did so through His Son. And the rest of the New Testament affirms this. Speaking of Jesus, John 1:3 says—All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

First Corinthians 8:6 says that Jesus Christ is the One through whom are all things and though whom we exist.

And Colossians 1:16 says: For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

There is some mystery here, but the Bible makes it clear that the eternal, uncreated Son of God is the agent through which all things were created.

What’s interesting in Hebrews 1:2 is that the word translated as “world,” is actually not the typical word for “world” or “earth;” It’s a plural word that could be translated “eons,” or “ages of time.” It’s a word that includes both physical matter, spiritual matter, and even time itself.

Every dimension of reality was created by God the Father through His Son. He has authority over the earth both as the heir and as the agent of creation.

People don’t usually talk about creation, but it is part of the foundation of their worldview. If all of this is just some cosmic accident, then who cares what we do about it? But if it is the outworking of the plan and power of God through His Son, then we are accountable to Him. Jesus is the powerful agent of God’s creation.

Coming to verse 3, the descriptions of Christ continue as we see that Jesus is also the divine expression. That’s number 4 on the list. Jesus is the divine expression.

The Divine Expression

Verse 3—He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. This is a very profound theological reality, and it’s pictured here so vividly. The focus here is on the nature of the Son. He is one with the Father, and yet there is a distinction between Him and the Father.

As an example, think about a campfire or a fireplace. You can see the light it emits, and you can feel the heat it gives off. Is that heat, or that light, part of the essence of the fire? That’s not an easy question to answer.

On the one hand, feeling the heat is not exactly the same as touching the fire, right? But on the other hand, if there were no heat radiating from the fire, it wouldn’t be a real fire, would it? Maybe it’s just a video of a fire. The light and the heat that a fire emits is part of the nature of the fire, and yet there is some distinction.

God is glorious; the Jews understood that. But the author of Hebrews says that the Son is the radiance of that glory.

The way we receive or experience the glory of God is the Son. He is the visible and experiential expression of the glory of God. That’s why the Apostle John wrote—the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Jesus isn’t like a mirror reflecting God’s glory to us, He is that glory itself. Second Corinthians 4:6 says that when people get converted, God shines in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Many, many people in this world talk about experiencing with God. They want to know God and feel Him. The only way to do that is through Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus said: No one comes to the Father except through me.

Verse 3 continues this idea telling us that Jesus is the exact imprint of [God’s] nature. The word there for “imprint” was a word used for the impression on a wax seal or on a coin. You take a stamp, and you press it into something else, and what you get is an exact representation. In other parts of the Bible, Jesus is called the image of God.

This is why Jesus said to Philip, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” Everything that God is, in essence, and in power, and in character, Jesus is. There is a distinction in personhood, but not in essence.

To think that you can truly know God without knowing Jesus Christ is absolute foolishness according to the Bible. It’s like saying, “I want to experience fire without light or without heat.”

You can only know God by knowing Jesus. He fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. He is, as the early church said, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.

If you turn away from Jesus, you have turned away from God. If you minimize Jesus, you minimize God. It doesn’t matter how religious someone is or how devoted they are to Buddha or to Mohammed or to the earth, or to whatever else. If someone doesn’t accept and worship Jesus as the eternal Son of God, they do not truly know God. He is the fullness of the divine expression.

We have three more qualities left, and then we’re all done. In answering the question about who Jesus is, number 5 on the list is this: Jesus is the faithful sustainer. He is the faithful sustainer.

The Faithful Sustainer

We already said that Jesus is the Creator, but some people might take that to mean that Jesus created everything but then left it all alone. But look at the next phrase of verse 3. It says that Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power.

This is an active role of Jesus Christ. He created all things, and He sustains all things. The beating of your heart, the migration of the birds, the movement of the planets—all of it is governed by Jesus Christ, our faithful sustainer.

This is part of the reason we pray, isn’t it? God has both the power and the willingness to act in the course of human history. Just like the word of God brought this world into existence, the word of Christ sustains and guides it.

Colossians 1:17 says that in Christ all things hold together. That’s true of your physical body, and it’s also true of your spiritual life. Jesus has to work, by His Spirit, to give you the desire and the ability to serve Him. Without Jesus, we can do nothing. We need to depend on Him at all times.

And the greatest work of Christ for the good of His people was His sacrificial death on behalf of sinners. This is what the next sentence points to when it says that Jesus made purification for sins.

This is the sixth description of Christ for our time today. Number 6, Jesus is the perfect priest. He is the perfect priest.

The Perfect Priest

The Jews understood what purification was. But the author of Hebrews wants them to know that true purification didn’t come through circumcision or through animal sacrifices. True and final purification has come through the Son of God. Jesus is the faithful and final high priest.

The end of verse 3 says that after Jesus made purification, He sat down. He sat down. He finished what He need to do in terms of purification. His job was done. That’s why He said, “It is finished” as He hung on the cross.

In the Old Testament, priests didn’t sit down while they were working. They finished with one sacrifice, and then there came another. And when the day was over, they’d start again the next day. There were always more sacrifices that needed to be done.

Why did that happen? Why were all those animals killed in the Old Testament? It was to give to the Israelites a vivid example of death. They had sinned, and so something needed to die.

They were guilty before God. They deserved death, but something could be offered in their place. And the role of the priest was to make things right again. The priest brought restoration between man and God. He was the mediator of that relationship.

When the animal was killed that was a picture that purification had been made through substitution. Sins had been forgiven. Now, later in Hebrews it says that none of those sacrifices ever brought genuine forgiveness. It wasn’t the sacrifice of the animal itself that paid the price of sin. God accepted the person on the basis of their faith, and on the basis of a sacrifice to come that God Himself would provide. That sacrifice was the life of His Son.

Jesus not only made purification, He Himself was the sacrifice. As the Son of God, His perfect life paid the price of every sinner who would come to faith. And so, after Jesus died, and after He was raised, and after He ascended back to the Father, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. His priestly work in providing a substitute was finished.

That’s the truth you need to go back to every time you sin. God is no longer a Judge condemning you. He is your he’s evenly Father. You have been cleansed eternally. The relationship has been o strutted by sin, so you repent and ask for a daily cleansing. And God grants it. There’s nothing mandated that you have to do to earn Gods love back. Jesus did it. Jesus paid it all, if you belong to Him.

And because of that glorious act in His death and in His Resurrection, Jesus has been exalted. That doesn’t mean He became more glorious or more powerful than before. But in completing the plan of God, He fulfilled the office, or the role, that He would play in the redemption of the world. And so, He was exalted at the right hand of the Father, the place of honor and glory.

He was given the name, or the title, or the honor, that is above every name. He is the exalted Son of God who sustains and rules over creation.

This leads us to the final description of Jesus. He is the definitive revelation. He is the victorious heir. He is the powerful agent of God. He is the divine expression. He is the faithful sustainer. He is the perfect priest. And this all leads to number 7, summarizing it all, Jesus is the supreme Son. He has supremacy over everything.

The Supreme Son

We’ll talk more about this next week, but it’s the conclusion we find in verse 4. Jesus has become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

The Jews understood that there were only two categories of heavenly beings—there was God, and there was the angels. God existed forever; angels were created. So, which category is Jesus in? Is Jesus God, or is He some lower level of spiritual being that had come to earth?

That’s not some advanced theological question. That’s a fundamental issue to Christianity. If you get Jesus wrong, you get Christianity wrong. You end up with the wrong faith, a heretical faith, or you end up with a very weakened version of Christianity, not understanding the fullness of what you need and the fullness of what you have.