Jesus is The Word

I started studying Hebrews a few weeks ago, largely because the first three verses grabbed me to such a degree that I felt like I must see and understand what follows. Those first three awe-inspiring verses are as follows:

¹Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ²but 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. ³He 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.
Hebrews 1:1-3

Those verses are packed with meaning and questions and my goal with this post is to share (at least as I see it) how these verses should leave us in complete awe of God.

First is the fact that in the Old Testament God spoke through the prophets. He used various means and ways, but it was always that God had a man to deliver his message. This was good and it was certainly by His grace that he revealed Himself to us though anyone at all.

Now, in these last days, God has spoken to us, not through his man (prophet) but by His Son. And there is something very special about His Son because He is appointed by God the Father as heir of all things (because He is the Son) and – here’s the amazing part – God the Father created the world through His Son.

If you’re like me at this point you may be thinking, “Wait a second. I don’t remember Christ creating the world. Wasn’t it God the Father who created the world?” Well, let’s look at Genesis 1:

¹In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
³And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
Genesis 1:1-3

So the question is where is Christ in the creation? We see God the Father and we see the Holy Spirit (Spirit of God) but we don’t explicitly see Christ (the Son). Or do we? In pondering this question another account of creation came to mind from the gospel of John:

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1-3

According to this passage through the Word (notice the capitalization, that’s important) all things were made. And even before creation the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was Jesus Christ. So in looking again at Genesis, creation can be summarized as God spoke and it was. And what did God speak? The Word. God the Father spoke The Word. He spoke His Son. He created the world through The Word. Hebrews 11 affirms this thought:

³By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Hebrews 11:3

I don’t know about you, but that blows my mind: God creates though His Word – The Word – Jesus Christ. Not only that, but looking back at Hebrews 1:3 Christ upholds (sustains) the universe “by the word of his power.” In other words, if The Word ceased to be or was false we would cease to be. It is only in Christ by the power of His word that we continue to exist from second to second.

This is an incredible truth and if that was all there was to this we would be blessed beyond belief, but it goes even farther than this.

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14

The Word, God’s perfect Son, became flesh – became a man. Can you imagine the risk of this? Of course, God is sovereign and knows all things. He knew that His plan would work – that death would be defeated and that Christ would become our eternal priest who makes it possible for us to draw near to God. But honestly (and this is all hypothetical) based on the fact that The Word is what God uses to create and sustain the world, I believe that if Christ sinned while He was on earth we would all cease to be. The Word would no longer have been perfect and true.

Of course we know, however, that’s not what happened. Christ lived a perfect, blameless life and then took the full weight of death and sin upon Himself for all who would believe. By The Word becoming flesh and perfectly living out The Word of God now there is a way to God. Hebrews 1:3 is the summation of what John 1:14 points to:

³He 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.
Hebrews 1:3

Lord willing next post I will dive into how Christ made it possible for us to draw near to God. But for now, just know that He did. Our God is truly worthy of worship. Amen.