Hebrews 1:1-9 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Christmas Day Sunday, December 25, 2022 “Hear God’s Christmas Voice”
Do you recognize Christmas voices? My family has been playing a bit of a game as we did some Christmas decorating this year. We had a “Christmas Classics” playlist playing through the phone and a speaker, and we would ask each other, “Who is this singing?” Some we recognized or came to know after hearing their songs multiple times either there or on the radio: Michael Jackson with the Jackson five leading “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” Elvis Presley singing “Blue Christmas,” some Michael Buble and some Bing Crosby and a few others. And from time to time, we wouldn’t recognize the singer. We would look it up and try to remember for the next time. We had a little fun with that game, but I wouldn’t call it a very important exercise. In the long term, it is not an urgent thing that we recognize those Christmas voices. It is very important, though, among all the many voices we hear at Christmas, that we recognize and listen to and hear God’s Christmas voice. This morning we are reminded how important this is through the first 9 verses of the book of Hebrews. This book was first written to a group of Christians facing suffering and persecution. We don’t know who the human author was whom God used to share these words with them, but we do know that God inspired these words to be written, just like he did the rest of the Bible. And we know that he used these words for the benefit of those Hebrew Christians, just as he still uses them for our benefit today. He says, “In the past, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets at many times and in many ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.” God’s voice has been sounding for centuries. For many years and in many ways, God spoke to his people through prophets. He had spokespeople who shared his word with others. But it was certainly God’s voice. It was his message. It was him speaking. The fact of God speaking hasn’t changed, but the method has. There came a time when God did not need a prophet to share his word with others. Instead of speaking through them, he has spoken through his Son. This is God’s voice. It speaks about his Son and it speaks through his Son. And this vocie has some amazing things to say about him. “[H]e has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” God’s voice once called all of creation into existence. And the Son, the second person of the glorious and unfathomable Trinity, was present and active in creation. Hebrews here reminds us of what we heard from the beginning of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made” (John 1:1-3). This same Word, the same voice of God, has spoken again in a new time. God himself has come to dwell among people. They no longer need the prophets to speak for God. They no longer need to hear predictions about him. People have seen God face-to-face and have heard his messages from his own mouth. In one person, he is a true human being, and he is also true God. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of the divine nature. He sustains all things by his powerful word. This is the Son. He is everything that God is. He is eternal and almighty. He sustains the world that he created. He is radiant in glory. And I realize that none of these words speak directly about the Christmas story that so many of us know so well. These verses don’t discuss the long journey to Bethlehem or the stable that was the only place for Mary and Joseph or the manger into which Mary’s baby was laid. They don’t talk about the angels who appeared to the shepherds or the shepherds who ran to bow down before the little baby. But they do talk about that baby, Jesus. They talk about God sending his own Son into the world. And these words have us look closely at him, focus on him, and see what our eyes would not have seen. That in the tiny newborn baby we find the God of the universe. In a humble manger bed we see the king of all creation. Prophets for long years had described him. That was the voice of God. And God’s Christmas voice has told us that he has come just as they said he would. God’s angels worship him, just as he commanded.
To the Hebrews of long ago, this was a reminder that what they had in Jesus was far superior than anything else they might rely on. They were tempted by suffering and persecution to turn away from Jesus, to go back to old ways, the ways of their Jewish ancestry. They would go back to listening to the prophets and waiting for what they promised. They would stand in awe of angels as majestic messengers of God. But the whole book of Hebrews was written to dissuade them from this way of thinking. They had someone greater than the prophets. They had someone greater than the angels. They had God himself, the Son of God, come down to them and for them as a true human being in every sense. It’s good for us to hear this voice today. We may not face the same temptation or the same persecution that the Hebrews once did. But we do hear many voices that would have us turn away from Jesus or fail to understand who he is. There are voices who mock the Christmas story that we love so much. They call us foolish for believing that a virgin could have a child or that God would be born as a baby. They call these messages myths and legends. They say that it is all made up and invented. Who is Jesus? These voices would have us believe that perhaps he was a good teacher or a great person. He may be a fine example for us to follow or a great coach to encourage us. And if that is the case, then what is Christmas all about? Well, it could be about family and friends. It could be about giving gifts or receiving gifts. It could be about nostalgia and happy feelings. And the songs on the radio and the commercials and displays and lights and busy preparations and parties are all voices that suggest these ideas to us. And there’s even a voice inside of us that says, “Christmas is what I make of it. It is good if I get all my stuff done and if I find the right gift and send the right card.” It whispers that as long as I am happy, that is what really matters. There are so many voices all around us at Christmas that would gladly lead us away from Jesus. They would have us replace him with anything else or anyone else, anyone other than the true and holy and righteous and almighty God come to live among us. But that is who he is. And God’s voice spoke about him many times and in many ways because we, his people, needed him. We are part of a long line of failures. We have followed our forefathers in the way of sinful rebellion against God. We have deserved nothing but death and destruction. But God had a solution. He promised it all along. He prophesied about his Son who would come into the world and be worshiped by angels and rule with a scepter of righteousness forever. And he kept his promise. God has spoken by his Son and he has spoken about our salvation. Listen again to how it is described in Hebrews 1: After he had provided purification for sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Purification. The dirty stain of sin needed to be washed clean. All that made us impure needed to be cleansed. And Jesus did that. This is why the Son of God was born into our world. This is why he came to dwell with us. He came as a perfect baby because we were conceived and born in sin. He grew as a perfect child because our childhoods have been impure and unclean. He lived into a perfect adulthood that we could never achieve. And he offered his life as a sacrifice for us. It was a sacrifice of infinite value and worth because it was the very life of God in the person of Jesus Christ. No, Hebrews chapter 1 may not sound like a Christmas passage, but that’s kind of the way Christmas is, isn’t it? There is so much more to the story. It starts with a baby born in a stable and laid in a manger, but it continues all the way to a torturous cross. And thanks be to God, it continues beyond that to an empty tomb, a risen Savior who lives forever so that we can live forever with him. After all the presents have been used and used up, after all the Christmas commercials go off the air and the songs are set aside until next year, after so many Christmas voices are quiet again—but so many other voices are still speaking—God’s Christmas voice will still resound. He wants you to know about his Son, and he wants you to know about your salvation. Listen. Not just today, but for the rest of the life that he gives to you. Hear God’s Christmas voice.
The Text: Hebrews 1:1–9 (EHV) In the past, God spoke to our forefathers by the prophets at many times and in many ways. 2In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of the divine nature. He sustains all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4The
Son became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are my Son. Today I have begotten you? And again: I will be his Father, and he will be my Son. 6And
again, when he brought his firstborn into the world, he said:
Let all God’s angels worship him. 7About
the angels he says:
He makes his messengers winds and his ministers flaming fire. 8But
about the Son he says:
God, your throne is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions.