What seven truths about Christ’s preeminence are set forth in Hebrews 1:2–3?
The letter to the Hebrews opens with an insightful, divine description of who the baby born in Bethlehem really is. It is probably the most concise and comprehensive New Testament summary statement of the superiority of Christ:
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. (Hebrews 1:1–3)
• Christ is the heir of all things: God has planned for Jesus ultimately to inherit absolutely everything. This plan adheres to Jewish inheritance laws that said the firstborn child received the wealth of the family’s estate.
• Christ is the agent of creation: The Greek word rendered worlds in Hebrews 1:2 does not mean the material world but “the ages,” as it is usually translated elsewhere. Christ created not only the physical earth but also time, space, energy, and every variety of matter. He effortlessly created the entire universe and finished it as something good.
• Christ possesses the brightness of God’s glory: Brightness, which may also be translated radiance (NASB) and literally means “to send forth light,” indicates that Jesus is the manifestation of God to us. Just as the sun’s rays illuminate and warm the earth, Christ is God’s glorious light that shines into the hearts of people.
• Christ is the essence of God: Jesus has all the attributes that are indispensable to who and what God is, such as immutability (unchangeableness), omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. He is the exact stamp or replication of God. In the words of the Nicene Creed, Jesus Christ is “very God of very God.”
• Christ has ultimate authority: Christ makes the universe a cosmos instead of chaos. He infallibly ensures that the universe runs as an ordered, reliable unit instead of as an erratic, unpredictable muddle. That’s because our Lord has devised and implemented the myriad natural laws, both complex and straightforward, that are all perfectly reliable, consistent, and precisely suited to their particular purposes. Time and again they wonderfully demonstrate the mind and power of Jesus Christ working through the universe. The whole universe hangs on His powerful arm, His infinite wisdom, and His ability to control every element and orchestrate the movements of every molecule, atom, and subatomic particle.
• Christ removes our sins: The Old Testament priests offered animal sacrifices over and over, but none of those could ultimately remove the people’s sins. Those repeated sacrifices instead merely pointed to the desperate need for a once-for-all sacrifice that could finally take away sins. And God provided such a sacrifice in the person of Jesus. This final new covenant sacrifice had to be a perfect, sinless substitute. To pay the price of sin for others, that person had to be perfect or he would have had to pay the price for his own sin. And since no one in the world is without sin, the substitute had to be someone from outside the world. Yet he still needed to be a man to die in the place of men and women. Of course, the only person who could meet those requirements was Jesus Christ. He was the sinless man who could be the perfect substitute for sinners. Once and for all He paid the price for sins for everyone who would ever believe in Him.
• Christ is exalted in heaven: When Jesus went into heaven, He did what no Old Testament priest did—He sat down. Priests never sat down while ministering because their work was never done. But Christ’s work was done; He had accomplished the work of redemption on the cross, and therefore it was appropriate for Him to sit down. He remains on the right hand of the throne of God as the believer’s great High Priest and Intercessor (Hebrews 7:25; 9:24).