(1:1) God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
(1:2) in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
God reveals truths about Himself in two ways. There is general revelation and special revelation. We are able to learn about God and His purposes for us through nature. We see beauty but also fallen-ness in nature. When seeing the power of nature, like Katrina, we instinctively know that there is a God and that He is much more powerful than us.
It is through the Bible that we know the particulars about God and his plan for us. Jesus Christ is at the center of revelation. All of the Old Testament looks in anticipation towards Christ. The center of all of history happens in the gospels while Jesus was physically on the earth. In the gospels, God Himself incarnates into a man and walks on the earth. The Kingdom of God was in our midst. It was the most incredible point in history. People were healed, storms halted, people walked on water, sins were forgiven, and God conquered death! Then the rest of the New Testament looks back at the gospels and tries to explain it all.
Before Jesus, God spoke to humanity through the prophets. These prophets came from varying backgrounds and had many different styles. Some were wild crazy guys, some were working class, and some were ruling class. God spoke through some of them in long poems, through some in short discourses, and some in strange prophecies. At the end of the day, the prophecies pointed to something better, to the promised Messiah, but the picture wasn’t completely clear.
But then came the Son who is described here as the “heir of all things”; which means that after His work on earth, the Son received the inheritance of His present exalted status. He sits at the right hand of the Father exalted above all others.
Philippians 2:8-11 says:
“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus ‘every knee will bow’, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
Jesus is also described as being the one “through whom” the Father “made the world.” John 1:3 says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Then John 1:10 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
So prior to Christ we have just glimpses of God. But in Christ we see God in all His amazing glory. Through Jesus all things were made. Strangely He lived within something that He created, was mocked by His creations, and His creations did not know who He was?! Jesus humbles Himself to become a mere human, suffers, is mocked, and then dies for the sins of humanity. This obedience and submission leads to His exaltation above everything else. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father waiting for the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.
God reveals truths about Himself in two ways. There is general revelation and special revelation. We are able to learn about God and His purposes for us through nature. We see beauty but also fallen-ness in nature. When seeing the power of nature, like Katrina, we instinctively know that there is a God and that He is much more powerful than us.
It is through the Bible that we know the particulars about God and his plan for us. Jesus Christ is at the center of revelation. All of the Old Testament looks in anticipation towards Christ. The center of all of history happens in the gospels while Jesus was physically on the earth. In the gospels, God Himself incarnates into a man and walks on the earth. The Kingdom of God was in our midst. It was the most incredible point in history. People were healed, storms halted, people walked on water, sins were forgiven, and God conquered death! Then the rest of the New Testament looks back at the gospels and tries to explain it all.
Before Jesus, God spoke to humanity through the prophets. These prophets came from varying backgrounds and had many different styles. Some were wild crazy guys, some were working class, and some were ruling class. God spoke through some of them in long poems, through some in short discourses, and some in strange prophecies. At the end of the day, the prophecies pointed to something better, to the promised Messiah, but the picture wasn’t completely clear.
But then came the Son who is described here as the “heir of all things”; which means that after His work on earth, the Son received the inheritance of His present exalted status. He sits at the right hand of the Father exalted above all others.
Philippians 2:8-11 says:
“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus ‘every knee will bow’, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
Jesus is also described as being the one “through whom” the Father “made the world.” John 1:3 says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Then John 1:10 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
So prior to Christ we have just glimpses of God. But in Christ we see God in all His amazing glory. Through Jesus all things were made. Strangely He lived within something that He created, was mocked by His creations, and His creations did not know who He was?! Jesus humbles Himself to become a mere human, suffers, is mocked, and then dies for the sins of humanity. This obedience and submission leads to His exaltation above everything else. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father waiting for the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.
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