The Last Sermon: Advent 2020 (day 20 of 26)

December 18, 2020 (Friday)

Advent 2020 (day 20 of 26).

There are some who would suggest that Jesus is a created being, possibly and angel of sorts. However, the Bible is clear about who Jesus was, is, and always will be.

Yesterday’s lectionary reading was from Hebrews 1:1 – 4. In verse 2 we read, “In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him.” [CEB] Christian theology understands God in terms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We recognize these are revealed in the Bible and well beyond our understanding.

God the son is “heir of everything,” meaning Jesus is the rightful owner of all things. Our theological understanding is God created everything. This is clarified by the idea that the world was created through Jesus. It makes sense, we read in the Genesis creation account how God spoke everything into existence. The gospel of John begins by introducing us to Jesus as the Word.

The mystery deepens for us as John writes, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” [John 1:1 CEB] How can someone be WITH God and BE God? Our problem is we are limited humans, depending on our understanding and science, trying to describe a being beyond our ability to fathom or study.

The closest we get to understanding God is through Jesus. Hebrews 1:3 educates us, “The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message.” [CEB] In other words, Jesus “expresses the very character of God.” [NLT] When we see Jesus, we see God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ rightful ownership of everything is reinforced by the fact that He maintains all things.

God did not create Jesus, then Jesus create the world… as some would like us to believe. Hebrews 1:4 teaches us, “This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.” [NLT] It’s easy to get mislead at this point because most translations suggest Jesus “became” [NIV, ESV, CEB, etc] but this “became” is in contrast to previous theology concerning the importance of angles. Through Jesus actions, He demonstrated superiority in every way over all things.

Continuing on to today’s reading, we find “But he says to his Son, God, your throne is forever and your kingdom’s scepter is a rod of justice. [Hebrews 1:8 CEB] Again we read, “And he says, You, Lord, laid the earth’s foundations in the beginning, and the heavens are made by your hands.” Quoting God the Father in the Old Testament, we see a string where the Father calls Jesus “God” and “Lord.”