He Has Spoken to Us in His Son

In one paragraph

This was the opening sermon in First B Jackson's study of Hebrews, covering the book's first four verses, what scholars call the Exordium. Pastor A walked through a single, densely packed Greek sentence that introduces the entire argument of the letter: that Jesus is better than everything else. The sermon set the stage for a series that will work through one of the most rhetorically ambitious...

Read together

1. Hebrews 1:1-4 the Exordium, read in full from both the New American Standard and New Living Translation, forming the entire basis of the sermon
2. Hebrews 13:22 quoted at the close as the author of Hebrews calling his long letter a brief exhortation
3. 1 John 4:10-11 read as the benediction, on God sending his son as an atoning sacrifice and our obligation to love one another

Talk about it

1. Pastor A described Hebrews as written to people who were facing persecution and being tempted to walk away from Jesus. Have you ever been in a season where staying with Jesus felt costly? What helped you keep going?
2. The sermon pointed out that God spoke in many portions and many ways throughout the Old Testament, and then spoke definitively through His Son. What does it mean to you personally that God's final word to us is a person rather than a set of instructions?
3. Pastor A said that Christ is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature, comparing it to a signet ring pressed into wax. In your own words, what does it mean that Jesus is the imprint of God? How does that change how you think about who Jesus is?
4. The sermon explained that when Jesus had made purification for sins, He sat down, because the work was finished. Pastor A said it is a heresy to think it is all you can do and then Jesus makes up the difference. Where do you find yourself tempted to add something to what Jesus already completed?
5. Pastor A closed by asking how the Son's imprint is being seen in your life, and whether people around you can tell you have been near that radiance. How would you honestly answer that question this week?