From our Sunday service on February 1, 2026, Hebrews 1:1-2:1. This is part 1 of our Hebrews series. Watch the full message: He Has Spoken – Hebrews Series #1 on YouTube.
Today we begin the book of Hebrews, a book all about how great Jesus is. It is theologically rich, and it shows many of the ways He fulfills the Old Testament. Before we enter the argument, it helps to know something of the setting, so that we can hear it as the first readers would have heard it. God wants you to know that what Christ has for you is better than anything else.
A Letter for People Tempted to Turn Back
Hebrews had to be written before AD 70, because it talks about the temple as if it still functions. The temple was destroyed in AD 70. Combined with the book’s picture of persecution, that puts us in a narrow window, about AD 64 to AD 65. It has been roughly thirty years since Jesus ascended. The gospel has spread, but the cost is rising. Fellow Jews are beginning to shun Christians as if they belonged to a cult. Rome is growing hostile. Paul has been arrested and taken to Rome. People are asking whether it is worth being hated by family and government, and whether walking away would be easier.
There is a lot of debate about who wrote the book. The writer was a highly educated Jew, mighty in the Old Testament, and his Greek is among the most careful in the New Testament. That does not sound like a Galilean disciple. He knows Timothy, so he stands near the mission work of the early church. He was probably not Paul. A study of writing style can match Paul’s letters to one another at a very high rate, but Hebrews comes out far lower, around forty-seven percent. Some suggest Luke wrote down what Paul spoke, but that stretches the evidence, and Luke’s usual introductions are not here. It cannot be Barnabas, because the Bible calls Barnabas an apostle, and this writer says he never met Jesus on the earth. The best candidate, I believe, is Apollos. Acts 18 describes him as an eloquent Jew, mighty in the Scriptures, who at first knew only the baptism of John. Aquila and Priscilla taught him the way of God more perfectly. He had not met Jesus, and then he began to show from the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ, and he helped those who had believed. That is the kind of man who could have written this book. I put that forward as the best guess, and you can test it as we go. What we do not have to guess is the purpose. This was written to Jewish Christians tempted to drift back to what they had before. The point is simple: Jesus is better, so do not turn back.
God Has Spoken by His Son
The letter does not open with greetings. It goes straight into the sermon.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by 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 on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Hebrews 1:1–4
God spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, at various times and in various ways. Now, in these last days, He has spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds. If you value the old words, how much more should you value the One who made the worlds, and what He has said? The prophets had already been silent for more than four hundred years. To walk away from the Son is not to return to a living stream. It is to go back to what is empty, as if more prophets were still on the way, when God has already spoken by His Son.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1–3
The Word God spoke when He said, “Let there be,” was Jesus Christ. He is the brightness of God’s glory, the visible light of the divine glory. Moses could not see God’s face and live, but he was allowed to see His glory. In Jesus, the glory of God was made flesh, a glory you could see and touch and speak with. He is the express image of His person, the exact imprint of God’s nature. Adam was made in the image of God to represent Him, and he failed. Jesus is no knockoff. He is the second Adam, the representative who did not fail, tempted as we are, yet without sin. Why follow teachers who fell short, when you have the express image of God?
He upholds all things by the word of His power. By Him all things consist. If He let go, the universe would cease to be. That is also a statement that He existed before His birth and was not created. He is not merely another prophet. By Himself He purged our sins. The old sacrifices covered sin for a time. Jesus did not merely cover. He removed. Then He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, in the place of highest honor. Why give final authority to a teacher, a group, or an earthly power, when the One who upholds all things has already spoken? He is so much better than the angels, whether that word means heavenly messengers or the human messengers of the old covenant. By inheritance He has obtained a more excellent name than they. Others may be called sons by creation or by adoption. He is the Son by nature.
Better Than Angels, So Do Not Let It Slip
The writer then strings the Old Testament together to show that unique sonship. God never said to an angel, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Begotten here is not the language of a created being. It is the language of a unique, one-of-a-kind Son, the exact nature of God, not a later addition to the family. “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son” comes from the promise to David’s line, a throne established for ever. When He brings the firstbegotten into the world, He says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Angels refuse the worship of men and tell them to worship God. If the Messiah is worshiped by angels, then the Messiah is God. To reject Him is to reject God Himself.
Of the angels He says He makes His ministers a flame of fire. They are servants. In the long silence before Christ, people built up stories and a kind of fascination with angels. The writer will not let that stand in front of the Son. You do not celebrate the servant and ignore the Master. To the Son He says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” God speaking to God would have been hard to understand in the old days. Here it is clear: the Messiah is God, and also man, anointed as King. The heavens will wax old like a garment, but He remains the same. People wear out. Believers will be changed. Why walk away from the unchanging Son for a little comfort with neighbors or a quieter business now?
But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Hebrews 1:13–14
To which of the angels did He ever say, “Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool”? Not Moses. Not Michael. Only the Son by nature. The angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Why stare at the servant, when the One they serve has been given to you?
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
Hebrews 2:1
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. It is possible to get distracted. In that setting the chaos was already heavy, and worse was near. The point is not only ancient history. When you are not holding Christ fully in ordinary days, hard days become a banana peel. You will never drift from Christ while you know who He is. You drift when you forget who He is.
Jesus is not just another teacher, prophet, priest, or angel. He is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact imprint of His nature, the Creator and Sustainer, the One who actually removes sins, and the eternal King seated at God’s right hand. There is no other religion that can forgive you and make you right with God. Do not trade what is eternally better for what feels easier right now. We may not face Nero, but we are tempted every day to grow casual, distracted, comfortable, or silent. Christianity is not something you can coast in. God wants you to know that what Christ has for you is better than anything else. Will you cling to Christ?
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