Hebrews 1:1-3
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, and through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. . . . (ESV)
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
A friend posted this quote from Corrie Ten Boom on her Instagram story early on in these pandemic days, and of the many things that I have read and listened to over the past several weeks, these are the words that have really stuck. I have been meditating on them as sanctions and stay-at-home orders lift, and yet nothing is back to normal. As we look toward tomorrow and toward the summer and even toward the fall, so many questions remain. So much is still unknown. I can worry, plan countless possible scenarios, or try in vain to assert control over my circumstances. Or, I can trust and rest, in the midst of all that is unknown, to the God who has made himself known.
The author of Hebrews opens his letter to a group of weary, struggling Christians by reminding them of this very reality—they have a God who has made himself known. They have a God who speaks. This has always been his way. He created the world by his word, and then he spoke to those he had made. He speaks to his people in slavery, in the desert, in exile. He speaks through his works and through his Word—revealing both his character and his commitment to his people. However, the period of history where these Christians found themselves had been a period of silence. God had not spoken to his people in 400 years. They had been wondering when and if God would ever speak to them again. Imagine, having waited and waited and waiting for God to speak, and then hearing these words. . .God has spoken!
The glorious reality that God has spoken to his people imparts hope to these struggling Christians and to us in these days. The God who speaks reminds us again and again that He is near, that he is at work, and that he wants to be known by us!
God is near. . . For God to speak again to his people after 400 years of silence, changes everything for a people in the midst of darkness and despair. He has been faithful to his promises after all. He has not forgotten them. He has not abandoned them. He is not silent. He is not far off, but rather he has drawn so near. Scholar William Lane says it this way, “That God has spoken. . .emphasizes the factual truth that God comes again and again into our human experience, disclosing his presence to us, precisely when we had suspected that we were alone in the world.”
Because God has spoken, we can be assured that we are not alone. We are not alone in our singleness. We are not alone in our struggling marriages. We are not alone in our parenting. We are not alone in our work. We are not alone in sickness or in sin or in shame. We are not alone in our fear, or in our weariness, or in our despair. We are not alone. God has spoken. He is near, very near.
God is at work. . . God has spoken again, but for these Hebrew Christians and for us, our hope is to be grounded in the reality that this time God had spoken in a categorically different way.
. . .but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. . .
The phrase, ‘in these last days,’ means more than merely, “recently.” Here the author of Hebrews is contrasting the two ages in which God has spoken, the former days and these, the last days. This is a huge shift—in the coming of Jesus God is doing something categorically different, something final. This phrase signals the “final revelation of God.” Jesus is the Word made flesh. After him, there is no more need for God to speak. He has made his plan of salvation, of redemption and restoration, clear and complete through Christ. Jesus Christ signals the end of the story—the restoration of all things. Hearing this phrase reminds the Hebrews and us of God’s work in the world and his goal for his people. These words declare assuredly that God has not abandoned his plan and his people in this world, although often our experience can feel like it. He is at work. He is moving towards the end of the story—the ultimate redemption of his people and of this broken world. The end of the story is closer now; we are in the final chapter.
In these final days, our hope is in the Son who is both the Creator and Sustainer of all things. When all the circumstances surrounding us are so out of our control, so weighty, and so sad. . .when real questions about what God is doing in the midst of this arise in our hearts, we can fix our eyes on the Son. He is the one who created this world, upholds it, and who is the heir of all of it. We may not know his ways, but we can know him. And we can trust that he’s at work in the world and in the people whom he loves.
God wants to be known by us. . . Jesus is the radiance of the image of God, the exact imprint of his nature. He radiates into this world the very essence of who God is. If we want to know what the Father is like and what he’s about in this world, we are to fix our eyes on the person and work of the Son. One beautiful reality that we see in the incarnation of Jesus is that God desires to be known by us. Martin Luther said, in the coming of Christ, “God humiliated himself in order to become recognizable.”
Sometimes, in the midst of our hopelessness, it can seem like God is hiding. Like he doesn’t want to be known. That he doesn’t want to disclose his ways or his character to us. But what we see in Christ is that God can be and does want to be known. In our human relationships, we are keenly aware that to allow yourself to be known is to make yourself vulnerable. We see in Christ that God has made himself vulnerable to us. He has made himself known to us in Jesus. He has disclosed his character and his ways. And though we may not know all the answers in our suffering and struggle and sin, we can know him.
The admonition to the Hebrew Christians in the midst of their suffering and discouragement and despair is to draw near to the one who has done everything to draw near to them. It is to press more deeply into the knowledge of the one who has made himself known. It is to set their hope not on their circumstances, but on their Savior. We cannot know our steps or our days, but we can know intimately, deeply, and securely the one who ordains and upholds it all. He has drawn near. He can and wants to be known by us. Let us fix our eyes on him!