What a wonderful Christ we have! In Hebrews we see that He’s the Creator, Upholder, and Heir of God’s creation, He destroyed the devil, He’s the Captain of our salvation into glory, and He is the Apostle and Builder of God’s house. Hallelujah for our wonderful Christ!
He is the word of God to be the definition, explanation, and expression of God, and today God speaks to us in the Son and as the Son (Heb. 1:1-2).
All that God has, is, wants, is doing, and has done, is in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who expresses God and explains God as the word of God. God has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son, who replaced and is the fulfilment of all the speaking of God and the ones who spoke for God.
Even more, Jesus Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance. Wow! When God reaches us by coming to us, He is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, just as the rays of the sun reach us.
God’s outward expression is the Son, and His inward substance is Christ. Christ the Son of God is the effulgence of the glory of God to be His expression outwardly – He is the brightness of God’s glory.
Christ as the Son of God is the impress of God’s substance, the expression of what God is. God’s substance is Spirit, and the impress of His substance is what expresses Him.
God is expressed in Christ, the Son of God, and He as the Spirit reaches us, impressed us with His image, and transmits all that God is to us. Hallelujah!
Christ is the focus of the Bible and also the focus of the book of Hebrews. This wonderful Christ is all-inclusive and all-encompassing, and He is everything to God and to His people for their fellowship, life, and service to God.
We need to be brought into the enjoyment and experience of such a wonderful Christ.
In Leviticus we see the deep thought that Christ is everything to us, His people, but in Hebrews we see this in reality, how Christ fulfills all the types and figures, and how He is everything to us in our Christian experience and walk with the Lord. Today we want to see more about Christ as such a wonderful and all-inclusive One in Hebrews.
In God’s Creation Christ is the Creator, the Upholder, and the Heir of all Things
In relation to the creation Christ the Son of God is the Creator of all things in the past, the upholder of all things in the present, and the Heir of all things in the future (Heb. 1:2-3, 10).
In the past all things came into being in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ (see John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16).
Nothing that exists has come into being by itself – all things came into being through Christ. Christ is the Creator and also the means, the instrument, by which all things came into being.
Without Christ there’s nothing. He’s the Creator of all things. All things are all from the Father, and they were made through Jesus Christ.
Our existence is not because of our parents – we exist because of Christ. He created all things, and in the present He upholds all things by the word of His power and all things cohere in Him (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:17).
Christ not only created us but He also upholds us. The globe seems to be hanging on nothing, floating in the air, and science may try to explain it this way or that way, but the reality is that Christ upholds it through His word.
Christ speaks, and things come into being. He commands, and things stand. Through His word, things are upheld.
We may think that we take care of ourselves and make our way in life, but even our human existence and human life is upheld by Him. Without Christ upholding us and everything about us, everything will fall apart.
Without Christ upholding us, our career and family will fall apart. All things cohere in Him, all things are held together in Christ. And not only so, in the future He will inherit all things (Rom. 11:36).
He created all things, He upholds all things, and He will inherit all things. Hallelujah, what a Christ!
We praise You Lord Jesus as the Creator, the Upholder, and the Heir of all things! Because of You all things were created, and You are the Creator of all things. Thank You Lord, because of You we are here and we were created. You are the Upholder of all things, and all things cohere in You. Thank You for upholding us, Lord, to live a life for Your purpose on earth. Hallelujah, Jesus Christ is the coming Heir of all things – He will inherit all things. Lord, how we appreciate You as such a One!
Christ Destroyed the Devil through His Death on the Cross
In Heb. 2:14 we see that Christ the Son of God destroyed the devil on the cross.
God promised that the seed of the woman would come to destroy the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15), and in the fullness of time, the Son came to become flesh by being born of a virgin so that He might destroy the devil through His death on the cross (Heb. 2:14; John 1:14; Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4).
In the book of Leviticus we see all the offerings, but we may not understand why does God value them and appreciate them as much as He does; however, in Hebrews we see that Christ is the fulfillment of all these offerings.
Christ is the Son of God expressing Him in the Godhead; in creation He created, upholds, and will inherit all things.
Such a One is the fulfillment of all the offerings, making them meaningful and full of value before God. God sees the value and significance of the offerings because of Christ.
The great Creator came to put on flesh and blood; He put on humanity, He went to the cross, and He destroyed the devil. Hallelujah!
Because this One became flesh, died for us, and destroyed the devil, He is the reality of all the offerings, and He is the unique sin offering, for He condemned sin in the flesh. Praise the Lord!
Christ is the Author of our Salvation, the Captain Leading Many Sons into Glory
It was fitting for Him – for whom are all things and through whom are all things – in leading many sons into glory, to make the Author of our salvation perfect through sufferings (Heb. 2:10).
Christ is the Author, the Captain, of our full salvation unto glory. God’s eternal goal is not merely to save us from sin but to bring His many sons into glory, into the expression of God.
So Christ came, redeemed us, destroyed the devil, and He became the Captain of our salvation. He took the lead to enter into glory, and we – His followers – are taking the same way to be brought into the same glory, which was ordained by God for us (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Thes. 2:12). Hallelujah!
Christ destroyed the devil, and He didn’t just go to heaven – but He entered into glory, becoming the Captain leading us into glory.
Our destination is glory! We are not saved by God merely to be saved from hell, but to be fully saved by entering into glory!
Christ, the Son of God, has already entered into glory, and He as our Captain is bringing us into glory! Hallelujah!
Since we know this, what kind of life should we have today, if we see that our destiny is glory!
We need to live a clean and holy life, a life that matches God’s requirements, for we are destined for glory! God’s requirement is not just that we would be clean people, but that we would be a people brought into the expression of God, into glory.
Our manner of life should be worthy of His calling, for we have been called to God’s kingdom and glory.
Thank You Lord for being the Author of our salvation and the Captain leading us into glory! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ destroyed the devil and entered into glory, cutting the way; now we as the many sons of God follow Him to be brought into the same glory which was ordained by God for us! Amen, Lord, may our manner of life today be one that be worthy of Your calling, for Your called us to God’s kingdom and glory. Bring us all the way into glory, Lord!
Christ is the Apostle and the Builder of God’s House: He is fully Qualified!
In Heb. 3:1-6 we see two very particular aspects of Christ – He is the Apostle and the Builder of God’s house.
The first apostle was not Noah or Moses, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the genuine apostle. The Lord Jesus is our Apostle, the One who was sent to us from God and with God; He came to us with God to share God with us so that we may partake of His divine life and nature (John 6:46; 8:16, 29; 10:10b).
He was with God, He knows God, and He was sent by God to come to us to express the Father, share the Father, and even impart the Father’s life into us; He came that we may have God’s life and may have it abundantly.
This One, Jesus Christ, is superior to Moses; Moses was an apostle in the Old Testament, and he did a great work for God by taking the children of out of Egypt and bringing them all the way to the good land.
But Moses was only human – he had only the human nature; he could care for God’s house, but he couldn’t build God’s house.
Christ, the Son of God, has two natures: He is both divine and human, possessing both divinity and humanity.
He came to us as the apostle sent by God to speak and impart God to us, so that we may receive God and be constituted with the life and nature of God and be built up as God’s house, His building.
Christ’s humanity qualifies Him to be the material for God’s building, and His divinity qualifies Him to be the builder of God’s building.
Moses was faithful in caring for God’s house, but he had only humanity and was at best part of the building; this One, Jesus Christ, came to impart God’s life and nature into us, and in His divinity He is qualified to be the material and the builder of God’s building. Hallelujah!
What a view did Paul have of the book of Leviticus as he applied it in Hebrews!
He didn’t see just the offerings, the ordinances, the procedures, and the ceremonies – Paul saw Christ as the center of all the types, and he realized that Christ is everything in the service, life, and fellowship of God’s people, and this Christ builds God’s house.
Thank You Lord for coming to us as the Apostle to express God, speak God’s word, do God’s work, and bring God into us. Hallelujah for our Christ, the Apostle sent by God to do God’s work! Thank You Lord for being the Builder of God’s house in Your humanity and in Your divinity. You are fully qualified not only to speak God’s word but also build God’s house by imparting the element of God into man! Hallelujah! Lord, we give ourselves to You to have more of Your element added to our being and constituted into us so that we may be intrinsically a part of God’s house, His building!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 369, 371 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 3, Hebrews as an Exposition of Leviticus.
- Hymns on this topic:
# There is One whose arms upholdeth / This whole creation vast, / Yet He bids us on His bosom / Our cares and sorrows cast; / Let us bring them all to Jesus, / The first and the last, / The first and the last. (Hymns #514)
# With glory and with honor crowned, / All things to Thee are subject; / As Captain of salvation, full, / Thou art thru sufferings perfect. (Hymns #188, stanza 8)
# Superior Thou to Moses, Lord, / As to the house the builder; / Thou, our Apostle sent from God, / Art worthy of more splendor. (Hymns #188, stanza 11)
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