The Lord Jesus holds a unique position of prominence over the entire creation and is its rightful ruler.
As the author to the Hebrews begins his work, he opens with this idea of the grandeur of the Son and specifically how He far surpasses angels. Angels are ministering spirits, sent out as God’s servants (Heb. 1:14). Yet, the Son of God is the very imprint of the Father’s nature (Heb. 1:3). Out of all of the spiritual beings in the heavenly places He alone is preeminent.
Christ is one-of-a-kind. He is the unique or only Son from the Father (see Jn. 3:16). He is in a class all of His own.
Now, what is so amazing that the writer shares with us in this passage is that this same eternal Son of God became the messenger of the greatest news of all.
For a long time, God spoke through prophets. He tried to reach His rebellious people through intermediaries that would plead with them concerning their sin. The latter half of the Old Testament is the consistent record of God’s messengers being rejected.
The prophets would warn the people, calling them to repentance and covenant-faithfulness, and the people continued in their rebellion that culminated with the Assyrian exile for Israel and the Babylonian captivity for Judah.
Now, after so many failed attempts—not because of God’s inadequacy or the inadequacy of His messengers, but solely because of His peoples’ sins—He sent a final messenger and spoke a final time.
The very same Son who cocreated the world, the One who is the very radiance of the glory of God, and the One who upholds the universe by the word of His power came down (Heb. 1:2-3) becoming incarnate to deliver a message to us.
He delivered a message of the love of God. A message that despite humankind’s continual rebellion God was willing to extend forgiveness as a free gift of grace. The message of the gospel was too precious to be delivered secondhand so the Son of God, the very Word of God (see Jn. 1:1) came down to share it firsthand.
Now, what is so beautiful is that the Lord Jesus Christ became not only the messenger, but the very content of that message. Not only was He the first herald of the good news, but He Himself is the good news!
He came down in order to make purification for sins (Heb. 1:3b). He did not come to be worshipped and enthroned in an earthly palace, although He was certainly worthy of it, but He came to die as the supreme message of the love of God.
As we survey the book of Hebrews, we will see this continual idea that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and that the new covenant instituted by His blood is far greater than all previous covenants and is indeed the fulfillment of God’s plan of redemption.
Let us never lose sight of the wonder that the Message Himself came down to be the Messenger, to give us a final word from God that need not be upgraded. There is no update to the new covenant, no change necessary, it is the final word of redemption, spoken from heaven itself in these last days until the culmination of all things when Christ returns.
In that message we can hope, both today and unto eternity.