Mike Bickle emphasizes the supremacy of Jesus in his sermon based on Hebrews 1:1-3, highlighting that Jesus is the heir of all things, the creator of the universe, and the exact representation of God's glory. He explains that understanding Jesus' magnificence transforms our emotions and strengthens our spirits, enabling us to endure hardships and resist compromise. Bickle also addresses the early church's struggle against the heresy that denied Jesus' divinity, affirming that He is both fully God and fully man, uniquely positioned to redeem humanity. The sermon calls believers to deepen their relationship with Jesus, recognizing His worthiness and the profound implications of His exaltation as the King of kings.

Thank you, John. Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. Father, we thank you in the name of Jesus for the glory of your Son that you gave him to us. We thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We ask you, Holy Spirit, to magnify Jesus in the human heart even now. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, today I want to talk from Hebrews chapter 1 on the supremacy of Jesus. I just want to give one paragraph here in the notes of review from last week for those that are with us for the first time. So I'm teaching a series on the magnificent obsession with Christ Jesus. Our goal is to be obsessed with his magnificence because he's worthy of it, number one. And number two, that is what makes our spirit vibrant, which makes our spirit strong so we can walk out the destiny that God has called us to. But paragraph A, just by way of review, there's no aspect in the grace of God that more powerfully transforms the emotions or satisfies the heart more than when God the Holy Spirit reveals God to our spirit. When God reveals God to us, when the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to our spirit, it satisfies us, it transforms us. There's a deep connection between what we see and how we feel. A lot of people want to try to change the way they feel without changing the way they see or the way they think about God. Philippians chapter 3 verse 8, which is the theme verse for this series, Paul said, I count everything lost because of the excellence, because of the magnificence of the man Christ Jesus that I encounter him. I see him and I want to see more. I want to feel more. I want to be close to this man. He exhilarates my spirit. So Paul gladly gave up everything because he wanted, because of who the man Christ Jesus was to him and what he saw about him. And he wanted to feel the power of it and see more of it. The prayer I've prayed over the years that I recommend, I've told the Lord if I could see what Paul saw, I could live in the dedication Paul lived in. If I could see what he saw about Jesus, then I could live dedicated. I could live the way Paul lived. And again, there's a deep connection between what we see and how we feel and how we live. The Holy Spirit has been given to us and he is the escort. He will take us by the hand, so to speak, and lead us into the deep things of God's heart. But he will only do it based on our hunger for it. If we're not hungry for it, he won't show us more. There's no force feeding. But rather, he will give us the power to see if we want to see more. And that seeing is what enables us to be obsessed with his magnificence. With paragraph B, we're going to look at Hebrews chapter 1, just three verses this morning. Now Hebrews 1 is one of the great passages in the Bible about the supremacy and magnificence of Jesus. So just note that if this is a new chapter in terms of your focus and study. Hebrews was written, Hebrews 1 was written in the whole book to equip the early church, the Hebrew believers. That's why it's called Hebrews. It's written specifically to Jewish believers. And what was happening in that day in the early church is that there were, the primary heresy that was spreading was that Jesus was an anointed prophet, but he wasn't God. Though he was worthy of great acclaim and attention and honor, but he was not God. He was just the greatest man. That same heresy is spreading even in the church today. But the second reason that Hebrews 1 was written and the entire book was to empower these early first century Hebrew believers, Jewish believers to resist compromise. Because they were being greatly persecuted by the Roman authorities as well as the Jewish authorities. Rome was persecuting them and the Jewish leaders were persecuting them. And, and they were being tempted to leave Jesus and go back to just the Old Testament sacrifices and just be a good citizen and just go to the temple services of the synagogue and just, just stop this Jesus stuff. And so this book was written, and this chapter in particular, as a motivation to endure hardship. To press in and not to draw back. Now, because today most of us really know very little if any persecution, this, the reality of Jesus will motivate us to press through spiritual boredom or to press through temptation. And in the days to come, persecution is surely coming. Regardless whether it's boredom, temptation, or persecution, it's the same remedy. The magnificence of Jesus is what empowers the human spirit to stand strong and to be loyal. Well Hebrews 1 sets forth His supremacy, His preeminence, His worthiness. And it brings together in this one chapter, if you read it carefully, it brings together three of the, of the great messianic Psalms of the Old Testament. The three Psalms, the Royal Son of Psalm 2, the Royal Priest of Psalm 110, and the Royal Bridegroom of Psalm 45. All three of these messianic Psalms are quoted all in Hebrews chapter 1. And for the eager student, I would encourage you to search that out. It's magnificent. Well the highlights in this chapter, and just a quick broad strokes, is the preeminence of Jesus, I mean the preexistence of Jesus as God. Do you know that Jesus is uncreated like the Father? He preexisted before the worlds were made. There was never a time He did not exist. He's uncreated like the Father. He's as much God as the Father and the Spirit are. The second main theme is the incarnation as man. He became man. He, He embraced the human limitations that we experience. I mean here we have the uncreated God dwelling in a human body, hungry, and tired, and even tempted as we are. This is remarkable. And then the third broad theme that we find not only in Hebrews 1, but throughout the entire book, is His eternal exaltation. That as the God-man, there is none like Him. He alone is the God-man. The Father is not human. He's not the God-man. No great man is God. Only Jesus is the God-man. He's totally unique as King of kings. And He will rule the earth forever and forever as the King over all. So those are the three broad strokes in Hebrews 1, as well as the entire book. Paragraph C. Now specific to this, the specific themes, or I will call them the excellencies of Christ, using the phrase of Paul, I've seen the excellencies of Christ Jesus. There are seven specific themes. And each one of these excellencies is like divine light shining on a different facet of the diamond of Jesus's magnificence. I mean the magnificence of Jesus, the excellency of Jesus, it's like a diamond with many facets to it. Hebrews 1, verses 1 to 3, highlights seven specific truths or excellencies about Him. Let's read this just real quickly here. Hebrews 1, verse 1, for God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed the heir of all things. It's number one. Through whom the Father made the worlds. It's the second thing. Third, Jesus is the brightness of the Father's glory. Fourth, Jesus is the express image of the Father's person. Five, Jesus upholds or sustains the entire created order. Number six, Jesus purged or cleansed not only the people who want to come to God, but He cleansed the created order by the offering up of Himself to pay for the penalty of sin. And then number seven, He is exalted in the premier position of the universe forever as a man, as King of kings, next to the Father, the majesty on high, the coronation of this man in the Father's presence. And He will be received and coronated as such before the nations at the time of the second coming. He's at the right hand of the Father, the eternal exaltation. Well in just a short time this morning we could only give the briefest statements about each one of them. I'll spend most of the time on one, Jesus as the heir of all things, because that's the first one stated. The other six actually qualify or they point to the quality and the glory and the reality of who this heir really is. But first let's start with the paragraph D, the phrase that God spoke to us by His Son. Jesus is the final message. He's the full message to humanity about God. God does not have another message coming. This is it. Whatever we find out that's true about God or we discover about God, we will see through the lens of Jesus and through our relationship to Him and being under His leadership. To know what God is saying we have to look to Jesus. And we need to be bold about that, because to refuse what God is saying through Jesus is to refuse God. This lie that's spreading rapidly around the world that is being trumpeted that all religions lead to God, it's, it's a lie. They don't lead to God. There's only one faith that leads to God and that's the faith in Jesus. And that's not a religion, it's a relationship. And the reason that it's the only one that leads to God, because it's the only one that provided an answer for the crisis of sin. One man that took the penalty and removed the problem of sin so we could come to God. There is no other religion in the earth that does that, that even claims to do that. So Christianity alone, it's the only faith that leads to God. And we don't need to apologize that. Though we can honor the people in other religions, and we give them dignity, and we give them value, and we love them, and we relate to them, but we don't want to lie to them that they have the truth. That's not toleration. That's, that's, in my opinion that's a crime against them. To hold the truth from them in the name of love, but rather in the name of love we give them the truth, but we honor them and value them each step of the way, whether they receive the truth or not by virtue of the fact that they're human. Well let's look at Roman numeral two, the first of the seven excellencies highlighted in these three verses. Jesus, here's the main point of which the other six, they qualify it and they magnify it, because this is the point that the Hebrew Christians were struggling with. Who is the heir? Well they knew Jesus was the heir, but they were being greatly persecuted for taking that stand. So this is the main point, I believe, of which the other six magnify in a glorious way. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2, that He, the Father, has appointed one man as the heir of all. That's, that's the meaning of this passage. He's appointed Jesus as heir of all. Now when did this appointment take place? Well it occurred in the eternal counsels long ago. Between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Father ordained that His Son, eternally God, would become a man, go down to the earth, and solve the problem that sin has brought to the human race. And then as a man, He would become the rightful heir of everything that was created. Now the reason this is such an important point, was because paragraph B, the Roman and the Jewish authorities were persecuting the Jewish, the Hebrew believers, for looking, for believing and proclaiming Jesus as heir, or Jesus as King. You could even put the word King there, instead of the word heir. It has the same practical meaning in terms of application. Well the Romans said Caesar was the heir of the nations. He was the rightful owner. And the Jewish authorities, the Sanhedrin, said they would tell the Jewish believers, no, Caesar's not. He isn't. That's idolatry. We are the rightful heirs as, of the promises that God gave David. As sons of David, we are the heirs. The writer of Hebrews came along and says, no, no, that's not exactly right. They could participate in the inheritance, but only if they are in right relationship to one man, because everything is His. As the Son of Man, as the Son of David, as a man, He is heir. Now the focus here is Jesus being an heir as a man. Now Jesus, as God, has the right over all of created order, but the point of focus is a man inherited all things. He inherited all the Old Testament promises. He inherited all the land. He inherited all the property. He inherited everything from the Father as a man. Now again, these Jewish believers were being persecuted, and the Hebrews 1 was written to show how worthy Jesus is. It's worth it to endure hardship. It's worth it to bear the difficulty of following Him with all of your heart. And again, because there's not much persecution now, again it's coming worldwide to all the nations, we can bear through the difficulty of temptation. We can bear through the difficulty, and this is a real difficulty, of just spiritual boredom and spiritual dullness, because the man is worth it. He's worthy. Now the writer of Hebrews, which nobody knows exactly who that writer is, my guess is it was Paul the Apostle. There's a lot of evidence that points that way, but the evidence is not conclusive. You can't say for sure. But here's what the writer of Hebrews says, the most radical idea, that this Jewish man who was a criminal, who didn't accomplish anything that people could observe with their natural eyes that were accomplishments, as men count accomplishments. I mean he didn't have a school. He wasn't, didn't hold a position in the state. He didn't, didn't do any of the things that, things that men do when they have great accomplishments. But he is the heir of the world. I mean this was an outrageous statement to the unbelieving mind. That Jewish criminal, that vagabond that wandered around the nation with no place to lay his head, he is the heir of Israel? More than that, the heir of all the earth. Well they wanted to know where things were going. The Jewish believers, where are things going? I mean is Rome going to triumph? Are the, is the Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin going to triumph? And the answer is this, no. The one you're believing in, the one that you're pressing into, in a short amount of time all will see He is the rightful heir. Stay true to Him. He's worth it. Press in with all of your heart. That's the message. Top of page 2, paragraph C. The Father has ordained that Jesus will take over everything. I mean this is the biggest statement. The Father ordained this. He appointed it in the eternal councils in time past. He said, Son, by virtue of becoming a man and offering yourself up in obedience even unto death, the reward of your sufferings, everything is yours. And of course we know Jesus is going to use this inheritance, the thing that He inherited as a man, and He's going to bring it all back to the Father and offer it back to Him. That's another message for another time. Paragraph D. Jesus will take over all the property of the earth. I mean could you imagine He's going to own New York City, London, Paris, every city of the earth, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, every city of the earth one man will own all the property. I mean this is an amazing statement. If you think about it. And it's going to happen in the Millennial Kingdom. It will all be His. And He will bring others into the stewardship of it, but under His authority. But He will only take over everything on the basis of truth and humility and righteousness in love. And then He will dispense all that He inherits. He'll dispense it, He will delegate it, and He will entrust it to others. He will do with great wisdom, with great justice and great generosity. Look at what it says in Psalm 45 verse 4, talking about Jesus at the Second Coming. That's what this Psalm 45 is in context to. Jesus will ride forth, meaning at the time of the Second Coming, and all the events that surround it as He takes over the nations. He will be victorious over all resisting powers. But look what I want to emphasize is, He will do it on behalf of truth, on behalf of humility and righteousness, in one word, love. He will do it for the sake of love, and He will dispense these great assets based on love and generosity. Now there's never been a man like this. He wants the power. He takes the power. It's based on truth. There will be no lies. There will be no spin in His administration at all. None. None whatsoever. All because He wants truth to spread across the earth. He will do it in humility. There'll be no pride. There'll be no revenge. No dark agenda rooted in some proud kind of mindset. It'll be based on humility. His own humility. And then in righteousness. He will treat everybody in perfect righteousness. No injustice in His administration. Even the least person on the earth. They will get a better deal than they deserve. Everyone will get more than they deserve. I mean what a remarkable description of a man's leadership on the earth. Jesus alone is the assurance that love will never diminish on the earth. If it was given to another, love would diminish eventually. But because everything's in His hand, love will increase and increase forever. There will never ever be a bad story that unfolds as this thing comes to its fullness. Oh we love this man. Beloved this is the man we worshipped a moment ago. This is the man that we give ourselves to. Paragraph E. John had a vision of the Father giving the title deed of the earth to Jesus. And when He gave Him the title deed called the scroll in the Father's right hand, the scroll was the title deed and the Father gave it to the Son. And in receiving this title deed there are seven areas of society or life on the earth that Jesus takes the full leadership on a global level. Seven areas. And the angels proclaim it around the throne even now. But what the angels proclaim about Jesus's leadership over the earth, these prophetic declarations, the the people of the earth forever and forever will echo and they will restate this declaration about Him. Let's read Revelations chapter 5 verse 7 and then verse 11 and 12. That He, Jesus, took the scroll or the title deed out of the right hand of the Father, Him who sat on the throne. Verse 11, the angels begin to prophesy. They begin to declare the meaning of this man having the title deed. And they said worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is this man. Fully God, fully man. But it is as a man that is in focus right here. Worthy. It's the Lamb who was slain to receive and then He, the angels delineate seven specific areas of life on the earth. Power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. Now this prophetic declaration that's now going on in heaven, again it will be echoed and it will be proclaimed throughout the ages by both angels and the redeemed forever and forever. This man is worthy. He's deserving, number one. He's worthy. He deserves this kind of preeminence. But not only does he deserve it, he's worthy in the sense he's capable. He's the only body, the only person gifted enough to have this kind of leadership and to cause love to increase on the earth instead of making a mess out of the earth. He's capable. He's worthy. And in a third sense, he's not just deserving and capable, he's worth it. Meaning he's worth us obeying him. As we take the area under our stewardship, whatever God's given to us in this age and the age to come, we bring it willingly under His leadership. We say, you're worth it. Obeying you is worth it. Beloved, nothing will be wasted that's given to Jesus. He will do well. He will excel in everything given to Him by the Father or even by the people who give it willingly to Him out of that which has been entrusted to them. Paragraph F. During the millennium, the thousand-year reign on the earth that's coming soon, it says Jesus will receive these seven, well they're declarations, but again they speak of spheres of responsibility and authorities, what they speak of. Well, He's going to receive it from the Father by sovereign decree, but He's also, very important, going to receive these seven things from people by their voluntary choice as they bring that which is entrusted to them willingly under His leadership. Number one, all the power, the governmental authority, every strat of society will belong to Him in the millennial kingdom. It belongs to Him now, but this will be openly seen by all, by every eye, by every single witness in heaven and in hell, and on the earth will see this thing fully manifest. All the riches, all the money, all the natural resources, the banking systems will be under Him. All the wisdom, He not only will have all the wisdom to set everything in order to fix every problem, but all the intellectual property of all the earth will be His, and He will dispense it according to His generosity, and His justice, and His understanding. All the strength, I believe this refers to the physical strength, the labor force, all the human resource of the earth will be under His leadership. All the glory, the adulation, the praise, the credit, the love, this is the man that the nations will be talking about with adoration and love in their heart. All the honor, Ephesians, or the scripture, several places, talks about honor your father and your mother, speaking of respectful obedience. There will be an honor in the sense of every individual, as an individual they will honor Him, they will offer their individual obedience to Him. Blessing, I believe this is corporate, not individual, although individuals will bless Him. All the nations at every level, they will agree with His policies. There will be a united cooperation with His leadership. I mean today we look at the nations, all the nations of the earth, there's political resistance on one hand to whoever is in power. They have adversaries resisting them, and all kinds of delays, and blocking of their agendas, and filibusters, and vetoes, politicians resisting the central power all over the earth, political resistance. But then the people, there's civil unrest, riots, and revolutions. But beloved, there's a leader that's going to be in place on the earth, everyone at every level, they will bless His policies, they will bless His agenda, they will cooperate with it at every level of society. Jesus will be the most powerful. Look at here at the end of F, the most wealthy, the wisest, the most supported, the most praised, the most loved, most obeyed, most respected, most talked about, most listened to man on the earth. Isn't this awesome? But beloved, we want to begin, we want to live in that spirit now to the degree that we can in the grace of God. Not wait till then, but this is already, the inheritance has been given to Him already by the Father, but it's going to be fully manifest in the earth. Now we have tokens of this kind of response of people, small tokens, negative. In history, when a dictator that's deceived a nation raises up, like an Adolf Hitler, a small number of a small part of the nation, still millions, but still in part they give him control over the banking, control over the workforce, control over the government. They adore him, they had his picture everywhere, they worshipped him. Well it was only in part, and it was very temporary, and it destroyed the nation. But there's coming a man. It won't be in part, it'll be every individual, every institution on the earth, and it will be forever, and it will bring blessing, and righteousness, and truth everywhere across the earth. This is the man that we worship. He is the heir of everything. Well that's the one I wanted to spend most of the time on. Now these other six that follow, they, they're each of them are a, would be not only a book, but a library of information, each one of these other six. But I'm just going to mention them briefly, and we point to who this man is. Number two, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2. He, whom, that's Jesus, whom the Father appointed heir of all things. Now here's the phrase, through whom the Father made the worlds. So Jesus is not just the heir, He's also the creator. Now notice the word worlds is in plural, because it means more than the physical world. It means the spiritual world, and it means more than just the physical, and the spiritual world with the angels, and demons, and all the hierarchy in both realms. It also means the time frames, and the storyline related to what was created in both realms. Meaning this, Jesus not only created everything, He determines what's going to happen with that which He created. The storyline is His together with the Father in the Spirit. Now why did the writer of Hebrews make this point about the heir also being the creator? Well because in the early church the primary heresy was that Jesus was an anointed prophet, the greatest man ever, but He was not God. The writer of Hebrews says no, He's the creator. And if you are the creator, you have to be God. Only God can create. That's the idea. Though in a moment in verse 8, He's going to say very straightforward, we're not going to look at it today, He is God. And in several other places through the book of Hebrews as well. Paragraph C, He created everything in the invisible and the visible realm. All the angelic and demonic in the supernatural, invisible, heavenly realm. All of the authority structures of angels and demons, and all the authority structures in the natural, from the authority structures of humans, to straight through the animal kingdom. All the authority structures are under His authority. Man, this is amazing! And He doesn't just have the—He didn't just create these two realms, He creates the ages, is what the word worlds means. It means the ages, the time frames, meaning the storyline that unfolds in light of these dimensions being created. He's over the storyline. Not just up until now, forever and forever, a million years from now, more will unfold that will fascinate and excite us that comes out of this man's heart. Again in full relationship with the Father, under the Father's authority, and through the Spirit, He will carry this stewardship. Amazing! One of the grand parts of the storyline that we know from Ephesians 1.10, He's going to join the spiritual realm of the heavens and the physical realm of the earth. He's going to join them together on this earth forever. I mean what a storyline! What a storyline! I was witnessing to a Jewish woman just last week, and she says, you know, this Jesus thing that—she goes, I'm not a Christian, I'm Jewish. I go, well, so am I, sort of. I mean, I probably—I'm more Jewish than you are, you know, sorry to say that, because I'm of the tree of Abraham. I'm in the downline of Abraham. I got grafted into your faith. She's like, okay, whatever. And I said, this man, this Jewish man, is going to bring together the heavenly realm and the earthly realm together on the earth. We're going to have physical resurrected bodies on the earth in His presence. We're going to eat food. We're going to know each other. We're going to relate. We're going to learn. We're going to work in the glory of God. She said, wow! She goes, I've never heard of that. She goes, that would be so amazing. I said, your guys came up with this storyline. Not the Gentiles, the Jewish guys came up with this. She goes, really? Anyway, we had a long story. I mean, a long conversation. Top of page 3. Anyway, I love the fact that this man is the creator of the world, the ages, the storyline, the invisible, the visible realms, everything, and all the hierarchy of everything is under his leadership. That's what's going to guarantee blessing on the earth. Oh, we love this man. He's so worth obeying. He is so worth pressing through the resistance of our temptation and compromise and our negative feelings and negative emotions and our depression and our lethargy and our dullness. He's worth it. Beloved, he's worth pressing through even if it doesn't feel good to press through until we break through. Number three, now we get into Jesus, another dimension of His deity, not just as the creator, but His humanity and deity, but the fact that He is the radiance or the brightness of the Father. When it says the radiance of God, we're talking about of the Father. Hebrews 1 verse 3, Jesus being the brightness of the Father's glory, and then He is the express image of the Father's personhood. Wow! What does this mean? Well, I'll say from the beginning, this is way bigger than my little brain. I look at this, and I bow before it, and I have a couple little sentences, and I ask the Lord, is this right? And I didn't get an answer, but I would imagine something like, well, it's the beginning of the beginning. It's a good start. So my descriptions are greatly inadequate of what these glorious statements mean. I just wanted to say that on the front end. Jesus' relationship to the Father is being compared to the relationship of rays of light to the sun that the rays of light come from. That's the analogy, very practical analogy, that describes how the Father and the Son relate to the earth. He calls Him the brightness of the Father's glory. Now the word brightness speaks of the pouring forth, that's what it means. The pouring forth, or the streaming forth. Jesus is the streaming forth, the pouring forth of the brightness of the Father's glory. He is that as a man. I mean, can you imagine a man who is the epitome, the fullness of the streaming forth of the light rays that come from God? Paragraph B. Now to understand this lofty and grand truth that is bigger than our minds, but we can eat at this table a little bit and satisfy ourselves because our appetite and our capacity is so little, a little bit will make us go, wow. But the Lord would say, oh, there's so much more to feast on in this truth. But your appetite and your capacity will grow over time, and you will see how much more I have to give you even according to these truths of the magnificence of Jesus. Well, to understand Jesus as the brightness of glory and the express image of the Father's person, we have to understand Jesus is of the same nature, the same substance, and the same essence as God. He is of the essence of God, which means His essential being is God, is divine. The essential being of the Father is divine. The essential being of the Son is divine. They have the same essence. That's what that means. But though they have the same substance and essence, and those are inadequate words by the way. Those words don't depict the fullness of the mystery, but those are just the words used by the early church fathers right through church history. We find them in many of the creeds of history that they are of the same substance, the same essence, but we acknowledge how inadequate those terms really are. Though Jesus is of the same essence as the Father, His essential being as deity is what that means, yet Jesus is still a distinct person from the Father. He's distinct. That's a glorious truth. It's a mysterious truth. Of the same essence, but distinct as a person. One God in three persons, which is the stumbling block of the world religions. Because it takes Holy Spirit inspiration to even touch the beginning of that glorious and grand mystery. One man said in history, I think it was Augustine, who said that if you try to define the Trinity you'll lose your mind, but if you deny the Trinity you'll lose your soul. We'll be spending a session on the Trinity and the glory of the fellowship of the three persons of the Godhead and how they relate to one another. Again, I'll say well ahead, that it will be wholly inadequate, but it will be a feeble beginning, but it will be a beginning. That presentation, I'm nervous about it, not because of you, because the angels are watching me going, are you kidding? That's what you think, like gee whiz, this guy needs to grow up. But anyway, that's, I'll worry about that later. Paragraph C, the unspoken analogy behind this truth is the relationship of the sun to its rays of light that stream forth from the sun. Here it is, as the radiance of a ray of light beams from the sun to bring light and life to the earth, so also the radiance of Jesus beams from the Father to bring light and life to the earth. So there's an analogy. Go on to the next sentence, we're reading paragraph C because I want you to get this. The brightness of the sun's rays express the same nature as the sun. I mean when a ray of light touches the earth, we enjoy it is the same nature as the sun from which this light proceeded and streams forth from. However, though the ray is of the same substance, it is not actually the sun itself. It's distinct from the sun, though the exact essence of the sun. There is no time in the sun's existence where rays did not exist. If the sun stops existing, the rays stop existing and vice versa. They are perfectly one is the idea. Now just one more statement about Jesus in this. He is both the light as God and He is also the bearer or the communicator of God's light. So He is the outshining of the Father's light while Himself being the light. Paragraph D. Now this is a really remarkable passage in 2nd Corinthians 4 verse 6. Paul applies this truth of Jesus being the beaming, the streaming forth of the Father's glory. He applies it to our personal life. And Paul points out a great miracle of how this affects our life in a very personal way. Let's read this in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6. He said it is the Father God who commanded light to shine out of darkness. Now the Father commanded this back in Genesis 1 at the beginning of the creation. The Father commanded light to shine out of darkness. Now here's the miracle. Light doesn't just shine into darkness. Light shines out of darkness. I don't fully understand all the implications of that. That's a great miracle. That it's a miracle in the natural but it's also a miracle in the spiritual, our spiritual relationship. Meaning that out of the darkness back in Genesis 1 in the physical sense light shines out of darkness. A great miracle. But in the spiritual sense even as born-again believers with dark areas in our life and our thinking and our understanding light still radiates from us. We are still anointed to be those that release the glory of God to others. I mean how could people as weak and broken as us, could we receive the light and then even be used as vessels to release it to others? That's the miracle. Light shines out of the darkness both in the physical and in the spiritual sense. Let's read the whole verse again. It is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness. This great miracle. This is the one who has shone in our heart. It's the Father shining in our heart. It's the Father's beaming glory shining in our heart and shining through us when we touch others. But this shining of God the Father is done in the face of Jesus. Or you could put the term in the person of Jesus. So the beaming of the Father that touches us, that makes us understand God, experience God, that helps us to communicate the grace of God to others. That beaming of the Father actually is through the face of the person of Jesus. But it touches our heart. It imparts. There's an impartation. It touches us on the inside. And even in our brokenness that light shines out of us to other people as well. What a miracle of miracles. Number four. Jesus is the exact representation of the Father. He's the exact or the perfect representation of the Father. Hebrews 1 verse 3. We'll read the verse again and focus on the second part of it. Jesus being the brightness of the Father's glory. We just looked at that. And Jesus is also the express image of the Father's person. Now the word express image, and you have it in the notes there, means the exact representation. Jesus is the exact representation of the Father's person. Or the word person is also the word the Father's essence, of the Father's substance. The Father's essential being is deity. Jesus is the exact representation of the Father's deity. Wow! What a statement. We're talking about a man and a human body. God shining through this man through the face of Jesus, touching the darkness in this world, and then flowing out of us to others. That's all because of what Jesus did for us and with us in redemption. I mean what He did for us in redemption and what He does with us in our relationship to Him. Okay paragraph B. The Father's glory is made visible to the natural world. It's made visible to humans through Jesus. Colossians 1 15. He is the image. He is the visible expression. That's what the image means. The visible expression of the invisible God. It says in 1st Timothy 6 16, I don't have it on the notes, God the Father dwells in unapproachable light and nobody can see Him. God the Father dwells in unapproachable light, nobody can see Him. But Jesus in His humanity is a, the image is the physical expression, the physical picture of the God who dwells in unapproachable light that no man has ever seen. Now the point of this phrase, one of the points in each of these phrases, these truths have truth far beyond what I have the ability to understand and much less the ability to communicate in any full sense. In other words these are big truths. I'm only touching the beginning of the beginning. So somebody might say, okay Jesus is the brightness of the glory of God. He's the supernatural brightness. He touches us and that bright glory touched me. And then Paul or the writer of Hebrews would come along and say, and I want you to know the way He touched you in His brightness, it is perfectly accurate representation of the Father. There is no deviation from the truth of the Father when the glory of Jesus touches you. Now some people have a wrong idea. They think of God in the Old Testament as the God of wrath and the God of the New Testament is the God of love. I've heard that over the years and so have many of you. Well this is the New Testament, the God of love, the Old Testament God of wrath. Extremely simplistic perspective of the Bible, but a totally erroneous, a complete error, completely false. The God of the Old and the God of the New is exactly the same God. The God of the Old and the God of the New, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There's no difference, there's no shifting of shadow, no variance at all. He is fully in both Testaments the God of love, the God of mercy, the God of justice, the God of anger, the God of wrath. He never changes His personality ever. So don't think of, well Jesus is the nice one, the Father's a little bit mean, but you know it's okay as long as you talk to the Father through Jesus things will work out. No, completely false. They are in total unity. When the glory of God touches us, the brightness of God touches us, I can assure you when it touches us through Jesus it's the exact representation of the Father's character in essence. Look at here in paragraph C, Colossians 2 9. In Jesus all the fullness of God, all the fullness of the Father is in a human body being expressed oh this hurts my brain this is so big. I feel like I've been on a long fast and I sit down to eat you know a 16 ounce steak and about three bites into it I'm hurting. I'm trying to eat this thing, I'm hurting. The Lord's answer would be you'll expand, just stay with it. You'll get more familiar with it. Let's look at top of page 4 just very briefly. The fifth facet of the magnificence or excellence of Jesus. He's the sustainer of the universe and that includes the sustainer of the body of Christ and that includes the sustainer of our life and our heart too. Paragraph, let's look at Hebrews 1 3. Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power. In other words, by the word of His power means He speaks His word to release His power or He energizes and renews everything He creates by speaking over it. Jesus renews. Jesus energizes everything He creates by speaking His word over it. So it wasn't enough to create. He has to sustain. There has to be continual input of energy in life into what He created or creation would wear out. So He created it and after He creates it, it begins the journey of wearing out except He speaks into it. And He speaks into the laws of nature and the very word that He speaks energizes and releases life and it sustains everything. The word upholding means to support, to sustain. Paragraph B, creation nor can the body of Christ sustain itself without Jesus speaking over it. If He stopped speaking, the earth would wear out. Let's go to number six. Jesus is the Redeemer or the cleanser. He's the one that cleanses the universe. That's what I mean by redeemed. He purged it, meaning He cleansed all the defilement of sin. He removed it is what it means. He purged it. He took all the defilement and moved it completely out of the of the way. He paid the price for it. Now Hebrews 1 3, He by Himself, by Himself, no one else was capable of helping Him. It had to be a man, by the way. Only a man could cleanse the earth that God gave under the leadership of men and women. Back in Genesis 1, He said, Adam, Eve, it's yours. It's under your leadership. And God will never take the earth back from the appointment and the stewardship He gave humans. And when humans defiled the earth with sin, only a human can cleanse the earth. So He by Himself, because there was no other. God can't cleanse the earth. A man has to pay this price of sin for men. A man has to come to the earth that's under man and cleanse the earth. So by Himself, He cleansed it. He purged it. Beloved, this is the most difficult of all. Jesus only had to speak to create. He didn't have to stand sitting at the right hand of the Father. Worlds, let there be light. Boom, there's light. Jesus only has to speak to sustain. Worlds wearing out a little bit, He speaks. And I don't know how it all works, but He speaks. He energizes, renews everything. But in order to cleanse, to purge, to forgive, whichever word you want to use, He couldn't speak only. That's not sufficient. He had to stand. He had to take on the form of a man. He had to descend to the earth, be born of a virgin. He had to act, not just speak. Not only that, He had to live perfect as a man so He could qualify as the offering for sin. Then He was crushed by the wrath of God and paid for the sin. This is far more difficult than creating or sustaining. I can just imagine, this is my own version, the Father looks at the Son in eternity past, after sin has been introduced, and He looks at Him, or even before the foundations of the world, and He looks at Him. And I can just imagine, because the gospel of John says many times, the Father sent the Son. He was sent by the Father. But I imagine there's such unity, the Father looked Him in the eye, maybe didn't even say a word. This is my version of it. I don't know if it's true, but He looked at Him. I'm sure it happened differently than this. And Jesus nodded His head and said, I understand, Father. I'll go. I understand, because here's the dilemma. Once Jesus became a man, He had to be human forever. Like the Father could have said something like, Son, if you take this on, you do realize a million years from now, you will still be human. Do you understand? You will not have one nature like I do as God. You'll be the only one in existence with two natures, fully God, fully man. You'll always be human. But the only way to deliver humans is through a human. Will you go? And Jesus said, yes. And He solved the crisis that sin created. I tell you, He could not solve this crisis by speaking the way He created, the way He sustains, the way He rules. He had to act in the most sacrificial way, embracing humility we cannot even comprehend. Oh love divine! Who can understand the depths of what He went through? Anyway, He redeemed. He cleansed. Number seven, bringing this to conclusion. Chapter 1 verse 3, when He purged our sins, when He cleansed, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Majesty on high is a description of the Father. He sat at the Father's right hand, right next to the Father. But He sat next to the Father not as just God. I mean, He's always God. Jesus is eternally God in the past and the present. And it's not strange that God, the Son, would sit next to God, the Father. That's very predictable. That makes total sense. What is strange, what's unusual, is that a man, a human, is sitting next to the Father. A human is. I mean, He's fully man. He's as much human as you and I are. So He's sitting. I mean, the ultimate exultation. He's enthroned. The great coronation in heaven as He's crowned and received as He returns. The great celebration and coronation in heaven. But there's going to be a coronation service on the earth for all the nations to see as well. They will see Him crowned king and made king in the nations before the eyes of all. Every demon in hell, every unbeliever in hell, every believer, everybody will see Him established as Lord over all as a man on the earth with everything submitted to Him. Beloved, this is the man that we obey. This is the man that we press through to seek. This is the man that is the reason for what we're doing in our life spiritually of giving ourself to Him with such effort and such extravagance. Well, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. When He sat down, that means the Father received Him. It's the proof that His sacrifice was accepted, but it's more than just His sacrifice was accepted. When Jesus sat down, you and I were guaranteed, I mean our salvation was, it happened, but it's more. He received Him as a man, as His partner at His right hand forever. Jesus the Son of David sat down, not just Jesus the Redeemer. It's a permanent position He sat down. What a remarkable reality. Paragraph B. Two prophets in the same generation about 500 years BC, Daniel and Ezekiel, they both saw, 500 years before Christ, they saw a man on a throne next to God. Now today, 2,000 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, we're used to the idea. We don't really get it, but you know, sure, that's good old, that's good Bible doctrine. But 500 years before Jesus and the Apostles made it known? I mean here's Daniel, the Jewish prophet. He sees, well first we'll start with Ezekiel. Ezekiel 1 he looks up. I mean here's a, he's a young Jewish prophet at the time when he has his vision. He looks up. There's a man. He looks human. He can't be, because he's next to God. He's on a throne. Humans don't make it on thrones in heaven. I don't know what I'm looking at. He looks human. He is a man. He's on a throne. I mean, Ezekiel like, you know, what meaneth thou this? What is this about? A man. Well his contemporary, Daniel, he has the same kind of insight. Look at there in Daniel 7 verse 13 and 14. The Ancient of Days is the name for the Father. There's a man being brought to the Father. Daniel's, you know, over, and he sees it. He looks like a man. It's a man next to God. Like, that's not possible. How can a man get there? How can a man approach God? The angels get close, and they bow down, and the seraphim close their eyes. How can he just walk right up there? This can't be true. Well it was the grace of God. They both lived in the same generation. They could, you know, I'm sure when they heard the testimony and the report of the other guys, they will praise God. There's another body, another person saying this. There's, this is unthinkable. Well Jesus is worthy as a man of this, this preeminent, highest exaltation forever, where all the nations will say power and riches, glory, wisdom, strength, blessing, honor, everything is yours. All the nations will give it. I mean, that's what it's pointing to. But beloved, there's another point. There's another point that I want to leave you with. It's that when Ezekiel saw a man up there, it's not just that God, Jesus is worthy of it. That's the premier point. But there's a secondary point, but we can't overlook it. It's that this was a breakthrough of, for the greatest breakthrough ever of the human race. A man got to the highest pinnacle of power in the created order. A man did. And he beckons fellow humans to join in his train. Come follow after me. In the wake of all that I accomplish, join me and reign with me, is what he calls us to do. I mean, you think of the political situation. If the Democrat wins, he brings all of his Democrat friends, puts them in the cabinet, all the high positions of office. If the Republican wins, he puts all of them in the cabinet positions and all of the high offices. Beloved, a man attained this and he's lobbying for the human race. Come! Come to me. John 17 verse 24, he prayed it. He said, Father, I desire they would be with me where I am, that they would see my glory. He breaks through to the highest pinnacles of power and dignity and honor. But he cries out, John 17 24, Father, I'm doing it that she would be with me. She would be with me, next to me in ruling and reigning. Beloved, the great breakthrough of all of human experience is right here. A man broke through all the way and he beckons us to come with him forever and forever. This is what this man did for us. Amen. Let's stand. Oh Jesus, we love you. Who are you? Who are you? We hardly know you. Oh, we want to be obsessed with your magnificence. Oh, that the excellencies of who you are would touch us, that we would gladly give everything, everything to press into you. There is no sacrifice too great. Let us see what Paul saw, that we could live like he lived. Father, we ask you, help us see. Help us see. Now, just as the worship team comes, I want to just encourage you for a moment. We're going to invite people to come forward in a minute, but just for a moment, just renew your heart before him. Say, Lord, I want to go all the way. I want more Jesus. I want a bigger appetite. I want to throw myself in the relationship deeper. I don't, more costly. I don't care what it cost me. I have to have more of this man. I have to be closer, for he's the one that said, Father, that you would be with me where I am. Oh, Father, that we could be with him where he is. We could see his splendor now. I want to challenge you to renew yourself in your struggle against sin, your struggle to press through barrenness and dullness, to press into God, in your challenge to obey a hundred percent, no matter how extravagant it is. Father, we ask you, touch us now. Beautiful God, Jesus, who are you? Unsearchable riches. You will reign forever. You're the slain in prison land. And I will sing a new song. This is my beloved. This is my friend. Until the end of time, I'm gonna see him face to face. Oh, joy divine. This is my beloved. This is my beloved. This is my friend. Until the end of time, I'm gonna see him face to face. Oh, joy divine. This is my beloved. Greatness is unsearchable. You're the brightest morning star. Jesus, you outshine the brightest sun. King of kings and lord of lords. You will reign forever. You're the slain in prison land. And I will sing a new song. This is my beloved. This is my friend. Until the end of time, I'm gonna see him face to face. Oh, joy divine. I invite you just to come up to these lines up here. You have prayer for healings, for spiritual renewal. For time of rededication to the lord according to these truths. Just come on up if you want. Feel free to come up and just worship if you want that, but stand on the lines, I ask. I'm asking others to come up and pray for them if you want. Oh, come on up. Do you need physical healing when the person prays for you? Tell them, this is beside me. Lord, finish your prayer. Lord, finish your prayer. I know you can do this. I'm asking others to come up and pray for them. Lord, finish your prayer. I know you can do this. Lord, finish your prayer. I'm asking others to come up and pray for them. Lord, finish your prayer. I know you can do this.