I confess. The Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon
is brought to you by Resurrection Life Church
in Apex, North Carolina, a congregation of the
Presbyterian Church in America. This week, we
begin a new sermon series through the book of
Hebrews, From Shadow to Substance. Now, here's
our pastor, Dr. Mark Kadesh. I'm just really
excited. to do this because I've been wanting
to preach through this book for a long time.
And so often I've referred to it, I've quoted
it in sermons, but to really be able to sink
our teeth into this book is just, it's just gonna
be a real honor. So this will take us. few months
to go through, probably take us to summer. So
just wanted to invite you to prepare your heart
for that and perhaps even read it devotionally
or just read it through a couple times from now
until the next few weeks just to get a little
bit familiarized with what is going on here,
what's the context. If you want to know how to
read it, you really should join the D -Time class
because Pastor Jeff will teach you how to read.
the book of Hebrews. But anyway, this morning,
we're going to start from the beginning, right
at the beginning, the first three verses. Only
three verses, but just jam -packed with goodness,
like a good Snickers bar. And so please join
with me as we read from Hebrews 1, 1 to 3, where
it says this, 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,
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. So, brothers and sisters, in
Jesus Christ, the early days of aviation was
a little tricky. when you didn't have all the
dials and everything. I just snagged a couple
of pictures of what cockpits looked like from
the 1920s compared to more recent cockpits. One
is more complicated. And that old one there,
you know, obviously doesn't give you all the
measurements that pilots needed to measure speed
and altitude and orientation and direction and
vertical movements, all that stuff. And so one
trick of the trade in those early years of aviation
was pilots would take a look at their shadow,
the shadow of the plane that is. And so the closer
that they would see in relation to obviously
the sun, in relation to the ground, that point
of reference of the shadow would help them see,
okay, when am I actually, when is this puppy
actually going to land? And the closer that the
shadow obviously would get to the land, you would
see then, how close you are to the ground. And
so the purpose of the shadow was to give you
a sense of orientation, right? There was an aviation
saying, the shadow lands first. Why do I focus
on the concept of shadow? Well, the whole sermon
series is focused on this picture right here,
from shadow to substance. The shadow came first.
And that is the whole Old Testament providing
us orientation of what to prepare for and who's
to come. And then once Christ lands, we see the
substance. We see what's real. This title is
best explained or revealed to us not in the book
of Hebrews, but in the book of Colossians. Colossians
2 .17, where it says, referring to Old Testament
activities, these are a shadow. Of the things
to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Or Hebrews, there's two references to shadows
in Hebrews. Hebrews 8 .5, they, that is the priest
in reference to the temple, they serve as a copy
and shadow of the things, of the heavenly things.
Or Hebrews 10 .1, for since the law has but a
shadow of the good things to come, instead of
the true form of these realities. And so Christ
has come down and this book helps orient us to
the significance of who he is as the substance.
So the way we're going to talk about that today
in the sermon is in four parts. Three parts broken
down to the three parts in our passage. And then
the fourth point really is, okay, well, what
does that mean for us then? So what was versus
who is. Who is. is the divine cosmocrat, and
who is, is our sacrifice and priest, and then
our confidence and commitment in response. So
let's begin with what was versus who is. I'm
going to reread for us verses one and two. Long
ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to
our fathers by the prophets. But in these last
days, he has spoken to us by his son. Now, one
of the really cool things about what the writer
of Hebrews does here is he has alliteration in
the biblical text. The letter P pops up all over
the place. It's like an engine moving. It's like,
okay, things are happening. Things are moving
here with this letter P emphasizing what? Emphasizing
a difference that's happening between what was
and who is. It's a lot of, in a very short amount
of words, it's a lot of comparing that's happening.
So for example, he writes long ago versus these
last days. And so there's like this progressive
revelation that happens throughout the whole
Old Testament, these shadows, and then the reality
comes, but then, but that's the end of the progression.
Progressive revelation that we have revealed,
that's revealed to us in scripture, that's The
canon, that is God's word for us. So it was building
up and then in the last days, boom, Jesus. And
then you have at many times versus these last
days. At many times has the sense of like, what
was revealed, what God wanted us to know was
revealed in sort of like a choppy way over time,
many, many times. But then we have then, but
now in these last days, There's again a finality
to what is happening over here. The infrequent
manyness to now like just this last season. You
have in parts. So in many ways and in many parts.
In the passage it says in many ways when you
read it. But it's actually what it's trying to
emphasize there is that there's parts. It came
in parts. So it happened many times but also
in like sections. Again, it was like divided
up. It wasn't like this constant thing that was
going, like something that's revealed wholly
and fully in a person. And so you have in parts
versus through a person. The addressee is also
to our fathers. The address is to the fathers,
which has an element of disassociation with it.
So God in the Old Testament is speaking to those
fathers who came before. But now we have this
revelation given to us. So where there's things
that are a little choppy and a long time and
many times and only two fathers, now we have
to us in a season by person. You also have the
conduit, the medium of the message is by prophets.
Again, by prophets, this is like they're just
merely human. But then over here, you have by
God's Son. So there's a whole new era. When that
plane touched down, it was everything changed.
From all the parts and pieces and time over here
to now being revealed in God's Son as a person
with a sense of finality to it. And then what
that does for the rest of the next several chapters
is it provides for us the context. Okay, so Jesus
is now the new revelation, and he's the final
word. And so now the author goes into, well,
then Jesus is, and I'm going to list a number
of things. This is the number of things he deals
with, and we'll be dealing with these things
in the future weeks, in the coming weeks. Jesus
is greater than the prophets, which we just heard.
Greater than the angels. That's the next one.
Greater than Moses. Greater than Old Testament
high priests. Greater covenant. Greater tabernacle.
Greater law. Everything is greater. Everything
is better. Everything is more pure and more final
and clear. The substance has been revealed in
Jesus. I love my years working at Marspan growing
up. So from when I was 16 to just before we got
married, really, so I was 24 at the time. Most
of those summers, not all, but most of the summers
I worked in a truss shop. And as the years progressed,
I was able to be a sawyer, which was a lot more
fun because you got to use your brain. But working
the saw was just really cool. It had these conveyor
belts. And it had five saws. So you had three
on one end and you had two on the other. And
it could cut like two foot two by fours to like
20 foot two by twelves. When I first worked there,
we had the orange saw. And the orange saw, man,
when I first saw it, I was like, wow, this is
amazing. And in order to get the degrees just
correct, the angles just right with the saws,
you had these cranks. So hand over hand, you
had to like. turn the blades to get them to the
right spot. And you had to do it all five. And
even the distance, I believe we had like a drill
at the time. A drill would move the saw on the
one end to figure out like how long does this
board need to be cut. So it had all these just
measurements and had all these like dials and
numbers and you had to move everything. It took
a lot of effort to move, to transition from one
cut piece of board. To another. That was the
orange saw. I believe it was my second or third
summer there. We got the blue saw. And the blue
saw was awesome. The blue saw had Windows 95.
Attached to the saw. And so it had a touch screen.
And you would go. And you would look at the screen.
And in order to go to the next piece. You just
had to push a button that said. Next piece. And
you go like this, and the whole saw would just
go. And all the blades would change at the right
angle. And they had to figure out whether the
wood would come in exactly the same amount you
needed with the exact board you needed at that
time. And boom, there you go. You're just off
to the races. The amount of productivity. It
was incredible what that technology was able
to do. Having that blue saw changed everything.
The orange saw is sort of like the shadows of
the Old Testament. Everything had to be done
by hand and everything was very physical, but
the shadows don't have the same kind of capacity
or ability or functionality or accessibility
or convenience than the blue saw did. Everything
changes with Christ. And so let's dive into a
little bit more now. Well, who is this guy? Well,
there's two main aspects here. And they're broken
down in a number of different items here. But
the next verse here, who is the divine cosmocrat?
So listen to this. Try to actually understand
what this is saying here. So whom he appointed
the heir of all things, 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. And so we now have this son. And now,
well, what is his credentials? Why should we
listen to him? Well, that's what this list is
all about. God appointed all things to Jesus.
And when it says in the text, in the English
Standard Version, all things, the word things
actually isn't in the text. And that's a little
unfortunate because when we think of things,
we think of things that are tangible, you know,
things we could kick, things we could cut, whatever.
But it's just the word all. Time, space, all
of it. He is the heir of all. And I really want
you to hear this. Some of you may know the reference
to Ron Swanson who asks for bacon in a restaurant.
For those of you who do not know, it's a scene
where this character named Ron Swanson in Parks
and Recreation, he's depressed about the closing
of his favorite steak place. And so he goes to
a diner, and he says, he orders food, and he
says in a depressed state, just give me all the
bacon and eggs you have. Wait, I worry what you
heard was, give me a lot of bacon and eggs. What
I said was, give me all the bacon and eggs you
have. Do you understand? And the guy nods like,
yes, sir, right away, sir, right? It's like this
with the author of Hebrews. It's like him saying
this, when I wrote he is appointed inheritor
of all, I'm concerned what you heard was he's
inheritor of spiritual things or your soul or
churchy kind of things. What I said was Jesus
is the inheritor of all. Do you understand? It
says that the next part here, through whom also
he created the world. Again, a little unfortunate
translation with the word world, because the
word world there is actually the word ages. It's
plural. It's about not merely, if the first portion
here, all things emphasizes, perhaps all things,
but emphasize a little bit more of the material.
This is emphasizing the time aspect of what he
owns. He owns all the ages. He created all the
seasons of life. Psalm 2 .8 says, ask of me and
I will make the nations your heritage and the
ends of the earth your possession. Everything
God owns and has been given to Jesus as his heir.
But the point is not that Jesus is a creation.
He's the heir of all things, but also the creator
of all things. Next, he's the radiance of the
glory of God. This is the only reference to radiance
in scripture, this particular word. And it's
referring what commentators like to focus on,
effulgence, radiance. It's the, what someone
once said, what sunshine is of the sun. And that's
important because this is not saying that Jesus
is a reflection. No, he's the radiance of the
glory of God. So in other words, Jesus is the
sunshine. The sunlight, but it's not saying that
Jesus is the moon. The moon just reflects light,
and it can be really bright at night. But this
is not the point. The point is that Jesus himself
is the sunlight. And commentators throughout
all time and history have picked up on this word,
even from the third century. Athanasius, one
of the great African church fathers, writes this.
Who does not see that the brightness cannot be
separated from the light? but that it is by nature
proper to it and co -existent with it and is
not produced after it. Or the fourth century
Ambrose. Think not that there was ever a moment
of time when God was without wisdom, any more
than that there was ever a time when light was
without radiance. In some radiance of the glory
of God is not the moon, but more like the particle
-like waves emanating from the sun. He is, to
summarize how Calvin views this, he is why and
how we could experience the Father. He is the
light that gives us the ability to see and to
live what is not accessible to us without Christ.
All right, so more ways in which Jesus flexes
his credential here is he's the exact imprint
of his nature. The word imprint here is where
we get the word character from. The more typical
word for image, is icon which would which is
used but this is the word character it's like
an engraving engraving onto something especially
for coins engraving so characters when you think
of characters they are engraved imaging engraved
they're like images of what is what is out what
else is out there so you have actors who portray
something and they try to really really be that
And some actors do what's called method acting.
They're the kind of characters who not only practice
pretending to be this person in this play or
this movie, but even off camera, they're thinking
about how can I take on the emotions and the
persona of this person over here. They're trying
to make an exact imprint, an exact character
of this. It's a very interesting documentary
that came out in 2017. It's called Jim and Andy
Kaufman, The Great Beyond. And it's a bizarre
documentary. It's about how Jim Carrey, the actor,
plays Andy Kaufman in a movie called The Man
on the Moon. So it's a documentary about how
Jim Carrey prepared for this movie. And it's
weird. Jim Carrey, literally, he takes on the
personality of Andy Kaufman, not only on camera,
but off camera. And Andy Kaufman plays all these
weird, different kind of characters. He takes
on all those weird characters. It gets so strange
in the movie, in the documentary, that Andy Kaufman's
children wanted to meet with Jim Carrey as a
way to almost hear from their dad. This is like
an extreme method, extreme method of acting.
To the point where Jim Carrey even says, I felt
like the soul of Andy Kaufman came into me. and
took over. Jesus never, Jesus was eternally,
eternally the exact imprint of the nature of
God. He didn't suddenly become it. He was always
God's son, regardless of where and what time
in history. The triune God is always, always
existent. And I thought about this documentary
and I was thinking about how Jesus is the exact
imprint of God. He's exact. He's not playing
a part. He is God. Jesus is the engraved image,
the character of God, how he behaves, what he
says, his persona. It's all an embodiment of
God, the exact imprint of God's nature. And this
word with nature, the word nature is loaded in
one dictionary. It's called the New Testament
Dictionary of, sorry, the Theological Dictionary
of the New Testament. It covers this word. with
7 ,236 other words. And I won't bore you with
all of that, but it has theological, metaphorical,
philosophical, and medical significance attached
to this word, just this word nature. But in sum,
it means substance, the reality. So Jesus wasn't
like method acting. Jesus was and is the son
of God, the exact imprint. Same way like how
technology changed for many of us in the 80s,
where instead of sitting there with a cassette
tape, and trying to wait for our song to come
on the radio and record that song. It never sounded
the exact same as when it sounded on the radio.
Well, why is that? It's because with that technology,
with the magnetism that this cassette tape used
to create the sound, you get what's called generational
loss. And if you recorded a recording of that,
you get a little even more generational loss.
And you do that several hundred times, you get
something that you could hardly even hear anymore.
But when CDs came out, CDs was an exact imprint
of the original because it was using zeros and
ones, zeros and ones. There was no generational
loss, as they say. Now, there are other issues
with CDs, obviously, but let's not go too far
down this analogy. With Jesus being God's son,
there is no generational loss. There's no method
acting. He is the exact imprint, exact impression
of God's essence. The last part here upholds
all things by the word of his power. Just real
quickly on this. Not only is Jesus the creator,
but he's also the sustainer. Think about this.
So commentators like to point out that this is
where Jesus differs from the God, the Greek God
Atlantis. You know, the Greek God Atlantis is
holding the whole world on his back. He doesn't
actually, you see pictures of or statues of Atlas.
He's sort of just looking down. He's not a very
personal God. He's just holding up the earth.
But as someone once, someone more recently shared,
and I can't remember exactly who it is. Jeff
and I were talking about this more recently,
about how we were talking about the providence
of God and how it unfolds throughout time and
history. It's more like an unraveling of a scroll
through time and through space. And so we see
Jesus intimately involved then. And when he upholds
all things by the power of his word, It's not
that Jesus is disconnected and looking away.
No, as the exact imprint of God, he's also intimately
connected with how the plan unfolds. And that's
what leads us to this next point. Who is our
sacrifice and priest? This point won't be as
long, but it's still very important. Because
what the author of Hebrews is trying to get us
to see is like, we have this new voice coming
to us in Jesus Christ. He's now the voice box
of God. These are his credentials. But he's also
personal. He also did something for us. Again,
he doesn't stay aloof like Atlas. No, he is very
much involved with us by what? By making purification
for sins. Two times God makes something in this
passage, in our passage. One is God makes creation,
and now Jesus makes purification. He makes a
cleansing. He made a cleansing. And it's a huge
theme of this book. Paul goes back to this over,
or the writer, I shouldn't say, People think
Paul may have written it, but we don't know who
wrote this book. So the author of this book goes
back to this over and over again, how Jesus is
the purest form of purification. And we see that
with this other emphasis here. Jesus, I want
to share, our kingly high priest. He sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high. So
when I read that for the first time, I thought,
oh, that's emphasizing the kingship. You know,
we have prophet, we have priest, we have king.
But this is actually emphasizing his work as
a kingly priest. Because what we read later in
the book is we see how the priests aren't sitting.
They're standing. They're working over here,
making sure all the cows are going to come and
all the lambs and all the sacrifices are going
to happen. They're working all that they can
do. Keep turning those levers. Keep turning those
levers. But in the final days, we have the final
method. Of making purification, which is Jesus
Christ's sacrifice on the cross. And then right
after that, we get this whole Easter story in
one sentence. He sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high. He resurrected. And so for
this writer to say he sits means the job's done.
What needed to get done over here for so long
and all these cut up, chopped up times and spaces
is now fulfilled in Jesus Christ on the cross.
And he now sits. The work is done. Jesus Christ
accomplished it all for us. And so I love that.
I love that juxtaposition between Jesus sitting,
work done, and then later saying, well, in the
Old Testament, they had to stand all the time
because they were working all the time. But no,
Jesus' work is different than the priesthood
over here. So what does this mean then for us?
We've been talking so far today about Jesus,
who Jesus is, his credentials, what he did for
us personally on the cross, and what he's doing
today. What does that mean? What does that mean
for us? Well, I think what it means for us is
the same thing as what it meant for Christians
in the first century when they first read this
book. It was intended to give them a sense of
confidence and a sense of commitment. If Jesus
is the all -powerful cosmocrat, then we should
have confidence. And if Jesus is the all -effective
sacrifice, then we should be committed. And how
he summarized the theme of the book of Hebrews,
Raymond Brown writes this. This magnificent letter
to the Hebrews was written to a group of first
century Christians who were in danger of giving
up. How could these Jewish Christians endure?
What would enable them to stand firm in hazardous
times? They must look to Christ. Folks, when
we look to Christ, we find our confidence. We're
going to explore some of the most important prose
of theology in the entire Bible in the next few
months. We're going to explore the vast riches
of how Christ fulfilled all Old Testament purpose
and prophecy. We are going to learn how Christ
didn't leave one iota unturned. Hebrews 1, 1
to 3 is a snapshot of what's to come. And it
begins with Christ's overwhelming reach and rule
through time and space. He's the universal, universe
unifier. He's the greatest and the best. Who
Jesus is as the all -powerful cosmocrat should
give us confidence to never, ever give up. To
face trials with strength, resolve, encouragement,
and courage. Some of you may have had a discouraging
week. I know Jeff has, and perhaps others of
you have as well. Some of you may feel sad, grieved,
beat up. Some of you may feel discouraged for
setting goals for 2026 that you've already given
up on long ago. Some of you may struggle with
a more chronic issue of low self -esteem. You
just don't like yourself all that much. In fact,
you regularly may wish you were someone different
with different gifts and with different abilities,
with more money, more popularity, or more whatever
it is that you want more of. And this passage
screams in our faces like a coach yelling from
the sidelines, don't give up. Don't ever give
up. Remember who is on our side. Remember who
is in control. Remember the one who rules. Get
over yourself by focusing on Christ, your captain.
This passage says we have the goat. We have the
greatest of all time. And he created you and
he sustains you and he provided for you a way
to receive forgiveness in a place where he will
rule forever. And as he rolls the scroll through
time and space, nothing surprises him. He knows
your inabilities. He knows your inabilities.
He knows your failures. He knew how you would
view yourself, your life, your trials. the social
situation we find ourselves in today. Folks,
this is no self -help therapeutic, just pick
yourself up by the bootstraps call to confidence.
This is a call to look to Jesus who gives us
confidence for it is he who is and what he desires
to do in your life and through you by his sustaining
power, even through hardships and even through
trials, which we will get to later on in the
book of Hebrews. In fact, especially through
hardships and trials, especially. So don't ever,
Give up because Jesus. Second, if Jesus is the
all -effective sacrifice and is the priestly
king, then we should be committed to him. We
could have confidence in him, but we should also
be committed to him. Peter O 'Brien writes this
about this book. It summons believers, this book
does, just as it did the first listeners, to
unqualified commitment, unflagging perseverance,
and a willingness to suffer for one's faith.
George Guthrie writes this about this book. Members
of this church were becoming discouraged about
Christian commitment. We see reflected in Hebrews
a community of believers who were struggling
against spiritual lethargy, which if not addressed
could lead them to abandoning their Christian
confession. So that is confidence in Christ should
strengthen our commitment to Christ. The two
go hand in hand, right? Christ didn't dilly -dally.
Neither should we. We should be committed to
following this Jesus. This Jesus with all his
credentials and not putting any of those credentials
in a box or dismissing them. We are called to
be committed, not merely here and now as we worship
where it's simple, where we see other people
worshiping and we're comforted by that. And that
is part of why we gather, to grow in confidence
together, to grow in commitment together, to
grow in the comfort that we have in Jesus, but
also as a way to go out with strength, with commitment.
Some of you may be struggling with spiritual
lethargy. Just don't know. I just don't have
enough in my tank right now. And this book of
Hebrews is going to challenge us. Don't allow
that slippery slope to dictate your commitment
to Jesus. And so as we wrap up, the scale of
this passage, folks, is so large. This divine
prophet, this kingly priest, all coming together
as ruler and sustainer of all time and space.
But then we get this personal relationship emphasis.
That this Jesus made purification for us and
rules in heaven for us. It's to him that we must
turn to for confidence. And it's to him we ought
to be committed to. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly
Father, we thank you for Hebrews 1, 1 to 3. These
words that are just, they're majestic. They're
incredible. They describe a reality that our
brains actually don't know how to comprehend
fully. but we trust them to be true. And if we
do trust them to be true, we pray that we will
grow in confidence in Christ and we'll grow in
our commitment to him. But I think of some of
the young people in this room, I think of the
children who are in nursery right now, trying
to raise next generation of those who have confidence
in Christ, those who will be committed to him,
to Jesus and stay committed to him, even when
they're outside of our control, perceived control
that is. Lord, I think of, all of us who are
going through tough times right now, those who
may be going through trials, who have weighty
issues going on, or those who are just more lazy,
experiencing some spiritual lethargy. We pray,
Lord, that this sermon will kind of redirect
us and get us back on track to growing confidence
in Jesus. As we commit our lives to him, we pray
in Christ's name alone. Amen. You have been listening
to the Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon from Resurrection
Life Church in Apex, North Carolina. Resurrection
Life currently meets in the Apex Middle School
Auditorium at 400 East Moore Street near downtown
Apex with additional parking off of Highway 55,
East Williams Street. Resurrection Life Church
is pastored by Dr. Mark Kanesh of Apex and Associate
Pastor Jeff Smith of Cary. Resurrection Life
meets for worship every Sunday morning at 10
a .m. Join us this Sunday. And if you found this
podcast to be a blessing to you, share it with
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miss next week's Resurrection Life Sunday Sermon.
I can face tomorrow because he lives. All fear
is gone because I know he holds the future and
life. is worth the living just because he lives