God Has Spoken in His Son

Hebrews opens by placing Jesus at the climax of the Bible’s story of revelation. God truly spoke through the prophets “at sundry times and in divers manners,” but in these last days he has spoken in the Son. The passage piles up claims about the Son: heir of all things, agent of creation, radiance of God’s glory, exact expression of God’s being, sustainer of all things, purifier of sins, and enthroned at God’s right hand. The point is not that the Old Testament was defective or untrue. Its many voices were God’s real speech, now brought to their intended focus in the Son. That opening controls the whole book: Hebrews will keep returning to Israel’s Scriptures and show how their promises, institutions, worship, and warnings come into sharper focus around Jesus.