Jesus Speaks
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1, ESV).
God speaks. How marvelous it must have been to hear a mighty prophet of God thunder truth from heaven. How awesome to have the voice of an angel speak words of hope or direction in a time of need. How overwhelming to see the words of God written on tablets of stone. Every single one of these words are the very words of God, inspired and infallible.
However, God has spoken something new and better. Jesus has become the ultimate heavenly spokesperson, gathering many bands of light and shining them into one pure beam.
There is a greater and better way of God speaking to us, from the man Christ Jesus, fully God and yet human. The Son of God came to us, spoke to us and still speaks to us.
When the Word is preached and a sinner is saved, the Holy Spirit has made the words of Jesus come alive. There is much to be fulfilled in prophecy, and it will be so by the word of his power. We cannot diminish the need to understand that Jesus speaks, yet Hebrews 1:2 does not say Jesus speaks; it says, past tense, “he has spoken” and by his spoken word, “granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him” (2 Peter 1:3).
We must be careful not to run after prophetic or angelic words; we are to run after the words of Jesus. He has spoken, and his words are our first and utmost source of life. Hebrews 12:24 summarizes this by saying that Jesus “speaks a better word.” At least thirty times in Hebrews, we have God speaking of the Son, about the Son or through the Son.
How glorious that we have a mediator in Christ Jesus who speaks to us through his word and the Spirit today! Not only does Jesus speak a better word, but Jesus, as the one who speaks it, also gives the word its greater glory and authority.
