“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made… For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” -Psalm 33:6, 9 (ESV).
Jesus speaks to nothingness, and it bursts with abounding substance. Void becomes fullness. Emptiness now sprawls with newly created forms. He splits the darkness with light, flinging stars, planets, and moons across the vast expanses. Oceans separate from lands; living organisms spring to life—all by the power of his word. Even man and woman, though formed from the dust of the earth, were breathed upon by God yet were part of him speaking life into creation. “By him all things were created” (Colossians 1:16). And all things were created by his word.
Jesus still speaks. He says to our darkness of soul, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). He says to our downcast heart, “Let there be joy.” He speaks life into our dreariness, dullness, and deadness. He speaks to our depravity: “Let there be redemption.” He sees our hearts drifting, our minds dulling, and our soul decaying, and he cries out, “Come alive!” He speaks to marriages, “Be restored”; to addicted youth, “Be free”; to prodigals, “Come home!” His voice commands evil to flee, sin to be quelled, and sickness to be healed.
And he will one day say to the devil, “Be cast into the pit for eternity.” He will say to his sons and daughters, “Welcome into my kingdom. ‘Well done good and faithful servant’” (Matthew 25:23). He will say to his Father, “All things I have conquered, and now I give all these kingdoms to you.”
Hebrews celebrates this wonder: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). 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 of 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. Yet God has spoken something new and better. Jesus has become the ultimate heavenly spokesman, like a prism that gathered many bands of light and shone 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. John says of Jesus, “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands…this is the message we have heard from him” (1 John 1:1-5). The oft-unspoken glory of the incarnation is that we have God as fully man speaking to us in a form to which we can clearly relate.
We should seek God’s Word as our greatest source of life, listening to the voice of Christ.
Jesus still speaks. 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 is speaking 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, is also what gives the word its greater glory and authority. I could say, “‘Yet once more I will shake…the earth’” (Hebrews 12:26) with little authority or ability, and my words would hold little account. But when the Son of God speaks these words, who he is gives authority to his words.
If Joe the plumber said, “Let us ‘remember the poor,’” (Galatians 2:10), it would be true, right, and good, but not as weighty as the same words spoken by a greater authority. When Hebrews starts off by saying that God is now speaking through his Son, he is sending us a Voice of greater authority. The Bible tells us God’s Word “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12).
When we know Jesus, we recognize his uniqueness and authority. Having our eyes opened to who he is, we gladly follow him. As the great Shepherd, Jesus could have limited what he speaks to commands. He could say, “Eat what I provide. Drink from the river I lead you to. Draw close when wolves come.” And he did say these types of things to us. But this Great Shepherd does more than give commands; he says, “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27).
Jesus has spoken, but he has done more. He has allowed us to hear his voice. Hebrews warns us not to be among those who are dull, not paying close attention. Jesus speaks, yet he calls us to be his sheep so that we would know his voice.
If we truly long to know the depths of God’s nature, we must open his Word and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.
Hebrews 5:11 tells us the writer has much more to say, but the listeners had become dull of hearing. How tragic that we might miss so much more that could be said of Jesus and the glorious revelation of Who this Man Christ Jesus is in his fullness—not because he is unwilling to reveal the great depths of his wonder but because we are not ready to hear it. I want as much of Jesus made known to me as humanly possible.
Imagine having the desire for Jesus to speak more into your life, but not being ready or able to hear it. What wonders would you be missing? This is why Hebrews 2:1 tells us, “we must pay much closer attention” (my emphasis). There is more to see of what Jesus has spoken. He is more than willing to speak beyond your wildest dreams. When the Bible speaks of God doing more than we think or imagine, it is not limited to him changing our external circumstances or meeting our physical needs; it speaks, too, of the depths and heights of greater revelation of who he is.
To receive the “much more” that Jesus longs to reveal, we need to be the opposite of the dull who miss the opportunity for a greater awakening to all that Christ would reveal. We need to be lively, alert, focused, passionate and stimulated when we open the Bible and come to the Holy Spirit for quickening of spirit.
The Word speaks to us about the unique and altogether otherness of Jesus. In Hebrews 1:8, “But of the Son he says,” the Bible is showing the uniqueness of Christ. God will say many wonderful things, but it is only of the Son that he holds his highest delights and accolades. We should be the same. We can appreciate many fine things and extend our compliments to many people; but of the Son, we feel, think, and say what is higher and more exalted—things exclusive to Jesus. The Bible says that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). Do we speak out of our heart the glories of the exclusive nature of Christ? Or do we too often hold equal to Christ lesser things our heart desires? I say of my wife, she is beautiful; of my children, they bring such wonderful joy; but I hold the highest praise for the incomparable Jesus. Only of the Son will I say, “He is exalted above all things. He alone is worthy of our highest praise.”
I share these words not so you would have more information, but that you would fall to your knees in wonder at the jaw-dropping beauty of Jesus. I write to encourage you to lay aside every weight, including that which hinders you from hearing. Lay aside the weight of spiritual anemia, dispassionate pursuit, and trifling attempts to dig into the depths of the Word. If you have lost the fervent love for the words of Jesus, you can simply ask him to restore a love for his Word.
May my words ignite a zeal for God’s Word. There is so much more he has to say to you. All you need is “ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15). Amen.
This sermon is adapted from the book The Jaw-Dropping Beauty of Jesus by Gary Wilkerson and Joshua West. Click HERE for more info!