The Supremacy of Christ | Hebrews 1:1–14 | The One Who Sits Above All

Watch This Sermon: “The Supremacy of Christ”

In this sermon from Hebrews 1:1–14, Pastor Mark Groen opens our study through the book of Hebrews with a clear declaration: Jesus is the one who completes the picture of redemption. Like the final missing piece of a puzzle, Jesus brings everything into focus—He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of His nature. The author of Hebrews makes it clear: Jesus is greater than the prophets, higher than the angels, and worthy of all our worship. This message challenges us to elevate Christ to His rightful place in our lives and to rest in the peace that comes from His finished work. If you're struggling to find clarity or peace in life, this sermon points you to the one who brings both.

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All right, so have you ever put together a secondhand puzzle? Now maybe someone borrowed it to you, or maybe you were like me, and you found it at a garage sale. And to this day, that puzzle that I bought at a garage sale, still the largest puzzle I've ever put together, I remember it. I've never been a puzzle kind of guy, but when I was probably eight or nine years old, my parents and I were rummaging in Sioux Falls, and we came across a large puzzle of the final scene from the original Star Wars movie, and I had to have that puzzle.

There they were, all my childhood heroes standing with their medals around their necks. And so I brought it home, and I enthusiastically put it together. And actually, I did it relatively quickly, because over the course of a few days, I did it in my free time, and I don't think it took me very long at all. But I got close to completing it, and I discovered a disappointing truth. There were pieces missing. And clearly, this must have been traumatic for me, obviously, because I remember it. But I do even remember where it was missing. There were four, maybe six pieces missing in the upper right hand portion of the puzzle.

I got the whole thing together, but I can honestly say I never finished it because it was missing so many pieces. I never saw the complete picture. And as we come to the book of Hebrews today, I have good news for you. In this New Testament book, we see that Jesus is the missing piece to the puzzle. And what I mean by that is he helps us to see the whole picture of the story of redemption. With Jesus in the picture, that picture is full, and it's beautiful, and everything makes sense. and it shows the beauty of the design of God saving his people.

Now, as we were traversing through the first 11 chapters of Genesis, as we were looking at that, I had several people comment to me that they've been able to see those foundational stories from Genesis in a completely new light. Well, why was that? It was because that we discovered that Jesus was at the center of them. It was Jesus who was the one that those stories were ultimately about. He was the one who was promised who would crush the head of the serpent. His coming is what we're tracking through those boring genealogies that we read.

And when we find that thread, that thread of redemption, we suddenly have the piece of the puzzle the one who helps us to understand the entire story. Well now, now we're in Hebrews and we're gonna find that this idea that I've been telling you about, this idea of tracking the story of redemption through the Old Testament, isn't something that I dreamt up. It isn't something that I'm using to make the story a little bit more enticing for you as I preach through those verses. This is the story that Scripture is telling. Hebrews makes that clear.

And as we begin, it's important for us to understand why this book of Hebrews was written. Early on in the life of the church, there were several difficulties that the church faced. And one of those things was persecution. Being a Christian was not easy. And we see this in the pages of the New Testament, right? We have two quick and very easily remembered examples that let us know this, right? First off, how many times do we hear Paul say, I'm imprisoned? How often do we read about Paul being imprisoned? And then we have that story right on in the beginning of the church, Stephen was stoned for his faith in Christ.

Being a Jewish believer, being a believer was difficult in the early church. But there was something else that made it difficult to be a believer, not just persecution. Jewish believers would have struggled so much with the changes that their faith in Jesus would have brought in their lives. It is likely that it brought about separations from their families. And this isn't too hard for us to imagine, I don't think. Many of us know someone who either left the faith or maybe switched denominations and it didn't go over very well with their families. I think we all know a story like that.

Maybe it isn't the story of someone else. Maybe it's your story. Maybe you've felt that separation, that difficulty. Well, they also, these first century Christians, would have experienced a significant change to the rituals that they used to do. There was no more going to Jerusalem for festivals, no more sacrifices. They would have gone for something tangible when they went for the sacrifices, right? They understood what they were doing when they went to Jerusalem and offered a sacrifice. But now, what are they being asked to do? They're being asked to put their faith and their trust in what Jesus did for them in his life, death and resurrection.

Think about that, that's a huge change, right? Now it seems normal for us, but for them. Imagine switching from bringing an animal and knowing that animal was sacrificed for your sin to I have faith and trust that Jesus was sacrificed for me. How big of a jump would that have been for you as an early Jewish Christian? When you took a sacrifice, you were fulfilling a ritual duty, you were checking off a box, but now you're simply being asked to have faith. That would have been huge. Now because of these things that I'm describing, these separations because of family conflict, this persecution, this loss of the ritual objectiveness, what we find in the early church is that there were those who were actually leaving the faith and returning to Judaism.

And so we come to the book of Hebrews, and what is the author of the book of Hebrews doing? He's imploring them, don't do it, don't leave the faith. And his argument is that the things that they were going back to, those things that they desired, were just a type and a shadow of what was to come in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so the author of Hebrews is saying, why would you go back to the imitation? when you have the real thing? Why would you grab imitation cheese when you've got one with the real seal right next to it, right?

Why would we ever pick something that was just a shadow of what was to come in the fullness? That is what the author of the book of Hebrews is saying. That is really his main point here in the book of Hebrews. Jesus is the real deal. He fulfills everything that you want to go back with, so why would you go back when you can have him? All those things you're desiring to go back to are just pointing to Jesus. Stay with him. Now today, as we begin to look at this book that does these things, we're going to see three main points come out of the text for us.

And one of them is very obvious. The first point that we have is that God has spoken in his Son. And what we're going to see is that the author of Hebrews does not dispute what was revealed in the Old Testament. But now he's saying that God has spoken in his son and that provides the framework for how we understand the revealed word of God and frames how we view the world. This idea that Jesus has now come is going to change how we look at redemption and how we look at the world. And secondly, we're gonna see that Jesus is higher than the angels.

Jesus is not a created being. He's building up the fact that this is the authority for the truth. Yes, things have changed, but now Jesus has changed things, and he is above the angels, so he has the right to do it. In fact, what we're gonna see is that God is the one who has ordained this change and it helps us to understand the Christian story. Jesus is not merely a messenger or a teacher telling us about this change. He's the one who sets the standards because he is higher than the angels. He is God.

And lastly, we're gonna see that Jesus is worthy of praise. This is one of the ways that we know that he is actually higher than the angels, because are we to worship humans? Are we to worship angels? Well, no, we're not. And so the true identity of Jesus is revealed to us in the fact that we are told that he is worthy of worship. And so those are the things that are gonna help us navigate this text this morning. And we come to the first two verses and we see our first point spelled right out for us.

There it is. As we start to dig in here today, we see that the author of Hebrews is setting up two time periods. Long ago, and these last days. We see that in the past, God spoke through the prophets. There was a point where the prophets spoke through a spoken declaration and through the written word. And they were revealing this word of God to the people of God. But those days are now in the past. Now we are in the last days. Okay, so we have this being set up here. long ago, and in the last days.

Now we struggle, I think, with that phrase last days. Because we often assume that last days means the end is coming soon. That if we're saying we're living in the last days, it must be here closely. We read it like a giant advertisement, right? You know the advertisement. They want us to come to the fair, so what do they put a sticker across the billboard with? Last days, or ending soon, right? Or maybe it's for a sale. Last days of the sale at J.C. Penney. Well, that might be true. They filed back. This may be all the last days of J.C.

Penney. You get the idea. That's how we read it. That's how our minds are wired when we hear last days. We have to take advantage of this because it's ending soon, but that isn't the idea being conveyed here in Hebrews. These words here are meant to convey that this is the ultimate thing. When we read last days here, it is meaning that this is the end of the revelation from God. Long ago, the prophets were pointing to the last days. And so, this is it. And there's not gonna be any new revelation from God. What we see here, when it talks about the last days, is this is the end of when God is gonna change things.

The prophets spoke of this, and now it's here, and now you're not gonna get something new anymore. What it is saying is this is it. When the author of Hebrews says the last days, this is the revelation, this is the one we've been waiting for. There isn't gonna be something new coming along. There won't be another prophet who tells us a different plan of salvation. This is it, it is here. The revelation from God is done. And what we see here is the proof that backs it up. Why is that? Because God has spoken in his son.

And how can we be certain that this is the truth? Well, he's been appointed the heir of all things is what we're told. You will see it at the end of history when he delivers his kingdom to the father. Then we will know that everything is his because Jesus is the heir of all things. We will know. And he is also the one who receives all the glory. But we're also seeing something else important here. This is not something that is just true at the end of history. It also has to do with the beginning of history.

That's why he sets this up. Long ago, last days. They want us to know that this encompasses all of history. The world was created through Jesus. Notice what we have here. As I said, it starts with long ago, it moves to these last days. And then he refers to eternity. and that Christ is an heir for all time. And then he goes back to the beginning again. That's how it's set up in these verses. Long ago, last times, eternity, and long ago. It's the way it's set up. And what we're meant to feel as we read this is that Jesus is everything.

He is the one from the very beginning and he is the one who will always be. He is above all things. And this is why we are to listen to this message that is revealed to us about Jesus. God has chosen to speak to us, his people, through the work of Jesus Christ. And this is very good news because the word that God has spoken in his son is a word of salvation. It is a word of mercy. It is a word of grace. If salvation through Jesus is the message, then we have an assurance of something, that the sin that we have committed is forgiven.

If Jesus is the message of all of scripture, then we understand how God has worked in history to work all things together to save a people for himself. If Jesus is the message, then we can have confidence that God holds history in his hands and he's working all things together for good for those who love him. And no matter what, we know that in the end we will be saved. In other words, just as I said at the beginning, Jesus is the piece of the puzzle that makes everything clear. If you've ever watched The reality television series, Survivor.

Maybe you don't want to claim that, but you may have watched it. You know that there are many challenges that they have to take a part in, and part of those challenges are physical. They have to swim, they have to pull large amounts of weight, or they have to build staircases out of boxes. But most of the time, the challenges end at the end with a puzzle of some kind. And you can be the strongest, you can be the fastest team, you can be the best individual player out there, but if you fail at the puzzle at the end, you're in trouble.

And many times as you're watching this, you'll see a team or an individual, they'll get stuck, they're way ahead, but then they get to the puzzle and they're just stuck. And it seems as if they have no chance. Well then you suddenly, you see the light come on, you see that they're understanding the puzzle, and suddenly everything quickly comes together and it's solved. And when we understand scripture, and we understand history, with Jesus at the center, The light comes on for us. We understand not only scripture, we understand the whole way that the world has come together.

We understand what God is doing in history. We see the world as God intended it to be seen. And that's why we're so grateful as believers to know Jesus. He's the puzzle piece we need. He is the light that comes on. And it's all because of his work. To save us. That's how we know that God has spoken to us so that we might know his great mercy and we might know his grace. And now, our first point this morning. was pretty easy because it was right there in the text. God has spoken in His Son.

The passage said it clearly. But now we also have another clearly lined out for us point that Jesus is higher than the angels. And to drive that point home about Jesus, the author of Hebrews shows us how high and above all other things Jesus is. What does he say? He says he's the radiance of the glory of God. And the idea behind the word radiance here and we translate it into English as radiance, what it does is it implies divine wisdom. So this is more, when we talk about radiance today, this is more than just being radiant in appearance.

This is more than just being happy and smiling and using whitener on your teeth. The radiance talked about in scripture is about divine wisdom. It's saying that Jesus is divine. He's not merely a man, and he's not just an angel. He is so much more than that. In fact, As we see here, He is the exact imprint of the nature of God. And that's a very profound statement, because it tells us that Jesus is God, but yet at the same time, it lets us know that He is a distinct and different part of the Godhead.

His nature is just like the Father, and He reveals the Father, but notice it says He's an imprint. He's different. He's distinct from the Father. But it still tells us that he has the power of God. Because notice, he upholds the universe by the word of his power. That language is on purpose. Because no mere human or angel has the ability to do something like that. Created beings can create physical things, right? We can craft something out of material, but what created being can speak and something is formed? And we can do this forming with our hands, but we can't create things, we can't sustain things by our word.

Only God, only God is capable of doing something like that. And what we see here is that we are to understand just how high and exalted Jesus is to be. And the author of Hebrews is deliberate to connect this idea to the saving work of Christ. You'll notice here, he says that he made purification for sins. Jesus is not just some distant, radiant being who's above the angels and is able to create and sustain that creation. No one's more personal than that. He's also the one who takes away sins. And after he did that work, we're told that he sat down at the right hand of God.

Now, if you go through your New Testament, this might be a good project for you while you're sitting in, if you're still remaining in isolation right now. Go through your New Testament, and if you count, you'll find a whole lot of references to that idea, that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. In fact, you've probably heard me say many times that that's from Psalm 110.1, and it's, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until my enemies are made a footstool. That is the most quoted verse from the Old Testament in the New Testament.

And the idea is that Jesus is not only fulfilling the prophecies about him as Messiah, but he is also the one who is ascended, and he's reigning over his creation. He is eternal, and he is the true ruler of the universe. And it's also important that we understand why the author of Hebrews is important to point out that he sat down. It's connected to the purification that he did for sin, because if Jesus sat down, That means His work is done. There's no longer a need for sacrifice of sin because Jesus made sacrifice for sin and it was done.

He sat down. And that's so important for the people of God that this book is addressed to. And it's important for us too. The people that this was written to, they're desiring to go back to the sacrifices. But Jesus is seated in the heavens at the right hand of the Father. And that says to these people, that work that you desire, those sacrifices that you're after, it's been done. Jesus did the work and he sat down. Not only would continuing those sacrifices be completely unnecessary, but it would be essentially spitting on the finished work of Jesus and saying, you know, what Jesus did, it just isn't enough.

And this idea that his work is finished is also reminding us that we're not alone. that he is higher than the angelic beings. Because what the text tells us here is that angels are working messengers and Jesus has sat down and his work of purification of sins is done. He's sitting down and ruling over all things, even the angels. Even though Jesus took on human flesh and humbled himself to become lower than the angels, he has now been glorified and he's ascended and this proves that he is the son of God and that he is to receive the glory that is due that name.

The honor he receives is above all other honors. He has supremacy over all things. And the author of Hebrews pulls out a bunch of prophetic references to the Messiah, and he lets them go rapid-fire style here. He's just firing them off. And we won't go through all of them one by one, and by detail by detail, because the point, the big point that's being made here is clear. The way scripture talks about angels never, it never sounds like the way it talks about the Messiah. There is a clear distinction. We don't see God referring to angels as God's son or God being the father of angels.

And so that idea leads us to our third point today. Jesus is worthy of praise. And this furthers our idea that Jesus is more than a man and more than an angel. These verses coming at us from the Old Testament rapid fire show us that the Messiah is worthy of praise, and even angels are worshiping him. We're not to worship anything or anyone but God, and the same is true for angels. If he is worthy of worship, then he's God. And we see this idea throughout scripture, but the perfect example I can give you of this truth is from the book of Revelation.

The apostle John there encounters an angel, and he falls to his knees to worship, and the angel is like, get up, get up, I'm just an angel, I'm not worthy of worship. Now that's my paraphrase of it, but that's the idea that we see there. Angels aren't worthy of praise, and why is that? Because only God is worthy of our praise. And as this first chapter progresses, we see this case being built through all these verses. In verse seven, we see that the angels are ministers of God. They're his servants. They're not worthy of praise, and so we don't serve angels.

We serve God, and so do angels. And then we again see what scripture has to say about the sun. Talks about him having a throne. It's forever. He loves righteousness. He is anointed by God. And so what we're seeing is that he's worthy of praise. This is someone that we fall on our faces before and give him all honor and glory and praise. And unlike that angel in Revelation, he's not gonna tell us to get up. He is worthy of that praise. And so, the passage here goes back to this idea of Jesus being eternal and involved in creation.

This is the one that we praise, it's Jesus. This is the one who is worthy. Everything will perish, but Jesus will remain, and so we praise his name forevermore. And so as the chapter winds down, we see in verses 13 and 14 a reminder of who Jesus is. And this is done by going back to that most quoted verse that I talked about earlier from the Old Testament, Psalm 1101. And it says, did God ever ask one of the angels to sit at his right hand? No. That's reserved for someone higher than the angels. And as it says here, angels are ministering spirits sent out to serve the people of God.

And the point has been driven home. The first chapter has made a point about the supremacy of Jesus. It's taken that point and it's poking us with it over and over. It wants us to understand. that Jesus has supremacy over all things. He is the word that has revealed the plan of salvation in Jesus Christ. He is more than an angel. He is God and he rules over all things because that is who he is. He's worthy of our praise. That's why we worship him because he is worthy and he has supremacy. And so we come to this passage today with the challenge of applying it to our lives.

It reinforces so much of what we know about who Jesus is and it builds a case for why we should place him above all other things in our life. And so with that in mind, we come to our first application for this week. And that is that we must be sure to raise the Lord Jesus Christ to his rightful place in our lives. As we've seen here in the text, the facts are in. You've seen the case that has been made. Jesus is Lord, and you can rely on him. When we focus on Jesus, we're focusing on the one who reveals to us who God is.

When we focus on Jesus, we see God's plan to save his people. When we focus on Jesus, we're gonna get it right. We're gonna get it right. He is the one that we've been tracking through the book of Genesis. He is the final answer. There's nothing new that's gonna come our way regarding how God rescues his people. And so let's be sure to elevate Jesus to the highest place in our lives. And that begins, that begins by remembering the gospel. We elevate Jesus to the proper place in our lives by hearing and believing the truth that our only hope is found in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension for us.

When we realize what has been done for us, we can't help but elevate him. We can't help but bring him to the highest place in our lives because we understand something, that the mercy and grace of God is great. And so we desire to pursue Jesus. for being our savior. And this is done out of gratitude because we understand the great love that God has shown for us. So the first thing that we need to do is we need to stop and evaluate where we're at and make sure that the Lord Jesus Christ has the honored and high place in our lives that he deserves.

And secondly, we need to remember that the saving work of Jesus is finished. He sat down. When Jesus accomplished the purification of our sins, he sat down. That work has been done for us, and he's still at work for us, yes, interceding for us at the Father's right hand, but the work of your salvation has been accomplished, and it is sure, and it is secure. So the question I'm asking is, do you rest in that truth? Is that the source of the peace in your life? In our present moment, I know the number one thing that I'm struggling with right now is peace.

I'm restless. I feel completely out of control, not like out of control like I'm going wild or anything, but I feel like there's nothing in my life that is gonna be the same from day to day because we're just not in control of decisions and things that are happening in the way that we're used to. And I've heard from many people that this is the struggle that we have right now. And so as we struggle with peace, This truth, this truth that Jesus sat down is where we need to go. While our world is in turmoil, Jesus is on his throne.

He sat down and his work for us to save us is finished. Our salvation in Jesus is secure because he is the beginning and he is the end. Our salvation in Jesus is secure because he's all powerful. No one is gonna take it away from us because he has the power to keep us. Our salvation is secure because Jesus has all supremacy. And therefore, we can truly have peace. Now, it doesn't solve the problems of this world for us right now. But you and I probably aren't gonna solve them anyway. but it gives us a true peace.

It gives us an underlying peace that regardless of what is going on around us, when we are in Christ, we can walk in confidence. Our Lord and Savior sat down and he secured our salvation. His work has been accomplished for us. And so, As we go out this week, as we step out into a world with uncertainty, may we have peace. A peace that comes from the knowledge of the supremacy of Christ. He is the one who is greater than the angels. He is the one who is eternal. He is the one who is at the right hand of the Father, sitting down.

He is the one who has secured salvation for you. The victory has been won. And so may this peace that passes all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Respond to the Supremacy of Christ

Jesus isn’t just another figure in history—He’s the radiance of God's glory, the one who upholds the universe, and the one who sat down after completing the work of our salvation. Hebrews 1 calls us to fix our eyes on Him and rest in His finished work.

➡️ If you're reflecting on what it means that God has spoken in His Son, you’ll be encouraged by this meditation on Christ as our eternal and sufficient prophet.

➡️ To continue reflecting on Christ’s greatness, explore more from our Hebrews sermon series and stay rooted in the Word.

➡️ Learn how our church anchors everything in the authority of Scripture on our Presbyterian Identity page.

Hold fast to Jesus—He is better.