God Has Spoken December 25, 2025

God Has Spoken
Hebrews 1:1-12
St. Peter’s Anglican Church
December 25, 2025

In the Old Testament, we read of God speaking directly to a few people. I think of Jacob, Moses, Isaiah and others. One of my favorites is the prophet Samuel.

God had given a child to Hannah who had promised him to serve God … and after he was weaned, she gave him to Eli, the High Priest at that time.

In the middle of the night … God called Samuel’s name … and he thought it was Eli. So Samuel went to him and said: ““Here I am, for you called me.””

Eli denied it … and Samuel went back to sleep. Again we read, “Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” And Samuel went to Eli and said: ““Here I am, for you called me.””

Again, Eli denied it … but after the 3rd time … Eli realized that it was God calling Samuel … so he told Samuel to answer: “‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’”

God spoke to Samuel directly

Don’t you sometime wish that God spoke to us directly … especially in times of trouble or when we have a big decision to make.

Think about sitting in front of your computer screen and all of a sudden you get a message from God! Or you are watching TV and all of a sudden there’s a message on the screen … or Alexa has a message for you through your smart speaker!

To be honest … with AI — Artificial Intelligence … that’s not that far fetched.

But one thing that we can say with almost absolute assurance is that God doesn’t speak to us directly as He did before Christ.

And the reason that we know this is because of the person whose birthday we’re celebrating today — Jesus.

This truth is emphasized in our Epistle Lesson from Hebrews 1, where we read:

““God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, …””

That’s pretty amazing if you think about it. The Creator and Sustainer of the Universe has spoken to us … mere mortals … through the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

In this brief passage that is before us we see some great truths”

““God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, WHOM HE HAS APPOINTED HEIR OF ALL THINGS …””

We refer to Jesus as the Son of God … and this is made clear by the fact that Jesus is the “heir of all things …”

All that Father God has belongs to the Son.

The Son — Jesus — has all the rights of the Father — GOD — who was and always will be.

This passage makes it clear that Jesus is more than a prophet … that Jesus IS the 2nd person of the Trinity.

As we read in John 1: ““In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. HE WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.””

Jesus was not created … he was there at the beginning … in fact … he was involved in creation … as we continue in Hebrews 1:

““God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, THROUGH WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE WORLDS;””

Again … as we compare Scripture with Scripture we see that the pre-incarnate Jesus was active in the creation of the world that we live in.

We read also in John 1: ““All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.””

The Apostle Paul emphasizes this truth in Colossians 1: ““ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.””

Think about the fact that we have God’s creation all around us … this world and the universe.

Just consider day and night … it’s always there because of the rotation of the earth.

Just consider the seasons that change … a fulfillment of God’s promise after the flood.

Just consider the tides in the oceans … so consistent that they can measure when there is high tide and low tide!

Just consider the sun … the moon … and the stars …

God’s creation is all around us. And … in a real sense … it speaks to us.

In fact, we know that the wrath of God is evident at times because people do not see Him in creation.

We read in Romans 1: ““For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,””

Look at that … ““For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen …””

God does not speak to us in words but through His creation and it’s all around us.

And … as we read … God speaks to us through His Son … the Lord Jesus … who took upon himself human flesh … for us and our salvation.

As we continue in Hebrews 1: ““who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, …”

We see a few things here that we could spend hours on … but we just need to remember when Jesus said ““He who has seen me, has seen the Father … and I and My Father are one.””

This is what the writer to the Hebrews emphasizes when he says: “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person …”

So … what we have is the 2nd person of the Trinity taking on human flesh … and the reason that he did this is in the next portion of our passage:

““WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS, …””

Let me repeat that: ““when He had by Himself purged our sins, …””

We have to first acknowledge that we are sinners. I don’t think anyone here will deny that.

In Romans 3, quoting the Old Testament, we read: ““There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.””

… with the conclusion … ““for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,””

So … we need to have forgiveness of our sins and we confess that Jesus is the only way of salvation … the only way to have forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus said: ““I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.””

Peter says in Acts 4: ““Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.””

Yes … my friends … there is an exclusiveness to Christianity.

It is only through Christ that we can have forgiveness of sins … that our sins are purged … which means they are removed.

We are cleansed from our sins by the person and work of Jesus Christ.

As you have heard me say on other occasions … only Christianity has the person and work of Jesus Christ,

Islam doesn’t have a savior … Buddhism doesn’t have a savior … Jehovah’s witness doesn’t have a savior … and I could go on and on.

Again … only Christianity has the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And … as much as we celebrate his birth … by worship … by gift-giving … by family get-togethers … by Christmas parties … all which is fine and good …

… we can never forget the reason for his coming … to cleanse us from our sins by shedding his blood on the cross at Calvary.

But … it didn’t end there … because we know that God accepted the sacrifice by raising Jesus from the dead … we serve and love a risen Savior … who … as we worship today … is at the right hand of God.

As we read: ““when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, …””

Our Savior … the Lord Jesus Christ … if even now at the right hand of God … waiting to come again in glory.

But … getting back to our initial question about God speaking to us … we know that He has through His Son … Jesus.

We read about him in God’s Word … that He has provided for us.

We read about the many prophecies concerning his birth … such as we read last night … his life … his death and his glorious resurrection.

We read about his miracles … his teachings … his example … and we read those things written by those who were eyewitnesses.

As Peter tells us … ““ For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.””

And so we God still speaks to us … and in a sense directly.

As we read: ““God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son …””

… whose life and work are written in the revelation that we have … the Holy Bible.

This is where God speaks to us.

A few weeks ago I noted the Collect for the 2nd Sunday in Advent where we prayed:

“BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.”

As we worship and celebrate this Christmas … let us remember that in the birth and life of our Savior … the Lord Jesus Christ … our God has spoken to us … He has come down to our level in order to draw us to Himself by faith. Praise be to God.