The Eloquence of God

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. – Hebrews 1:1-2

C.S. Lewis memorably portrayed the growing Christian’s experience of an ever-enlarging Christ in his Chronicles of Narnia. Lucy, caught up in her spiritual quest, saw the lion Aslan – Christ – shining white and huge in the moonlight. In a burst of emotion she rushed to him and buried her face in the rich silkiness of his mane. He then rolled over on his side causing Lucy to fall between his paws on his chest. He bent forward and touched her nose with his tongue and his warm breath was all around her. She gazed up into his large, wise face. “Welcome child,” he said. “Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.” “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are?” “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

Expanding souls encounter an expanding Christ! As I begin an in-depth study of Hebrews, which presents the greatness of Christ as no other New Testament writing does, hopefully I, too, will grow and find a bigger Christ, as the very theme of the book is supremacy and finality of Christ. Through these magnificent words, the beleaguered little Roman house church, who was its intended audience, along with us are brought face to face with the God who speaks – the eloquence of God.

Even before the prophets of old, the cosmos was filled with God’s eloquence. We see this as we look up into the heavens on a clear night … and now even more so, with the powerful telescopes in our arsenal such as those at the observatory at the summit of the mountain on whose flank I now sit [Haleakala] as well as the amazingly powerful Hubble space telescope. But even the psalmist David realized this without the aide of modern technology, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands" [Ps. 19:1]. The cosmic eloquence of God is deafening, but many will not hear it. And even those who hear, sadly hear only partially. So often those who have heard it best have heard it when life was darkest – during periods of suffering and/or persecution.

Yet God’s people have always had more than the eloquence of the heavens, for they have also had the prophets. In our text the emphasis is on the grand diversity of God’s speech in the Old Testament. God spoke to Moses at Sinai through thunder and lightening and with the voice of a trumpet. Yet He whispered to Elijah at Horeb in “a still small voice." Ezekiel saw visions and Daniel dreamed dreams. God appeared to Abram in human form and to Jacob as an angel. God declared Himself by Law, by warning, by exhortation, by type and by parable. And when God’s seers prophesied, they utilized nearly every method imaginable to communicate their message. In this we see the immensely creative and variable extremes God has gone to in His loving desire to communicate with His people. It was never boring and never irrelevant. It was always progressive, revealing more of God and His ways. And it was always in continuity with the previous words of God.

Through God’s cosmic and prophetic eloquence men and women rose to live life on the highest plane. Abraham achieved the faith to offer his own son sacrificially to God and founded both a literal and a spiritual nation. Moses withstood Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt and delivered his people by employing mighty miracles. David slew Goliath. Daniel rose to leadership in Babylon without compromising his integrity. Yet despite all this, God’s eloquence was never complete.

But no more … for in Christ came an astonishing eloquence, the ultimate speech of God. Jesus is God’s final word. This amazing eloquence of God is also shown in the beginning of John’s gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” [Jn. 1:1]. Of course, the Word here that John is referring to here is Jesus. The main significance here is that Christ has always sought to reveal Himself. This verse here could be paraphrased, “In the beginning was the Communication.” From eternity, Christ as the Word has always longed to communicate Himself.

What is the result of all this eloquence? We meet God the Father! “No one has ever seen God,” John continues, “but God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known” [Jn. 1:18]. Jesus exegetes God! It doesn’t get any better than that. Remember Lucy’s joy as her soul’s understanding of Aslan [Christ] expanded? It left her virtually speechless. But God has spoken. Oh, the eloquence of God!

Avoiding Drift

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Hebrews 2:1-2

In Hebrews chapter 1, the writer held high the supremacy of Christ: his prophetic supremacy as the final word of God [vv. 1-2], his cosmic supremacy as Creator and Sustainer of all [vv. 2-3], his Levitical supremacy as the ultimate high priest seated in Heaven (indicating the finished work of propitiation) [v. 3], and his angelic supremacy [vv. 4-14]. This manifold superiority of Christ is meant to be an anchor to hold the endangered recipients of this letter to their Christian faith amidst the increasingly stormy seas of persecution. Indeed, it is meant to be the universal anchor for all imperiled souls for all time.

Such a dangerous drifting of the soul is rarely intentional, but comes rather from inattention and carelessness -- which was precisely the problem with the pressured little church in this letter. They had become careless about their moorings in Christ. At first, in calm waters, it was barely noticeable. But as the storms of opposition rose, some of them were drifting farther and farther apart from Christ toward the shoals of shipwreck in their old world of Judaism. Now 2,000 years later we still see this drifting as the besetting sin of our day. And again, this is not so much from intention as it is from unconcern. We Christians can easily neglect our anchor – Christ – and begin to drift away. There is no friction, no dramatic sense of departure, but when the winds of trouble come, the things of Christ can be left far behind, even out of sight. C.S. Lewis concurred with this observation when he said, “And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of then would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?

What can bring about such drifting? For one thing, there is the tide of years. Over a long period of time, many once professing Christians imperceptibly seem to drift away from their earlier better selves. They may have kept up appearances, but the years have carried them far away from their former devotion. They may not have disowned Christ but their lives show little evidence of spiritual sensitivity [they become “choked” by the cares of this world as Jesus described it] and they drift far from their earlier faith. And sadly, their children seem to have no understanding of or interest in Christianity. A slow drift, given enough time, can carry one to another continent and its dark uncharted waters.

There is also the tide of familiarity with the truth. It is natural for us to come to regard the familiar as commonplace. I see that as I return to the Hawaiian islands that I love … the indescribable beauty that is everywhere, from the gorgeous tropical foliage, the mysterious waterfalls, the towering mountains, the spectacular undersea coral reef and its diverse fish life, to the majestic sea turtles and glorious sunsets. Such beauty is almost overwhelming. But so often it goes unnoticed by those who actually live here. Similarly, the initial venture into the mysteries of Christ will leave us exhilarated. But with repeated journeys, some become bored with the been there, done that of it all. Granted, some find joy in their familiarity with the mysteries of Christ. But familiarity has both danger and reward. It depends on us.

Lastly, there is the danger of busyness too. So many of us move at such a constantly frenetic pace that we would do well to heed the familiar call of people to action, but only in reverse, “Don’t just do something; stand there!” We who live in the early 21st century are busy people, and the very multiplicity of our cares and duties can overwhelm us. A snowflake may be a tiny thing, but when the air is full of them, they can bury us … one flake at a time. Similarly, the thousand cares of each day can blind us to the glories of Christ and cause us to begin a deadly drift.

The drifting that comes through the combination of years, familiarity, and busyness often bares its existence when the storm of opposition comes. The anchor has long since been loosed, and when the winds come, an eternal soul is suddenly on the rocks and shipwrecked. No wonder, then, that the warning is a powerfully phrased command that should be read with an exclamation point: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away!” Otherwise, we face the brunt of the weighty question of our text, “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”

Here the application intersects our lives again, because the writer is not concerned here about those who have never heard. The transcending concern of this warning is for those who have heard. Even more, the concern is not for those who reject the gospel, but for those who “ignore” it. The concern is for one’s attitude – the one who has let the greatness of Christ slip away – the one who no longer marvels at the atonement – the one who longer has a desire for the Word – the one who seldom prays beyond the usual perfunctory occasions such as prior to eating – the one who is drifting back to where he came from and has little concern about his drifting.

To such, the writer says there is no escape from the terrible consequences. In fact, if we think the consequences were stern for disregarding the Law, how much more catastrophic will the punishment be for ignoring the gospel? What to do? The answer brings us full circle in the warning to where it begins: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” According to R. Kent Hughes, the force of the original is even stronger: we must pay the “greatest attention” to what we have heard. It can be as simple as the advice C.S. Lewis once gave to a little girl “If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you always do so.” And lastly, paying closest attention to what we have heard means living in the revelation of God’s Word – and it always has.