A simple fact is laid out at the commencement of this letter concerning the revelation of God in connection with His Son, Jesus Christ. The author begins, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets (v. 1).” Prior to the New Testament and prior to the four-hundred years of silence between the Old and New Testaments, God spoke. Note a number of things here.     

The first dynamic is that God spoke at various times. His direct revelation to men was not constant, but piecemeal (and progressively) in a sense. He spoke to Adam in the garden; He told Noah to build the ark; He revealed Himself to Abraham in the Ur of the Chaldees; He commanded Moses to confront Pharaoh; He spoke to and through numerous other prophets.

The second dynamic is that God spoke in various ways. He walked with Adam, appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and then later spoke to him face to face. He spoke to Joseph in dreams and gave Daniel visions.

The third dynamic is that He spoke to the fathers, those who lived prior to the coming of Christ, by the prophets. God spoke through those who held a prophetic office; through those who had the gift of prophecy and proclaimed His message; and through the inspired writers of the Old Testament. The profound and wonderful truth is simply this: God spoke.

God spoke to those in the primeval and patriarchal periods. He spoke to Israel and cut a covenant with them as He had with Abraham and others. As He established the Old Covenant with Israel and gave them all the revelation they needed to rightly relate to Him under that covenant, God ceased from speaking in terms of new revelation for four-hundred years. He had spoken by His word and that word was sufficient for those born prior to the days of the New Covenant ratified by Christ Himself.

The writer to the Hebrews then makes an astounding statement in connection to what he has already said: “[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, who He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (v. 2).” In these last days, the days of the New Covenant, and the days prior to the consummation of all things by the coming of Christ in power and glory, God has spoken to us by His Son. The Lord Jesus Christ has revealed the Father to us. Jesus said to Philip in Jn. 14:9, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.” God has revealed Himself in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Among other reasons, Christ came into the world to confirm the promises to the fathers (Rom. 15:8) and establish the New Covenant in His blood (1 Cor. 11:25). As He established the New Covenant and His church, the revelation of Himself to New Covenant believers was fleshed out through the apostles and prophets of that time period (Eph. 2:20). Because Christ is the word of God, because God has spoken through His Son, because Christ’s coming in power and glory has been revealed, when that sufficient revelation for New Covenant believers was completed, God once again ceased to speak through new revelation (1 Cor. 13: 1f; Rev. 22:18). He speaks now through the word He has revealed in the Old and New Testaments. That word is both sufficient and authoritative. In that word, all we need for life and godliness has been spoken (2 Pet. 1:3). Who but Christ has said it all?