A verse for the old year and the new

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“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”  (Heb. 13:8)

The end of each year provides opportunities both for rejoicing and regret.  We can rejoice in light of the blessings of the last year and in anticipation of blessings to come in the new year.  But we can also have regret over past sins and lost opportunities, over setbacks and crushed hopes, and even over some of the things looming on the horizon of our future.  Part of the reason for this strange mixing of rejoicing and regret is the fact that we are changing people in a changing world.  As the hymn puts it, “Change and decay in all around I see: oh Thou that changest not, abide with me.”  

The hymn really does give us the key for dealing with living in a changing world, where the change is not only good but quite a lot of it is bad, or at least can be very uncomfortable for us.  And the key is to have the support and blessing and abiding presence of the God who does not change.  Things may change around us, but our God does not change.  He is immutable, and this is a wonderful and soul-satisfying reality.  It is at the heart of the meaning of our text, and it is what I want to meditate on with you for a few moments this morning, here at the last Sunday morning of the year 2024.

The Context

The letter to the Hebrews was probably written in the early to mid-60’s of the first century to a church in Rome consisting mostly of Jewish Christians.  The first century would have been a turbulent time, especially for Jews who lived in Rome.  The Roman historian Suetonius tells us that in AD 49, the Roman emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome because of a dispute over a certain Chrestus, which was probably a reference to dissension among the Jews over Jesus Christ.  As a result of this expulsion, Aquila and Priscilla found their way to Greece and met the apostle Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:2).  They would be able to go back to Rome after Claudius’s death in AD 54.  But in the meantime, many of the members of this church would have suffered loss of property, businesses, and perhaps even imprisonment. It could be that this is what was being referred to in Heb. 10:32-34, where we read that they were exhorted to “call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.”

The point is that these Christians had not had it easy.  They had experienced tremendous upheaval in their lives.  If this is a letter to Jews in Rome in the early to mid-60’s, many of them would only have recently been able to relocate themselves back in Rome.  But the persecution hadn’t stopped, and so on top of the economic hardships, they were also being harried to give up their faith in Christ.  In other words, these Christians knew what it was like to live in a changing world where change only made it harder for them, not easier.

But in addition to changes in their physical location and economic situation, there surely would have also been changes in the church itself.  Imagine if all the Christians were commanded to leave Cincinnati and its environs tomorrow and we had to stay gone for five years.  Maybe some of us could fly under the radar and stay, but for the most part many churches would be immediately emptied out.  When Christians did come back and try to reestablish churches, I’m sure it would be difficult even to get back to where they were five years earlier.  But also imagine the impact this would have on the leadership.  Could you guarantee that you would have your pastors back?  Probably not.  At least not all of them.  Some of them would have already been reestablished in other churches.  Maybe some of them would have died.  

This is where I think verse 7 speaks to this situation: “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.”  There are two things to notice here in particular.  First, the elders are the ones who are being spoken of here.  But second, it seems that the author of Hebrews is not referring so much to their current elders as to their past elders.  Note the past tense in verse 7: “who have spoken unto you the word of God.”  Even though this church couldn’t be more than 25 years old (Christ’s earthly ministry had only come to an end about 30 years earlier), yet five of those years would have seen the church in exile from Rome, and, as we’ve been saying, this would have led to a dispersion of the leadership along with the membership in general.  

The believers therefore are being called to remember these pastors that had gone before, some of whom at least were no longer there, who had spoken to them the word of God, and they are being called to respect their memory by following their faith and considering the outcome of their lives.  But why look back at what the former pastors had preached and taught?  The reason goes back to the fact that Christianity is not an evolving religion.  It is “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), and often it is considering and remembering the faithful preaching of past ministers that keeps a church from losing its bearing and veering off into heterodoxy and unhealthy teaching.  We don’t need something new; we need the old gospel preached.  We need to tread in the old paths.

Why is Christianity so resistant to change?  Or why should it be?  Because Christianity is Christianity, it is the religion of Jesus Christ.  And he is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  I would argue that churches which forget this and seek to influence the culture by changing with it will lose the only real, lasting power that it has, which is the power of the gospel of the unchanging Christ (Rom. 1:16).

That is the context.  The context of this verse is that it was spoken to Christians who had experienced lots of disappointment, lots of pain, lots of hardship, all due to lots of change.  The book of Hebrews shows us that this was all so hard that the temptation for them was to abandon the faith.  And the remedy the author of Hebrews gives them is to point them to Christ, to the Christ who is unchanging and unchangeable.

Now, can’t we see how we need the same advice as these Hebrew Christians?  We too have seen great change, haven’t we?  For instance, the technological changes of the past 120 years have been breathtaking, and we are still experiencing change at a pace the world has not known before.  When my grandfather was born in 1909, you could have looked up into the sky and never seen a single airplane, for the simple reason that there weren’t very many at all at that point, and the ones that existed were primitive and couldn’t go very far.  But only 60 years later, there was a man on the moon!  How do we deal with these sorts of changes that we see in the world around us?

Or consider the political changes of our day.  It can be scary, can’t it?  War in Ukraine, China saber-rattling, unrest in the Middle East, not to mention to travails of our own government.  What does the future hold?  We simply do not know.  How do you deal with that?  

Or consider the changes that we’ve experienced here in our own church.  Elder Bradley was the senior pastor for 63 years, and now you’ve got me!  That’s a pretty big change, isn’t it?  It’s been a change for my family as well.  I do want to take this opportunity to say that you have made this change a good one for us, and I want to thank every one of you for the many ways you have welcomed us and encouraged us in a thousand different ways.  I want to thank the church for your generosity to me and my family.  There have been other changes for our church as well.  I am thankful for the history of this church, for the fruitful and faithful ministry of Elder Bradley.  Of course, like all churches we are not immune to change, some encouraging and some discouraging.  So again the question comes: how do we deal with change at the church level?

Or perhaps you are thinking right now of your own life.  You look back a few years and think, “Oh if I could just go back to that place or time!”  Perhaps you wish for a healthier you, or a wealthier you.  Perhaps you are grieving a lost relationship, or lost opportunities. Or perhaps you have been experiencing great success and accomplishing great things, and you’re not sure what the next stage of life should be, and how you should steward these newfound blessings from God.  How do you deal with change in your own life?

Well, the end of every year and the beginning of a new one gives us the opportunity to ask these kinds of questions, and that is what I want to talk about with you today.  As we do so, I want us to turn our eyes to Jesus Christ, and to consider the changes in our own lives in light of the wonderful implications of his changelessness.  To do that, I want us to meditate together on the meaning of Heb. 13:8, and especially to ponder deeply the implications of each of these words, “yesterday,” “today,” and “forever,” and how they relate to Jesus and to us.  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Yesterday 

The word “yesterday” here is not, I think, a reference to the day before today on the calendar.  With reference to Jesus, it is pointing us back to his earthly ministry.  What the author of Hebrews is saying is that the Jesus we meet with in the pages of the gospels is the same Jesus today.  He hasn’t changed.

Now we have to qualify that last statement a little bit, because it is true that he is glorified.  He is no longer encumbered with the limitations of living in a human body which was affected by the fall.  Not of course in terms of sin, but in terms of mortality, and all that goes along with that.  He is gloriously changed in that respect.  And we should respect that difference.  John leaned his head on the breast of Jesus before he died, but when John saw him in the vision of Revelation, glorified, he fell at his feet as dead.  Christ is no longer in a state of humiliation but of exaltation, and we should thank God for that glorious change.

But the person of Christ has not changed.  His glory has not, for example, changed his character, his meekness, or his love for his people – this is the same Jesus who is gloriously enthroned at the Father’s right hand.  Let’s consider some of the ways that Jesus hasn’t changed from his earthly ministry.  I want to look in particular at three episodes in the earthly ministry of Christ to make this point.

The Jesus who put his hands on lepers is the same today.

One of my favorite gospel accounts is the story of the leper who came to Jesus to be healed: “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Mt. 8:2-3).  It is easy to just pass over accounts like this and miss the tremendous significance of it.  What is significant about it?  The fact that Jesus, though he certainly didn’t have to do so, put out his hand and touched the unclean man.  Think about it: to be a leper was to be unclean.  It means that this was probably the first time another person had touched him in a really long time.  We all know the power of human touch and how devastating it can be when we go without it for long periods of time.  Jesus, knowing this I’m sure, deliberately touched the man, not only cleansing him of his leprosy but also showing genuine compassion for a man who had been a long time on the margins of society and an outcast from the fellowship of others.  My friend, the Jesus who touched lepers, the outcasts, is the same Jesus today.  He knows our needs and his compassion is still touched by the feeling of our infirmities.  Isn’t that what we are reminded of in Hebrews 4:15-16?  “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

The Jesus who bowed down and washed the disciples’ feet is the same today.

We read about this in John 13:1-5.  John writes, “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”

This passage always strikes me as one which really shows us, along with the cross of course, of the depth of love and care our Savior has for his disciples.  It is much, much easier to be a Good Samaritan when you are alright yourself.  But consider the state of Jesus at this point.  He “knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,” and he knew that “the devil [had] now put [it] into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.”  The stress of that must have been tremendous.  In fact, we know it was, for shortly, in the Garden of Gethsemane, we are told that our Lord “being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Lk. 22:44).  Yet he did not allow this to distract him from serving his disciples in this incredibly humiliating way.  

Moreover, we are also told that “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God.”  Jesus not only had his terrible death in view, but also his coming glory.  He was the Sovereign and soon it would be manifest.  You or I would be tempted both by the agony of the coming trial to ignore our loved ones, but if we were also on the cusp of becoming very important, we would also be tempted on that score to ignore the lowly and unimportant.  Not Christ.  He washes their feet.  

My friend, this the Jesus who now sits at the Father’s right hand.  He is the one who intercedes for his people.  He loves you in this way.  In the words of the apostle, he loves us to the end.  He has not changed.  The Jesus Christ of yesterday, of the earthly ministry, is the same today, and forever.

The Jesus who went to the cross is the same Jesus today.

Again, not in terms of his weakness.  He can no longer be killed.  He addresses himself to John in the Revelation as “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18).  But all throughout the NT, we are pointed again and again to Christ as the one who died for us, and to think of his love for us in terms of his sacrifice on our behalf.  So Paul: “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Eph. 5:2).  Have you ever wondered that, though the risen Christ could disappear and reappear at will, could go through closed doors, and so on, yet he still retained the nail-scarred hands (cf. Jn. 20:27)?  Is it not significant that though our Lord is introduced in the Revelation as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, yet when he actually appears, he does so as “a Lamb as it had been slain” (Rev. 5:6)?  Is it not because he wants us to know that the love he had for us when he died on the cross is his love for us still?

Brothers and sisters, remember that the love that motivated our Lord to die for you is the same love that he has for you now.  Let us therefore not think harsh thoughts of him.  Let us not think that he does not love us.  Let us not judge his love by our circumstances, but by the cross.  And let us remember the end for which he died: to be glorified in the salvation of the elect, so that their sins would be washed away forever, so that they would be adopted into the family of God, so that they would have fellowship with God, so that their joy would be full.  He gives us peace, a peace sealed with his own blood.  This is the Jesus of yesterday, and he is the same today.

Today

I want us to consider that Jesus is the same today.  This is the “today” of Psalm 95, which the author of Hebrews is referring to when he writes, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).  This is the daily experience of the believer, who lives between the first and second coming of our Lord.

Jesus is the same today as he was yesterday, but let’s not miss the importance of simply saying, “Jesus is today.”  He lives today.  This is why Rev. 1:18, which I quoted earlier, is so impactful to me.  I was reading it one day, and when Jesus says, “I am alive forevermore,” it hit me that this means that right now Jesus lives – this Jesus who spoke to John in the first century, this Jesus who touched lepers and washed the disciples’ feet, and who died on a cross and rose again, this Jesus is alive.  And he is present in the lives of his people.  He has not left us comfortless but has sent his Holy Spirit to daily empower and strengthen and guide and sanctify us.  

A lot of people read the Scriptures and study the person of Christ in them just the way you would study the life of Washington in the history books.  You can read about the first president of the United States and learn a lot about him, and come off of it admiring his character, thankful for his accomplishments, seeing him as a model of leadership, and so on.  But I cannot have a relationship with Washington, can I?  He is dead to me (though alive to God).  The same thing is not true of Jesus Christ.  It is true that I should read the Bible to learn about his character and admire it, be thankful for his accomplishments, and see him as a model for my own life.  But if that’s all I do, then I have not read the Scriptures as I ought.  Yes, the Bible is a history book, but the person of Christ is not just another dead person from history.  Jesus lives today, and in such a way that you and I can have a real relationship with him.  The purpose of the Bible is not simply to convey information to us about Christ, like we read about historical people of the past, but to help us to know Jesus so that we can have a living, vibrant, real relationship with him, so that we can, as the apostle John puts it, have fellowship with him and our joy be full.  

Today, you can come to Christ.  We are not coming to a relic.  We are not merely coming to a set of doctrines.  We are not coming simply to remember someone who used to live.  We aren’t coming here to “pay our respects.”  We are coming to the living Christ.  Today, you can pray to Jesus.  He will hear us when we embrace him as Lord and Savior.  Today, you can walk with Jesus.  He has told us, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world” (Mt. 28:20).  It is not just that we are aware of him.  He is aware of us.  He walks in the midst of the golden lampstands, his churches.  He knocks at the door of our hearts.  He is not a God afar off.  He is near to all who call on him in truth.  Do you know Christ like that?  

Each day that we live on this planet in our short life-span is a “today” that is spoken of in Heb. 13:8.  It is a day in which we can trust in Christ, walk with him, serve him, abide in him, be supported by him, and receive grace from him.

Forever

Jesus is the same forever.  It is truly amazing to realize that once the person of the Son of God united himself to human nature, he did so permanently, so that he continues to be “in two distinct natures and one person forever” (Shorter Catechism).  

Everything around us not only changes, but it ends.  This world as it is now will one day come to an end. The apostle Peter reminds us, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” (2 Pet. 3:10-12).  In contrast, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail” (Heb. 1:10-12).

Praise God, the love of Jesus for his people is forever: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).  People can stop loving us for all sorts of reasons: because we failed them, because we stopped pleasing them for whatever reason, or whatever.  But this is not the case with Christ our Lord.  He loved us even when we were his enemies, and he won’t stop loving us now that we are his friends (Rom. 5:8-9).  Moreover, he keeps us by his grace through faith to the end (1 Pet. 1:5).  He will not let us go; we know that because he is able to keep us from falling, he will.  What God told the prophet Jeremiah is relevant to all who belong to him through Jesus: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jer. 31:3).

Praise God, the redeeming grace of Jesus is forever. This is something the author of Hebrews is insistent on, comparing our Lord to the ministry of the Levitical priest.  Their ministries ended, and the sacrifices they offered could never take away sin.  But of Jesus, he writes, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12).  “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (10:11-14).  “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (7:25).

He does not put away our sins, only to go back later and dredge them up again.  When they are put away, they are put away forever.  Those who belong to Jesus can never be lost.  Nor will the well of salvation dry up.  It’s not like people have been saved but now there is no room for you; my friend, there is room enough for all who come to him.  He himself has said that all who come to him he will never cast out.  

So, my friends, in the midst of all our changes, let me point you to Jesus Christ who changes not.  He is the rock on which we can rest.  He is our firm foundation.  And he is working all the changes his people are going through for their ultimate good, even if we can’t see it now.  As the saying goes, we don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future, and he holds it for his own glory and the good of his people.  So, brother and sister, be encouraged!  There is one who changes not.  Fix your eyes on him.  Let your soul find peace in him.  Come to him and find rest for your souls.