The Stone That Decoded Everything

For centuries, European scholars stared at the temples and tombs of Egypt, captivated by the elegant hieroglyphics carved into every surface. They knew the symbols carried meaning. Fragments of understanding surfaced here and there — a name guessed correctly, a number decoded, a cartouche partially read. But the full message remained locked behind a wall of mystery. The ancient writers had spoken, yet no one could hear them clearly.

Then in 1799, French soldiers digging near Rosetta unearthed a slab of black granodiorite inscribed with the same decree in three scripts. It took another twenty-three years before a young Frenchman named Jean-François Champollion, working feverishly in his Paris study in September of 1822, finally cracked the code. When he did, he reportedly cried, "I've got it!" and collapsed from the sheer weight of revelation. Suddenly, every inscription in every temple across Egypt could speak. The partial whispers became a chorus.

The writer of Hebrews understood this kind of breakthrough. "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways," he wrote, "but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son." The prophets were real voices carrying real truth — like those fragments scholars pieced together for centuries. But Jesus is the Rosetta Stone of God's self-revelation: the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His being. In Him, every earlier word from God finally makes complete sense.