Hebrews Chapter Seven, Loftiness

 

Hebrews 7:26d and has become higher than the heavens;

 

The Greek word for “higher,” in this verse is, “hupselos,” and means, “lofty in place or character.” The same term is used in Acts 13:17, where it is written, “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted (hupselos) arm He brought them out of it.” Loftiness is in view, and since we may dismiss literal, physical loftiness from both verses, the idea is positional.

Jesus Christ is higher (loftier) than even the Heavens that He dwells within. Lofty in character suggests the emphasis on the person of Christ Himself. Such a High Priest is fitting for us, who is higher than the Heavens. Christ is greater than the angels, the messengers of God and flames of fire. He is greater than Moses, or the Mosaic Law. He is greater than the tabernacle. Christ is superior to all things because all things were made through Him and for Him. Even His dwelling place, Heaven itself, is what it is because of Him who dwells there.

 

We know that Heaven is where God dwells. “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s,” Psalm 115:16. “Heaven…is God’s throne,” Matthew 5:34. “He who sits in the heavens laughs,” Psalm 2:4, NASB. But Heaven is only Heaven because God dwells there. Hell, and by extension the Lake of Fire, are what they are because of God’s absence. They will be places of eternal torment because the prisoners are there forever, and God will never be. Contrarily, Heaven, or the Third Heaven, is what it is because God will be there forever, and so too shall those who trust in Him. A king on earth is made so by the country that crowns him, and his glory is in his treasure, his army, his citizens.

 

Many things unite to make a king. But on earth a king is made by his country; in Heaven all things began with the presence of the King. Heaven is, and earth is. Existence is sustained and life is given. Nations rise and fall and the seasons go their way. All things subsist because of the King. It is He that makes things glorious; His presence endows the universe with life and purpose, and His Spirit on this earth gives millions a reason to fight the good fight of faith. Heaven is a kingdom, Matthew 3:2, 4:17, Daniel 2:44. But the splendor of Heaven’s kingdom is a reflection of the beauty of its King, just as the moon reflects the majesty of the sun. Jesus our Lord is loftier than the Heavens, for even they cannot contain Him who made them, 2 Chronicles 2:6.