Hebrews Chapter One Part 8

1:10-12 And, 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.

This next quotation from the Old Testament focuses the reader once more on the primacy and supremacy of Jesus Christ over the created order. Note the little word “and” at the beginning of the verse. At the beginning of verse 8 the writer establishes the fact that his OT quotes are in reference to the person of Jesus Christ. The conjunction “and” denotes that his train of thought is being carried over to verses 10 through 12. Both Heaven and earth are the works of Christ’s hands. As the Creator of the universe He has power and authority to change it as it suits Him; and we read that one day He will do just that. The material universe perishes, but Christ is eternal and His years “fail not.”

Hebrews Chapter One Part 7

1:8-9 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Quoted from Psalm 45, we have a snippet of conversation between the Father and the Son. Here, in unflinching and unabashed words, do we have a bold declaration of Christ’s native deity. “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…” One thing cannot be mistaken: the Biblical writers (and Jesus Himself) all believed Christ to be God. What is this throne the Father speaks of? Hearken back to Psalm 2, when the Father promises the Son the kingdoms of the world, to reign over them. This vision of the Messiah or the Christ reigning over a world-wide kingdom is explored in Daniel.

Hebrews Chapter One Part 6

1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

The study of angels can easily become a massive distraction in our study of Scripture, and there seems to be a two pronged approach to them. Either they are largely ignored, or there is a fixation on angelic beings that is quite unhealthy. I would venture that a fixation on angels is worse than ignoring them, since it may eventually lead us into a morbid study of demonology and Satanism. While angels, both holy and fallen, are very real and quite capable of interacting with the world of men, it is unwise to devote too much time to them, since they are not our God and Savior, but a fellow servant such as we are. Contrarily, neglecting their reality is equally unwise; if they had no importance God would not have created them and used them (and still use them) to interact with us.

Hebrews Chapter One Part 5

1:4-6 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

The writer of Hebrews begins to discuss the nature of Jesus and of angels, contrasting one against the other. It is immediately clear then that Jesus Christ is not an angel. The first chapter of Hebrews alone dissolves the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ contention that Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel. Yet the writer of Hebrews states clearly that Jesus is not an angel. Jude refers to Michael in his epistle, addressing a conversation the archangel had with Satan. Though we are not told the particulars of the conversation, it culminates with Michael telling Satan that the Lord will rebuke him. The language and tense of the verse in Jude suggests an attitude of fear while Michael was addressing Satan; certainly not an attitude Jesus possessed even while incarnated as a man.