Hebrews Chapter One, A Scepter Of Righteousness

 

Note that the scepter is a scepter of righteousness. While Oxford simply defines “righteousness” as “morally right or justifiable,” the Hebrew word, which has a male and female form, are, “tsedeq (male) and tsedaqah (female).” Though this word apparently holds a little notoriety for the proper application of its translation and resultant definition, it seems to be a two-fold term that holds both a relational and legal aspect. A relationship in which parties faithfully uphold expectations is considered righteous by strict definition. The word can also denote righteousness in the form of justice in conformity with the reigning authority: be it God, His word, or a representative king. Since God is the source of justice He is innately and perfectly righteous. Being a triune God in perfect harmony between the persons, God is the fountainhead and definer of righteousness from both the relational and legal aspects. Whether referring to its relational or its judicial definitions, both aspects possess a moral quality, and it is by this moral quality that righteousness is defined.

The scepter, or symbol of kingly authority is one of righteousness, and ruling in righteous authority will define His kingdom. As the thousand year rule of Jesus Christ our Lord commences we read from John: “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them,” Revelation 20:4. “They” and “them” are references to the saints from the beginning of time (the First resurrection) that will live and reign with Christ for the thousand years. This number includes the tribulation saints that perished throughout the intense persecution of believers during the reign of the Antichrist. “And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years…blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death (the Lake of Fire, Revelation 20:14; 21:18) has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years,” Revelation 20:4, 6. 

 

The thousand years under the perfect reign of Christ will bring to fulfillment all that He promised the Jews, and then eternity will eclipse time and the saints will enter into the eternal kingdom of the Lamb, Revelation 22:3-5, where His throne is forever and ever. The Millennial Kingdom—otherwise known as the Messianic Kingdom—is described by Paul. He writes, “Christ the firstfruits (from the dead), afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming,” 1 Corinthians 15:23. Here we learn that the first resurrection will not occur until Jesus’s bodily Second Coming to deliver Israel from peril and set up His millennial Kingdom. “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet,” 1 Corinthians 15:24, 25. When the thousand years concludes God will put all opposing rule, authority and power under His feet, as is stated in Psalm 110. Free will or human choice remains until the end, when it appointed for the kingdom to be complete. Those who oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ will then find Him as Judge, and the angels that transgressed will likewise be cast into the Lake of Fire.

 

Our God loves righteousness and hates its antithesis, lawlessness. What is lawlessness? John explains by virtue of comparison. “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness,” 1 John 3:4. We have a truncated definition from the apostle. Lawlessness is sin, because it is the absence of obedience. God hates sin. Elsewhere in Matthew Jesus tells us, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold,” Matthew 24:12. Lawlessness is not an absence of law; rather, it is rebellion against the revelation of law. Lawlessness is mankind’s individual and collective will to exchange the truth of God for the lie, and to take pleasure in it. Jesus warns that as the Day of the Lord approaches the love of many will grow cold. Lawlessness, or sin, warps human thinking. We condone and then justify aberrant behavior. Soon we laud and showcase it as if it is something we should be extremely proud of. This type of thinking, a perversion of the moral order implanted in the human soul for our good, will abound. It will thrive, proliferate, prosper. Churchianity will accept it and advance it under the guise of acceptance and love. The narrow road of the gospel will be shunned, and finally scorned as an embarrassment, a relic of ignorance best put out of the way in a quiet corner.

 

That s why Jesus rhetorically inquires, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes (referring to the Second Coming), will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. Lawlessness is corrupted righteousness. If righteousness is rightly defined in terms of reciprocal relationships held faithfully and conformity to authority then lawlessness reveals parasitic relationships as one party preys off of another and a moral order that reaches no higher than what every individual determines for oneself. It is simplicity itself. If every man (or woman) is a law to himself, then the rules of logic dictate that “law” by any tenable definition does not exist. Law is delivered to those that are under it by the lawgiver. Rather than faith working through love leading the seeker to submit to God’s authority, the individual recognizes no authority outside of himself. Worship of God puts man in his proper place and gives us perspective. Righteousness implies order, a desire for organization beginning with the internal working of the individual and translating to their external dealings with God and humanity. Lawlessness severs this link so it becomes impossible to build that bridge apart from providential interposition. Corporately applied, look at the French Revolution (1789-1799) for a small example. Lofty ideals divorced from transcendent truth led to a grim, anarchic period in France’s history.

 

To be righteous is to abide in what is right. If God is the determiner of right (i.e. truth) then to abide in Him is to possess righteousness, His righteousness: the only genuine righteousness that exists, see Isaiah 64:6. Because our Lord loves righteousness and hates lawlessness God the Father anointed Him with the oil of gladness more than His companions. Christ stands apart from His fellow man. He perfectly fulfilled the will of God, even unto death. His Second Coming will be no different in terms of Him abiding in His Father’s will. Therefore God anoints the Christ like a king, priest or prophet was anointed in the Old Testament, and that is exactly what the author is getting at. Jesus is the Prophet, High Priest, and King. He is the originator of these offices because through Him all things were created. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Christ as High Priest mediates on our behalf in Heaven as we will learn later in Hebrews chapter 9. Christ is King sitting first upon the throne of His father David, and then the throne of eternal rule beside God the Father. The purpose of an anointing was to publicly recognize and establish the title that the recipient had been raised to. God the Father anointed His Son as King of kings, whose preeminent name will be lauded forever, Psalm 45:17. Kings’ daughters stand before Him in worshipful attendance, Psalm 45:9, 11. He will make His sons princes to reign throughout the land, appointing subordinate rulers to govern in His name during the Thousand Years, Psalm 45:16. Since God told Israel that they would be the head of the nations and not the tail, this will find its complete fulfillment in Christ’s reign from David’s throne, and likely the princes will come from among His kinsmen according to the flesh, Romans 9:5, 11:26, Zechariah 12:8.