The Epistle to the Hebrews is
a tremendous book in which the Gospel and the person and the
work of the Son of God is presented unto us. The contrast between
the old covenant and the old priesthood and sacrifices, with
all that they were a picture of, the new covenant, The one
sacrifice for sins forever, the eternal and everlasting priesthood
and sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ is presented unto us. The contrast between the law
as it was given by Moses to the Jews of old and the new covenant
of grace, the law of the gospel, as it comes in Jesus Christ.
How the writer of the epistles opens up and presents unto us
the eternal and everlasting glory of Christ in the Gospel. And how tremendously this epistle
opens in its first chapter. How succinctly in a few words
we read of the great glory of the person of the Son of God
how His divinity is presented to us how His Sonship is presented
to us how His eternal Sonship is presented unto us how His
position above men above the angels is presented unto us and
how His coming into this world to suffer for sin, to purge our
sins, to make His people heirs of salvation is presented unto
us. Who is this One who came into
the world? Who is the Son of God? How has
God presented His Son before our gaze? What we read here,
from verse 1, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners
spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, or by Son, by
the Word of God. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness
of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high. 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 first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
have anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And thou, Lord, in the beginning
hast laid the foundations 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 duffer 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. But to which of the
angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make
thine enemies thy footstool. Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? Verse 8, But unto the Son he
saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. What a chapter
this is. And what a verse this is. What
a verse this is. But unto the Son he saith, thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. We see here the Father addressing
the Son as God. We see Him addressing the Son
as God who reigns upon a throne and whose throne is eternal,
it is forever and ever. We see this Son, this King that
reigns upon this eternal throne having a scepter of righteousness
as the scepter of His kingdom. He reigns upon a throne, He has
an eternal kingdom. ruled in righteousness. How this
all lies at the heart of the Gospel. This is the eternal God
addressing the eternal Son of God. Equal with the Father, thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. He's eternal without beginning
and without end, ruling over an everlasting kingdom which
is founded upon righteousness. His position is contrasted in
this chapter with the angels. who were sent forth as ministering
spirits. Those angels, those created beings
who were sent to serve God and to serve His people. Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? So not only is this God, this
Son of God, set above the angels, but those angels not only serve
Him, but serve His people, His people through Him. The people
for whom He came, the people for whom He suffered and died,
are themselves lifted up as heirs of salvation above the angels. Those angels that dwell around
the throne of God, that dwell around the throne of the Lamb
of God, the Son of God, serve the people for whom Christ died. O believer, what a height you
are lifted up to in Christ, that his angels are sent as ministering
spirits to serve for you, you who are heirs of salvation in
Jesus Christ, you for whom the Son of God came, you who in him
are brought unto the Father as His bride, having all that is
His, all the position that is Christ's, wed to the Son of God. Heirs of salvation. He came to
prepare a kingdom for His people. He came to bring in everlasting
righteousness for His people. He came to purge them from their
sins. He came to deliver them from
their sins and the judgment of God against their sins. He came
to deliver His people from death and bring them into everlasting
life. What a Saviour He is. What a
God He is! What a Son He is! What a King
He is! And all this is presented to
us in these few opening verses of this epistle to the Hebrews.
How eternal He is! in contrast to the temporary
nature of this world in which we live. You stand upon this
earth this day. You sit upon a chair upon the
earth and you listen. But that which is under you,
that which seems so solid and real to you, the world that you
see around you every day, the world which has surrounded you
for all your lifetime, which seems so solid, the rocks upon
the ground, the land and the sea, the sky above you, the sun
in the midst of the firmament, the moon above you, the stars,
all that seems so solid and everlasting is in fact created and temporary. It is nothing in comparison to
the eternal nature of the Son of God and His everlasting Kingdom
and Righteousness. Thou, Lord, in the beginning
has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the
works of thine hands. He spake and out of nothing they
were brought into being. And yet we read, they shall perish. but thou remainest. And they
all shall wax oldest of 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. Men are born, they grow old,
they die. The angels were created. They
had a beginning. You have a beginning. You grow
old. You depart from this world. This
world had a beginning. And this world will have an end. They shall perish. But this God,
this Son of God, is without beginning and without end. They shall perish,
but thou remainest. They all shall wax old as doth
a garment. As a vesture thou shalt fold
them up, and they shall be chained. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail. Oh, what a glorious picture of
the eternal nature of the Son of God. And what a setting forth
of His divinity. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, have in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. He spake, and the worlds came
into being. He spake, and the worlds were
created. As John says, Christ is the Word
of God, and when God speaks, He speaks through His Son, and
when He spoke through His Son, the worlds were created. He has, in His last days, spoken
unto us by His Son, by His Word, by speech. And that speech is
His Son. When God speaks, He speaks through
His Son, He speaks through the Word, who, being the brightness
of God's glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high. God's glory, the brightness of
His glory is manifested unto us through Jesus Christ. The express image of God's person
is revealed in Jesus Christ. And God upholds all things by
the word of His power. through the Word, through Christ,
the Son. He proceeded from the everlasting.
He eternally proceeds from the everlasting, throughout eternity. When God makes Himself known,
He makes Himself known through Christ. When God purposed to
create a world, He spake and it was through Christ, the Word.
He comes forth always from the Father. He's eternally begotten. We read, for unto which of the
angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. He's eternally begotten. Always,
he comes forth from the Father in every speech, in every expression
that the Father makes, the Son comes forth to convey it. He
comes out of the Father. He's eternally begotten. but
he's also begotten in the sense that when he came to the cross
and purged our sins and laid down his life on that third day
when he rose again he was the first begotten from the dead
the first to rise of His people from the grave, the first to
enter the grave, taking sin and burying it, and then came forth
from the grave, came forth with newness of life, and the Father
looked upon His Son, and looked upon His people in His Son, and
He said of His Son, Thou art My Son. this day have I begotten
thee and he looks upon all his people in Christ and looks upon
them and says unto them thou art my son thou art my daughter
this day in Christ have I begotten thee he looks upon them in Christ
as he looks lovingly upon his son and he's risen to life and
they rise up to life in him And the Son, having purged their
sins, ascended unto the Father. Rising from the grave, He ascended
unto the Father, and He sat down victorious on the right hand
of the Majesty on high. He came as their Saviour. He
came to bring them into His Kingdom. He came to purge them of their
sins, He came to give them righteousness, and He came as a King with a
sceptre of righteousness, and He went to the judgment at the
cross, He went to that judgment place at the cross, He bore their
sins in righteousness. The righteousness of God looked
down upon the Son, and it looked down upon the Son as He bore
the sins of His people. And as he was made sin, and it
poured out wrath and judgment and fire upon that sin. And he
suffered what they should suffer. He died the death that they should
die. He went through the torments
that they should suffer. That they in him should be made
the righteousness of God. that they in Him should no longer
know the wrath and the anger of the justice of God against
their sins, but that they should through Him know the love, the
mercy and the grace of God in salvation. He came with a sceptre
of righteousness. This King came and performed
all that He purposed to do, this Eternal Son, proceeded from the
Father, came into this world of darkness, was rejected by
all men, you and I included, was crucified upon a tree, was
forgotten in the darkness, was destroyed by the outpouring of
the fires of God's wrath. was forsaken by all. And through it, He purged our
sins. And as a consequence, He sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Yes, this Son
is eternal. We see this presented unto us,
the contrast between Him and the angels. He has been made
so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. He came and he suffered upon
the cross. He died a death that none could
die. And when he died a testament
was fulfilled. When someone dies and they have
left a will, a last will and testament Their last will and
testament says that upon my death I leave unto this one and that
one. I leave unto my loved ones all
my belongings, all my inheritance, all my riches, all my house,
all my land, all my kingdom. In the earthly realm, a covenant
is made, a testament is made, a last will and testament of
that person. This is the last thing they will
to happen. This is what they will have happen
on my last deed on earth. When I die, when I draw my last
breath, I want this to be performed. Well, the eternal son of God
had a covenant. He had, as it were, a last will
and testament made between Him, the Father and Holy Spirit that
said, when I die, I will that all my people chosen by the Father
and given unto me should be purged of their sins, should have my
righteousness, should have my kingdom, should inherit an everlasting
kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness for evermore. And when he died, that inheritance
became theirs. And when he died and rose again,
rising again, it was theirs as it was his. For he rose again,
obtaining a more excellent name than the angels. He rose again
with his people. And the inheritance that they
partake of is his. Because He rose again from the
dead and having conquered sin, He rises with a victorious name. Not only is He the Son, but He
is the Saviour. Not only is He the Saviour who
would come, but He is the Saviour who did come. Not only did He
purpose to save, but he had saved and he entered into that kingdom.
He entered into that inheritance with a name greater than any
name. Jesus, Jehovah's saviour of his
people. Joshua, he is the one that God
sent forth that proceeded from the father as the saviour of
his people. He was the price that their salvation
demanded to be paid. He paid the ransom to set them
free. He paid the redemption price
to set those who were slaves of sin captive under sin and
the judgment and wrath of God. He paid the redemption price
to free them. as a slave would have been freed
when the price was paid he came and he paid the price to free
his people from their sins and that price was the shedding of
his own blood that price was his own life but having paid
the price he inherited through inheritance he obtained a more
excellent name than the angel 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 first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all
the angels of God worship him. How we see the pre-eminence of
Christ. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. Worship Him as their God. Worship
Him as the Son of God. He's above all the angels. Yes,
in places we read of His coming into the world in His pre-incarnate
times as the Angel of God. Yes, he is, in a sense, the archangel
of all. But he's no angel created by
God. He is the eternal son of God. And all the angels, as they worship
God, bow down and worship him. They worship the son. And of
the angels, he saith, who maketh his angels' spirits and his ministers
a flame of fire? 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. What a verse this is, and what
a statement of the divine nature of the Son of God. What a presentation
of His divinity. The Son is eternal. He is God. And here the Father addresses
Him as such. But unto the Son He saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Now there are those, those enemies
of the truth, those who masquerade as following Jesus, those who
might come alongside you and say we're Christians, we follow
Jesus, who deny His Sonship, who deny His Eternal Sonship,
who deny that He is God as Son. Yes, they will speak of Jesus. Yes, they may describe Him as
the Son of God. But to them, He is a created
Son. To them, He is but an angel,
like the other angels. To them, He came into being at
a certain point in time, created by God as an angel, called the
Son. and to maintain this heresy. To maintain this heresy, to maintain
this error, to maintain this undermining of the truth as clearly
revealed in the Scriptures, they have no other way but to alter
the Scriptures themselves. The Jehovah's Witnesses would
claim that Christ is but an angel. The archangel Michael, but merely an angel. They don't
call him Michael as a title of Christ, the son of God. They
consider that he is a created angel. An angel above the other
angels, but an angel nevertheless. And as angels cannot be worshipped,
Whenever they find a verse that speaks of the angels worshipping
Jesus, they alter its meaning. Verse 6 says, and let all the
angels of God worship him. In their Bible, in their New
World Translation, they alter that to read, give him obeisance. Let all the angels of God revere
Him, give Him obeisance or bow down to Him, but not worship.
Because to them He's not God Himself. Worship is only for
God the Father. Worship is only for Jehovah.
So the Son of God, Jesus, cannot be worshipped because He's but
an angel. But this clearly says that all
the angels of God should worship him. The same verse, the same
word, the same word for worship as is used of the father elsewhere. The same word for worship as
is used in many places in the scriptures. He's God. He's worshipped. And the angels
of God worship him. But greater than this, The Jehovah's
Witnesses, faced with verse 8 in Hebrews 1, a clear demonstration
of the divinity of Christ, can do nothing but alter its wording
to make a nonsense of what it says. Their translation, rather
than saying, 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, is altered to say, regarding the Son, he saith,
God is thy throne for ever and ever. They've altered the words to
say that God is your throne for ever and ever. Addressing the
Son, the Father says unto him, God is your throne. Not thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. Not your throne, the Son of God. Your throne, God, is forever
and ever. But they say that God, Jehovah,
is the throne of the Son. They swap the words around, even
though the Greek doesn't support it, even though their own Greek
doesn't support it, in their English New World Translation,
in order to make it consistent with their erroneous ideas, and
in order to have their followers think that their Bible says what
their teachers tell them, even though it doesn't, they've altered
the English in their Bible to attack one of the strongest defenses
of the divinity of Christ by altering what it says. Rather
than it being a phrase addressing the Son, thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever, they've altered it to say, God is thy throne. as though God is a throne upon
which Jesus would sit. This is a blasphemous alteration
of the scriptures, an erroneous alteration of the scriptures,
and an alteration without any justification for their own version
of the Greek doesn't support what they have made their English
rendering state. Their own version of the Greek
follows the original Greek in supporting the plain translation
into English of what the original writer wrote that unto the son
he saith thy throne O God is forever and ever. Here the father
addresses the son and refers to him as God because he is God
and describes his throne as being eternal. How we should be wary of the
subtleties of Satan. especially in religion. Especially in religion that seems
so devout, which carries so many followers, so seriously, so sincerely,
treading a certain pathway, but leading them astray through lies. They've brought the person of
the Son of God down to being merely a created angel who cannot
be worshipped and who has no divinity in himself. The scriptures do not say that
God is the Son's throne. He say plainly unto the Son,
He sayeth, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. He addresses
Him as the Eternal Son, as the Eternal God, His throne is everlasting. And it is through this Son, this
God, this second person in the Godhead, One God in three persons,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. God speaks unto sinners, unto
us, through His Son. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by Son. whom ye have appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the world. He came in the gospel
as prophesied by the fathers and the prophets. He spake in
times past through the prophets, saying, one day there's a day
coming when Messiah will come, when my son will come, when I
will send a savior. And when he came, he spake through
him. unto this world, unto sinners
like you and I, and he says through Christ, here is my son, here
is salvation, here is my everlasting son, the eternal son, in whom
I have come to save my people from their sins. God himself,
Jehovah, speaks unto us through Christ and says, here is salvation. I've sent him the heir of all
things. I've sent him to bring in his
kingdom. to bring in my kingdom, to bring
in an inheritance, to deliver a people from their sins, to
purge their sins, to take their sins away, and here he comes,
here he has come, he's done what I promised he would do, he purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high, he sat down glorified, seated above the angels, seated
above his enemies, seated above all things. And there he reigns
until his enemies be made his footstool. There he reigns on
his eternal throne. There he reigns in righteousness
with a scepter of righteousness, the scepter of his kingdom. And
from thence he declares and speaks his gospel in the darkness of
this world. From thence he sends forth the
light of the gospel into the darkness of this world. It is
by him that God speaks. then if you're to hear God, if
you're to know God, if you're to know salvation, you will know
it exclusively and entirely through the person and work of Jesus
Christ, through His speech, through His words. Has He come unto you
in the Gospel? Has He spoken unto you in the
Gospel? Has He said unto you, I have
come I have laid down my life I have borne your sin and paid
the price of your sin that you should be set free and that you
should live as the eternal son of God has God himself set his
love upon you eternally and given Himself for you, eternally. In order that though the world
around you perishes, though everything around you might crumble away
and fall away and be burnt up with fire, though everything
burns around you like a furnace burning around you, you in Him
should be spared. In times gone by when the wickedness
of this world multiplied, God sent forth judgment in the day
of Noah. And he sent forth storms and
rain like this world had never seen something it had never seen.
It hadn't known rain before Noah. There were mists which rose up
from the waters which replenished the earth. But in the days of
Noah God sent forth rains and the rains collapsed upon this
world and flooded this world and destroyed the entire world,
all the wickedness of man except for that eight people that God
put in the ark. Eight people separated from the
wickedness and darkness and evil of this world whom He put in
the ark, a figure of His Son Jesus Christ. and he made a promise. After that day he set a rainbow
in the sky, a promise of peace to this world. He made a promise
that he would never send forth such judgment again. But the
judgment that is coming, the final judgment, is a judgment
of fire. In the last days, This world will wax old. It will be rolled up as a garment.
As a vesture, God shall fold up the heavens and the earth
and they shall be changed. They shall be burnt with fire. They shall be destroyed with
fire. And only those found in the ark,
Christ Jesus, Only those whom God has taken and placed in His
Son will be spared. He is eternal and they if they
are found in Him are eternal in Him. But all else shall be
destroyed with fire. That picture in Daniel of those men cast into the fiery
furnace is a picture of this day which fast approaches. One day, everything around you
that seems so certain, that seems so strong, that seems so everlasting,
will be rolled up and burnt up. And if you are with the Son of
God in the midst of that fire, if you're found in Him, then
you will know what it is to be spared the fire, to be spared
the judgment, to be spared the wrath, and to enter with Him
into a kingdom which is everlasting. In the day in which we live, before that day comes, God is,
as we read, speaking unto us in these last days by His Son. We live in the day, in these
last days, between the flood of Noah and the fires of God's
wrath which are to come. We live in these last days, in
a day in which God is speaking unto us by his Son. And he speaks
by sending forth his Spirit with the Gospel. And the Spirit of God sends forth
His angels and His preachers, His ministers as flames of fire and spirits which will convey
that Gospel from heaven's eternal glory into the temporary darkness
of this world before the final judgment of God's wrath comes
upon it. These ministering spirits, these
flames of fire are sent forth to minister for them who shall
be heirs of salvation. The only reason you're sat here
this day, the only reason this world exists, the only reason
it hasn't yet been destroyed is because God is sending forth
the Spirit of God with the Gospel. and is ministering angels with
that gospel. He's sending forth them as ministering
flames of fire to declare for his people what Christ has done
in purging their sins. The only reason you live today
is because God is preaching this gospel. And the only good thing
that you can do today, if you are able, is to hear and believe
this gospel. But so dead are we in our sins,
that no matter how much of the truth we hear, no matter how
plainly it's set before us, no matter that Jesus himself should
come and stand before us. So blind are we, we cannot see
him. So deaf are we, we cannot hear
him. So dead are we, we're motionless,
like Lazarus in the grave. We do not know, except Christ
comes and God, by his Son, speak unto us in these last days and
says unto us, live. Accept the Spirit of God come
into our soul and cause us to be born again. Accept the angels,
the ministering angels, come unto us. Accept we are an heir
of salvation and accept those angels bring that gospel in power
and declare unto us what Christ has done and God opens our ears
to hear. and our eyes to see and put faith
in the heart to believe, then we will believe. But if not,
we will remain in the darkness reserved until that day when
this world perishes and is burnt up and is no more. Where are
you? Where are you today? It's no
good thinking where you will be tomorrow. It's no good thinking
where you might be in 10 years or 20 years time. It's no good
saying of the gospel, I'm young, I've got this to do and that
to do. These ambitions to fulfill. But
one day when I'm older, I'll look into these things and I'll
see what's right and what's wrong for myself. And maybe then if
I think it's right, I will believe. It's no good leaving it to tomorrow. Tomorrow may not come. This may
be the day, the last day on earth. The day before God brings His
judgment fire upon this earth and separates the sheep from
the goats. The day when the Son of God,
the eternal Son of God, with His eternal throne, descends
to this world to judge it forevermore and to separate His people. the
sheep from the goats. This may be the last moment,
the last time. And what we believe, what we
know, what we hear today is what matters. God have in these last
days spoken unto us by son. Have you heard him? Have you
seen him? Do you want to hear Him? Do you
want to see Him? Have you seen His glory? Have
you seen His Sonship? Have you seen His Divinity? Have
you seen His Kingdom, His Righteousness? Have you seen His Reign? Have
you seen His Love? Incoming into the darkness of
this world Rejected of all Rejected by you beaten, bruised, cast
out, nailed to a tree, crucified. Have you seen Him bearing the
sins of His people in the darkness, forsaken by man, forsaken by
you and I, forsaken even by the Father, crying out unto His God
as His God in justice, in righteousness judged Him, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Has God shown you the Son, who
because of his love went to the cross, went to the darkness,
and was forsaken by all? in order that He might save and
deliver His people. Are you an heir of salvation? Has God led you to that place?
Has He opened your eyes to see? Has He put faith in your heart
to cry out, O Lord, help me? O Lord, my God and my Saviour,
has He shown you His Son? has he shown you the one of whom
he said, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of
righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.