So I want to look at Hebrews
chapter one, and I've entitled the message today, The Son. And
that's what I mean when I say the most precious truths are
also the most difficult to explain and also to understand and believe. The message of the Son of God,
the Son of God. That's the subject of all of
scripture, the Son of God. That's the message of God from
heaven, his son. Hear my son, remember? When he was baptized by John,
this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And then at
the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James,
and John were there, and Moses and Elijah fade away. They are no longer seen. And
Christ alone is seen, and the Father speaks from heaven. He
says, this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. It's about the Son,
isn't it? God has determined to glorify
His Son, and He will do that. He has done that, and He will
continue to do that. And so all of scripture is given
to lift up and to magnify the Son of God. So we want to look
at this, the Son, this morning. Let's pray. Father, I am not
capable of explaining the Scriptures. I'm not capable of understanding,
and these people here, we are together entirely dependent upon
your sovereign will to make yourself known to us by your Spirit from
your Word. But we pray, Lord, that you would
do that today. You have said that you are able
to do, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. And
so, Lord, we now ask what is exceeding abundantly above all
that we could ask or think, that you would make Christ Jesus the
Lord, the Son of God, known to us from your word today by your
Spirit, in our hearts, so that we would be persuaded of him.
We would admire and adore Him, and we would see His majesty,
we would see His greatness in His person and in His offices
and in His work as the Son of God and our Savior. In Jesus'
name we pray, amen. God, verse 1 of chapter 1, who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time passed
unto the fathers by the prophets, hath 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, 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. Verse four, we want to begin
there today. Being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. He says so in verse 2, by the
Son he has spoken, or in the Son he has spoken to us. He's
the one who made the worlds. He's the one who has given all
things. He's the one who is the brightness of God's glory, the
exact express image of his person. And he is the one who upholds
all things by the power of his word, and he is the one who,
as our appointed and anointed mediator, our high priest, has
purged our sins, and now is set down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. This is the one who says in verse
four, has been made so much better than the angels, because he,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. His name is what? The Son, the
Son. The angels have never been called
the Son of God, as he has. In Job 1.6, it calls the angels
sons of God. But never has there been a time
in scripture where angels are called the only begotten Son
of God. They are sons by creation. Christ
is the Son, not by creation, but by his own nature. Forever since eternity began,
there was no beginning to eternity, but if you could think of the
beginning, there was never a time when the Lord Jesus Christ was
not God himself. In John, the Gospel of John,
in chapter one, it begins this way. In the beginning was the
Word, that's the name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
called the Word, and the Word The Son of God was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. That's the
Son of God. Forever and ever, He has always
been and always will be the Son, unchanged, eternal, equal with
the Father, And so he goes on, none of the angels have inherited
this name. Now, the name Son of God is not
a name Jesus came by or was given at a point in time, nor was it
even a time in eternity before which he was not called and then
called the Son of God. He has always been the Son of
God. It says in John 3.16, for God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He was
a son, the son of God, before he entered the world. Clearly
from John 1.1 and verse 3, he has been from the beginning.
He was with God, and that means he was distinct from God, and
yet he was God. This is the doctrine of the Trinity.
There are three in one, the one in three. One God in three persons,
three persons, one God. The Son of God is God himself.
And so he is comparing him. In the first three verses, Jesus
Christ is set forth before us in his absolute character as
God, as the Son of God. Here he's compared to the angels,
and the angels are compared to him so that he's seen to be so
far above them that there really is difficult to compare them.
He says, 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, quote, this is from the
second Psalm, verse seven, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Now these words open to us an
infinite almost incomprehensible truth,
that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, is the only begotten
Son of God. And it sounds like when we read
this, for unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee, it almost sounds like there
was a point in time. This day have I begotten thee. We know what it is to beget.
We know what it is to have children. Our children are from us. We
have begotten them. They are our children. They were
the result of our husband and wife joining together. God has
blessed that, and he's given us children. But the Son of God
was not born, but he's called begotten. And there wasn't a
time when he was not the begotten Son of God, he always has been.
So these words from Psalm chapter two are mysterious, and because
they're mysterious to us and they're beyond our comprehension,
yet we can accept them by faith and believe them as true, yet
we have to understand what God has revealed about them because
they open to us the infinite doctrine of the Son of God. Now
it says in verse four, he was being made so much better than
the angels, as if it came about, he was made or created, but he
wasn't created and he was never made. But what we have here is
the way that God makes known to us the eternal and infinite
character of the Son of God by speaking to us on human terms,
in relations that we do understand. And we have to start from our
own. How old was I when Denise and I had our children? Well,
we were somewhere around 20 years old when we began to have children.
And our children now are in their adult life. So we can measure
their beginning and their life in our own begetting them. But how old was the father when
he began to have children, when he had his son? There is no time. He's always called the father.
There was never a time when he was not the father, which means
he had a relationship to his son as father, and the son had
a relation to him as son. And that relation is as old,
as eternal, as God is God. And so when he speaks about being
begotten of the father, we have to understand it in three different
ways. The first way is that when we
have begotten children, we understand that they have the same nature
as we have. They usually have our characteristics,
whatever limitations or skills and talents that we have, we
have often those are the talents and skills of our children. They
receive them from us. A lot of things that other people
can do, I can't do, and my children therefore can't do them. And
some things that we are able to do that are unique to us,
those are the characteristics of our children. So our children
are just like us. Elephants don't have mice. Mice don't produce elephants.
People don't produce animals, and animals don't produce people.
The Father, the Eternal God, the Father, has a Son, and just
like the Father, so is His Son. And that's the point here. As
we beget like us, as we give birth to those who are like us,
the Father has a Son who is just like Him, in His nature, in His
essence, in His substance. And yet He is distinct from the
Father, just like our children are distinct from us. And so
when we read about these verses in Psalm 2 and these others we're
going to go to here in a minute, understand that God is trying
to convey to us the relationship He has to His Son as the same
as His own character, His own nature. The only begotten first
and foremost refers to Christ as the Son of God in His being
eternal. with the Father, and yet distinct
from the Father, and yet also one in nature. One in will, and
power, and purpose, and people, and possessions, and all things
that are true of the Father are true of the Son, just like our
sons and our daughters. And so, if we go back and look
at Psalm chapter 2, we see this in the Psalm. This psalm is actually
quoted here in Hebrews 1.5 and in Hebrews 5.5, but it's also
quoted, it's taken from Psalm 2 and it's also quoted in Acts
and other places. So let's look at Psalm chapter
2. This is one of the ways, when the quotations are made from
scripture, it doesn't mean for us to just take that one little
Quote, that means for us to go back and understand the whole
context from which it was taken. In Psalm 2, what we have here
is God the Father speaking of what would happen when Christ
came, how he would be rejected, how he would be exalted as his
Son and made known to be his Son through his work. Verse 1 of chapter 2, Psalm 2.
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
This describes the situation at the cross. The kings of the
earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed. The Lord is Jehovah,
God, and his anointed is Christ. And this is what they say, verse
three, let us break their bands asunder. We don't want them to
rule over us. and cast away their cords from
us. They viewed God's sovereign rights and his goodness as an
imposition on them, cords and bands. This is the result of
what, this is how God will respond to man's opposition to his rule
and to the opposition of Christ. He that sits in the heavens shall
laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
These insignificant, people who speak against and fight against
the Lord's Christ. God is going to laugh at them
and have them in utter derision. Verse five, then shall he speak
unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure.
You don't want to experience the wrath of God. Verse six, yet have I set my
king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree The
Lord has said to me, Jehovah has said to me, this is Christ
now speaking, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Everything is given to the heir
of all things. You see, Christ is the son. Verse two says he is the anointed,
And in verse six, I have set my King, that's the anointed
Christ, the King, and he will declare this decree. Verse seven,
Jehovah God, the Father has said to me, thou art my son. To Christ, the Son, you're the
Son. This day have I begotten thee.
Speaking about In this case, the day and the beginning have
nothing to do with a moment in time or even eternity, but always
from eternity, He has been the begotten of the Father. But the
fact that He speaks of today and beginning teaches us this
because it shows us He has the very nature and essence and substance
of God. The same in all ways as the Father
is the Father. But then, look at this in Luke
chapter 2, actually Luke chapter 1, when
God was speaking by the angel to Mary about the birth of Christ. Remember, who is being born? The Lord Jesus Christ, verse
29. It says, when Mary saw him, this
is the angel that came to him and said, in verse 28, to Mary,
hail thou that are highly favored, or just like it says of every
believer, you are accepted in the beloved, highly favored,
the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. Verse 29,
and when she saw him, the angel, she was troubled, that is saying,
and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
In verse 30, and the angel said to her, fear not, Mary, For thou
hast found favor with God, and, behold, thou shalt conceive in
thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus."
The seed of the woman, Jesus. The son of a woman. Born of a
woman. made after the flesh. Verse 32, he shall be great and
shall be called the son of the highest. Here the son of God
is seen to be the son of the woman, the seed of the woman.
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David. So now he has a father. He is
descended from David as David's son, and God's going to give
him David's throne. He's going to be a king, in other
words. And it says, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob.
The house of Jacob? Well, that name means, remember,
it means a cheat, a scoundrel. Someone who is always trying
to manipulate and get things by his own wit and cunning. Jacob
have I loved, God said. So here he's ruling over the
house of those he saves who are in themselves sinners. And this
is, he shall reign forever over the house of Jacob forever and
of his kingdom there shall be no end. Christ's kingdom can
be understood in two ways. Number one, the kingdom of the
house of Jacob. All the church, all the people
redeemed of the Lord. And secondly, his kingdom over
all things, because he rules over all things for his people. And so it says, he will reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall
be no end. Who is this? The son. The son of God, the
son of the woman, or the son of David, who was the seed of
the woman. He was born from Mary, without the agency of a man.
So this is the son. And because he was begotten in
Psalm chapter two, in this verse here in Hebrews chapter one,
it says in verse six, and when he bringeth in the first begotten
into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship
him. So this is the second way in
which the word begotten, son, is used in scripture. He is not
only the eternally begotten of the father, having no beginning,
Equal with the Father, of the same nature and essence as God,
and yet distinct as the Son, who stood in relation to the
Father from eternity, as the Son of his Father, and the Father
in relation to his Son as the Father of his Son. Equal with
God, co-eternal, having all of the power of God, the wisdom
of God, the authority of God the Father, the mind of God,
the will of God, and His work is God's work. What He wants
is what God wants. What He does is to God's glory
and God's glory is His glory. All these things are true of
the Son and only of the Son, the begotten. But in time, the
only begotten of the Father is born as a man and then He's revealed,
He's made known, He's manifested to be the Son of God in the words
of the angel from scripture, and because God had promised
his son would be born this way. He would be born, he would be
the Christ. But there's another way in which
it's used in Acts chapter 13. You look at this, and this is
the third way that the son of God is called the begotten son,
the only begotten of the father, true only of him and none other. And Paul is preaching, He says
to those he's preaching in Acts chapter 13, he says we, in verse
32 of Acts 13, and we declare unto you glad tidings, how that
the promise which was made to the fathers, verse 33, God has
fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he hath raised
up Jesus again. raise him up from the dead, as
it is also written in the second Psalm. We just read, thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee. So here's the third way
in which the words begotten son, the only begotten of the father
are used. First, his nature as God, his equality with the father
and his relation to his father as son, a unique relation only
he occupies, and also he was born, as man the son of David
through Mary. But here in verse 33 of Acts
13, he's spoken of as the only begotten when God raised him
from the dead. This day have I begotten thee.
Well, when was he begotten then? He wasn't begotten when he was
born of Mary, because it says here, when he was raised up from
the dead, God said, this day have I begotten thee. So we know
that the words, today have I begotten thee, can't refer to a specific
time when he became the son of God, but refer to a specific
time when through what he did, He was made known to be the Son
of God. Look at Romans chapter one. There's
a big difference between being revealed and declared and openly
shown to be the Son of God and actually becoming the Son of
God. He never became the Son of God, but he was manifested.
He was declared to be, in Romans one, Chapter 1, verse 1, Paul
writes this, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised
afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And what was
their prophecy? Concerning his son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the
flesh. There was a creation there. He
was created as the son of David. according to the flesh, and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead." You see, this is a different
way of understanding, today have I begotten thee, God is making
him known at the resurrection that this is my Son. And how
can we understand that? Why is that significant that
the resurrection proves he is the son of God? Well, because
he said back in Psalm 2 that he was going to set him on his
holy hill of Zion. He was going to reign as king. He was going to be seated there
because he finished the work of our salvation. Now having
finished that work, having ascended to heaven and having been seated
enthroned at the father's right hand, who occupies that place? Who can possibly occupy the place
at his father's right hand but the son of God? So this proves
that the one seated there on the father's right hand must
be the son of God. This day have I begotten thee. Thou art my son. where in him
I am well pleased, my beloved son, the one I love, the one
in whom all my will is fulfilled, all my glory is made known, and
all of my authority and power over all things is given to him
as the son. Now as God, he occupies that
throne and did occupy it from eternity, but as Christ the man,
in one person with the Son, his two natures in one person, that
person now sits on the throne of eternity. And this is why
it says in verse 4 of Hebrews 1, being made so much better
than the angels, because the mediator who is one God, the
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, now
sits on heaven's throne. Therefore he was made, in that
sense, as the Son of Man, also joined as Son of God in one person
because he purged our sins. Now he's sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. I want to think just a little
bit about that word, majesty, as a word we don't use very much,
because unlike in olden times, we don't live in a place where
we have a king, and they would always speak of the king as your
majesty, because it was a place of the highest possible honor. And men profane God and blaspheme
God when they speak of men as being your majesty. There's only
one who has majesty. It's God the Father and God the
Son. He has the majesty of God. Now
when we think of majesty on earth, what do we think of? We think
of a man with a gold crown adorned with jewels. having fine clothes,
sitting on a throne, servants all around, holding some kind
of a scepter to rule, representing his rule. We think of those outward
adornments, don't we? What is the majesty of God? What is it that commands our
utmost admiration? It's His character. Men are always
dressing in fine clothes and driving fine cars and living
in fine homes and associated with people that look like them
and have this status about them because of their associations
and because of their own outward appearance and maybe even their
eloquence and their ability to speak and reason. But God's majesty
is seen in His character. His very person is majestic,
and all that He is, He is holy, He is righteous, He is just,
He cannot lie, His word cannot fail. He's full of majesty, so
that everything He does commands our utmost admiration and respect
and awe of who He is. He has this How can you explain
this word majesty? It describes God in his character,
but also in his work. Because in verse three, when
he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Here we see how Christ's work
in our salvation draws our attention to that grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the truth, his power over our sins and his grace to
save us from our sins. that he would give himself for
our sins. It commands our utmost respect
and admiration, and we stand in awe of his majesty, the humility
of Christ. He would condescend and stoop
so low to save someone so ill-deserving as me, and do it at the cost
of his own life, give all that he has, and make himself of no
reputation, a servant the lowest of all, a worm and no man, and
suffer all that I deserve to suffer, and fulfill the obedience
that I could never fulfill. And then he sits on the throne
of glory because he accomplished all the will of God in doing
so. That's majesty. He commands our utmost worship
and respect. Now, to which of the angels did
God ever use this phrase, my only begotten son? None. Never
once. And so he has this place of honor,
this place of relation to the Father, this place of power.
And the angels themselves are commanded, even at his birth,
to worship him, which it says in verse six. And again, when
he bringeth the first begotten into the world, he saith, let
all the angels of God worship him. This shows their place,
huh? They are the worshipers, he's
the one worshiped. I actually passed over this,
let's see, in verse five, I didn't read this part. For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee? And again, another quotation,
again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.
Where was that taken from? Well, it was taken from God's
promise to King David that his son would sit on his throne forever. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, this is
where this occurs. If you want to take a look back
there, 2 Samuel 7, it came to pass, verse 1, when the king
sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about
from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan, the prophet,
See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells
within curtains. And Nathan said unto the king,
Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. And
it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came to
Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David. Thus saith the
Lord, Shalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? Whereas I
have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the
children of Israel out of Egypt even to this day, but have walked
in a tent and in a tabernacle, speaking of those curtains, In
all the places wherein I have walked, with all the children
of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel,
whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye
not me in house of cedar? Now therefore, so shalt thou
say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took
thee from the sheep coat, from following the sheep. to be ruler
over my people, over Israel, and I was with thee whithersoever
thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy
sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the
great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place
for my people Israel, and I will plant them and they shall that
they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more neither
shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore as before
time and as since the time that I commanded judges to be over
my people Israel and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies
also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house and
when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers
I God said to David, we'll set up thy seed after thee, which
shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name, and I will establish a throne of his kingdom forever. I will
be his father, and he shall be my son. You see that? There's the prophecy. he shall
be to him a father, he shall be to me a son." If you understand
the historical events here, King David had been fighting, Saul
had been persecuting him, finally Saul dies and David is crowned
king over all of Israel and he builds a house of cedar and he's
brought in, he brings the ark of God up into the city of Jerusalem. And he dances before the ark
with all of his might. He's clothed only in a linen
ephod. And as he enters into Jerusalem,
he's rejoicing over God and his grace towards him to have made
him king. And then he thinks, wait a minute,
I dwell in a house of cedar. God dwells behind curtains. And
he thinks in his heart, it comes into his heart, I need to build
him a house. Now the historical events show that at the coronation
of David, God having delivered all of his enemies into his hand
and bringing up the ark of God into Jerusalem, that then God
moves David to say, I want to build a house for my God. And God says, no, I'm going to
build your house and my son is going to reign over my house.
And so we see in this historical events of 2 Samuel 5, 6, and
7, that God is showing, corresponding to the enthronement of David
over Israel, God having subdued his enemies to him, Christ would
be crowned as king over all of God's house, which house are
we, who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews 3.6. but he would
be called his son and God the father would be to him a father,
he would be his son. Even though he would be born
of David and his throne, his dominion would be forever. And
so when God speaks of these things about comparing Christ to angels,
he shows he's the one God always promised and determined would
sit on the throne of David, not as the son of David only. but
as the Son of God on that throne. So these two things, Christ as
Son of Man and Christ as Son of God, sitting on the throne,
not only of the house of Jacob forever, of sinners saved by
his grace, but over all things, over all time, for the purpose
of blessing those people. to whom God gave to him to save.
And that's why Hebrews 1 pulls this out of 2 Samuel 7 and quotes
it in comparison to the angels, because to none of the angels
God promised this, and to none of them did he ever or will he
ever give this place at his right hand, because this place is reserved
for one only, the only begotten Son of God. And the Son of Man
who purged our sins by Himself, our High Priest who took our
sins and bore them to before God and took them away from us
and glorified God in mending His broken law that we broke,
in fulfilling His righteousness which we owed, and glorifying
God in all of this, magnifying His law. And so he speaks of
the son in the most majestic terms, because it was always
intended for him to reign this way. It was given to him in promise,
in covenant. God swore by an oath, I will
do this in Psalm 89. In fact, let's look there at
Psalm 89. Psalm 89, another psalm that
speaks of Christ reigning. He says in verse one, I will
sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I
make known thy faithfulness to all generations. This is of the
Lord's faithfulness, his mercies that were not consumed. Great
is thy faithfulness, verse two. For I have said, mercy shall
be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish
in the very heavens. I have made a covenant With my
chosen I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish
forever and build up thy throne to all generations. And the heaven
shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the
congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be
compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty
can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints. and to be had in reverence of
all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord, like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round
about thee. Thou rulest the raging of the sea, when the waves thereof
arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab. another
name for Egypt, in pieces as one that is slain. Thou hast
scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. The heavens are
thine. The earth also is thine. As for
the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north
and the south, thou hast created them. Tabor and Hermon, shall
rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong
is thy right hand, and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. Here we see a description of
the King. He rules in justice and judgment, but mercy and truth
go before His face. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. They that walk, O Lord, in the
light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice
all the day, and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For Thou
art the glory of their strength, and in Thy favor our horn shall
be exalted. For the Lord is our defense,
and the Holy One of Israel is our King. This is talking about
the Lord Jesus. Then thou speakest in vision
to thine Holy One, and says, I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. I have found, I have exalted
one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant
with my holy oil have I anointed him. Another, when you see David
here, think of Christ, because David had already reigned. He's
speaking of David, of Christ in the future as the son of David.
He says in verse 21, With whom my hand shall be established,
mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact
upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat
down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my
name shall his horn or strength be exalted. I will set his hand
also in the sea, speaking about the Gentiles, and his right hand
in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, thou art
my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation, and also I will
make him my firstborn higher than the kings of the earth.
This is Christ, isn't it? My firstborn, my firstborn, the
preeminent one, in whom it pleased God the Father that all fullness
should dwell. It's all about the lifting of
Jesus on high, isn't it? To which of the angels said he
this at any time? Never. Look at Hebrews chapter
one again. Christ, God swore by an oath
that he would put his son as the son of David on the throne
of heaven and earth. And he has done so at the time
when Christ purged our sins. He did it because as the son,
it belonged to him by right of inheritance. And he did it because
as the son of man, our mediator, he earned it. He made himself
of no reputation. He took on him the form of a
servant, was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, sinful man,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name." You see, it's all because of what he did
for his people. And so he says in verse seven, and of the angels
he saith, who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flame
of fire. The angels are spirits, they
have no bodies, they're ministers, they're not chiefs, they're servants,
but they're powerful, they're like a flame of fire. But unto
the sun he saith, verse eight, Hebrews one, verse eight, listen
to these words. Unto the sun he saith, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom." This is amazing, isn't it? I
love Jesus as God. Read the Bible. I have a bumper
sticker like that. It was given to me back in Alabama. Unto the Son, he saith, thy throne,
O God, is for ever and ever. This is taken from Psalm 45.
Look at Psalm 45. It's a coronation psalm. It's the psalm of Christ's coronation
as king and his people and his bride with him. I'll just read through this time
a little more slowly. My heart is indicting a good
matter. I speak of the things which I
have made touching the king. My heart, my tongue, I'm sorry,
my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. And here he speaks of
the Lord Jesus. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. What grace is that? The gospel,
the spirit of God is upon me, hath anointed me to preach to
the poor, to preach salvation, deliverance, and all those things. Grace is poured into thy lips,
therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon
thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty, and
in thy majesty ride prosperously. because of truth and meekness
and righteousness. He describes the things that
are important to God and important to the Lord Jesus Christ, truth,
meekness, and righteousness. Who would ever have thought of
a king as having the admirable quality of being meek? Jesus
said, I am meek and lowly of heart. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. I'm meek and lowly of heart.
You shall find rest for your souls. But he goes on. And thy
right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under
thee. Here's a quote from Hebrews 1.8, or Hebrews 1.8 quotes this. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom God addresses as God on His throne. What does this
teach us? It teaches us that the Son of
God is God. It teaches us that the Son of
God is King. And it teaches us that He sits
on the throne forever and ever, and that His kingdom is the kingdom
of His people, over which He reigns and rules in righteousness. He goes on, verse seven, which
also is quoted in Hebrews one, verse nine, thou lovest righteousness
and hatest wickedness or iniquity. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. That's
amazing, isn't it? Christ loves righteousness and
hates iniquity. Then the thought immediately
comes to our mind that how can he have anything to do with me
if he loves righteousness and hates iniquity? How can he have
anything to do with a sinner? Now this is his majesty. The righteousness that he loves
is not found in us. It's his own work. Thou has performed
all things for me. You have worked all of our works
in us. These are words of scripture.
Christ himself is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believe it. God has made him to us righteousness. The Lord our righteousness is
his very name. And in his righteousness shall
all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. These are quotes
from scripture. So the righteousness that he
loves has to be his own righteousness because that's the only righteousness
there is among men, isn't it? There is none righteous, no not
one, and yet I will make mention of thy righteousness, even thine
only. So Christ loves his own work
of righteousness, but he loves his people consistent with that
righteousness because he has given his own righteousness to
them. And he hates iniquity, therefore
we know that he has removed all iniquity from us. Look at the next verse. All thy
garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces
whereby they have made thee glad. King's daughters were among thy
honorable women. Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen in gold of Ophir. Here's his bride on his right
hand. Remember the sheep are always
on the right. Here she is dressed in gold of Ophir, the finest
gold. and his own garments smell of
the most fragrant and delightful spices." And so he goes on addressing
his queen, "'Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine
ear. Forget also thine own people and thy father's house, everything
that you may be called yours, forget it. So shall the king
greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou
him.'" King on his throne, his bride, his queen at his right
hand, dressed in his own beauty and righteousness, and he says,
forget your own household. just like a wife leaving her
family and clinging to her husband, just like a husband leaving his
mother and father and clinging to his wife. Hear Christ in the,
he's the one that our physical marriages are patterned after.
He stands and he says to his bride, just abandon all. Leave every defense that you
have. Abandon all of your works you trust in. and consider no
plea but the defense and the righteousness and the plea of
your king. So shall the king greatly desire
your beauty. He says, verse 11, so shall the
king greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship
thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall
be there with a gift. Even the rich among the people
shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. the best gold worked out in the
finest embroidery and whatever goldsmiths do to make it beautiful.
You would think gold by itself would be beautiful enough, but
here she's dressed in the finest gold. The gold of Ophir worked
out. This is the gold of Christ's
own righteousness put upon her. And that faith we have, which
is much more precious than gold that perishes, looks to Christ
and His righteousness, and we greatly desire Him, and He greatly
desires His own. Verse 14, she shall be brought
to the king in raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions that
follow her, shall be brought unto thee. And speaking of the
church as one, with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.
They shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy father
shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the
earth, were kings and priests to God. And I will make thy name
to be remembered in all generations. Therefore shall the people praise
thee forever and ever. None of this was ever said about
the angels. You see how Christ rules? He
rules in righteousness. He loves righteousness. He rules
in majesty because he overthrew the kingdom of Satan. He purged
our sins. He delivered us from this present
evil world. Therefore he reigns and we find him all glorious
because he's given us this salvation out of his grace. The words of his mouth, they
drop with his honey of the gospel. And so therefore we see this,
isn't it wonderful? And this is why he's better than
angels to his people, isn't it? And better than angels to God.
I said last week at the end of the service that you can spot
an evil angel because they always direct you to the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, to your own works, to the law by
which you try to come to God through your own personal obedience.
Evil angels direct you away from Christ, the Son, But the angels
sent from God speak of Christ as the son of the highest and
tell us that all of heaven and earth will worship him. He's
king over the house of Jacob forever, let's pray. Lord, we
pray that you would help us in the weakness of our understanding
and the smallness of our faith. that you would give us grace
to see our Lord Jesus on the highest throne, in the highest
place, having all honor, possessing all things, holding our salvation
and our life in his hands, and help us as his people to trust
him and know that the strength by which we serve him doesn't
come from us, it comes from him who sits on the throne, and so
go to his throne at all times to receive the grace we need
to live the grace we need to thank Him and praise Him, and
to believe Him, and to worship Him, and to love those He loves,
and to love what He loves, to declare His gospel with joy and
rejoicing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.