Hebrews 1:7-14, PRBC Sunday Evening, March 29, 2009

Good morning. We covered a huge swath of ground, two verses. We may cover more this evening because I confess I'm not sure where there is a meaningful breaking point. You can hear it at the end of the chapter, but we'll just see how the Lord leads.

Hebrews 1:5-6 and the Son’s Superiority Over the Angels

Hebrews chapter 1, we will begin reading at verse 5, just to go back and familiarize ourselves with where we were this morning and get a running start on where we're going this evening. Once again, demonstrating the supremacy of Christ, the first rhetorical question, verse 5, for to which of the angels has he ever said, you are my son, this day I have begotten you.

And again, I shall be to him as a father and he shall be to me as a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the inhabited world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. And to which of the angels has he said, the one making his angels spirits and his ones who serve him, it's literally a term that means to serve in the temple, those who serve him, flames of fire, but of the sun, please note that beginning of verse eight, but of the sun, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

And the scepter of uprightness or righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of rejoicing or gladness beyond your compatriots.

And harkening back to verse eight, this is said to the sun, verses 10 through 12, again said to the sun, you at the beginning, O Lord, laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens, the work of your hands.

They shall perish, but you will remain and they shall all become old as a garment. As an outer cloak, you will roll them up as a garment. They shall be changed, but you are the same and your years will never run out.

Come their completion or to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Are they not all ministering servants sent out to minister to those who will inherit salvation?

Amen. Well, once again, as you can see, the next section we have to look at is a long series of Old Testament quotations beginning at verse seven. As we saw this morning, it is vitally important to understand the background of each one of these quotations so that we can follow the argument that is being made by the inspired writer.

And so we saw this morning this connection of the sonship in verse five, son and father in the second quotation of verse five, then the firstborn in verse six. And we saw them looking at Deuteronomy 32, 43 in the Greek Septuagint.

The fact that we have here one of those texts where the writer is applying something that was originally about Gatling and applying it to Jesus. As most of you know, later in this section, verses 10 through 12, we have one of the key texts where that happens.

And so that's why I wanted to emphasize it this morning. It is extremely important that we keep that in mind. So once again, the argument continues. And it seems that in verses seven and eight, there is another contrast being drawn between the angels and the son.

First of all, we have a quote from Psalm 104, 4, where you have the angels described as spirits and those who serve him. And that term is used of service in the temple as flames of fire. Now, once again, I think some Jewish apologists or some might have some problems with the argument, because if you go back to the 104th Psalm, Psalm 104, you will see that it's talking about the natural realm and its service to God.

For example, if you just go back to verse two, covering yourself with light is with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. He lays the beams of his upper chambers in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot.

He walks upon the wings of the wind. He makes the winds his messengers, flaming fire his ministers. He established the earth upon its foundations that will not totter forever and ever, et cetera, et cetera.

So it is talking about God as creator. But verse four, at least from the Hebrew, seems to indicate he makes the winds his messengers, flaming fire his ministers. And so it could be interpreted as just simply the idea that the natural realm, the winds, which we've sort of had enough of recently.

That's why we're all coughing and sneezing. The winds are his messengers, flaming fire his ministers. But as you probably are aware, some of the terms in the Old Testament are somewhat ambiguous, because the term that is found in verse four can be or his angels or his spirits.

And so clearly, the writer of the Hebrews is interpreting that term in that way. And speaking of the angels being ministers, those who do the will of God. And there's no question in the Old Testament that this is exactly what angels do.

And it is interesting, we don't have time to go into it this evening, but if you want to do some more reading in it, it is interesting that during the intertestamental period, again, when you go into the literature that the Jews wrote, and when you go into something that, you know, the reformers thought we should read these books for edification, for knowledge and things like that.

But because Rome eventually added the canon, most Protestants have never read anything of them. But in the apocryphal books, what we call the apocrypha, you have discussions of these same things, these developments about what the angels were like as ministers of flames of fire and things like that.

That would be very consistent with the writer's use of this particular text. I believe if you look at 4th Ezra, as I recall, there is a lengthy discussion that would be very much utilized in the same kind of language as here.

And so again, his assertion is that the angels are created. They have been made to serve. They serve at God's bidding. So verse 7 is set in contrast to verse 8, but to the sun. And so verse 8 is a contrast to verse 7.

Angels, they have their certain role. They are to be messengers. They are created beings. They have their particular area. But listen to what is said to the sun. And here you have a quotation of Psalm 45, verses 6 through 7.

Now, you will find some translations of the Bible and some mistranslations of the Bible, such as the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses, that will render this, God is your throne forever and ever.

But that is a highly unusual way of reading the text. Others would say, well, no, wait a minute. This Psalm 45, you go back, it was a psalm about the marriage of one of the Israelite kings. And you wouldn't call an Israelite king God, would you?

Well, given the Davidic covenants and given the way that people dealt with kings in the Old World, this kind of exalted language, again, seems to remind us of things like, well, Isaiah 9, 6, mighty God, Micah 5, 2, one who is everlasting.

There seems, again, to be in the Old Testament these texts that refer to one who could never find fulfillment in any Old Testament paradigm, in any Old Testament person. It goes beyond that. And I think that the real contrast between verses 7 and 8 would not be to say, God is your throne, but to say, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

That's the contrast to these angels who are created, who are part of the creative order, but to the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. And I was reading one particularly excellent commentator who, likewise, in the later phrase, when it says, in most translations, therefore God, even your God, has anointed you, said, I think that we should be a little more careful how we render this.

He sees that actually the term God appears two times in a row, right there in the Greek. Hatheas, hatheas. The second one is hatheasu, your God. But he indicates that just as the word God, in verse 8, is in what's called evocative, that is, he's being addressed.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. But the same thing is true in the second part of the verse, so that it is again referring to this person as God. Your God, O God, has anointed you. Now again, we're going, well, I don't know, it sounds like polytheism or something.

No, it's not polytheism. But it does hearken back to the Old Testament. Remember what happened when Abraham was walking by the Oaks of Mamber back in Genesis 18? All the way back there, three men come walking up to Abraham.

And we are told in the text that two of them are angels. They're the ones that end up going down to Sodom and Gomorrah. One is identified as Yahweh. And after the angels go down to Sodom and Gomorrah, when it is time to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, the text says this really odd thing.

It says, Jehovah rained fire and brimstone out of heaven from Jehovah upon the city. And so it would seem that you have Jehovah on earth who has been speaking with Abraham. And he rains fire and brimstone down upon Jehovah from heaven.

Do we have two Jehovahs? Of course not. But we do, when we look at the New Testament, have the one named Yahweh, Jehovah, used of father, son, and spirit. And what is one of the key assertions of the New Testament?

That no one has seen the father at any time. Who have they seen? It's the son who has literally exegeted him, explained him, made him known. And what does John tell us in John chapter 12? Who was the one that Isaiah saw sitting upon the throne?

It was Jesus. And so we have this theme running all the way through the text of Scripture. And so I think we need to be a little bit slow to accuse the writer of the Hebrews of having sort of missed something here.

Maybe we're the ones that need to listen a little bit more closely to see what is really being said. And so you have this citation of the 45th Psalm. And there's much we can say about the scepter of uprightness, righteousness.

It's a rule that is marked by truthfulness. I think there's a lot that can be said about that. We could make an entire sermon just making application to what godly rulership is that I think can come out of something like this.

The fact that he's loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. If we want to talk about how we are to imitate Christ, we are to be like Christ. Well here's one of the attitudes. Loving righteousness, hating lawlessness.

But I will resist that very strong temptation I have right now to pursue that. And so you have this statement that God, your God, oh God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

Now who would these companions be? It was interesting. One of the best suggestions that I saw was that this would be sort of a foreshadowing of what we see in chapter 2. When in chapter 2 Jesus is talking about my brethren.

Notice verse 12. I will proclaim your name to my brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. And so the possibility being that this rejoicing is the rejoicing of the leader of the redeemed.

And those others that are mentioned are the redeemed themselves. Which would be an interesting way of looking at this. But the main point to see is that verse 8 is in contrast to verse 7. Angels are created beings.

The son is described as God who is the righteous ruler. He is different than the angels. But now here's something very important. It's very practical. If you ever, you know, again get that knock on the door on Saturday morning or whatever else, other context you might be in.

Here's something to keep in mind. This is a very, very important text to notice. Maybe your Bible, it doesn't break things up into poetry and things like that. Or it doesn't indicate quotations. Maybe it's just sort of blocked.

But most modern translations will break things up a little bit. And as I was translating this, I mentioned to you, notice verse 8 says, but to the son and then the quotation of Psalm 45. Then verse 10 simply starts with and followed by the quotation of Psalm 102, 25 through 27.

Both taken from the Greek Septuagint. Now why is that important? Because what is in verses 10, 11, and 12 is also being said to the son. This continues the contrast with the angels of verse 8. This isn't some new section.

This is still addressed directly to the son. So he is described here as Lord at the beginning of verse 10. You from the beginning, O Lord, laid the foundation of the earth. Now why is this important? Well, turn back with me for a moment to the 102nd Psalm and you'll see why it is so very important.

Psalm 102. What is this Psalm about and to whom is it addressed? Well, once again, I know that 90 of you are aware of this. But for the 10 who are not, don't feel bad that you're not. But you do need to be aware of a fact here.

When you look at the Old Testament as we have it in our English Bibles, you do not see the divine name just spelled out for you very often, unless you have something like the Jerusalem Bible. Psalm 102, 1 says, Hear my prayer, O Lord.

And when you see that word Lord, you will note that it's not typeset normally. What I mean by that is the O and the R and the D are capital letter forms, but they're in a smaller font. They're not the normal O and R and D that you would expect to see in the word Lord.

The reason for that is, that is the English Bible translator's way of telling you that the underlying Hebrew word is Yahweh or Jehovah. You could easily say, Hear my prayer, O Yahweh. Hear my prayer, O Jehovah.

That's why it's there. Now, the Jews simply say Hashem, the name. If you want to offend a Jewish person, right out of their socks. If you want to have your glasses turned into contact lenses, then use the divine name in the presence of a Jewish person.

They find that highly offensive. I had a dear Old Testament teacher in Bible college. He's gone to be with the Lord, but he told us a story about how he was invited by a Jewish friend to go to synagogue.

Since he could read Hebrew, they thought they could get this going to be Jewish or something. They gave him the scriptures to read, but he forgot about their traditions. He's just ripping along through the Hebrew, and he comes to the Tetragrammaton, Yod-Heh-Wah-Heh.

The Jews will always either say Hashem or Adonai. They will not say Yahweh. Well, he didn't remember that. He could have heard a pin drop in the synagogue that day, as he managed to offend everybody right out of their socks by pronouncing the divine name.

Keep that in mind. When you encounter the word LORD, L-O-R-D in all caps, it's the English Bible translator's way of telling you that is the name Jehovah or Yahweh. This is a psalm to Yahweh. You can see his name is used a number of times, verse 21, that men may tell the name of Yahweh in Zion, Ephraim in Jerusalem, and so on and so forth.

And so, when you get to verse 25, we are still talking about Yahweh. Of old you found in the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. Even they will perish, but you endure. All of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing.

You will change them, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not come to an end. The children of your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before you.

This is clearly addressed to Yahweh. It cannot be applied to anyone else. Because what's it about? What is being asserted here in the 102nd Psalm? Basically, the immutability of God. God does not change.

God does not age. We look at the great creation around us, and we think of how many generations, centuries, millennia have passed. God must be getting old. God must have that white beard. No, God is not subject to aging.

The created order is. Anything in the created order is subject to aging, but God is not subject to aging. His years do not come to an end. He does not get older and wiser over time. And this is an attribute solely of the one true God of Scripture.

And so, for the writer to the Hebrews, to take a text. You know, this morning we looked at verse 6. We saw Deuteronomy 32, and we went, Wow, I'm the Greek Septuagint. That's about true. But not too many of us are running around translating to the Greek Septuagint.

The original readers would have caught that one, but a lot of English readers right on past us, because even if we looked at Deuteronomy 32, 43, Brother Flock was saying, That's not what my Bible says, Deuteronomy 32, 43.

Well, that's because it's not a translation of the Greek Septuagint. But this one, that's from the Greek Septuagint. Yes, but the Hebrew says the same thing. And the English Bible reader, who takes the time to go back, is going to go, No, wait a minute.

These are words that can be applied only to the one true God. Any created being, no matter how majestic that created being is, is on the other side of the divide from the Creator. And so to apply these words, as the author does, to Jesus.

Now, it's not shocking to us. Did he not already say that the Son was the one through whom all things were made, at the beginning of the book? He did. But if there was any question about what he meant back in verses 1, 2, and 3, those questions are pretty much gone now.

Because, as I've said to more than one Jehovah's Witness, you and I can argue for a long time about whether Jesus is called God or a God. But if Jesus is identified as Jehovah, then the argument is over.

And they will agree with that. Obviously, if Jesus is identified as Jehovah, then all the rest of the arguments you can have are irrelevant. And so here you have this key text. And you see the argument is adding up.

It's not just once. It's not just, well, maybe we're misunderstanding his application here. Well, did we misunderstand his application in verse 6? In verse 8? In verse 10? No. The evidence is adding up.

The argument is being presented. The Jewish person, in essence, to go back to the old way, to go into that temple and to say, I'm going to honor the name of Hashem, the Lord, while shaming the name of Jesus, is not possible.

Because, you see, to deny Jesus is to deny Jehovah God himself. There's nothing to go back to. See how it fits into the argument of the book of Hebrews. And so I would suggest to you, just to keep in your own mind, this is one of the two texts that I always use with Jehovah's Witnesses, that and John 12 with Isaiah 6, to ask them to consider this reality, that the New Testament identifies Jesus as Jehovah.

Psalm 110 and the Enthronement of Christ

Well, very quickly, as time is passing us, we can hardly even do justice to the last verse that is induced here in the first chapter. In verse 13, once again, to which the angels, has he ever said, rhetorical question.

And then we have, what probably is, the key text in the My Dearly Church regarding Jesus. The key text. It was considered to be clearly fulfilled in Christ. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

The 110th Psalm. We know that even Jesus used this. We know that he used the same psalm to catch up the Jews and say, well, given your own messianic interpretation, your own messianic expectation, how can David identify the Messiah as his Lord, if he is the son of David, if he is a descendant of David?

And they don't know how to answer. This particular text speaks of, again, enthronement. Sit at my right hand. Now, there are some folks, because they don't look at all of the scriptures, they don't believe all the scriptures, and primarily because they accept other things as scripture, that will look to a text like this, a look to Stephen as he's being stoned in Acts 7.

He says he sees Jesus at the right hand of glory. And they think God has the right hand, and that means Jesus is a separate God. And Jesus is over on the right-hand side. Clearly, what it says to be seated at the right hand of God is a position of authority and a position of power.

He is seated. The angels are either hovering in flight or they're kneeling or they're prostrating. He is seated. No one is seated in the presence of God. Indeed, I recall recently, I forget exactly what it was, there was some brouhaha somewhere in the world because one particular person would not stand up when one particular political leader came into the room, would not show respect for that person in that way.

And obviously, even in our own day, if you were sitting in a room and even someone like the governor of a state walked in the room, you're not just going to sort of sit there and keep dipping your French fries, let alone when the big Berlin police officer comes along to check you out.

But there's some respect to be shown. But here is one who is seated at God's right hand. And God says that he is going to subdue all his enemies. It takes us right back to the second psalm where we started this morning, where kiss the sun lest he be angry with you.

Why do nations rage? This is one who has governing authority and power over all the world. And the key to the early church was while they here on earth were mistreated, while they here on earth were a small, despised minority, what gave them the strength to go into the Colosseum and face the animals?

What gave them the strength to go into the prisons and to be separated from their loved ones? Paul chained to a smelly Roman soldier. What gave them the power to press on, to rejoice when all their physical belongings were taken from them?

What gave them that strength? Because they recognized that even though for a time the powers of this world were opposed to them, even though the rulers of this age mocked the name of Christ, they were convinced that their Lord was seated at the right hand of the Majesty.

What did we learn through the hard work that Pastor Fry put into going through the book of Revelation? What was the constant recurring theme? What did we see at the very beginning of the book of Revelation?

How is Jesus seen there? Is He seen as the meek, lowly person knocking upon the door hoping for entrance? What is the picture of Jesus there? A sword is coming out of His mouth. There's purity and power and authority and glory.

And that's what the early church saw in Psalm 110. Despised by the Romans, spat upon, beaten and bloody, seated at the right hand of power. This was what they knew that the world didn't. The world wanted to see authority and power and conquering heroes.

But you see the Christian message was that through suffering, He had demonstrated the power of God in defeating the last enemy, death. And now because He had been faithful, He has been exalted. He has been given the name which is above every name.

He is seated at the right hand of power. The fulfillment of the words of the 110th Psalm. And so here is the conviction that gave the Christians strength then and should give Christians strength today as well.

There is a promise that is found there that they also embraced very, very dearly. He's at the right hand of power. But God, the Father, makes a promise. He will be seated there until what? Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.