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In this message we will continue to consider the experience and enjoyment of Christ as the Son of God who is better than the angels.
Christ made purification of sins and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high until God makes His enemies a footstool for His feet (Heb. 1:3).
Verse 3 tells us that Christ “made purification of sins.” In God’s redemption there are three time periods. First, the Lord purified our sins in the past. He has not only propitiated for our sins but also made purification of them. Propitiation means “covering,” but purification means that our sins have been washed away. In the Old Testament type the propitiation was able only to cover sins (Psa. 32:1); it was unable to take away sins. So the propitiating priests stood daily, offering the same sacrifices (Heb. 10:11), and could never sit down. But the Son took away sin (John 1:29) and accomplished the purification of sins once for all; hence, He sat down forever (Heb. 10:10, 12). In the eyes of God, sin is over, and throughout the whole universe sin has been washed away. Sin should not be in us, in the church, or in our home. Sin has been washed away, and the purification of sins has been accomplished. The Son completed this work in the past.
Hebrews 1:3 goes on to say that Christ “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” This clearly refers to the ascension. In His ascension Christ, as the ascended Son of God, is much superior to the angels. He is no longer in the tomb or on the earth; He is at the right hand of the Majesty on high. This is His ascension in which He was inaugurated into His office to carry out God’s eternal purpose, that is, to build up the church and to bring His many brothers into glory (2:10).
The Son is now sitting, resting. He is sitting on the right hand of God, watching His lovers and seekers experience His purification of sins. At least five times the book of Hebrews tells us that the Lord Jesus is sitting (1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2). Regarding redemption, He has no work to do. He does not need to wash us again, for He has thoroughly washed us already. Before we even made our confession, He had already washed us. In fact, we were washed before we were born. The Lord has finished all the work of redemption (9:12).
Hebrews 1:13 says, “To which of the angels has He ever said, ‘Sit at My right hand until I set Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet’?” Christ the Son is waiting for His enemies to be subdued. This will occur in the future. The Lord lacks nothing except a footstool. He has the throne and the crown, but He does not yet have the footstool. Be assured that one day He will obtain this footstool. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God until God makes all His enemies and adversaries serve Christ as a footstool for His rest. Now we are still in the period of “until,” the period of the church. We are still in the time when God is working to bring all His enemies under the feet of Christ.
The book of Hebrews stresses the fact that Christ has accomplished everything for God and us, leaving nothing for us to do. His sitting at the right hand of God signifies that His work has been accomplished and that He is resting there, waiting for only one thing — that God will make His enemies a footstool for His feet. He is sitting there in the heavens waiting for a footstool that He may have complete rest.
It is also in resurrection that Christ is declared to be the Son of God who is superior to the angels. Resurrection means a new beginning; it denotes germination. Verse 3 refers to His death by saying, “Having made purification of sins.” Verse 5 indicates His resurrection by which He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33) as the beginning of a new age, the age of the church, which is composed of His many brothers born of God through His resurrection.
In God’s economy, God has the firstborn Son and the many sons. Before Christ was incarnated, God had only one, unique Son. In the Bible this Son is called the only Begotten (John 1:14, 18). John 3:16, a verse familiar to every Christian, says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God’s only begotten Son was Christ. Before His death and resurrection, Christ was the unique Son of God. The New Testament reveals that through Christ’s death and resurrection the many sons of God were born (1 Pet. 1:3). Early in the morning of the day of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus said to Mary, “Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17). He never called His disciples brothers before that morning. Even in John 15 He said, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends” (v. 15). The most intimate term He used regarding His disciples before His resurrection was friends. But after His resurrection, He met one of His female disciples and told her to go to His brothers. This was prophesied in Psalm 22. The first words of this psalm, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” were spoken by the Lord when He was on the cross (Matt. 27:46). The first twenty-one verses of Psalm 22 speak of the Lord’s crucifixion. Suddenly, verse 22 says, “I will declare Your name to my brothers.” This proves that He passed through death and entered into resurrection. After He passed through death and resurrection, the many brothers were produced. He was that one grain of wheat, which through death and resurrection became many grains (John 12:24). Now God has many sons. He not only has the only begotten Son but also the many sons with the Firstborn. Before His resurrection Christ was the only begotten Son of God. After His resurrection, since the many sons of God have been produced, He became God’s firstborn Son with many brothers.
Before Jesus Christ was resurrected, God did not have a firstborn Son. He just had the only begotten Son. What is the difference between the firstborn Son and the only begotten Son? As the only begotten Son, Christ did not have the human nature. He had only the divine nature. When He was incarnated, He put on human nature. The thirty-three and a half years of His life on earth were a transitory state. On the one hand, He was still the only begotten Son of God; on the other hand, He had put on human nature. The divine nature within Him was the Son of God but the human nature was not. Therefore, during those thirty-three and a half years, Jesus was quite peculiar. He had the divine nature — that was the Son of God — but He also put on the human nature — that was not the Son of God. That human nature had not been born of God. According to His divinity, His divine nature, He was the Son of God. But before His resurrection, He had something that was not born of God — the human nature. He needed to pass through death and resurrection in order for that human part to be born of God. Psalm 2:7 is a strong basis for this: “You are My Son; / Today I have begotten You.” What was prophesied in Psalm 2:7 was fulfilled on the day of resurrection. This is indicated by Acts 13:33 which, referring to the resurrection of Christ, quotes this verse from Psalm 2. In His human nature Christ was begotten as the Son of God on the day of resurrection. After this, He became the firstborn Son of God. Now, as the firstborn Son, He has both the divine nature and the human nature. As the only begotten Son of God, He did not have the human nature. While He was on earth after His incarnation, He had the human nature, but in those thirty-three and a half years His human nature had not been born of God. It was through His resurrection that the human part of His being was born of God. By this begetting, He became the firstborn Son of God. While the only begotten Son of God had only the divine nature and not the human nature, Jesus today as the firstborn Son of God has both natures. The firstborn Son of God is not only the Son of God but also the Son of Man.
As the Son of God, He is superior to the angels in His second coming. Hebrews 1:6 alludes to this. “When He brings again the Firstborn into the inhabited earth, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.’” We know that this verse refers to the second coming because it speaks of Christ as the Firstborn. In His first coming, He was God’s only begotten Son (John 1:14). As the only begotten Son of God, Christ possessed divinity but not humanity. In incarnation, however, Christ as the only begotten Son of God became the Son of Man, and in resurrection He was born in His humanity to be the firstborn Son of God. Therefore, when Christ returns, He will not come in the same status that He had when He came to the earth the first time. Christ came to the earth the first time as the only begotten Son of God, but He will come the second time as the firstborn Son of God, the Son of God possessing both divinity and humanity.
In other words, when God brought Christ to earth the first time, He came in His status as the only begotten Son of God. In such a status, He became the Son of Man in His incarnation, and as the Son of Man He was begotten to be the Son of God in His resurrection. Hence, when God brings Him to the inhabited earth the second time, He will come in His status as the firstborn Son of God, a status in which He is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. For this reason, He declared to the Jewish opposers in Matthew 26 that they would see Him coming back as the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven (v. 64). When God brings Christ again into the inhabited earth as the Firstborn, all the angels will worship Him.
The Son has a more excellent name than the angels. Hebrews 1:4 speaks of Christ “having become as much better than the angels as to have inherited a more distinguished name than they.” This more distinguished name is the Son, which is fully defined in the succeeding verses of this chapter: “For to which of the angels has He ever said, ‘You are My Son; this day have I begotten You’? And again, ‘I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me’?” (v. 5). Romans 1:4 says that Christ “was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead.” His coming out of death was the designation that He is the Son of God. Christ has been designated as and declared to be the Son of God. He has received such an excellent name. Regrettably, some Christians seem to love the angels more than Christ, but we need to see that Christ has inherited a more distinguished name — the name of the Son of God — than they.
Hebrews 1:9, which is addressed to Christ the Son says, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy above Your partners.” The expression Your God seems to mean “God’s God.” Christ the Son is God, yet God is His God. How can we explain this? Since the Son is also man, God is His God.
Verse 9 indicates that God the Father has anointed God the Son with God the Spirit as the oil of exultant joy. In God’s economy Christ is the One appointed by God to accomplish God’s plan, and we are Christ’s partners in the divine interest. He was anointed by God, and we share with Him this anointing for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. In a sense, Christ is the greatest businessman in the universe; He is carrying out a divine enterprise, a divine career, for the accomplishment of God’s economy (cf. Luke 19:13). We should remember our status as Christ’s partners and declare that we are partners of Christ in His great enterprise.
Christ was appointed in eternity past and anointed in time (Heb. 1:9). That anointing was the initial heavenly, divine inauguration. God initially inaugurated His appointed Heir into office by anointing Him. God the Spirit poured Himself out as the anointing oil upon this appointed Heir, anointing Him to be the operator of God’s divine operation.
As the partners of Christ, we are partners in His anointing. His anointing includes us. In Psalm 133 we see that the ointment poured out upon the head of Aaron, the high priest, flows down upon the whole body to the hem of his garments. This signifies that all the members of the Body of the High Priest share His anointing. We, the partners, share the anointing of the unique Heir. The anointing was the initial inauguration. Therefore, we all share in His inauguration. In this heavenly, divine, and eternal inauguration, we are His partners. He has obtained the anointing, and we share it with Him because we are His partners. This means that we all have been anointed. We all have been put into office. We are not only the partakers of Christ who enjoy Him but also the partners of Christ who share in His operation. He will accomplish a full expression of God in glory, and we are now cooperating with Him in this operation. We are Christ’s joint-heirs and partners, cooperating with Him and sharing in His operation. His office must also be our office.
In Hebrews 1:9 we see our relationship with God’s anointed One. In God’s economy, Christ is the Heir appointed by God, and in verse 9 we see that this appointed Heir has been anointed. The anointing confirms the appointment. God first appointed the Son and then anointed Him. As Christ’s partners, we all partake of His anointing. We need to see that we are partners of Christ and that we share in His anointing.
The second coming of Christ is followed by His kingdom. He, as the coming firstborn Son of God, will be superior to the angels in His kingdom. Verse 8 says, “Of the Son, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.’” Here the Son is addressed, “O God.” This is strong proof that the Son is God. Surely God is superior to the angels. This verse also indicates that the throne of the Son is the everlasting throne of God. Thus, His kingdom must also be the kingdom of God. Christ, the Son of God, has the throne of God and the kingdom of God. The throne is under Him, and the scepter of the kingdom, which signifies the authority of the kingdom, is in His hand. As the Son of God who possesses both the throne and the kingdom of God, Christ is much superior to the angels.
Hebrews 1 gives us an account of Christ from eternity past to eternity future. He was the very God in eternity past (v. 8); He was the Creator of the earth and the heavens (vv. 10, 2); He is the Upholder of all things and the One who bears all things (v. 3); He is the Heir of all things (v. 2); He was incarnated for redemption by being crucified (v. 3); He was begotten as the Son of God in resurrection for the imparting of life to the many sons of God (v. 5); He is the firstborn Son of God who will come again (v. 6); He will be the King on the throne with the scepter in the kingdom (vv. 8-9); and He will remain forever and ever in eternity future (vv. 11-12). This short chapter covers such a wide span of what Christ is from eternity past to eternity future. This is our Christ, the Son of God who is superior to the angels!
