Hebrews Lesson 18
July 7, 2005
NKJ Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your
heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
We will be
jumping around to several different places in the Old and New Testament to get
an understanding of what is going on here in Hebrews 1:5.
NKJ Hebrews 1:5 For to
which of the angels did He ever say: "You are My Son, Today I have
begotten You"? And again: "I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son"?
He is God the
Father.
This is the
first verse in the first section of Hebrews. Verses 1-4 are the opening
prologue. The prologue introduces some of the major themes and ideas that
we will go through again and again as we go through this crucial book of
Hebrews. It ended in verse 4 with the statement that He has by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. The point is that Jesus Christ
at the ascension received a higher position than the angels. This is clear
from a number of other passages in the New Testament.
NKJ 1 Peter 3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of
God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
NKJ Ephesians 1:20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the
dead and seated Him at His right hand
in the heavenly places, 21
far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name
that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22
And He put all things under His feet,
and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.
That is the
guts of the doctrine of the ascension and session of Jesus Christ. In that
ascension He was placed in authority over everything. He was created a little
lower than the angels but in the ascension He was elevated above the angels and
everything in the universe. He is the head of the church. There’s an
important connection there because His position as the head of the church
relates specifically to His high priestly ministry to Church Age
believers. That is about as close as the Apostle Paul gets to the high
priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is up to the writer of
Hebrews to develop that whole doctrine and its significance for us today. He
concludes that opening section in verse 4 referencing this elevation of the
Lord Jesus Christ to a position that is superior to that of the angels. With
that he ends the prologue and makes the transition into the first section that
will demonstrate the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But it is not
to simply emphasize the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ but the
significance of that for the spiritual life of the Church Age believer. That
becomes evident if you look at chapter two verse one where there is the
exhortation.
NKJ Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the
things we have heard, lest we drift away.
In other words
this isn’t just a mere academic statement about Christ’s superiority to the
angels or to His elevation at the session, but it has implications for how we
think and how we live in terms of our own spiritual life. This is based on
two doctrines that are not discussed very much any more.
We could bemoan
the fact that nobody wants to learn Bible doctrine any more. No one wants to
study any more. But this is what the spiritual life is predicated upon –
certain facts, understanding certain facts about who Jesus Christ is and what
He is doing right now. Who He is relates to something called the Sonship of Christ. We’ve gone through the titles of
Jesus Christ – the five titles related to His humanity and one to His
deity. They connect together under this concept right here of the Sonship and they connect in the two quotes of verse
5. What is remarkable in this section is that the writer of Hebrews goes
into the Old Testament and select phrases and sentences from 8 different Old
Testament passages and he weaves them together in order to establish this case
of who Jesus Christ is and His position over everything in the universe. That
position also means that He has power. That means He has authority to rule
and to reign the creation. Position without authority
is meaningless. You have to have the power to execute in the area of
responsibility that you have. Here the argument is that the Lord Jesus
Christ as the royal high priest, the king-priest, is superior because of His
authority. If I wanted to structure the argument in terms of a syllogism,
I would say that the major premise is that the Messiah based on these Old
Testament passages is superior to the angels. That is the point that is
made in verse five.
NKJ Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels
did He ever say: "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? And
again: "I will be to Him a Father, And He shall
be to Me a Son"?
Messiah is
superior to the angels. The unstated minor premise is that Jesus is the
Messiah. That is assumed throughout the first chapter. Jesus Christ
is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. Messiah comes from the
Hebrew word mashiyach
meaning the anointed one or the appointed one. The major premise is that
the Messiah is superior to the angels. The minor premise is Jesus is the
Messiah. The conclusion is that Jesus is superior to the angels.
Because Jesus
is in a position superior to the angels and because you and I as believers in
the Lord Jesus Christ are united with Him in Christ, we are in a position that
even though experientially we are created is lower than the angels eventually
at the rapture we will be higher than the angels. We will rule and reign
over the angels. And as Paul points out in I Cor
6 we will indeed judge the angels.
How are we
going to judge the angels? We all know if we have paid attention to the
recent events in the news of the retirement of a Supreme Court judge and all of
the battles going on in the Senate related to filibusters and judgeships, that
you see a lot of criticism of the judges. One in Minnesota let a child
molester out of prison and he killed this little boy. Then he kidnapped a
little girl. There is a problem with judges. The problem is that most
judges have no integrity in their souls. They have no content in their
souls upon which to base decisions. If you don’t have
integrity and content in your soul to make wise decisions, you can’t judge.
That is the underlying issue throughout Hebrews. As believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ, our destiny is to rule and reign with Christ as those who are
joint heirs with Him. We will be metachoi. We will be overcomers,
companions, and partakers. We will be those who co-rule and co-reign with Him.
We judge the angels. You can’t get there without Bible doctrine in the
soul. If you haven’t passed through the training ground in your three
score and ten years on planet earth, then you won’t be prepared to sit and
execute judgment during the Millennial Kingdom. That is why those who
don’t make it there are said to be outside the kingdom. They are not
participants, owners or heirs of the kingdom. They may be present but they
are not there with a position of authority. This is the background for the
whole book.
It presupposes
a certain understanding of these two doctrines - the session of Christ and the Sonship of Christ. Last time we went through some
issues related to Psalm 2. This relates to the ascension of Christ. We
started off looking at Psalm 68:18 and how it is used in Ephesians 4 showing
that the ascension is pictured as a victorious ascension. Just as God
took the high ground physically when the Ark of the Covenant was taken to the
top of the temple mount that pictured the victory of God over the enemies of
Israel in the Old Testament. It is applied to Jesus ascending over
everything at the ascension. It is a victorious taking of the high
ground. Then we looked at Daniel 7 and following. It indicated that there
is a time lapse before He is given the kingdom. Then we looked at Psalm
2. We will eventually get to Psalm 110 because that is quoted in this
passage as well. These are the four major passages in the Old Testament
that inform New Testament writers as to the significance of the ascension and
session.
This is
review. It is so important to understand Psalm 2. Psalm 2 is not an
easy psalm to understand. I remember some years ago sitting in
Christology. It was a basic systematic theology course at Dallas
Seminary. We had a new professor who was later on promoted to the head of
the department. He was at his best those first two or three years he was on the
faculty. He wasn’t as good later on for various other reasons. He did an
excellent job teaching Christology. I sat front and center next to Tommy
Ice. We almost had a religious experience every single day in class because
the lectures were so good. It was a great class and he taught through
Psalm 2. He went through all passages of the New Testament passage that
quotes Psalm 2. It was tremendous how he put it together. I went back
and read those notes. Every time I go through this I see new things. This
is one of the most basic passages from the Old Testament in terms of the New
Testament. Psalm 2:7 is referred to or directly
quoted four times in the New Testament. Psalm 2 is used four or five other
times in the New Testament. Whenever you have a psalm that is quoted
several times in the New Testament, you’d better wake up and pay attention
because God the Holy Spirit is saying that the theology in these psalms is
crucial to understand what is going on in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ
in His person and His work. I don’t begrudge you a bit for having to
repeat this again and again. For years I used to go back and almost start from
scratch on Psalm 2 because it is not simple. The implications are
profound.
It is a
prophetic Messianic psalm that looks forward to the time period at the end of
the tribulation. That is the scenario.
NKJ Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage, And
the people plot a vain thing?
It is a picture
of all the kings of the earth gathering together against the Lord and the
Messiah at the end of the Tribulation.
NKJ Psalm 2:2 The kings of the earth set
themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against
His Anointed, saying,
This is a U. N. conspiracy against God the Father referred to in this verse as Yahweh
and God the Son referred to in this verse as His Anointed.
This is what
they say.
NKJ Psalm 2:3 "Let us break Their
bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us."
This is a
continuous position of modern man since the fall. It is getting more and
more noticeable with modern man. They don’t want Him in their lives. We
removed Him from the schools. We have removed Him from the
courtroom. We want to remove Him from everything because we want to run
it ourselves. We don’t need God. It is going to get worse until this
final expression at the end of the tribulation.
NKJ Psalm 2:4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision.
This is
somewhat anthropomorphic picture of God laughing at miniscule man who shakes
his fist at the almighty, omnipotent God. This is God’s view.
NKJ Psalm 2:5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And
distress them in His deep displeasure:
Then is the
Hebrew word az. Anger is the
expression of His justice. He is not suddenly getting angry. This is an anthropopathic term. That means a human emotion is
attributed to God that He doesn’t actually possess in order to express God’s
policy, plans or purposes. There is a lot of debate over whether God has
emotion or not. Some people say that He has emotion. What they mean
may not be that much different from what we mean. They would say that His
emotion is not like our emotion. But you see if emotion is defined as a response to stimuli (whatever that may be) then you can’t have
God having emotion because emotion is a response to something. Since
God is omniscient, He always knows what is going to happen. He does not
become angry. That would violate immutability. That would mean that
He has always known that they would rebel so He has always been
angry. That would mean that God is eternally angry. That isn’t
right. Wrath is an anthropopathic expression of
God’s justice. We say that the judge threw the book at someone. What an
emotional outburst that is. We don’t mean it literally. We mean that the person
felt the full wrath or extent of the law. We had to pay the full penalty. That
is what this is indicating. It is the full expression of His justice.
NKJ Psalm 2:6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of
Zion."
This is where
it gets difficult. You have to pay attention to the pronouns. Who is
speaking in verse 6? God the Father. “I” is God
the Father. My King is the Messiah. There are two personages here. Who is
My King? My King is the Messiah. Now we have Davidic overtones. This
indicates a human king.
The Davidic
Covenant is the expression of the seed paragraph of the Abrahamic
Covenant. The installation of the King is Davidic. This is the
Davidic Covenant. This is the essence of Sonship. It
is Jesus as the Son of God indicating His full deity. The other part is
that it recognizes that He is the Son of David. This connects this quote
to the second half of verse 5 that quotes II Sam 7:14.
NKJ 2 Samuel 7:12 " When your days are fulfilled and you rest with
your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body,
and I will establish his kingdom. 13 "He shall build a house
for My name, and I will establish the throne of his
kingdom forever. 14 "I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the
rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. 15 "But My
mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it
from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
Under the Holy
Spirit the writer of Hebrews is connecting Psalm 2 and II Samuel 7. This
is a very interesting move because it shores up the magnificence of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Let’s remember
the covenants. There are three Gentile covenants in the Old
Testament. The first is the Edenic Covenant or
the Creation Covenant. It has to be modified because of the fall. It
becomes the Adamic Covenant. It sets up the first
dispensation of perfect environment. It is also called innocence. Innocence
is not really a bad term. Innocence has two connotations in our language. One
is that of someone who is rather naïve and innocent. That is not a good connotation. But
the other is a judicial connotation. That is that the person standing
before the bar of justice is innocent. That is exactly how the word is
utilized when CI Scofield chose it to describe this
dispensation. It referred to the fact that they were not guilty. Not
only were they not guilty, they were innocent judicially before the throne of
God. That is the issue. Throughout the Bible again and again it is
not experience that counts. It has to do with the Supreme Court of Heaven
and the God’s justice. That is why you can’t be saved unless you are justified. You
must possess the perfect righteousness of God. Confession is a judicial
term. All of these terms are borrowed from the legal structure. God runs
the universe according to these covenants. They are legal contracts. So
we have to think of these terms with legal nuances.
The Adamic Covenant has to be modified again after the flood
with the Noahic covenant. It is still in effect
today. Those are Gentile covenants and were for the entire human
race.
Because of the
failure at the Tower of Babel, God called out a new and unique people who would
be descendents of Abraham. Abraham was given a covenant in Gen
12:1-3. It was officially cut in Genesis 15 and reconfirmed with a sign
attached to it in Genesis 17. Then there are three more covenants given to
Israel that expand the land, seed, and blessing aspects of the Abrahamic covenant. There is a real estate or land
covenant in Deut 30. We have the Davidic Covenant in II Samuel 7. And
there is the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31.
The interesting
thing is that Hebrews recognizes and assumes the existence of the Abrahamic Covenant. It does not deal with land
covenant because that is a literal covenant to the Jews that they’re going to
have eternal possession of this piece of real estate located in the eastern end
of the Mediterranean between the river of Egypt and the Euphrates River. There
is a lot of discussion in Hebrews of the Davidic Covenant. It is the
background for understanding Sonship. In Hebrews
chapter 8 there is a reference to the New Covenant that replaces the old
covenant. So you have to understand this whole structure to understand
what the writer of Hebrews is saying. Under girding much of Hebrews is the
fact that the Mosaic Covenant is no longer in effect because it is replaced or superceded by Jesus Christ the and His work on the
cross. That is an overlook of the covenants and how they fit together.
NKJ 2 Samuel 7:11 "since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have
caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that
He will make you a house.
This is not a literal house. This means a dynasty.
NKJ 2 Samuel 7:16 "And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever
before you. Your throne shall be established forever."
NKJ 2 Samuel 7:12 " When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers,
I will set up your seed after you, who will come from
your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
NKJ 2 Samuel 7:13 "He shall build a house for My name, and I
will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Note the play on words here. God will make a house for David and
David’s son will make a house for God. The Holy Spirit loves these
paronomasias. What was David’s heartbeat at this point? To build a house for God. But God said, “No. That is
not my plan for you. I will make a house for you instead. I will give
you a dynasty and it will be your seed that builds a house for Me.”
NKJ 1 Chronicles 17:10 "since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Also I will
subdue all your enemies. Furthermore I tell you that the LORD will build you a house. 11 "And it shall be, when your
days are fulfilled, when you must go to
be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be
of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 "He shall
build Me a house, and I will establish his throne
forever. 13 "I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and
I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was
before you. 14 "And I will establish him in My
house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established
forever." ' "
It is talking about the throne of the Messiah that is the throne of
David. It was a literal throne in Jerusalem so we must determine that the
throne of the Messiah will be an eternal throne in Jerusalem. They
spiritualize the throne. They spiritualize the land. They
spiritualize the kingdom. .
II Samuel 23 confirms the Davidic Covenant.
All 52 verses of Psalm 89 are a reconfirmation the Davidic
Covenant. It emphasizes the fact that the Davidic Covenant would be
fulfilled just as God promised despite of the behavioral flaws of David’s
descendents.
Isaiah
indicates the extent.
NKJ Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is
given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be
called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His
government and peace There will be no
end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish
it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of
the LORD of hosts will perform this.
The term Son is
loaded with nuances. What is a Jew going to think?
This seems to
be a synonymous parallelism but in fact it is an emblematic
parallelism.
What government
would that be?
A child is born
but a son is given. “Son given” to us is emphasis on the deity of Christ.
How would you
understand that in the 6th century BC as a Jew living in the
Southern Kingdom of Judah while you have a Davidic descendent on the
throne? That is in Jerusalem. God doesn’t play a bait and
switch. Only dispensationalism is
consistent. Justice and righteousness are the basis of His throne.
NKJ Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a Rod
from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
It pictures
something that will happen in the future. It is a stem that has been cut
down. There is just a stub left. The line of David had been cut down
by the fifth cycle of discipline when the Southern Kingdom went out. Even
though the lineage was there, there was no Davidic king..
It began a stub. Jesse was David’s father.
NKJ Jeremiah 23:5 " Behold, the
days are coming," says the LORD, "That I
will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 6
In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
There is the
implication that there will be a tearing down before a building up.
NKJ Jeremiah 30:8 'For it shall come to pass in that day,' Says the
LORD of hosts, 'That I will break his yoke from your neck,
And will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them. 9
But they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them.
The term
“hosts” is an antiquated word that means armies.
Here we have
two personages, Yahweh and David the king. Yahweh is Jesus Christ. David
in resurrection will be reigning over the Jews. Jesus will rule over the
Jews and the Gentiles. David will be the primary administrator over the
Jewish Kingdom. Who will administer the kingdom to the Gentiles? The
church.
In relation to
the Messiah He is a prince. In relations to his people He is a king.
God speaks.
NKJ Ezekiel 37:24 " David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they
shall also walk in My judgments and observe My
statutes, and do them. 25 "Then they shall dwell in the land
that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall
dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children, forever; and
My servant
David shall be their prince forever.
In relation to
the messiah he is a prince.
There is a
return of David to the throne. Israel will someday have national
salvation.
NKJ Hosea 3:4 For the children of Israel
shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred
pillar, without ephod or teraphim. 5
Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They shall fear the LORD and His goodness in the latter days.
NKJ Amos 9:11 " On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of
David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its
ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old;
This occurs at
the end of the Great Tribulation.
It is fallen
now. There is no king in Israel.
In the Old
Testament there are promises are made that are not fulfilled until the
future. The major covenants in the Old Testament are given but they are
not fulfilled until the Millennial Kingdom. The Land Covenant, the Davidic
Covenant are not fulfilled until the Millennial Kingdom. Actually the New
Covenant is applied to the Church Age.
Back to Psalm
2:7
NKJ Psalm 2:7 "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
Who is speaking? Who
is the Me? The Son. Remember that I said you
have to make sure that you know who is speaking here.
Literally the
word there should be translated “You are always My Son.” Jesus Christ is the
eternal second person of the trinity and the eternal Son of God. He is
always the Son. The Father is always the Father. This is a classic
doctrine throughout church history called the eternal Sonship
of Christ. It indicates His eternal deity.
The question
becomes when was that day? That day was at the resurrection when God the
Father declares Him the begotten one with power as we shall see from Romans
1:4.
NKJ Psalm 2:8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your
inheritance, And the ends of the earth for
Your possession.
The king is
installed at the Second Advent. This is when He is given the nations and
rules the nations with a rod of iron. The events of Psalm 2 take place just
before this.
The decree is a
formal legal document. It is the Hebrew word choq. It indicates something written. It is something like a
title deed.
John is in the
throne room of God. He worshipped God in the fourth chapter with the
living creatures. The 24 elders represent the church. In the midst of
this scene comes chapter 5.
NKJ Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on
the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to
loose its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or
under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So
I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to
look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep.
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to
open the scroll and to loose its seven seals."
His hand.
That scroll is
this decree talked about in Psalm 2:7. Part one says you are My Son. Part
two says to ask and I will give you. So what is in the scroll? It is
the title deed to that possession. During the Church Age Jesus Christ has
been asking for it.
Here is the
picture. God is on the throne. He is holding the scroll. The
angels are announcing, “Who is worthy? Who is worthy?” The picture is that
they are going around all through heaven asking who is worthy to open the
scroll. No one was able to open the scroll of look at it.
John is not
just crying with a few tears flowing down his face. He is weeping
uncontrollably that no one can be found who can open the scroll and take
possession of the earth.
This is the
root of the stem of Jesse, the root of David.
NKJ Revelation 5:6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne
and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb
as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then
He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and
the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and
golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And
they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to
open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have
made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." 11
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne,
the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a
loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches
and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"
What does He
have to do to bring that to completion? He opens the seals one at a
time. Each one is another judgment that purifies the earth and prepares
Israel for the coming of her king and Messiah.
This event is
at the end of the tribulation when the king is installed and He rules the
nations and looks back.
NKJ Acts 13:33
"God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up
Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: 'You are My Son, Today I have
begotten You.'
He is talking
about the resurrection of Christ. Paul is saying that it is at the
resurrection that is made. This is when He is told that the title is
waiting for Him.
NKJ Romans 1:3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was
born of the seed of David according to the flesh,
NKJ Romans 1:4 and declared to be the Son of God with power
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
Was He the Son
of God already? Was He the Son of God a billion years ago? Yes, He was.
The
implications of that are profound for the Church. That is what Hebrews is all about.
NKJ Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels
did He ever say: "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You"? And
again: "I will be to Him a Father, And He shall
be to Me a Son"?
This is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant.