There seems to be a beautiful order in the quotations from the Old Testament that are given in Hebrews 1 concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. They are well-set gems in a diadem of glory for His Head. Verse 5 gives two quotations: “Thou art My Son” and “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son.” A twofold testimony to the fact that He is the Son. The first words from the Father’s mouth when Jesus was born into this world declare His Sonship. He was always the Son; this was His eternal relationship with the Father and His coming in flesh did not alter the relationship. It was taken up in time and in manhood. What He is to the Father stands first in these glories. HE IS THE OBJECT OF THE FATHER’S LOVE AND DELIGHT.
The next quotation is on verse 6, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” He had been made “a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.” Yet it was the Father’s decree that He should not have less honour than He had before. The angels must worship Him. The second word from God’s mouth, as His beloved Son lay in the manger, tended by His virgin mother, declared His unchangeable Deity. HE IS THE OBJECT OF THE ANGELS’ WORSHIP.
The third quotation (v. 8), “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom,” declares Him to be supreme in God’s far-stretching realm, and in this supremacy He shall uphold the righteousness of God, as once He maintained it in His own life in the flesh. He is God upon an everlasting throne, and yet Man, anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions. These shall surround His throne, rejoice in His joy and bask in His favour; they shall hear His wisdom and exult in His glory. Once they were sinners, but saved by grace they are now His brethren, sanctified by Him and one with Him, but He must be and always will be above them, the Firstborn among His brethren. HE IS THE OBJECT OF THE ADMIRATION AND WORSHIP OF ALL THE REDEEMED.
The next quotation (vv. 10-11), “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment.” He is the Creator who made the earth and the heavens, that in them He might bring into full manifestation what God is in His righteousness as opposed to all iniquity, and when these works of His hands have fulfilled their purpose, He will set them aside as one would a disused garment, and establish a new creation in which righteousness shall dwell. But in that new creation He will be the same. As He was and is, so shall He ever be, the pledge that His word shall stand and that every thought of the heart of God that has been expressed in blessing shall abide. He is the unchanging One, and so THE OBJECT OF THE UNWAVERING TRUST OF A UNIVERSE THAT SHALL BE BROUGHT INTO BLESSING BY HIM.
Then finally (v. 13): “Sit on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” Every foe that would resist Him—and how evil must all those be that would resist Him, who was God manifest in the flesh, full of grace and truth—will be silenced and crushed beneath His feet for ever, for no discordant voice must be heard in that world to come in which everything that has breath will praise the Lord. He must be supreme Ruler, but also the great Leader of the loud Hallelujahs, as He is the cause and the theme of them. HE WILL BE THE OBJECT OF UNIVERSAL AND HARMONIOUS PRAISE.
J. T. Mawson