Hebrews 1:8-9
23 June 2024
But of the Son He says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of Your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed You
with the oil of gladness beyond Your companions.”
In the opening seven verses and the first seven sermons of this series, studying the book of Hebrews, we have already been unpacking an argument that is thorough, comprehensive, and certainly Christ-centred, providing us with a deep, grounded understanding of the greatness, the superiority of the Son. If we think about what we've seen in the very first argument, in the opening couple of verses, we see the contrast between when God spoke long ago at many times in many ways, to when God now speaks at one time through one person, Jesus Christ, in these last days. We already have an introduction to what will be the central theme throughout the book of Hebrews: Jesus Christ is greater. Jesus Christ is superior.
Maybe you're sitting here this evening and wondering, what makes Jesus Christ superior? Why is He greater? Why is He the greatest? Why can nobody, no thing, be compared to Jesus? This takes us to what we’re focusing on this evening in verses eight and nine. We have arguably one of the clearest, black-and-white verses in all of Scripture, which helps us understand that Jesus is God. Jesus is God. If we understand this as a premise for everything else that we deal with in the book of Hebrews, everything else we deal with in understanding who Jesus is, what the gospel is, what Christianity is, we already have an essential foundation. This is what we're going to be seeking to work through and argue for, based on Scripture, this evening: Jesus is God.
When we consider several different issues, people have when they approach the subject of Christianity, there are often key points of contention. Some groups of people, when presented with the teachings of Christianity, have an issue with a lack of belief in religion, the existence of God, or an afterlife. That certainly becomes a major stumbling block, which we pray will be overcome by the Spirit of God. In other settings, it may be about what makes Christianity set apart from other religions, ideologies, philosophies, or whatever it may be out there. Why pick Christianity? Within the framework of such a discussion, one of the key, central issues is the identity of Jesus.
What we see in the Word of God, and we need to be extremely unashamed, clear, bold, and emphatic about this, is that the Word of God declares that Jesus is God. There is nothing ambiguous about this. There is nothing that leaves us in any doubt about Jesus' identity, namely who He is, and crucially, on that basis, what He does. As we see even at the beginning of the book of Hebrews, where He now dwells, and the fact that He reigns. This foundational point, Jesus is God, is central. As many will likely already be aware, this is something heavily debated and disputed. Not on the authority of what we see in the Word of God, but on the abuse or attack on God's Word.
Take, for example, people of other religious groups or persuasions who have viewpoints, ideas, or even beliefs about who they claim Jesus is or was. Within Judaism, taking much of what we know as the Word of God, they come to Jesus, the Messiah, and reject His messiahship. They reject that Jesus is God and dismiss Him as a blasphemer. In Islam, with perspectives somewhat further from what we have in the Holy Scriptures, but in some ways closer regarding some aspects of who Jesus is, they believe He is a prophet, the most special prophet, but categorically reject Jesus is God. Then, there are other groups passing themselves off as Christian cults or sects that take parts or the entirety of the Scriptures and their own translations and have beliefs about who Jesus is, but again, they reject Jesus is God.
Before we tackle verses eight and nine, let's quickly go through the first seven verses and see what argument is being established in the opening part of Hebrews. We are working with a clear foundation that this Jesus being spoken of is God. We see, first of all, the contrast between when God spoke long ago and now in these last days, verse two. And then we see who God speaks through in these last days, namely the Son, that He has appointed the heir of all things. We took time to consider the significance of the authority of what Jesus now has as one who is risen and exalted. We then go back to the fact that at the end of verse two, He created the world. Who creates the world? God. Then we come to verse three. He's the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature. He's not a distant reflection somewhere over there. No, He is actually God. We see also that by the fact that He's God, He has made purification for sins, and on the basis of what He has done, we then see where He sits down at the end of verse three, at the right hand of the majesty on high.
He is in the most exalted place, high above all else, all other beings, all other creatures, all other created beings, and this includes the angels, verse four. Having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs. And what has been the argument from verse four and following? Well, we've already considered in some depth and at some length, the doctrine of angels from the Word of God. And we see that these are vastly superior to us celestial beings. They are mighty, they are powerful, they are thunderous creatures. And with all of that that's being painted through Hebrews 1, all of that to say, Jesus is greater. The Son is greater to the point where in verse 6, the angels worship Him. Now, who do the angels worship? God. And this is where we come then to our text, to verse 8. It becomes completely and utterly explicit at this point.
Now, if we were in any way involved in some degree of apologetics, as it's sometimes called, any discussions surrounding the subject of the deity of Jesus Christ. This, brothers and sisters, is a good starting point. Because notice how verse eight reads. We've just had a verse on the angels, verse seven. We now come to look at verse eight of the Son. And it begins, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Notice this again, this is speaking of who? The Son. Of the Son, He says, God says of the Son, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
Now, in keeping with the approach we've taken to the book of Hebrews, we need to spend quite a bit of time digging into this first line. And all the more so, because as you might already guess, Trinitarian skeptics have really tried to go for this and to disprove what it means. So let's, before we even deal with how it's used in Hebrews, go to the original quoted verse from Psalm 45. So if we turn back to Psalm 45 and verses six to seven. Now, just before we read verses six to seven, let's make it more difficult for ourselves. And notice verse one. Verse one of Psalm 45 says, My heart overflows with a pleasing theme. I address my verses of this Psalm to the king. And that is King Solomon. So these verses, including the ones we're going to read that are being used in Hebrews 1, are about an earthly king, King Solomon.
Okay, so we're already in a bit of trouble here, so we need to try and work out, okay, how do we piece this together? So let's read verses six and seven now. And let's consider it in the context of this being written to the king, the earthly king. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness beyond Your companions. Now, as we begin reading verse six, we might think, oh, well, hang on a second, it's mentioning God. So it's easy, it's clearly about God. Well, in the original Hebrew, the word for God here is Elohim. And the word Elohim is used on many different occasions in the Old Testament, and it has different meanings.
So again, the Trinitarian skeptics are loading up, ready to fire, and they're ready to say, well, Elohim has different meanings in different contexts. So surely Psalm 45:6 can't be describing God. After all, it's already said to be writing about the earthly king in verse one. And we see elsewhere, in other places, uses of Elohim to describe earthly kings. We see uses of this title even where Moses in Exodus is described as Elohim. We've seen also that the angels are described as gods, small g. So we've seen instances of this in the Old Testament. So what are we to make then of verse six when it says, Your throne, O Elohim, is forever and ever?
Well, there are two contexts in which we often read Psalms and passages in the Old Testament. One has a direct application to its immediate setting, namely the earthly king of Psalm 45 that it's being written about. But often also we have a foreshadowing, a pointing forward to something else, often something greater. Now, what we have to consider in verse six, yes, we're dealing with the context, and so the context here is now clearly writing about whoever Elohim is in verse six has a throne, so it is a kingly authority, but it is a kingly authority which is eternal. And so already, considering the context of Psalm 45, even before we've dealt with Hebrews 1:8, this cannot directly, and in its most explicit sense, be applied to any earthly king. Because there is no earthly king, there is no earthly Elohim, who has a throne which is forever and ever.
And so therefore, on that basis, and we can just turn back to Hebrews 1, it's very like-for-like in terms of where it's quoted in Hebrews 1:8. Now the author to the Hebrews, in the inspired Word of God here in the New Testament, is taking a passage of Scripture written hundreds of years earlier, written to Elohim, of His eternal throne, and is declaring, this is about the Son. It is about the Son. And so therefore, this is one of the most emphatic verses in Scripture which teaches us of the deity of Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ the Son is in fact God. Because it is spoken of the Son that He has a throne forever and ever and the Son is called God.
Now, several other verses in Scripture help us to build on this argument, some which are familiar, but it is important just in these moments to highlight some likely more familiar verses to flesh out why this is not being taken in isolation. We take this as, let's say, our working premise. It is being spoken of the Son that He is God. He has an eternal throne. Jesus is God. And we see elsewhere that this is consistent with what is taught about who Jesus is.
In John 1:1, it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And this Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14. So we have the Word, which is logos, which was with God and was God. This is very clear and it even connects back to what we saw in Hebrews 1:5, where it says, Which of the angels did God ever say, You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Or again, I will be to Him a Father and He shall be to Me a Son. This is the language of the incarnation of God becoming a man. Yes, that is God, the eternal living God, becoming a man. This is what we have here. And this is where we begin to introduce and understand the revelation in the New Testament of the doctrine of the triune God. As we even considered in the catechism this morning, there is one true eternal living God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with one will, one God, in three persons. And so, therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity is declaring that Jesus is God.
This is what we see again in the Gospel of John. In chapter 5, verse 18, it says, "This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God." The religious leaders in Jesus' day knew what was being communicated. This is why Jesus says in John 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I am." And as we come to John 10:30, Jesus says, "I and the Father are one." Now note this. Not, "I and the Father are two separate beings." Not, "I'm the assistant to the Father and assistant to the Godhead like some demi-semi-God." No, "I and the Father are one." "I am the Word that was with God, the Word that was God."
Now friends, when we consider the reality of the doctrine of the triune God, this is what makes Christ's sacrifice at Calvary all the more striking. As we considered recently at the end of 2 Corinthians 5, Jesus had to not only be truly a man living under the law and His blood being shed at Calvary as a sacrifice for sinners, but He had to truly be God. He is God. For only God could satisfy the wrath of the Father. And this is what makes that separation, namely when He was bearing the weight of sin and facing the wrath of God, His righteous anger, the separation of that perfect, good, lovely, perfect relationship that they had in those hours, all the more striking. Because Jesus is God. And as God, He is triumphant in His sacrifice on the cross. He is triumphant in being raised from the dead. And when He is risen from the dead, what do we then see in terms of the response of the disciples? Well, one is particularly striking in this subject. That is the response of Thomas in John 20:28. What does Thomas say when he sees the risen Lord? He says, "My Lord and my God." Now, at this point, more than any other, if Jesus was going to correct this doctrine, this theological understanding, it would be then. He would say to Thomas, "No, you've got it all wrong. Don't call Me God. Don't address Me as God. The Father is God, I'm not God." No. And the reason is because Jesus is God.
Notice it's saying, the Christ, who is God. The Christ, who is God. And then in 1 John 5:20, we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. The Son is the true God and eternal life. And so we come to Hebrews 1:8, and we ask, who is the son of Jesus Christ? Well, He is the true God and eternal life. He is the one who is on the throne, seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. It is a throne, which we see in verse eight, which is eternal. It is forever and ever. Earthly thrones, earthly rulers will come and go. We see this with David, we see this with Solomon, we see this with the kings of today, but in Revelation 22:1, right at the end of God's word, it says the throne of God and of the Lamb. At the end, Jesus is on His throne as the Lamb who was slain, who is now risen and exalted. Why is He on the throne? Because He is God.
Now, one quick question that we maybe should be asking, especially considering a verse like Revelation 22:1, and given Hebrews 1 is dealing with the language of the Son. Notice verse eight, it says, of the Son, He's on the throne. So in what way does Jesus reign forever as the Son? If you just turn briefly to 1 Corinthians 15:28, which says, "When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him, who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all." Now, this verse here in 1 Corinthians 15:28 describes everything being subjected to God, including the Son.
Now, what does that mean? If we're seeing that it is the Son who reigns on the throne forever and ever, what are we to make sense of this, if the Son is subjecting all to God? Well, verse 28 of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is a reference to the completion of Christ's mediatory work on this earth, which is complete. He no longer needs to make another sacrifice. And this is going to be a crucial theme in the book of Hebrews. The sacrifice is complete, which is His life. It is accomplished, and it is now subject to God. And so, yes, He does reign as the Lamb on the throne, Revelation 22:1. But this means that as a man, His work on this earth, it is completed, it is subject, therefore, to God, that God may be all in all, for His being is one true living God.
Now this is undoubtedly an immensely complex doctrine to get our heads around. But what we need to understand with regards to the very identity and nature of Jesus Christ, as a man on this earth, He had a work to do and that work was accomplished at Calvary. This is not a work that Jesus needs to do again sometime in the future. It is a completed work. This is why He sits down. And in this regard, as the Son, this is subject to God, that God may be all in all. But Jesus, as the risen and exalted Son, reigns forever and ever because Jesus is God. Jesus is God.
Now, with this established, we then go on to the next line of Hebrews 1:8. It is an eternal throne that Jesus has who is God. And it goes on to say, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. The scepter of uprightness. Now, what's this part of verse eight telling us? It is telling us what type of rule Jesus, who is God, has. Another thing that many people are very sceptical about, very quick to criticize and even ridicule, is that Jesus can't be trusted. Well, let's see what it says about His reign. It talks of the scepter of uprightness. What is this scepter language, first of all? Well, take, for example, in the Old Testament, in the book of Esther, in both chapters 5 and 8, the king has a golden scepter, which is a mark of his kingly authority, and when even the queen enters in, He gives her the scepter to show that He welcomes her into His presence. Such is His authority as the King. So this language of scepter communicates God's authority. And notice what type of authority it is. It is described as a scepter, an authority of uprightness. The scepter of Your kingdom. It is upright. It can be trusted entirely.
Contrast this with any throne, with any leadership, with any government, and we could be quick to say, with, for example, a general election coming up, that party's wicked, that party's wicked, whoever's in power, they're wicked. And we would be right. And we would then go on to say, we can't trust those people. And we would be right. But we cannot say that of God. And this is the thing that we have to understand as Christians, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, we are representing our King. And if anyone comes to the door of Christianity and the Bible and says, we can't trust your King, we must stand with firm conviction and say, yes, we can. His authority is absolute, and it can completely be trusted. There is not anything in our Lord's rule or government that cannot be trusted. Every ounce of His ruling absolutely can be trusted. And this must give us such comfort because we worship the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and when we declare that Jesus Christ is Lord and we are serving for the advance of His kingdom, it is a kingdom we can trust in entirely.
2 Samuel 23:3, David's last words: "The God of Israel has spoken. The rock of Israel has said to me, when one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God." This is the standard of any earthly rulers, namely God's standard, because His standard is uprightness. And we see even more of that standard of His ruling, of His governance, in, for example, Isaiah 9:6, when it says of the Messiah, His government shall be upon His shoulder. He will execute judgments and our faith perceives this. The sceptre of His kingdom which belongs to the Son, Psalm 89, 14. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
Now what this communicates to us, brothers and sisters, is that this is the God who reigns and rules over all. He is in no way in your debt. He is in no way sitting as some almost convicted criminal waiting to see what the jury verdict of a group of people like us has to say about Him. No, He is the righteous judge and the Word of God makes clear that His ruling is perfect. And brothers and sisters, we can come to this God. We can come to Him with trust. We can come to Him in faith, knowing that we come to the one. In our weakness, in our feeling weighed down, heavy laden, and we will find rest. This is who Jesus is, the one who is God. The one whose ruling is perfect, which is upright. And this is what is being communicated here about the Son.
So not only do we have this working foundation, Jesus is God, but his throne is eternal and his ruling, his government is perfect. It is upright in every way. If we want to know the standard of perfection in any area, we look to God. If any government wants to know how to rule a land in a manner by which is right, Morally, practically, they look to God because He defines the standard. He is that standard. This is what we stand as, as Christians. This is what we stand upon as Christians. And it goes on in verse 9. Speaking of the Son, you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Jesus loves righteousness and hates wickedness. Now this is quite striking. When we think about his existence when he comes on this earth as a man. One who loves righteousness and hates wickedness. What's our problem? We love wickedness and we hate righteousness. That's our problem because we are almost up to our neck, head, buried in our sin. Jesus Christ, as we've seen, the one who knew no sin, loved righteousness. He strived for all that was good and perfect. He lived in that perfect union with the Father. Why? Because He is God. And again, think what makes this all the more spectacular when we consider what Jesus bore in Calvary. When he bore your sin on Calvary. The one who loves righteousness and hates wickedness. It's the wickedness that he hates that he bears on that tree. Because such is his love for the likes of you and me. This is what Jesus Christ has done. This is who he is.
In James 1, 17, we see therefore the fruit of this. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. because we can trust Him explicitly. We can trust Him with our lives because we are trusting God. We are trusting the God who has come to this world. The one who loved righteousness, hates wickedness, faced wickedness in order to bless us with His righteousness. This is the glorious working of the gospel in our lives. And we now come as the recipients of this grace to worship this God. What a glory this is to behold. What a glory this is to behold as we come this evening to worship the greater, the superior Son. And this blessing to God's people is found at the end of verse nine. Because the verse concludes, therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
Now this is a striking verse. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you. This language of anointing. Sometimes we see this used as a means of worship, but often the language of anointing is used to consecrate something or someone. In our study in the book of Exodus, we see that often priests or even some of the items in the tabernacle, they were anointed with oil. They were consecrated. Namely, they were set apart for holy purposes for the worship of God. We also see the anointing of kings. We see, for example, in 1 Samuel, when King David is anointed with oil. All of this is language that we see in the Old Testament, which takes us to the anointing of the King, Jesus Christ. If you can turn with me briefly to Psalm 133. Psalm 133. We're going to read the opening two verses. We see anointing of sacred objects. We see anointing of priests. We see anointing of kings. But there is one anointing which is set apart from all other. And this is what takes us to the language of the Son and the impact that this has on his people. Psalm 133, verse two verses. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes.
Now you might be looking at this and think, well, what's this got to do with anything we're studying here this evening? Well, if you notice verse one, it is talking about brothers dwelling in unity. In what way, how can brothers dwell in unity? In what way, how can we here tonight as the church of Jesus Christ dwell in unity? And the reason is because of the anointing of the sun. Verse two. It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. Where to? His body. So this is a picture of the anointing of the priest. And it is also a foreshadowing of the anointing language that we have in Hebrews 1.9 of the son. Where the son is anointed. An anointing that comes on the head and then it runs down to the body. And who and what is the body of the son? Well, that's us. We are the body of Christ. And this anointing of the Son, this language of the One set apart, the Chosen One, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for sinners like us, this then means a direct application for His people, because it was for His people that Christ suffered, bled and died for, and so therefore we come together as a people here tonight, a consecrated, set-apart people, because we are the people that Jesus suffered and died for, namely His church. And we tonight dwell together in Christian unity because of this anointing. Because we are a people consecrated and set apart to do what? To worship this God. And when we come to worship Jesus Christ, we come to worship God because Jesus is God and his kingdom is eternal. We come to worship this God because he is the one who is morally perfectly upright. He is the one who loves righteousness and hates wickedness. He is the one who is anointed and this anointing is a blessing that is poured out upon his people. It all flows together. It all flows together with this glorious outworking and climax where we gather then together with great rejoicing to worship our exalted King. The one who is seated on the throne, the one who we declare is God. Praise be to our God that as vile, wretched sinners, Not only do we have the revelation of who God is contained in the Scriptures, we have the revelation of this God having dwelt among us. We have the revelation of this God having done the saving work that we could not do to rescue ourselves. We have the revelation of the risen and exalted God sitting on his throne today and forevermore. The God whom the angels worship, the God whom we worship, the God who one day every tongue will confess with worship is Lord over all. Because Jesus is God. And as we're considering working through the argument of the greatness and the majesty and the beauty of all that we see in this chapter connected with God's creation of the angels, they are ultimately but servants and worshippers of the Son. Because only the Son is on the throne. Because only the Son, as we see, is worthy because the Son is God.