Hebrews 1:4-14 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.… We may learn the dignity of our Lord from all the intermediate changes of the world between its creation and destruction. 1. First, then, we may observe that our Lord is everlasting. "They all shall wax old as doth a garment," but "Thy years shall not fail." What garments are to a man, the universe, with all its most glorious objects and element;, is to the Lord. These His glorious garments, then, in time shall wax old; but He who hath life in Himself, even as His Father hath life in Himself, shall continue still glorious as He was in His own glory, before He formed them and put them on. 2. And He is not only everlasting, but unchangeable. "As a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same." He may indeed lay aside His vesture. But as a sovereign, when after the pomp of a public ceremonial he unrobes, when his crown and sceptre are deposited in their caskets, and his garments of state are folded and put away, is a sovereign still, so our Lord, when He puts off the earth and heavens like a vesture, shall be "still the same." "There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord." "Thou art the same": or, if we closely follow the original, "Thou art He" — He, the ancient of days, who speaks also by the mouth of Isaiah, even to your old age, I am He yea, before the day was, I am He" "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof." Time's hurrying tide bears swift along our hopes, our joys, our vanities; ourselves, prone and struggling upon its waters. As we drive down upon the face of that gloomy stream, all our efforts seem vain, nothing is firm around, on whatever we lay hold, the same current is carrying it away, by which we ourselves are hurried on; till imminent danger forces from our souls the drowning cry, "Save, Lord, we perish." The Lord extends His hand, and sets our feet upon a rock. He is Himself that Rock. He makes us, perishable creatures as we are, partakers of His stability, The various objects are carried rapidly by us, bat we are now upon solid ground. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (T. Bogs.) Parallel Verses KJV: Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. |
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