Hebrews 1:4-14 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.… I. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE ASCRIPTION. We are transported to a distant period, ere time had, in its strictest sense, begun, or the mechanism of its notations had received shape or being. The revolutions of this firmament had not commenced, nor was there a sign for seasons, Nothing is necessary but God. All else is but an effect of His pleasure and power. He composed matter, He gave life, He communicated spirit. Some of the stages in this formative process may be traced. He "laid the foundations of the earth," a figure which signifies His stability. That stability rests on certain laws which He has ordained. "The heavens are the works of His hands." He garnished them with all their exquisite furniture, drew their orbits, studded their stars. His "fingers" wove that splendid web. And "when we consider His heavens," with what admiration are we overwhelmed! Magnitudes, distances, systems, parallelisms, still rise upon us. Did He "lay the foundations of the earth"? "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." But this ascription not only predicates His creative greatness, and how He produced the entire universe — it proclaims that all these effects are now at His disposal and under His control. 1. Observe His independence of them. They are not built for eternity. They shall "perish." Their perdition and change shake not His throne nor obscure His glory. 2. Mark His identity among them. They are the subjects of incessant revolution and variation. There is a constant disturbance in the natural system; things take new forms and circumstances; and though principles are unaltered, the dispositions under them are often the most strange and unexpected. The very elements around us "wax old as doth a garment." Only Deity can say, "I charge not." "This is the true God, and eternal life" — essential and exhaustless, "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever!" 3. Trace His power over them. Nothing, once dependent and derived, can exist in defiance of His will. And what is there, or can there be, which this category does not include? Thus is the Lord Jesus exhibited to us! He "lays the foundations of the earth"; "the heavens are the works of His hands": amidst their change and portended ruin He "remains" — He is "the same"; with Him awaits the dissolution of all things. He must be greater than those operations which He commands. Be must be apprised of the final causes of those operations which proceed from His unaided skill, and the more so, as, otherwise, he might close the great consummation with their imperfect fulfilment. Who, then, is this? "God over all." II. THE VALUE OF THE ARGUMENT. We must, at this point of the projected proof, look into our mind. There we behold a law, or a certainty of mental condition, which conducts us back from any result to a causative power. 1. Every effect of Divine power must be inferior to that power — that is, must be finite. It can create no rival being. 2. Upon the creative claim God has always been pleased to found Ills challenge of supremacy and exaction of worship. Then, whoever is Jesus Christ, since the heavens are works of His hands, He is supreme, is entitled to worship, is authorised to require our service, is gloriously independent, and will pronounce the sentence of our endless destiny! 3. The works of creation are designed to be monumental of their immediate Author. When we investigate them, they speak a splendid panegyric to His fame. "The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth His handywork." They are the signals of His might, and skill, and love. III. THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE CONCLUSION. The truth of the theme being once allowed, its influence will be instantaneous. Not for a moment can it remain an indifferent sentiment. Let it be believed, and all the doctrines of the gospel follow in a necessary order, as very corollaries. 1. It is supposed by the Incarnation; but what illustrations does that marvel derive from the descriptions of the text! "He laid the foundations of the earth," where He hath not a place to lay His head. "The heavens are the works of His hands," though they beat on Him with their tempests and chill Him with their dews; though their stars hold watch over Him when His soul is sorrowful unto death. He formed the instruments of all the suffering He endured. He caused the thorns to grow which were knotted round His brow; He prepared the worm that spun the flaunting attire which mocked His person; He sent down into the ground the fibres of the tree which gave the wood that was fashioned for His cross; He veined the mine whose ore was converted into nail and spear-head to transfix His flesh; He withdrew the restraints from our fallen nature, and let loose all its enmities on Himself! 2. The character of that expiation, which is the first quality and intention of His death, will be greatly determined by a representation such as this. The merit of an atoning act will altogether depend on the disposition and worthiness of the party who presents it. Nor can the mediation of every party be allowed. High attributes of worthiness must inhere in him who takes up the quarrel and offers the vindication of it. Who shall interpose between God and man, between the dishonoured law and the offender? That Surety must have a perfect knowledge of the tremendous dilemma. And did not He, who "laid the foundations of the earth," understand the moral order which He then established, the holy law which He gave, the system of good which He instituted? Who could be equally cognisant of its excellence? Who could be equally intent upon its restoration? 3. He who has done all this achievement of power and goodness in creating the universe, designed our redemption to be the great object and glory of it. Shall a sphere, in those "heavens which are the works of His hands," refuse its music to the Saviour, or withhold to swell the triumph of His salvation over the earth whose "foundations He has laid"? Again — and far sweeter and more majestic than that natal peal which floated above our new created world- let the morning stars sing together, and the sons of God shout for joy! 4. This Creator-Saviour must have the direction of all mundane affairs. He knoweth the way that we take. He telleth our wanderings. He seeth of what we have need. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He is able to succour us when we are tempted. Neither in life nor death can we stray out of His dominion or beyond His care. To the verge of that earth whose foundations he has laid; to the bond of those heavens which are the works of His hands — how safe are His disciples! This is your triple security, ye who put your trust in this great God your Saviour! All things are for your sakes! All things work together for your good t 5. An immutability most tender and amiable is opposed by this subject to all our fluctuating circumstances. Who has never found occasion of complaint against human fickleness? Who has never known a mortifying coldness where his heart had lavished all its store of love? Oh, then, to take these words with us, and looking up to Him who loves unto the end, what a relief our wrung soul finds as it cries, "Thou art the same!" Bereavement is one of the heaviest portions of our lot. What sepulchres lie along our path! Oh, then, to speak this assurance, and in it to feel that nothing is lost while this is left, "Thou remainest!" Age brings with it decay and infirmity, misgiving and irresoluteness, slight and inattention, physical depressions and mournful reviews. Sense has failed in its varied gratifications, and the heart is smitten with a desolateness. Oh, then, to turn from all beside, to clasp our feeble hands, to raise our dimming eyes, and with our tremulous accents to exclaim, "Thy years shall not fail! " How sweet are these supports! What a Saviour is ours! (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.) 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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