We
are now at the second checkpoint of Hebrews 1:5. It is set
in the context of God’s Final Word in His Son as recorded in Hebrews 1:3-6.
We were just trying to
establish if the descendant mentioned in the establishment of the Abrahamic
Covenant with David was referring to Jesus Christ. The verse took a quote right from 2 Samuel 7:14 which is connected to
2 Samuel 7:12 where the descendant
of David was mentioned. Here, we see Hebrews
1:5 explaining 2 Samuel 7:14, another instance of the Bible
interpreting the Bible; Jesus in the Old Testament as revealed by the New Testament.
The context passage
also points to Christ crucified as the ultimate sacrifice for and purification
from sins, with which He had established our freedom from guilt. It is also
from here that we see that Christ crucified had completed the full work of
redemption. Since the punishment for sin
has already been meted out in the beloved Son of God in the flesh as Jesus of
Nazareth, justice has been brought forth and thereby fulfilled one of the
Messianic credentials in Isaiah 42:1.
From Hebrews 1:4, we also gather that it
was because Jesus of Nazareth had completed the work of redemption that He
inherited the name Son; the name above all names. This immediately brings to mind Philippians 2:5-10, in particular
verses 9-10, where it is written that God has bestowed upon Jesus the name
which is above every name.
Against the backdrop
of what we have just seen, the heart of Hebrews 1:5 is:
Jesus inherited the
name of Son
This is consistent with the context passage
which speaks of God’s final word being in His Son.
God had been telling
the world through Israel that He would send the Messiah to save mankind. Now that the beloved Son of God had come in
the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, what God promised has finally been fulfilled. The beloved Son of God came as Jesus the Human
Being to die and be resurrected as the firstborn of a New Creation of which we
now are; the sons (children) of God. The loving Father God created humanity to
be His beloved children but Satan came along to separate us from Him through
the trespass of the first human, Adam. By
the obedience of the last Adam, the beloved Son of God in the flesh as Jesus
the Man, the way to be reunited with God the Father has been opened for all to
take. Just as Jesus the Man had inherited
the name of “Son”, so will those who return to the loving Father God through
the redemptive work of the beloved Son of God in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth
be called the sons (children) of God.
Hebrews 1:5 brings to remembrance Psalm 8:4-6. In that Psalmist passage, we see that God is
mindful of the Son of Man; an earthborn man.
In Galatians 4:4, we are told that
when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son as Jesus of Nazareth to
be born of a woman under the regulations of the Law; Jesus of Nazareth was an
earthborn Man.
Psalm 8:6
immediately brings to mind 1 Corinthians 15:27 and Ephesians 1:22. God the Father has put all things under the
feet of Jesus the Man, the Firstborn of the resurrected; the New Creation of
which we are. As the second Person of
the Holy Trinity, Jesus has always been the beloved Son of God. When God appointed or declared Jesus the Man
as His Son, He did so for us who would eventually be accepted in Jesus, the
Beloved. This has been the will of God
from before the beginning of time as recorded in Ephesians 1:4-5.
While we were at the
checkpoint of Matthew 3:13-17 on the trail of Matthew 3:16, we
have established that Hebrews 2:9 interpreted Psalm 8:4-6 to be
referring to Jesus the Man. He was
crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering of death, so that by the
grace of God He might experience death for the sins of everyone.
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