Hebrews 1:10-12
But You Are the Same
As we finish chapter one and all the ways the Preacher shows that the Son is superior to the angels, we realize that it is not so much the comparison with the angels but what the Preacher tells us about the Son that truly matters. Thus far, we have learned that the Son is not called “son” as if he were a mere man who believed in God or a righteous king reigning over a parcel of land. No. The Son is called, “Son,” because he is the only-begotten Son of the living God, the Second Person of the Triune God. We have also learned that he is enthroned at the Right Hand of the Father, the place of authority, power, and dominion. He is not just any king but THE King who reigns in righteousness and justice and who does so forever and ever.
Today we hear of even more wonders about the Son as the Preacher applies Psalm 102:25-27 to him. Referring to the Son as “Lord,” he speaks to the Son’s work in creation: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” Now the Preacher told us earlier that the Son was the one “through whom also [the Father] created the world” (1:2). And we also know this from John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Proverbs 8:22-31. Creation was foremost the work of the Father, but as God is one, when one Person works, all must work, and while the Holy Spirit was the power through whom the Father created the world, the Son was the agent, the reason (logos), the “master workman” (Proverbs 8:30) through whom the Father created the world. And what this further implies is that as the angels are the Father’s creations, they are creations of the Son as well as they were created through him and for him.
But from that proof of the Son’s surpassing excellency over the angels, the Preacher quickly moves to the eternity of the Son. As the Son of God—the Second Person of the Triune God, he cannot but live forever. And here, the Preacher compares the Son to the world which he just spoke of as being created through the Son’s agency. To sum, that which is created always remains creature; it cannot become God. On the other hand, he who is God always remains God. God may assume humanity and take on flesh as the Son did in his Incarnation; but in doing so, he still remains God while adding our humanity to his divinity. But all things created pass away, even the world which seems so permanent—until God creates the new heaven and new earth which shall be the final resting place for his people. That world, though a creation, God shall sustain for all eternity. And it shall be created and sustained through none other than the Son—as a matter of course!
