Sunday: Jesus Is Our King
The main point of Hebrews is that Jesus is the Ruler, who is seated at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 8:1). As God, Jesus has always been the ruler of the universe. But when Adam and Eve sinned, Satan became the ruler of this world (John 12:31, John 14:30, John 16:11). Jesus, however, came and defeated Satan at the cross, recovering the right to rule those who accept Him as their Savior (Colossians 2:13-15).
The first two chapters of Hebrews focus especially on the inauguration of Jesus as King.
Read Hebrews 1:5-14. What is happening here?
Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com
These verses are arranged in three sections. Each section introduces an aspect of the enthronement ceremony of the Son. First, God installs Jesus as the royal Son (Hebrews 1:5). Second, God introduces the Son to the heavenly court, who worship Him (Hebrews 1:6, Hebrews 1:8) while the Father proclaims the eternal creatorship and rule of the Son (Hebrews 1:8-12). Third, God enthrones the Son — the actual conferral of power over the earth (Hebrews 1:13-14).
One of the most important beliefs of the New Testament is that in Jesus God fulfilled His promises to David (see 2 Samuel 7:8-16 and Luke 1:30-33). Jesus was born from the line of David in the city of David (Matthew 1:1-16; Luke 2:10-11). During His ministry people often called Him “son of David.” He was executed under the charge that He claimed to be “the king of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37, NKJV). Peter and Paul preached that Jesus had risen from death in fulfillment of the promises made to David (Acts 2:22-36, Acts 13:22-37). And John identified Jesus as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).
Hebrews, of course, concurs. God has fulfilled His promises to David in Jesus: God gave Him a great “name” (Hebrews 1:4), installed Him as His own Son (Hebrews 1:5), affirmed Him forever as Creator and Lord (Hebrews 1:8-12), and seated Him at His “right hand” (Hebrews 1:13-14). Furthermore, according to Hebrews 4, Jesus leads the people into the rest of God and reminds us that Jesus is the builder of the house of God (Hebrews 3:3-4).
Jesus, then, is the legitimate ruler of this earth engaged in a war with Satan, the usurper, for our allegiance.
| How can we draw comfort, especially amid trials, from knowing that Jesus is the ruler of the universe? |
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The King metaphor has lost some of its meaning in our modern world, where most monarchs no longer rule but are rather symbolic national figureheads. Australia is a constitutional monarchy which means that Queen Elizabeth II is our head of state. She only visits Australia now and then, leaving her role to the Governor-General, currently David Hurley, who most Australians would be hard-pressed to name if asked. His role is essentially ceremonial. But I would add that often our Governor-generals have a quiet unheralded role of support and encouragement.
There is however one aspect of the modern monarchy that is possibly important to this discussion. The monarch, and by inference their representatives in a constitutional monarchy, are given a lot of powers that they do not use. In one critique I read of our own constitutional monarchy, the statement was made that one of its strengths was that these powers were held by the monarchy and could not be used by anyone else. If we think of God as a King, one of his strengths is that although he is all-powerful, he chooses to limit his use of those powers. And that is essentially the choice of a loving and caring God.
It is in this setting, I think we can see the relationship of the persons of the Godhead that is presented in Hebrews. Rulership is not essentially a display of awesome power but of beneficent self-sacrificing love.
A previous governor-general of Australia, Dame Quentin Bryce. was a fine example of unheralded love and support. I was only aware of this because, during her term of office, she visited the little Aboriginal school where my sister-in-law and husband taught out in the "sticks", in the middle of Australia's arid lands, 250km northeast of Alice Springs. This was not a headline-making, media-followed event. It was a quiet visit of support and encouragement for indigenous education, one of the most neglected issues in our society and Dame Quentin Bryce used her interest and influence to see that those people involved in it were remembered and cared about.
That is the sort of Kingly behaviour that I associate with my concept of God, the King.
As fallen humans, our default tendency is to see things from our reference-point and typically without realising we are doing so (because of the involvement of our subconscious in this process). Thus, our tendency is to see God 'in our image' - especially in a subtle way. This is where it helps to keep in mind that God (and Bible writers) are trying to use metaphors/symbols that are familiar to us to help us begin to comprehend what is unfamiliar to us. Use of these metaphors and symbols is meant to help us with our learning and growing journey from 'not yet known' to 'gradually and progressively better and better known' - a process that will continue to be enlarged across eternity.
Rulership and kingship can be exercised in two ways - authoritarian or authoritative. Most earthly ruler and kingship is exercised in authoritarian ways - a topic that I note is of increasing concern especially in USA of recent. I also note that the lesson refers to Satan as ruler of this world. And Satan's rulership is authoritarian in nature and character - based on use of power to coerce and force. In contrast, as Maurice has alluded to in his comment above, Jesus rulership and kingship is authoritative. Jesus uses His 'power' to minister to humanity in a beneficent, self-sacrificing manner. This is reflected in Hebrews 8:1 linking rulership with priesthood.
I would invite you to keep the above-outlined principle regarding interpretation of metaphors in mind as you study into Hebrews - that the metaphor is merely the door into a much wider room, not the room itself. If we do this, we will then start to progressively grow in our capacity to better and better see God in His image rather than being unintentionally limited to seeing Him in our image.
I prefer the metaphor in Hebrews 10:19,20. Here it challenges our faith to enter Heaven itself via our faith and accept that Jesus is there ministering the blood He spilled for me and for the world 2,000 plus or minus years ago for all sin and then goes on to also challenge our faith to accept that even the flesh of His own Body can also be mine by that same faith and so now the Father sees His Son in place of me in my own body now. And only someone who is divine and therefore God can do this for us because Jesus was and is God in human flesh and still is. What a God we serve!
In a short scriptural statement: Christ is " superior to angels" (Heb. 1:4, NRSV).
Question; What makes Jesus superior to the angels and elevates Him to a kingly position?
1). Christ deserves worship-Heb. 1:6, something the holy angels do not accept-Rev. 19:10; Rev. 22:8, 9).
2). Christ has a throne and a scepter-Heb. 1:8.
3). He has been anointed as King- Heb. 1:9.
4). He created the heavens and the earth-Heb. 1:10, and He sits at the right hand of God-Heb. 1:13.
In summary: God spoke in many and various ways to the fathers in the past; but in these last days, He speaks through the Son, who became Heir of all things, is the reflection and imprint of God's very being, sustains all things, made purification for sins, and sat down at the right hand of God. Thus, Christ is exalted above, and superior to, the angels, who are ministering spirits in service to those who inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14). Morever, Christ accepts worship on His throne at the right hand of God. Christ is our KING.
I'll love to have a clearer insight towards this Enthronement ceremony of Jesus Christ as recorded in Hebrew 1:5-14.
From The creation story of Gen 1:26, God said let's make man in our own image, the us there I believe God is referring to the "Trinity" and Jesus is believe to be among the the Trinity which is "Son".
Questions;
1. Was Jesus then (in the beginning) not given this Enthronement as recorded in Hebrew 1:5-14?
2. Does it mean Jesus was begotten and given a seat at the right hand of God after he Died for humanity?
Hi Jacob
A key point to your trying to understand things is keeping in mind that the bible uses metaphors and symbols of things we know to help us progressively 'piece together' our understanding of things that are much bigger than we are able to fully know. Therefore multiple metaphors are used to try and illustrate some aspects of the true reality, but each metaphor itself is not capable of illustrating the whole of God's reality. Where we trip up is when we try to make the reality fit every aspect of a metaphor rather than see the metaphor as representing some aspect/s of the reality, but not others.
For example, does Jesus literally sit on a literal throne in heaven that is literally on the right hand side of throne that God literally sits on? I suspect not (see 1 Kings 8:27 principle). So what aspects of these symbols/metaphors is the bible trying to help us comprehend?
Hi Jacob,
It seems to me that what many are missing is the fact that Jesus Christ was a new being and not the same as the Son before the incarnation.
Jesus Christ was both fully divine and fully human. He did not exist before the incarnation. Thus, as a fully human being He did not have the same position as the divine Son before the incarnation until the Father restored that position to Him as the Divine-human Savior
To summarize:
Before the incarnation, the Son presumably had an equal position with the Father.
After the incarnation, He was a new/different Person and did not have such a position until the Father gave it to Him.
While on earth, Jesus said, "I can of my own self do nothing." (John 5:30) He was dependent on the Father for all the divine power He exercised - just as we must be.
God is an exceptional King. He is full of mercy, long suffering and wishing that none may be lost. 2Peter 3:9. He is an exceptional King, because He is Lord of lord's and King of kings. He is blessed, and only Potentate(Ruler). 1Timothy 6:15.
Yet He is my Father, I am His son. 2Corinthians 6:18. He His our God and we are His people. Leviticus 26:12. Jeremiah 7:23.
An exceptional King. Yes! He is my Ruler and Father. I'm His subject and His son. He is our God and we are His people.
It appears that it is more difficult for modern people to believe that Jesus was fully God, or that he was fully human.
“Jesus is our King” – what does a king represent? – Authority! In this case, God declared His Son to be vested with His full authority. Heb.1:6-10 – ”And again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, ‘And let all the angels worship Him;” which means – accept His authority and do according to His will.
The Father made sure that all the angels, from the least to the most powerful, recognized His Son’s authority whiles on earth to be equal to His own – Heb.1:8. The heavenly host, representing all the various capacities, were to assist Him in anything He needed; meaning to do the Father’s Will. This included raising the dead; using His creative powers to instantly reverse decay – restore or/and heal, and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit to impart God’s Light of Truth.
In my opinion, the systems representing earthly kingdoms and their kings can only be an imperfect shadow of that which is perfectly established in heaven. The inhabitants of the heavenly realms have designations/names/titles/dominions, but their true working relationship is based on God’s authority; all ‘functions’ are established/designated by the Father and now the Son, equally.
I read 2Sam.7:8-16 differently, wanting to be careful when I say that I think v.12-16 does not refer to Jesus, but rather to the son of David - King Salomon and his kingdom; though the man Jesus is from the lineage of David. References speak to Jesus the man as being of the house of David, which became the Son of Man and God, incarnate.
Considering the tainted relationship we have with earthly ‘kings and kingdoms’, it might be helpful to look at the kingdom as the Father’s ‘realm of authority’, as an abode for all the faithful, whether it be man or angels.
In this spiritual realm on earth as it is in heaven, inhabitants are called to relate with each other by the spirit of the creative power of Love in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We are all equal in the Father and Son’s eyes – They are no respecter of persons. Being in Christ Jesus, we find ourselves equally accepted and called upon to participate in His spiritual kingdom regardless of race, class, culture, social background or position – Acts10:25-45.
This might be off topic, but is 2nd part of Hebrews 8v1 reads
"......We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,"
Is this Paul (under the belief that Christ would come back in his lifetime) fast tracking Christ's entrance into the Most Holy Place (throne room) which we know happened in 1844
The letter to the Hebrews is very clear. “When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3b, NASB95.) When Christ ascended to heaven in his role as our High Priest, he completed the purification of all believers for all time and then “sat down at the right hand of God” in his presence. This is a completed action—it happened at his ascension. By this work, Christ as our High Priest removed every impediment and barrier for us to come boldly into God’s presence to receive grace in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16.)
As you pointed out, Hebrews 8:1 (as well as Hebrews 9:24, 10:12, 12:2 and many other places in the New Testament) confirm this understanding. No need to wait until 1844. Earth’s history entered its last days when Christ entered God’s presence at his ascension. When Jesus appears a second time, it will be to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28.)