Seven Statements about the Son: Seated at God's Right Hand

 
Hebrews 1:2b-3 gives us seven statements about Christ, the Son of God. This post winds up a series of posts on these statements by looking at the last statement: Christ sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. As I did with a couple of the other posts, I’ll start at the end phrase in this statement and work my way forward.

• The Majesty On High
  The Majesty isn’t a common way to refer to God. It’s used again in Hebrews 8:1, and that ‘s pretty much it. It refers in both places to God the Father, and emphasises the greatness of God. Christ is at the right hand of God the Father in all his greatness.


• At the Right Hand
  
  The term right hand of God is figurative language. We can’t take it (as some people have this week in a certain thread on the Baptist Board) to mean that God has a body. God and heaven are beyond our abilities to describe exactly, and the writers of scripture often use word pictures to convey important truths about them to us.
  
   
  In this case, the image of Christ  at God’s right hand is meant to tell us something about the relationship Christ has to God—and all of creation, too—after he completed purification for sin. The right hand of God is a place of honor—the highest possible place—right next to God. Christ humbled himself to make purification for sins, and after that he returned to his place of glory and dignity and authority.  1 Peter 3:22 tells us that Christ
  

  has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

  That Christ is seated at the right hand of God assures us that he is not just another created being, but one to whom all creatures are subject. And if all creatures, even creatures with special authority, are subject to him, then he is not a creature at all, but rather in the class of one and only Creator.
  
   
  And yet, that Christ is at the right hand of the Majesty on high also suggests that he is distinct from the Father. He is with the Father, but he is not the Father. His placement also indicates a degree of subordination to the Father.  The one “at the right hand” is the one who carries out the will of the one he sits beside. We know from some of the other statements in these verses that Christ is equal to the Father. We have already, for instance, been told that Christ is God’s exact imprint. So this subordination must be a voluntary subordination, and not subordination that comes because Christ is somehow less in value or worth or importance than the Father.


• Sat Down
  And Christ is sitting.  In Hebrews 10, we learn a little more about the significance of this sitting position.

  And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God … . For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14)

  It is because Christ’s work of atonement is finished that he is no longer can take a seat. I wrote a post on this once called Christ Who Sits, and maybe I’ll just quote from that. I’m allowed to do that, right?

  An old covenant priest stood daily in his priestly work. He was always in a standing position in God’s presence because his ministry was never done. Over and over again, every day, he offered the same sacrifices—sacrifices that that had to be repeated because they were ineffectual, for they didn’t actually take away sins… . The old covenant priest’s sacrifices never cleansed completely, and the outward cleansing they provided was only temporary… . Day in and day out they had to do exactly the same work, and that it was necessary for them to keep repeating only served as a reminder of how unsatisfactory the work they did really was.
  
  The text gives us a very different picture of Christ’s work as Priest, however. Christ offered one sacrifice of himself, and then he sat down on the right hand of God. His work was over because his work was effectual… . It “perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Never again does his work have to be repeated, for this Priest did a complete job: his work cleanses completely and cleanses forever. It is finished.

So what does it mean for us that Christ sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high?

• It means that we are subject to his authority.
• It means that he deserves our worship.
• It means that we can rest—we don’t have to work for our salvation—because he is resting, having completed all the work required for it.
• That Christ is equal to the Father and yet at his right hand gives us a model for the rightful existence of ordered authority among people who are  equal in value or worth.
  

In the last post, I mentioned that I thought this statement and the one before are really two halves of one statement, so that this section isn’t really seven statements about the Son, but six, with the last one being, “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high… .” For one thing, taking it that way makes it parallel with the statement in chapter 10 that I quoted above, which says that “when Christ had offered for all time a sacrifice for sin he sat down at the right hand of God.” 

But there’s another reason why I think the two statements (and perhaps verse 4) might go together. I noticed something while composing these posts. Some of the statements seemed to parallel others, and I think those parallels might show something of chiastic structure, but I don’t know enough about it to be a good judge of it. So let me show you, and you draw your own conclusion. I’ve used the letters a, b, and c to show the parallels in the statements: 

• a. whom he appointed the heir of all things,
• b. through whom also he created the world.
• c. He is the radiance of the glory of God
• c. and the exact imprint of his nature,
• b. and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
• a. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [and I’d probably add verse 4 as well] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

There you go. You tell me: Do you think there is chiastic structure there or  not?

And while we’re at it, can you think of other things to add to the list of what this statement means for us? Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?

Seven Statements about the Son: One Who Mades Purification for Sins

 
Hebrews 1:2b-3 give us seven statements about Christ, the Son of God. In this post, it’s the sixth statement we’re examining: He made purification for sins.  Starting at the beginning, then.

• Made Purification
  Christ brought about cleansing from sin. Other places in Hebrews tell us more about exactly how Christ accomplished that, but the emphasis here is that the job was done. Sinful people are cleansed by what Christ did.
  
  Have you noticed that this statement is a bit different from the others? For one thing, none of the others require the incarnation, but this one does. The only way Christ could make purification for our sins is by becoming one of us¹. So the sustainer of the universe, whose word alone created all living things, and whose word alone keeps all living things alive, leaves heaven behind so that he could die to purify us from our sins. How’s that for a contrast?
  
   
  In addition, except for the statement that Christ created the world, all of the others are present tense, indicating that they are continuing right now and will continue forever. But this one? It’s is a done deal. The verb tense tells us this purification accomplished by Christ is a completed action.
   
  Later in Hebrews we learn that Christ offered himself “once for all” time.”² Christ’s made complete purification in his one act of sacrifice, and that complete purification cleanses sin for all time, in contrast to the Old Testament sacrifices that had to be offered over and over because they never really did the job. The old sacrifices were a surface cleansing only, but the source of the dirt was still there, continuing to dirty things up over and over and over again. But Christ’s sacrifice is a deep cleansing: it cleanses the conscience and puts away sin forever, so that there is no need anymore for perpetual cleansing.  The cleansing is completed; the work is finished.
   
• For Sin
  There are many ways to look at sin, but in this case, used with the word purification, the emphasis is on sin as defilement. Sin makes us impure or unclean, and we are in need of cleansing if we are to be in the presence of a holy God. 

The five previous statements have been an affirmation of Christ’s deity. This one is less clearly so, although I do think it argues for his deity, too, but in a more round about way. In Hebrew 7, our writer argues that bulls and goats and human priests are inadequate to make permanent purification for sin and give us unhindered access to God. What’s required is a perfect human sacrifice and a perfect human priest¹, but also, a priest who is the Father’s equal.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.³

No only does our priest need to be human and sinless, he also must be exalted above the heavens. Christ is uniquely able to fulfill all the requirements as the one sinless God-man. So the statement that Christ made purification for sins does affirm the diety of  Christ, since it was necessary for the “once for all” sacrifice to be God.

 

However, I’m not sure it was the writer’s intent for this phrase to stand alone as an argument for Christ’s deity. It is an argument for deity, but it’s not as obvious as the others, is it? The more I look at these statements, the more I think this one is meant to coupled with the next statement that tell us that Christ “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”, making one complete statement. The whole statement, then, is, “After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high… .”, and it is a very straightforward affirmation of Christ’s deity.

 

But that’s enough of that for now. I’ll explain in the next post the primary reason I think these two last statements are really two halves of one statement.

 

So what does it mean for us that Christ “made purification for sins.”

• It reminds us that sin isn’t something that a holy God can simply overlook. The defilement of sin must be removed before we can be in the presence of a holy God.
• Taken together with with the previous statements, it gives us an idea how far Christ stooped to perform his redeeming work. This should make us extremely grateful for what he’s done, since without his cleansing work, we would be unable to have access to God.
  
• Because the purification for sin is a done deal, nothing needs to be added to what he has already accomplished. Not only is Christ’s work necessary for us to have access to God, it is entirely sufficient to provide access to God. Nothing any other human being or any institution has done or will do is of any help in this matter, because Christ has finished the job. This should cause us to rest in his work alone for cleansing and forgiveness for sin.
• We can draw near to God with confidence—with full assurance of faith—because Christ’s finished work has purified us and it is trustworthy.
  

¹ Hebrews 2:14-17

² Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 10:10.

³ Hebrews 7:26

Can you think of other things to add to the list of what this statement means for us? Is there anything else you’d like to add or discuss?

Seven Statements about the Son: Upholder of the Universe

Hebrews 1:2b-3 give us seven statements about Christ, the Son of God. So far, I’ve posted something on the first four statements, and this post is on to the fifth: he upholds the universe by the word of his power. As in the other posts, I’ve divided the statement into phrases, which I’ll look at individually.

• Upholds the Universe
  It is because of Christ that the universe continues to exist. Paul makes a similar statement in Colossians 1:17 when he says that it is by Christ that “all things hold together.”
   
  The word upholds means “sustains” or “maintains”, and the verb tense tells us that Christ is continually upholding “all things.” Right now, as I write, and right now, as you read, everything in the universe continues to exist because Christ is sustaining or maintaining it. That the laws of the universe continue to be laws we can count on is through Christ’s upholding work. The gravity that coheres everything is here because Christ continues throughout history to sustain it’s existence.
   
  Do you think of God’s relationship to the creation as something like a watchmaker’s relationship to a watch? The watchmaker puts the pieces together and then winds the watch and lets it run. This statement tells us that Christ’s relationship to his creation is much different (and more involved) than that of a watchmaker. There is no “letting it run” with Christ; He continually keeping things in the universe running by his own power.
  
   
  But there’s even more to it than that. Leon Morris says that the thought is that Christ

  is carrying [the universe] along, bearing it toward an important goal. Creation is not aimless: it is part of God’s plan and the Son is continually bearing creation along toward the fulfillment of the plan.¹

  Previously in this text, we learned that Christ is the creator of the world: what’s here is here because he made it. Now we learn that Christ is the upholder of the world: what’s here continues to work because he continues to run it.
    
• The Word of His Power
  Christ’s word—his powerful word—is the means by which he upholds all things. Later on, in Hebrews 11, our writer tells us that the universe was created by God’s word, and it’s the same word for word used in both places. In Hebrews 11, it is God’s word that creates everything, and here it is Christ’s word that carries everything along toward God’s goal for it.  This is a perfect time to use the word fiat, which is a command that accomplishes something on the basis of that command alone.  Christ’s powerful word is an effective command, and that’s exactly the idea in this phrase. Christ created it all by fiat and he sustains it all by fiat. Christ commands and the universe responds. 

If you were around me in real life, you’d find that this statement is a piece of scripture that I quote fairly often. I like it a lot. There is something about those words that intrigues me, even though I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s very comforting to think that the universe is nothing like a watch winding down; but rather, there is a rational and personal will keeping it together, and a rational and eternal energy source carrying it along. It’s also exciting to think that God’s command, which is able to bring thing into existence out of nothing, is not simply something that was used once in the past at the creation. It is something that is used for every nanosecond of time itself, and for every nanosecond of my life and every small detail in it. God’s command called up the sprouting seeds in my garden.

 

This statement is quite closely related to the second statement in this text, the one telling us that Christ is the creator of the world. That one was an affirmation of Christ’s diety, and this one is too. (Do I sound a little like a broken record?) Having the sort of authority that comes with an assuredly effective  command, like the creative command of the second statement and the sustaining command of this one, is authority that belongs to God alone. 

 

What does the statement that Christ  upholds the universe by the word of his power mean for us?

• It should cause us to worship him.
• No matter what our circumstances, we can view our lives and everything in them as being sustained by God’s powerful word, and know that he is carrying everything along toward his own perfect goal.

¹ Leon Morris, Hebrews: Bible Study Commentary, page 20.

Can you think of other things to add to the list of what this statement means for us? Is there anything else you’d like to add or discuss?