Here is the next study in my series on Hebrews.
4. Hebrews 1:2 Christ The Heir of all Things
If, as we saw in our last study, Jesus is the Son of God, then he must also be, as the text states, the heir of all that God possesses, and everything that exists. Indeed, as we will see next time, everything that God made through Christ was made for Christ.
Back in the Psalms, the fact that Jesus Christ would be the heir to all that God possesses is indicated.
Psalm 89:27
The Psalmist indicates that God had a Son who would become the heir of all that God possesses, and that Son is Jesus Christ. And by firstborn, he does not mean that Jesus Christ once upon a time didn’t exist. It’s not necessarily a chronological term at all; it’s a term of legal right. The firstborn has the right to the inheritance. So God is saying, ‘Christ will be my heir’. God’s destined kingdom, then, will belong to Jesus Christ.
Psalm 2:8
This carpenter from Galilee who died nailed to a cross is, in fact, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He will rule the world. Even Satan knew that, because when he tempted him in the wilderness, he tempted him to take what was actually promised to him anyway, but to acquire it without experiencing the pain of the cross – by bowing down to Satan.
And so, the Holy Spirit says to the Hebrews, ‘This Jesus is the Son of God and the heir of all things.’ This inheritance is the full expression of the authority which the Father has given to the Son.
I love that breath-taking, heart-stopping vision that Daniel has and recounts for us in 7:13-14 –
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man – there’s the Son, the Christ – and he came to the Ancient of Days – there’s the Father – and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed”.
A W Pink, in his own inimitable way, beautifully expresses the wonder of this. He writes, “…from the beginning. Christ was the centre of all the divine counsels. Before a single creature was called into existence, God had appointed an “Heir” to all things, and that Heir was the Lord Jesus. It was the predestined reward of his voluntary humiliation; He who had not where to lay his head, is now the lawful Possessor of the universe.” [1]
Everything in this created universe belongs to Jesus; it is rightfully his because he is the Son of God and the heir of all things.
Now, let me remind you that – and I hope it’s a reminder and not the first time you’ve heard this – the Bible uses exactly the same terms – son and heir – of all true believers.
Look at Romans 8:14 and 15. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” “
A number of translations change the word sons here to children which is more inclusive, in their eyes, and more politically correct. But we have to be very careful when we do that because sometimes we weaken the force of the text. Here, using the word sons is actually more meaningful than if he had said children. You see, in Paul’s day women and girls had no rights at all.
So, Paul is not excluding women and girls here, he’s actually saying that all who are Christians have full and equal rights as just as an adopted son did in a Roman family, as we will consider in a moment. So sisters, don’t feel sidelined here – Paul is using the word here in a legal sense, not a gender sense
And, to see how remarkable this truth is, let’s remind ourselves of something; let’s never forget that by nature, we are all children of wrath; by nature, none of us are children, or sons of God. We may indeed all be ‘Jock Tamson’s Bairns’, a Scottish phrase which translates as, ‘we’re all the same’, but the only time the Bible speaks of the children of God is when it talks of those who are, by adoption at salvation, brought into the family of God.
The only Son of God, by nature, is Christ. All the other children of God are not natural children, but adopted children. Every true son – and, of course, daughter – of God, is in a legally binding, volitional, intimate and dependent relationship with God the Father. Indeed, on the authority of Scripture, can say we have the same legal status and privilege of the Fathers’ only son by nature, even Jesus.
Now, if that wasn’t wonderful enough, consider Galatians 4:6-7 – “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So, you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Do you see that? The seventeenth-century commentator John Trapp says, ‘Be married to this heir and have all.’
How is that possible? Only through faith in the crucified and risen Son of God and heir of all things.
[1] Arthur W. Pink, An Exposition of Hebrews, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1954), commentary on Hebrews 1:2.
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