The Son above the Angels.
I. The Son is the end of all history. The Father hath appointed the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, the heir of all things. There is nothing excepted that is not given unto Him. He has obtained the Church as the first and central part of His inheritance. As the material sun is placed in the firmament to be a source of light and heat and joy, with the rest of the creation of God, so God appoints the Church to be the firstfruits of His creatures the body of Christ, wherewith He influences and blesses, whereby He guides and controls all things.
II. In Him God made "all ages" or "all worlds." It is natural that He who is the Alpha should also be the Omega. Scripture teaches us creation is the work of the triune God. God has made all things by Christ, according to Christ, and for Christ.
III. Before all history He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person. Wherever He looks He sees Christ, the light. Without Christ, there is darkness. The Father is light, yet not to us without the mediation of the light, which is Christ. Without Christ He is darkness by excess of brightness.
IV. Throughout the course of history, in providence, Christ heareth all things with the word of His power. If it were not for Jesus and for the atonement, if it were not for the Lamb foreordained from the foundation of the world, the history of this world would never have been continued after the fall of man. Christ is Lord of all. The whole universe centres in Him. A star appears at the time of Messiah's advent. The sun loses his splendour when Jesus Christ dies upon the cross. It is the Lord Jesus who shall make all things new. And all developments are borne up and moved by the word of His power.
A. Saphir, Expository Lectures on the Hebrews, vol, i., p. 44.
The Mediator of the New Covenant, the Incarnate Son, above the Angels.
Consider the marvellous unity of the two Covenants.
I. "God hath spoken." This is the first point. A living God and a loving God must needs speak. The god of the philosophers is a silent God, for he hath neither life nor affection; but our God, who created the heavens and the earth, who is and who loves, must speak. Even in the creation, which is an act of the condescension of God, He utters His thoughts; and when He created man as the consummation of the world, it was for this purpose, that man should hear Him and love Him, and should rejoice in His light and in His life. When sin enters into the world, silence ensues.
II. Man having, by his own sin, fallen away from God, and silence reigning now, it is only the infinite compassion and love of God, that induces him to speak. If there were no redemption, there would be no revelation. If there were no blood of the Lamb, there would not be a single word uttered unto man by the most High.
III. And that God hath spoken is a very awful thing, full of power and life. We have got accustomed to it, to believe that we have the thoughts of God embodied in His world, and that He who is Almighty and blessed in Himself, and against whom we have sinned, hath in His infinite love uttered unto us the thoughts of His compassion and His mercy; but God Himself is astonished at it, and commendeth His love.
IV. As the Sonship is the beginning of the Gospel, so it is also the end and purpose of God's message. God, speaking to us by His Son, shows unto us that we also are to become the sons of God. In the Son we know and have the Father: in the Son we also are the children of God.
A. Saphir, Expository Lectures on the Hebrews,vol. i., p. 20.
References: Hebrews 1:1-4. Homilist,2nd series, vol. ii., p. 460. Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 1:3. G. Calthrop, Words to my Friends,p. 1.Hebrews 1:3. G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India, p. 103; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iv., p. 60. Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 1:4. Expositor,1st series, vol. i., p. 119.