Christ – the heir of all things
For the Lord’s Day:  the 29^th of September 2002

Hebrews:  1: 2b

“In these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things.”

Introduction: Let us begin today by qualifying the English word “heir”, since we might often understand it to mean only the coming into an inheritance on the death of one whose estate we are to receive a portion thereof.  Gerhard Kittle’s exhaustive Theological Dictionary of the New Testament begins with the classical definition:  “the ‘heir’ in the sense of the natural heir and the one named by a will or by legal provisions.”  Then Kittle’s linguistic analysis allows for “further development in the Bible primarily on the basis of the meaning of the Hebrew equivalents but more particularly by reason of the fact that the word group came to be used for a specific train of religious thought.”   That train of thought specifically identifies those “recipients of God’s promises and of those who wait for what is promised” and further on we read that the term “is an eschatological concept,” whose “inheritance” is identified as “the kingdom of God.”

Commentators Morris & Burdick offer this analysis:  “In the New Testament the word [heir] and its cognates are often used in a sense much like ‘get possession of’ without reference to any specific way of acquiring the property in question.  In other words, the term points to lawful possession but without indicating in what way that possession is secured. ‘Heir of all things,’ then is a title of dignity and shows that Christ has the supreme place in all the mighty universe.  His exaltation to the highest place in heaven after his work on earth was done did not mark some new dignity but his reentry to his rightful place.”

John Owen simplifies our discussion in these pithy words:  “Christ is made actual possessor of what he has title to … ‘the propriety rights of his sonship and the immutability of his lordship. 

The Apostle Paul realizes and explains the theological significance of these propriety rights in his letter to the Philippians:  “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Philippians 3: 5b – 11)

Thus we may conclude our opening thoughts with the clear declaration of commentator John Brown:  “The whole universe of creatures, material and spiritual, animate and inanimate, rational and irrational, is His property, to be managed according to His pleasure.  This proprietorship is the result of the appointment and gift of the Father … [and] as a divine person, Jesus Christ has an inalienable property in the universe which He has made.”

Development: Our second responsibility for this morning involves the amplification of the “mere” proprietorship of Christ to that of true kingship - from parallel passages in the scriptures.  “In these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things.”

We start with a text from the psalms which will be the focus of a separate study in several weeks’ time.  “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, You are my Son; today I have begotten you.  Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”  (Psalm 2: 7-8)  This royal decree is in the back of the mind of our author for proving the superiority of Jesus Christ to the angels of the created order in Hebrews 1: 5.  Further on in Hebrews 2: 5-9, the author cites from Psalm 8: 4-6 a question regarding who will have dominion over the earth.

Certainly, we understand the first application of that text to all of mankind’s responsibility to take dominion over the earth and manage the work of creation as best as we are able.  But the second application of that text is brought out to define the ultimate authority of the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ whose dominion exceeds that not only of mere mankind, but also of the angels as well.  And finally, in Hebrews 11: 9f, 14-15 we see the application of the inheritance of the godly line promoted from the Palestinian landscape to the eternal joys of heaven:  “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”  

God in Christ thus rules not only his people in this life but also in the next.  And because the God of heaven has revealed His only Son to us, we are obligated not only to listen to Him, but to obey and worship Him with the same adoration the Old Covenant Church reserved for the Father alone.

And in my phrasing, there is the rub and also the purpose of our text: to affirm what every native born Jew knows from training in the Law:  “God has Spoken”.  Him they worship to this day, but the greater tragedy is – that despite the sevenfold arguments of the author of the book of Hebrews in these first few verses; they refuse to accept Christ as Lord, God and King.

The Westminster Confession points us in this direction of kingship, amongst other titles, in its chapter on the person and purpose of Jesus Christ:  “It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Saviour of His Church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom He did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed, and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.”  (Westminster VIII.1)

Therein are many wonderful and awesome titles given to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We hear echoed there our text: “heir of all things” as well as the properly defined role of kingship over His own people.  There are many other aspects of that confessional definition as well, and several of those listed will very probably be considered in coming weeks.

Kingship, Lordship or proprietary rights are all one and the same thing, so let us take for our third task this morning the responsibility to consider the true kingship of Jesus Christ, a position, which all the more compels us to listen to Him and obey Him as our sovereign Lord revealed.

We have to remember that there was a purpose in Christ’s coming down to earth, a plan in laying aside the greater glories of heaven and a providential will which led Him to the cross on our behalf.  Dr John Brown tells us “the Only-begotten became a man, and in human flesh obeyed, and suffered, and died, for the honour of Divinity and the salvation of mankind.”

Our Shorter Catechism asks the question:  “How does Christ execute the office of a King?”  To which, this answer is given:  “In subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.”  This is the Kingdom as it is realized in and only through the work and purpose of King Jesus.

A Dr Bevan describes Christ’s Kingly Office in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.  “The association of rule with the redemption of mankind was early found in Divine revelation.  It is in the Protevangelium of Genesis 3:15; the covenant with Abraham contains it (Genesis 22: 17-18); the blessing of Jacob reflects it (Genesis 4(:10).  After the successive attempts to establish a visible and earthly monarchy, its settlement in the family of David was associated with Divine premonitions of continued and gracious royalty … Christ’s kingship was speedily recognized by those who saw His works of power, and acknowledged His authority.  He Himself clearly claimed this authority (Matthew 22: 43-43; John 18: 36-37).  It was however not a kingdom based upon material and external power and rule, but on the foundation of truth and righteousness.  The Kingdom of Heaven … described the new order which He had come to establish, of which He was to be the Lord and Administrator; not an earthly dominion after the fashion of this world’s kingdoms; it was to be the rule of mind and spirit.”

I really appreciate the last few lines of that encyclopaedic entry, since I had spent the better part of the last twelve months working patiently through “The Great Covenant” of Deuteronomy.  And all the more do I appreciate the ground laying work of St. Augustine in The City of God, whose premise is and always has been instructive for the Bride of Christ – the Church of the true and living God in Christ.

And that premise, I know is tiresome to many – but in the description of our text today – I do believe my point is well implied.  “Heir to all things” as our text states does have a finality that we must affirm, but until the present age is done and gone – the final Kingdom in Glory is not yet revealed.  Therefore, we must contend in this life with two kingdoms – one that is dead and dying and the other in and under the Lordship of Christ, which is growing and flourishing expectantly until “everything is laid at His feet.”

Application:  Dr Louis Berkhof, in his Systematic Theology speaks of two kingdoms in different context to bring out the spiritual details.  “By the regnum potentiae we understand the dominion of the God-man Jesus Christ, over the universe, his providential and judicial administration of all things in the interest of the Church,” he writes to note the dominion of Christ over all things.  He further writes: “The kingship of Christ over the universe is subservient to his spiritual kingship (the regnum gratiae)  It is incumbent on Christ, as the anointed King, to establish the spiritual Kingdom of God, to govern it, and to protect it against hostile forces.”

Finally, Berkhof tells us that since the world must be effectively controlled by Christ in order to bring the spiritual kingdom to fruit, “therefore God invested Him with authority over it, so that He is able to control all powers, and forces, and movements in the world.”

How often do we, along with the whole of creation, groan to see the kingdom brought in!  How often do we use the phrase “Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly!”  In that expectation and in that prayer – we are truly wanting “the heir of all things” to take final possession of everything He has been given under heaven and on earth.  And why is it, that in our best moments – we have that heartfelt desire?  Isn’t it just as Paul wrote to the Galatians:  “If you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.  … When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  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.”

Raymond Brown tells us what those words and indeed the whole text and sermon before us means personally.  “Surely by describing Christ as ‘heir of all things’, he intends to convey to us the idea that the Lord Jesus will inherit not only this earth but the entire universe.  The Son obviously comes into a rich inheritance.  Moreover, in other contexts the New Testament says that believers share this inheritance.  The seventeenth-century commentator John Trapp says, ‘Be married to this heir and have [it] all.’”

The Bride of Christ description of the Church does indeed imply the sharing of a spiritual richness and a glory not our own.  Another image is that of our adoption into the family of God, which is also used to wet our appetite for the final coming of our Lord and Savior at the end of the age.  Do you need more reasons to take an interest in Christ?  There are at least six more according to the author of Hebrews – let us consider them all in the coming weeks.  However, you who have not been hard of heart, but spiritually tender to the things of God can already pray with earnest fervor:  “Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly.”  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Bevan, D. “Offices of Christ”, The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.
Brown, John.  A Geneva Series Commentary: Hebrews.
Bromiley, Geoffrey W.  Kittel’s theological Dictionary of the New Testament.
Brown, Raymond.  The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Hebrews.
Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews.
Berkhof, Louis.  Systematic Theology.
Owen, John:  Commentary on Book of Hebrews.
Morris & Burdick.  The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews & James.
The Westminster Confession of Faith & The Shorter Catechism.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version

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