July 30, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
THE FATHER APPOINTED CHRIST AS ‘HEIR OF ALL THINGS’: WHY? HOW?
“God. . . .hath in these last days. . . appointed heir of all things.”
See Heb. 1:1,2, A.V.
“God spake ‘by His Son,’ should rather be “IN His Son,” according to the original. For “the same God who formerly spoke IN the prophets has now spoken IN His Son. This places Jesus in the prophetic line as One of the prophets and messengers of God.”
“The Son is said to be ‘appointed heir.’ Some have taken this to mean that the time will come when the Father will ‘resign’ His throne and ‘relegate’ Himself to a secondary, and the Son will take over the kingdom permanently.”
“But this cannot be. There are certain powers which God has relinquished, and which are now exercised by the Son, but in the end the Son will subject Himself to the Father, that He—the Father—may be ‘all in all’ (1 Cor. 15: 27, 28).
“As the Son of God Christ is Himself God, and as He is ‘the Creator of all things,’ they are His by right of creation. When the Son, therefore, is said to have been ‘appointed heir, the reference is to Him as the the NEW ADAM [see 1 Cor. 15: 45-48], and the ‘inheritance’ referred to is the KINGDOM originally given to man, which Adam lost because of sin, and which Christ redeemed. ‘The earth hath He given to the children of men [not animals],’ of which Adam was the first representative. Ps. 115:16.
When Adam sinned he lost his right to that which God had given him, and henceforth became a PILGRIM and a STRANGER in the Earth instead of its lord!”
“However, the moment Adam sinned, Christ stepped in, He took man’s place, fulfilled the conditions of life laid down by God, redeemed Adam’s disgraceful failure, and became the SECOND ADAM [in the mystery of the incarnation]. Having fulfilled every requirement, He became and was ‘appointed heir.’ As man unites with Christ [not vicariously but spiritually, in mind, thought, spirit and deeds], he also becomes an heir of God through Christ (Gal. 4:7). It was thus that Abraham became ‘the heir of the world, and in like manner Christians become ‘heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.’ Rom. 4:13; 8:17.”
“The promise is, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth;’ and at last those faithful to the end shall hear the welcome words, ‘Come, ye blessed is My Father, INHERIT THE KINGDOM prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ Matt.5:5; 25:34.”
“When the Son, therefore, is said to be ‘appointed heir of all things,’ the meaning is simply that God has ACCEPTED Him as the ‘second and new Adam,’ to take place as Head of the human race instead of the first Adam who fell, and that to Him [the second Adam] shall come the dominion which [the first] Adam lost.” Andreasen, The Book of Hebrews, pp. 46, 47.
To be continued tomorrow, only if He wills. NMF