Hebrews 1:8-12
There are several things about Jesus that
demonstrate that He is God. One of those things is that He is eternal. The
writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament begins his presentation of Jesus
as superior to all previous revelations from God by comparing Jesus to angels.
This is a very rich passage that needs more than one BLOG to cover, but I want
to focus on one part of this comparison.
After writing that angels worship Jesus and
are therefore of lesser importance than Jesus, he compares the fleetingness of
angels existence to the unending existence of Jesus. In verse eight the writer
states that the Psalmist addressed Jesus as God. Jesus’ throne is an eternal
throne. It will never end.
He continues to contrast the angels’
fleeting existence with Jesus eternal one by stating that Jesus was there
already when creation itself was made. The image of laying a foundation is
used.
I am getting ready to build an addition to
my house. The first thing that gets done is the foundation. I am here before
the foundation is to be built. I am planning it already. I will get an
architect, a concrete contractor and get the proper permits from the county.
Then I will lay the foundation. I exist before my new foundation.
When the first parts of creation were being
put into place, Jesus was there already. He is the One who made them. And He
won’t wear out like a garment. He will always be around. Creation itself is
talked about as the temporary garment that will fall apart with use and get
rolled up, but Jesus stays the same. His years never come to an end.
Someone might well say that this is poetry
and therefore we can’t draw truths like this from the text. But I would argue
that the writer was trying to convey an actual meaningful argument using these
words. The flow and meaning of the text clearly support Jesus’ eternity. Poetry
has meaning, and in this case, as in many cases, a clear meaning. The writer
doubles back repeatedly to emphasize this point, so even though it is poetry, his
point comes through.
There are many passages of Old Testament
Scripture that the writer could have chosen to further his argument that Jesus is
greater than the angels because He is eternal, but he chose these passages.
And these are not the only passages of
Scripture that state that Jesus is eternal. Here are several more that can be
examined. They each show in various ways the extent of Jesus’ existence. John
1:15, 8:58, 17:5, 24, Col 1:15, John 1:1, 1 John 1:1, Micah 5:2, Isa 9:6, Rev
1:11, John 5:26. These are just a few.