Hebrews 1:8 reveals that the Son who is the effulgence of God’s glory and the express image of God’s substance is God Himself. Verse 8 says concerning the Son, “Your throne, O God.” This reveals that the Son is God Himself.
Verse 10 reveals that the Son is the Lord, the Creator. “And, You in the beginning, Lord, have founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.” Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself, as well as the Lord, the Creator. Do not think that He is other than the Lord, the Creator. He is God and the Lord, the Creator.
We come now to the work of the Son. In 1:2-3 two categories of the Son’s work are revealed: creation and redemption.
Hebrews chapter one reveals that the Son created the heavens and the earth (1:2, 10). All things came into existence through the Son (John 1:3; Col. 1:16; 1 Cor. 8:6). The Son is the Creator of the universe.
After creating all things, the Son became the Upholder (1:3). The earth is suspended in the air. There are no columns supporting it. After Christ created the earth, He began to uphold it. He upholds it by the word of His power. If you ask the scientists who holds the earth, they will say that something upholds it. The earth is one of many planets. The astronomers tell us that all the planets move according to their own track. If they were to move out of orbit, there would be a global accident. Who upholds the universe? The Son. He upholds the universe very easily. He does not do anything—He just speaks. He upholds all things by the word of His power.
Hebrews is a book on the word of God. In 11:3 we are told that the universe was framed according to the word of God, and in 1:3 we see that the universe is upheld by the word of power. The divine word is very meaningful. The Son is not only the Creator, but He is also the Upholder. He created and upholds the universe by His word.
In the past, He was the Creator; in the present, He is the Upholder; and in the future, He will be the Heir to inherit all things (1:2). The sun, earth, solar system, stars, galaxies—all are His. All things are for Him. He will inherit all things. In God’s creation He is the Creator, the Upholder, and the Heir. All things are of Him through Him, and to Him (Rom. 11:36).
In God’s redemption there are also three time periods. Firstly, the Lord purified our sins in the past (1:3). He has not only atoned for our sins, but also made purification of them. Atoning means covering, but purification means that our sins have been washed away. In the type of the Old Testament, the atonement was only able to cover sins (Psa. 32:1), but unable to take them away. So the atoning priests stood daily, offering the same sacrifices, and could never sit down (Heb. 10:11). But the Son has taken away sin (John 1:29) and has accomplished the purification of sins once for all. Therefore, He sat down forever (Heb. 10:10, 12). In the eyes of God, sin is over. In the eyes of God, throughout the whole universe, sin has been washed away. Sin should not be in you, in the church, or in your home. Sin has been washed away, and the purification of sin has been accomplished. The Son completed this work in the past.
What is the Son doing now? He is sitting, resting. He is enjoying some excellent sight-seeing. He is sitting on the right hand of God, watching His lovers and seekers experience His purification of sin. He is not doing anything there—He is just sitting. At least five times the book of Hebrews tells us that the Lord Jesus is sitting (1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2). He has no work to do. He does not need to wash you again, for He has thoroughly washed you already. Before you even made your confession, He already washed you. In fact, you were washed before you were born. Now the Lord has nothing more to do. This is much better than the work of the priests.
The Lord is waiting for His enemies to be subdued. This will occur in the future. The Lord lacks nothing except a footstool. He has the throne and the crown, but He does not yet have the footstool. He is only waiting for this. Be assured that one day He will obtain this footstool.
The book of Hebrews stresses the fact that Christ has accomplished everything for God and us, leaving nothing for us to do. His sitting at the right hand of God signifies that His work has been accomplished and that He is resting there, waiting only for one thing—that God will make His enemies a footstool for His feet. He is sitting there in the heavens waiting for a footstool that He may have complete rest.
In the Old Testament God spoke in the prophets, in men moved by His Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). In the New Testament He speaks in the Son, in the person of the Son. The Son is God Himself (1:8), God expressed. God the Father is hidden; God the Son is expressed. No one has ever seen God; the Son as the Word of God (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13) and the speaking of God has declared Him and has been His full expression, explanation, and definition (John 1:18). The Son is the center, the focus, of the book of Hebrews. In the Godhead He is the effulgence of God’s glory and the express image of God’s substance. In creation He is the means through whom the universe was made, the power that upholds all things, and the Heir appointed to inherit all things. In redemption He has accomplished the purification of sins and is now sitting on the right hand of God in the heavens waiting for the subduing of His enemies.
The book of Hebrews reveals the contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was of the law in letters and forms; of man, earthly, temporary; and by sight, issuing in a religion called Judaism. The New Testament is of life, spiritual, heavenly, permanent, and by faith, focused in a person who is the Son of God.