Christ the Son: Our Righteous Redeemer

On a dark night about a hundred years ago, a Scottish missionary couple found themselves surrounded by cannibals’ intent on taking their lives. That terror-filled night they fell to their knees and prayed that God would protect them. Intermittent with their prayers, the missionaries heard the cries of the savages and expected them to come through the door at any moment.

But as the sun began to rise, to their astonishment they found that the natives were retreating into the forest. The couple’s hearts soared to God. It was a day of rejoicing!

The missionaries bravely continued their work. A year later the chieftain of that tribe was converted. As the missionary spoke with him, he remembered the horror of that night. He asked the chieftain why he and his men had not killed them. The chief replied, “Who were all those men who were with you?” The missionary answered, “Why, there were no men with us. There were just my wife and myself.” The chieftain began to argue with him, saying, “There were hundreds of tall men in shining garments with drawn swords circling about your house, so we could not attack you.”

These were all angels sent to protect the missionaries from harm. In my preparation for this sermon, I came across many such stories of the wondrous works of angels.

Elisha also experienced such angelic deliverance. Protecting Elisha at Dothan from the Syrians, it was shown to his servant a great multitude of angels on the hills around the city. 2 Kings 6 records the event, “So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

We could be forgiven for falling at their feet if we came face-to-face with them ourselves as many saints through Scripture have done. We can also sympathise with the temptation that the Hebrews were facing, that the angels are the powerful ones and should be worshipped.

In the face of all these things we find the rebuttal of the author. Christ is the one to whom all worship and honour is owed. He is the righteous King over all whose kingdom will not end.

It is my hope and desire that this morning we will see Christ for who He is, the only begotten Son of God who is ruler over all, who was here yesterday, is here today and will forever be. He is the Immanuel. He is the King. The One who was worshipped by angels at His birth and who continues to be worshipped now and forever more. This Christ is our God and Saviour and there is none beside Him. It is my hope that as we behold Him, we would live in light of that.

This morning we will look at it under three headings:

Christ the Son

Christ the Ruler of Righteousness

Christ the Everlasting King

(Repeat)

Christ the Son

Read vs 4-6

Head

Having proceeded to claim that Christ’s name and position is superior to that of angels, we find these words:

“For to which of the angels did God ever say?

‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’”

The answer is a resounding, none of them. Yet, these words are perhaps some of the most debated words in all of Church history.

What does it mean that God has begotten Christ? What does it mean for God to be Father and Son? Is there a sense in which one is superior to the other? Was there ever a time when the Son was not?

These questions have perplexed many and continue to perplex to this day. Some claim that Christ was the literal first born, that He is pre-eminent because he was first in order. Others, claim that Christ is inferior and subordinate to the Father in some form. This is a drastic misunderstanding of what is being said of the Son in these passages.

What is being spoken of here is what is called the eternal generation of the Son. That is, the Son comes forth from the Father’s essence.

Let me give a quick example. I’m sure most of us in some ways have experienced the joy of a new born baby. Either your own or someone else’s. The exclamations, “Oh he’s got your nose.” Or “she’s got your eyes.” We say these things because children are produced after the physical essence of their parents. “He’s his Father’s Son,” we may remark. The origin of the children is in their Father’s and Mothers. Their physical features, their character is “generated” from their parents.

Now, though this falls far short of the eternality and complexity of the Trinitarian Godhead, for God is eternal, and we are finite. We may struggle to grasp the depths of what it means that the Son is eternally generated from the Father as we can only think in created terms.

But, we can use it in some way as an analogy for the generation of the Son from the Father. God has accommodated Himself to our created minds in order that he may in some way impart the beauty of Himself to us.

Pause

We say, and Scripture testifies, that the Son is begotten of the Father because they share the same essence. Though the language may seem strange, unfamiliar, and old to us, it communicates something theologically beautiful. For the Son to be begotten of the Father is to say that the Son is generated from the true God.

This is not something that at one point was not, and now is. For, if that is the case then the essence of the Father is not Father, and the Son, not Son because there was a point when they were not Son or Father and therefore, are not God and we have no saviour.

As Matthew Barrett says,

“If the Son’s generation did fall within time, then not only is there a time when the Son was not, but there is a time when the Father was not Father. And if there was a time when the Father was not, then there was a time when the Trinity was not.”

Instead, as the Nicene Creed says,

“the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds… very God of very God (that is, they share the same nature entirely), begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

This is the foundation of all that we believe.

Christ, having completed His work in this world has entered into the fullest sense of Sonship,

“after his suffering had proved the completeness of his obedience, he was raised to the Father’s right hand,”

says F.F. Bruce.

As Romans 1:4 says, Jesus “was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.” The Son has always been the Son, and the Father always the Father.

Yet, as Paul proclaims in Acts 13, “And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’” For it was Christ’s exaltation to the Father’s right hand that proved His superiority over angels as the Son of God, as the name he inherited, Son, is more excellent than theirs.

Heart

Christ is the Son in human flesh. He is perfect God and perfect man. He is not two but one without any confusion but completely unified in the person of Christ. He is the Only Son of God who took on the form of man, our form, and humbled Himself, even to the point of death on a cross. He did this so that we may now be called Sons of the Living God!

Michael Bird says this,

“One cannot believe in the Father without believing in the Son and the Spirit. One cannot cleave to the Son without cleaving to the Spirit and the Father. One cannot receive the Spirit without receiving the Father and the Son.”

And so, we experience the full benefits of the Trinity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit through Christ the Son taking on our form.

It is only because of the absolute and full divinity of the Son that we have this. Christ had to be the Son in order for all these benefits to be applied to us. That we can know God as our Father, have the redeeming work of Christ applied to us through the sanctification of the Spirit. No angel or created being could ever confer onto us the full fellowship with God in Trinity.

Hands

Christ is the Son. Because as the Son He is truly God. At His birth we find the angels, in all their glory and splendour, praising God in the presence of the Shepherds, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

As the angels’ praise Christ, as they worship the Son before the Throne, so we too ought also to worship Him, for He is our God. The only God, eternal. He has taken upon Himself our body of sin. In order that we can be known as children of God.

So, as Paul says in Romans,

“present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

And the will of God is your sanctification, that each day we would be made more and more like our saviour. As the Heidelberg Catechism so wonderfully puts it,

“But we do good because Christ by His Spirit is also renewing us to be like Himself, so that in all our living we may show that we are thankful to God for all He has done for us, and so that He may be praised through us.”

Christ the Ruler of Righteousness

Having established that Christ’s name is higher than angels, the passage moves on to contrast the work of angels to the work of the Son.

Read vs 7-9

Head

Angels are mere messengers sent to do the bidding of God. That is what is meant by saying, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” And as wind goes and accomplishes its purpose and dies. And fire completes its course, then burns out, so too, Angels are exclusively for the service of God and their purpose is bound up in that and then complete.

Not though, the Son. “His throne, is forever and ever.”

In the face of temptation to submit to persecution and worship angels, we are encouraged by looking back to the promise that God made to David. God promised Him that one of His offspring would sit on the throne forever and ever.

The expectation here is that that rule would be also conducted in justice and righteousness, in accordance with the law of God, something that no King ever lived up to.

David sinned with Bathsheba. Solomon collected riches and wives and was corrupted. King after King in the line of David committed sin, ignoring God’s rule. Lived in sin, loved their sin, revelled in unrighteousness.

The corruption among Israel’s kings was so great that it drove King Jehoiakim, when confronted with the Word of God to repent, to slice off, piece by piece, sections from the scroll and burn them in the fire. Jeremiah 36:24 records the events with these words, “yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.”

What great corruption and hardness of heart pervaded Israel and the people of God. Yet Christ, the Son of God, sits enthroned forever and ever. He delights not in wickedness as Israel’s past Kings did, but because he is God, he loves righteousness and rules by righteousness.

Therefore, He is anointed with the “the oil of gladness.” This anointing is referring to, “the heavenly joy that was His as the King of Kings.” The same joy that Hebrews mentions in chapter 12, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Though we also experience joy at Christ’s exaltation as our Lord and King, His joy surpasses even ours for He delights to do the will of the Father.

Heart

Pondering these things then, we need not fear a cruel and heartless King. One unmoved by the law of God and hard in the face of injustice. Instead, the Son, who is our King, is the very word of God. Who is Himself truth. He is righteous in all He does. Righteousness manifests itself in the person of Christ.

He was tempted as we are, yet without sin!

What a wonderful revelation this is to us. The only God, Lord overall has been born to us as a baby. Grew up, was completely righteous in all He did, sought to do His Father’s will in all things. And now, after making purification for our sins, has risen and now sits enthroned for all of eternity. Our saviour is also our King.

Hands

Where human kings have failed, time and time again. Where men have failed to uphold the law of God and perfectly executing righteousness and justice in all they do, starting with Adam and continuing on through History. We now have One, who sits enthroned. Whose sceptre, which is the symbol of His rule, is righteousness.

He is not only righteousness in Himself, but also righteousness for us. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21,

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This Christ was incarnate as man, born of the virgin Mary in order that He would be made sin. That is, He took all of our sin and iniquity on Himself. This was necessary because it is man who sinned, so man must pay for his sin. In also being God, he had the power, by that divinity, to bear the entire weight of God’s wrath.

That day when Christ hung on the tree, he bore in His own body all the sin that we have done or ever will do. He took that upon Himself and took the curse that was due for us. The curse of death and judgement from God. In all of His perfections, drained the cup of wrath that was given to Him.

You see, Christ not only rules in righteousness, but He has also become righteousness for you. The eternal Son who is the creator of all has humbled himself to death for you. He did that so that we would all be reconciled to the Father, through the work of the Spirit, in His body.

This is why the incarnation is wonderful for us. Our saviour is man so that He might take our sins upon Himself. He is also God in order that He might also rise again, defeating the power of sin and death. Sin now no more has dominion over you, for Christ has defeated even death in His resurrection.

He now takes His seat at the right hand of God, ruling in righteousness and restore to us righteousness and life, bringing us into that Kingdom. This is no mere angel. This is the eternal Son of God.

Therefore, believe in this Gospel, that Christ is for you. Because of the grace given to us in Christ, you truly have your sins forgiven and have been made right with God, having been made partakers in His salvation and Kingdom.

Christ’s Kingdom is Everlasting

The author then moves on to encourage these Christians that this salvation is eternal

Read vs 10-13

Head

As sinful rulers gain traction. As we see immoral decline in our society, we may be tempted to think, that perhaps, Christ’s Kingdom is somehow failing.

In the midst of seemingly over-powering odds, I imagine these Christians felt the same also. They were few, and the others were many. But in view of this, we are given a wonderful picture of the eternality and security of Christ’s Kingdom.

These words come to us from a Psalm of a broken man, one at the end of Himself. The Psalm has a beautiful description, “A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.” In the midst of his affliction, he says these words, “But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever.”

The great comfort for the afflicted is that the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal for God is eternal. What a wondrous thought. That the One who came to this earth among us, is also the one whose hands formed the heavens above us and who laid the foundations of the earth beneath us.

Just as we change our clothes each day, and ball them up and chuck them out, so also this earth, which was created at the hands of God, must also one day pass away. Like a robe he will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed.

As it was through Christ that all things came to be, this Psalm is applied to Him also as God. Just as the Father is creator and sustainer, so Christ is also. The angels marvelled at creation, they shouted for joy at the earth’s inception (Job 38:7), yet it was through Christ that they were created.

Heart

Therefore, because Christ is eternal, His Kingdom is also eternal. Heaven and earth may pass away but Christ’s throne is forever. Our salvation is steadfast and secure in the eternal Son of God. The temptations to go back to old ways or cast Christ aside fall away when we consider these things.

Though it may seem like heaven and earth come against us, though we may feel like we make no progress in sin, the promise of Christ stands, that we will one day be united with Him in glory in His Kingdom. There is nothing in heaven or on earth that can come against this Kingdom for as Christ eternally preceded the earth as Son, He will far outlive it as the Son of God and our Saviour.

There is nothing more secure in all the earth than your salvation. It is bought by the blood of the Son made man who has brought you in by His righteousness. And he sits at the Father’s right hand until all his enemies should be brought under his feet. One day, Christ will return, and every knee will bow before Him, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.

So then, angels though they may tower at 50 feet high. Though they may be glorious with swords of fire, they cannot compare in any way to Christ. Christ is saviour and these are all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.

They are given to us whose saviour is the only begotten Son of God made flesh, born of the virgin Mary, who suffered died and was buried, who was resurrected and now reigns in righteousness at the Father’s right hand, of which we are members and inheritors of all its benefits if we have faith in and believe in His work for us.