Christ is on the Throne

PASTOR: Ryan Skolrud

DATE: July 20th, 2025

SERIES: The Supremacy of Christ

TITLE: Christ is King

TEXT: Hebrews 1:8-14

BIG IDEA: Christ is our forever King.

SERMON NOTES:

RESPOND:

Hebrews 1:8-14

but to the Son:

Your throne, God,

is forever and ever,

and the scepter of your kingdom

is a scepter of justice.

You have loved righteousness

and hated lawlessness;

this is why God, your God,

has anointed you

with the oil of joy

beyond your companions.

And:

In the beginning, Lord,

you established the earth,

and the heavens are the works of your hands;

they will perish, but you remain.

They will all wear out like clothing;

you will roll them up like a cloak,

and they will be changed like clothing.

But you are the same,

and your years will never end.

Now to which of the angels has he ever said:

Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies your footstool?

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?

This is the Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been looking at this introductory chapter in the book of Hebrews. After giving his opening remarks, the author started comparing Jesus and angels, using OT passages to support his claim that Jesus is superior to the angels.

Last week, we used some images from AIBible.com in which they used AI to create pictures and scenes from the Bible using only the Biblical text. We saw possible representations of the angel guarding the entrance to the garden of Eden, the wheel-like beings that are covered in eyes from Ezekiel, and a representation of what Lucifer could have looked like before his fall from heaven.

They were intense pictures. However, those pictures could not do justice to how unnerving it would be to encounter one of those beings face-to-face in real life. And even with that, Christ is still superior to those angels, just as real angels are superior to the possible images humans can come up with.

Today we will be finishing the first chapter of Hebrews and continuing to look at Christ’s superiority to the angels. The author of Hebrews brings three more OT passages as his evidence that Christ is supreme. Like I have told you before, I learned from some of the best when it comes to using other passages of Scripture to interpret passages of Scripture.

In our passage today, we see that Christ is our king on the throne, he does not change

Big Idea: Christ is our forever king.

Hebrews 1:8-9

but to the Son:

Your throne, God,

is forever and ever,

and the scepter of your kingdom

is a scepter of justice.

You have loved righteousness

and hated lawlessness;

this is why God, your God,

has anointed you

with the oil of joy

beyond your companions.

After we saw what God said about the angels last week, the author has now turned back to what God said about Jesus. The writer now uses Psalm 45:6-7 to provide evidence for the deity and lordship of the Son over creation. This psalm was originally written to celebrate a royal wedding. As we read through different verses of this psalm, we can see the parallels in Revelation where Jesus returns to judge the earth, and, as the King, has his bride, the church, presented to him.

Let’s look at the first 5 verses of this Psalm:

Psalm 45:1-5

My heart is moved by a noble theme

as I recite my verses to the king;

my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

You are the most handsome of men;

grace flows from your lips.

Therefore God has blessed you forever.

Mighty warrior, strap your sword at your side.

In your majesty and splendor—

in your splendor ride triumphantly

in the cause of truth, humility, and justice.

May your right hand show your awe-inspiring acts.

Your sharpened arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies;

the peoples fall under you.

Grace flows from the lips of Jesus. How often find ourselves speaking the truth to someone, but our tone is lacking grace? Yes, Jesus declared the truth, sometimes with brutal honesty that could be described as righteous indignation. However, that strong tone was directed at those who should have known better. Jesus was confrontational with the scribes, Pharisees, chief priests, and the like. Sometimes he had to be forceful with his own disciples because they, seemingly, refused to listen.

Righteous anger is only righteous when directed appropriately.

I have seen people post things on social media that say, “Remember, flipping tables and carrying a whip can be an appropriate response.” This is in reference to Jesus doing so just before the Passover. And why did he do it? Because the religious leaders had warped the festival into a money-making enterprise taking place within the temple walls. Jesus’ reaction was directed appropriately.

But with the woman caught in adultery, the Samaritan woman at the well, he was not angry or forceful. He spoke the truth with grace. “I do not condemn you, go and sin no more.”

If we are growing as Christians, we should be becoming more like Christ, and so grace should be coming from our own lips as well.

The next couple of verses in this psalm talk about the King as a warrior with a sword strapped to his side, riding toward the cause of truth, humility, and justice. As a Christian, it is difficult for me to read this Psalm and NOT see Christ.

We saw in the first three verses of this book that Hebrews declares Jesus to be our ultimate prophet, priest, and king. This passage points specifically to the kingship of Christ. Now, earthly kings come and go. It was not that long ago that King Charles was crowned as King of England after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth. But a time will come when he, too, will pass away, and Prince William will take his place as the King of England.

Though Jesus is human, his reign will not be temporary. And as we see in the two verses from Psalm 45 that the author of Hebrews quotes:

Jesus’ throne is forever.

There are two different times in Revelation where we see Jesus saying he is both the beginning and the end.

Revelation 21:6

Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…”

Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

The terms “alpha” and “omega” here in this passage refer to the letters of the Greek alphabet. They are the first and last letters. If these verses were referring to the English alphabet, it would actually say, “I am the A and the Z, the first and the last.” What Jesus is saying is that he always has been, and always will be. There was no beginning of Christ and there will be no end of Christ.

Philosophers can try to claim that “God is dead” all they want, but they will all eventually find out that they are very much mistaken.

His scepter is one of justice.

We see Jesus say this about himself in Luke 4. Right after the account in Luke of Jesus being tempted by Satan, he begins to minister in his hometown of Nazareth. And on a Sabbath day, he makes a bold claim about himself.

Luke 4:16-19

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me

to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

The passage that Jesus was quoting was Isaiah 61:1-2. Right after he finished reading that passage, he stood up and told the people that it was being fulfilled right in front of them. Jesus was saying, “Yeah, this is about me.”

Jesus was sent to this world to preach good news. He proclaimed the kingdom of God to a world that desperately needs it still today. What often gets emphasized in this passage are the phrases “good news to the poor,” release to the captives,” and “set free the oppressed.”

Humanity has wanted to look at these terms only in a literal sense, embodied in the physical world. In the last 150 years, since the time of Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto, churches have adopted the line of thinking that you are either oppressed or an oppressor. You are part of the working class and equivalent to a slave, or you are one of the elites looking down on the rest of civilization from your ivory towers. And the oppressed must overthrow their oppressive counterparts.

And so Jesus must have declared that anyone who isn’t wealthy is oppressed and must take what they believe is rightfully theirs from their oppressors.

My friends, that is not justice. It's stealing. And it breaks the 8th Commandment.

When Jesus preached good news to the poor, it was to the poor in spirit, those without the hope of God in their lives. When Jesus proclaimed freedom to the captives, it was to those who were captive by sin, slaves to sin, as Paul states in Romans. The recovery of sight was for those who were and are spiritually blind to the things of God, unable to understand his love, joy, and peace. The oppressed who are set free are those who have been oppressed by the wages of sin, oppressed by their own disobedience, but set free by the one who paid that debt off.

Jesus sets us free from the slavery of sin when we submit our lives to him. Though we still sin, we are declared righteous (or just, or justified) in his sight. Then, we become wealthy by inheriting eternal life. We are released from our captivity and the oppression of sin. We have spiritual eyes to see the beauty of our Savior, who loved us enough to give his life for us. THAT is the scepter of justice that Christ holds. The justice of Christ can mean much more than this, but it can never mean less than this.

Does Jesus provide good news for the poor? Yes. Did Jesus (and does Jesus still) proclaim release for those who are captive? Yes. That captivity may be addiction, alcoholism, anxiety, or depression. He still provides release for those things. Jesus gave sight to those who were physically blind. He still does that today! He still sets free those who are oppressed, whether that oppression is demonic, mental, and sometimes physical. Jesus did all those things in his earthly ministry and still does them today! But if that is all we are looking for

I heard a “theologian” say something to the effect of, “If the freedom from oppression in the Bible will only be realized in the next life and not in this one, that is not a God worth serving.”

It makes me think back to last week when we looked at the Dayenu song of Passover. That theologian would refuse to say, “If God only delivers me from the punishment of my sin, but does nothing else for me here on earth, it would have been enough.”

He loves righteousness, and He hates lawlessness.

We will look at this one for just a minute, as this one seems pretty obvious. Let’s just go back to Jesus flipping the tables in the temple. Why did he do it? Because the people running the money-changing tables and selling the animals were doing it for profit, both personal profit and to fill the temple coffers.

Not only that, this business was all being conducted in the Court of the Gentiles, where non-Jewish followers of God could still worship God and seek him in prayer. With all of the buying and selling going on at Passover, it allowed the Jewish leaders to exclude the Gentile believers in God from the area because there was no room for them. They were actively excluding people from worshiping God because of their ethnicity by filling up the area where the Gentiles were allowed to worship. That is why Jesus went ballistic in the temple. Instead of making room for people to worship God (the righteousness Christ loves), it had become a place of business where people could steal from others by running up prices of the animals that were required for sacrifice (the lawlessness Christ hates).

He was anointed beyond any other.

Again, we have been talking about Jesus as our Prophet, Priest, and King. This is a theme throughout the book of Hebrews. All three of these positions required the person to be anointed before taking office. The prophet Elijah anointed his successor in Elisha. Aaron was anointed by Moses before becoming the chief priest of Israel. David and Saul were both anointed by Samuel before they took the throne.

But the anointing that Jesus received was beyond all of them because he filled all three roles at the same time. The others in their positions were simply pointing to Jesus, who would be the greatest of all of them.

Hebrews 1:10-12

And:

In the beginning, Lord,

you established the earth,

and the heavens are the works of your hands;

they will perish, but you remain.

They will all wear out like clothing;

you will roll them up like a cloak,

and they will be changed like clothing.

But you are the same,

and your years will never end.

Again, the author goes to the Psalms (102:25-27) to explain, not only the preeminence of Christ, but that he never changes. The theological term for the “unchangeableness” of God is “Immutability.”

Immutable = Unchangable

He created the world (vs10), the earth and the heavens, and he will outlast them. This world will wear out like an old t-shirt. As an example, I have here one of my t-shirts from college 20 years ago. This was one of our dorm shirts for Krause Hall that I designed back in 2005. As you can see, this shirt is starting to fall apart. The armpits have holes. You can start to see through the body of the shirt. The design imprinted on it is fading away. This shirt is not immutable.

This is what is happening to our world. This is what is happening to us as humans. Our bodies begin to fall apart. The world is more and more falling into chaos. Our neighborhoods are changing. Our families are changing. Change is a hallmark of creation!

The psalmist also says that the world will be rolled up like a cloak, and that the heavens and earth will be changed like we do our clothes.

In Revelation 21, John describes the coming of a new heaven and a new earth. This world that we live in will pass away and need to be replaced, just like we need to do with worn out clothing.

But Jesus, he will last all of eternity. His years will never come to an end. In his book Knowledge of the Holy, AW Tozer says that there are three ways in which a moral being can change. It can go from worse to better, better to worse, or, granted the morality of the being remains constant, it must go from immature to mature.

Christ cannot get any better than he already is. Christ will never become worse. And Christ cannot become more mature than he already is. All three of these directions of change are impossible for God because he is already morally perfect.

Divine perfection - refers to the absolute and complete nature of God, encompassing all positive qualities to the fullest extent. It signifies that God is without flaw, lacking nothing, and possessing every perfection.

This is one of the most encouraging things about God. If he never changes, then his love is always there for you. If God never changes, then what is said about him in Scripture remains true at all times, for all of eternity! Because God never changes, we can always, always, always depend on him! How many of us want that kind of stability in our lives?

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

The reason shadows confuse us and scare us is that they shift when the light moves. And, just like looking at clouds in the sky and seeing different shapes and animals and such, our eyes and minds see shapes in the shadows that make us believe something is there when it isn’t. We know that throughout the Bible, sin and evil are associated with the darkness. That is what makes shadows so scary. But because God is the Father of lights, he is the truth. He shines in the darkness to expose it for what it actually is. Where darkness and shadows shift and move, God remains firm, unwavering, unchanging.

We can rest in God’s immutability because we don’t need to be anxious about whether he will change or not.

I struggle with ADHD. I actually take medication for it to keep my brain from getting easily distracted, and also to keep my brain from hyperfocusing on something to the point that everything else falls out of sight. The way my brain chemistry works can make it difficult for those around me to trust that I am going to do what I said I would do.

I do not forget to do things on purpose. My brain can struggle to emit dopamine (the feel good hormone), which makes my brain look for the shiny, new thing, so that it can get another small dopamine hit. Then, when my brain finds the shiny object it wants to focus on, it turns on complete tunnel vision, like looking down a paper towel roll.

This forgetfulness and ease of distraction makes it easy for me to not think about other things that need to be done, or forget to do things I said I would do. It can make it hard for people to trust that I will do what I say.

I praise God everyday that he does not get distracted like I do. God does not lose interest like I do! God actually finishes what he starts.

Philippians 1:6

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Again, such comforting words about our God. He does not grow tired of us. He is patient with us! He loves his children! And when he starts to work in our hearts and minds, he will finish his work in us, guaranteed.

Hebrews 1:13

Now to which of the angels has he ever said:

Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies your footstool?

The author now moves back to angels in his comparison. He quotes from a 7th different OT passage in this first chapter to show that Christ is greater than the angels. This OT passage is from Psalm 110:1. It is one of the more quoted OT verses in the NT to show that Christ is superior. Peter quotes in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Paul references it in his letters to the Ephesians, the Colossians, and the Corinthians. We see it here and will encounter it again later in our study of Hebrews. Jesus himself used this passage from Psalm 110 to refer to himself in Matthew 22 when he is confronted by the Pharisees.

We see here in this passage that Jesus is told to sit at the right hand of God. Like we saw in our first week in Hebrews, the right hand is the ultimate place of honor and respect. I used the example of Joseph being elevated to Pharaoh’s right-hand man as the second-in-command of all Egypt. God never elevated any of the angels in this manner, only Jesus.

Then, in this psalm, God tells Jesus to sit there until his enemies become his footstool. In ancient times, when a king was defeated, he would be put in degrading and humiliating positions to show that he was no longer a king.

In Joshua 10, we see the battle of Gibeon, where Joshua asked God to let the sun stand still in the sky, providing the Israelites more time to defeat their enemies, which they did. The five kings of these armies that the Israelites were battling fled and hid in a cave. After sealing up the cave until the rest of these armies were wiped out, Joshua and his commanders let these 5 kings out of the cave.

Joshua 10:22-25

Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave, and bring those five kings to me out of there.” That is what they did. They brought the five kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon to Joshua out of the cave. When they had brought the kings to him, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the military commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks. Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Be strong and courageous, for the Lord will do this to all the enemies you fight.”

Placing your feet on the head or neck of your enemy is a sign of complete dominance and subjugation. Jesus will have all enemies under his feet as the ruler of all things. Its like how we step on ants or spiders when they get into our houses.

Though we still see sin, death, heartache, and trouble in this world, Christ has defeated them. We can consider those things to be like a caged wild animal. Caged, yes, but still dangerous. Defeated, though not yet completely destroyed. That day of destruction will come, but we should rest in the knowledge that the enemies have already been defeated.

One interesting part of this story in Joshua is that Joshua is not the one who puts his feet on the necks of the kings. He gives that honor to the commanders of the army, the representatives of the people. Jesus has stamped out the enemy; Christ has shown himself victorious. And in that, he allows us to feel that victory.

We can have victory in our life over sin, temptation, addiction, malice, anger, depression, anxiety, and more. However, we do that through realizing that Christ is the victor. He is the one who has defeated the enemy. We don’t conquer sin through our own effort. We conquer sin through the working of God in our lives, the Holy Spirit shifting our hearts and thought patterns in ways that conform us to the image of Christ. This is the process of sanctification. Through seeking to know Christ more through reading the Word, prayer, and worship, we will see our hearts and minds changed. We will see sin become less tempting.

We will not have ultimate victory over sin, temptation, anxiety, depression, and the like in this life. Complete sanctification does not come in this life. We will be completely sanctified either when we die and pass on from this life, or on the Day of Glory, when Christ returns to receive his bride, the church, whichever comes first.

Hebrews 1:14

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?

Jesus’ role is to reign over creation while the angels are his messengers to the people of God. The writer of Hebrews says that angels are ministering spirits. The role of angels is to help and serve the people of God.

In a sermon on this very verse of Hebrews, called “Of Good Angels”, John Wesley said:

“Is it not their first care to minister to our souls?... They may assist us in our search after truth, remove many doubts and difficulties, throw light on what was before dark and obscure, and confirm us in the truth that is after godliness. They may warn us of evil in disguise and place what is good in a clear, strong light. They may gently move our wills to embrace what is good and to fly from what is evil.”

These are just a few of the ways that angels minister to us. We can see throughout Scripture that angels appear to give messages of good news to God’s people (Zechariah, Mary and Joseph). An angel guides the apostle John through the visions he records in the book of Revelation.

I do not know all the ways that angels minister to us as humans. I know authors who have tried to give their own interpretations of how angels help and minister to us in our times of need. Frank Peretti in his novels This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. These are not definitive ways that angels help the people of God, but they provide some entertaining ideas on how God uses angels to minister to his people.

One thing I can tell you though, is that we do not turn into angels when we die. We often hear people, after a loved one dies, say something like, “Well, heaven has one more angel.” Actually, it doesn’t. I have seen a meme that has a man sitting up in his coffin at his funeral after someone says, “Heaven just gained an angel.” He has this stern look on his face and says, “That’s heresy.”

I cannot tell you all the ways angels help us, but I can tell you that the angels help to point us to God, encourage us, and help us to serve the Lord better.

Dear friends, today I invite you to reflect deeply on the greatest sacrifice we can offer to God: our lives in submission to Christ. In Hebrews, we see that Jesus reigns on the eternal throne, a king whose scepter is one of justice, righteousness, and compassion. He is not just a distant ruler but a loving Savior who desires a personal relationship with each of us.

The truth is, we all fall short. We grapple with sin, which binds us and distorts our vision of God's love. But there is hope! Jesus came to seek and save the lost, to liberate us from the chains of our wrongdoing. He calls us not merely to acknowledge Him, but to turn away from our sins and embrace a life transformed by His grace.

Submitting our lives to Christ means more than just words; it requires a heart willing to change, to let go of our old ways, and to embrace the new life He offers. This is the essence of true repentance—a turning away from the darkness and stepping into the light of His love and truth.

Imagine the freedom that comes from laying down your burdens at the feet of the One who holds eternal authority. He loves righteousness and offers us a path to restoration. By surrendering our lives to Him, we are not just agreeing to follow; we are choosing to be part of His glorious kingdom.

Today, I urge you to respond to this call. Repent of your sins and submit your life to Christ, the eternal King. Let His joy fill your heart as you take your place in His unshakeable kingdom. Your life, offered in submission, is the most profound act of worship you can give. Choose Him today, and experience the transformative power of His love.

Next Step: I will submit my life to Christ.