CHRIST AS GOD

WHAT, then, is the thought concerning Christ in

the first chapter of Hebrews?

First of all there is introduced "God"—God the

Father—as the speaker to men, who "in time past

spake unto the fathers by the prophets;" and who

"hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."

Thus is introduced Christ the Son of God. Then

of Him and the Father it is written: "Whom He [the

Father] hath appointed heir of all things, by whom

also He [the Father] made the worlds." Thus, as

preliminary to His introduction and our consideration

of Him as High Priest, Christ the Son of God is

introduced as being with God as Creator and as being

the active, vivifying Word in the creation—"by whom

also He [God] made the worlds."

Next, of the Son of God Himself, we read: "Who

being the brightness of His [God's] glory, and the

express image of His [God's] person ["the very impress

of His substance," margin R. V.], and upholding

all things by the word of His power, when He

had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the

right hand of the Majesty on high."

This tells us that, in heaven, the nature of Christ

was the nature of God; that He, in His person, in

His substance, is the very impress, the very character,

of the substance of God. That is to say that,

in heaven, as He was before He came to the world,

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14 THE CONSECRATED WAY

the nature of Christ was in very substance the nature

of God.

Therefore it is further written of Him that He

was "made so much better than the angels, as He

hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name

than they." This more excellent name is the name

"God," which, in the eighth verse, is given by the

Father to the Son: "Unto the Son He [God] saith,

Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever."

Thus, He is "so much" better than the angels as

God is better than the angels. And it is because of

this that He has that more excellent name,—the name

expressing only what He is, in His very nature.

And this name "He hath by inheritance." It is

not a name that was bestowed, but a name that is

inherited.

Now it lies in the nature of things, as an everlasting

truth, that the only name any person can possibly

inherit is his father's name. This name, then, of

Christ's, which is more excellent than that of the

angels, is the name of His Father: and His Father's

name is God. The Son's name, therefore, which He

has by inheritance, is God. And this name, which is

more excellent than that of the angels, is His because

He is "so much better than the angels." That name

being God, He is "so much better than the angels"

as God is better than the angels.