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23 October 1999 THOU LORD DIDST FOUND THE EARTH – HEBREWS 1:10 "Thou, Lord, didst
found the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of thy hands;
they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all
grow old like a garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will
be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years will never end."
(Hebrews1:10-12) This
is another verse which has been incorrectly used to support the Doctrine of
the Trinity. It is alleged that because the verse flows directly on from verse 9, it refers to Jesus
as "The LORD" who created the earth. From there another big leap is
made to conclude that Jesus is the same person as the LORD (Yahweh) and is
therefore part of a triune "godhead". However, as we shall see,
that conclusion flies in the face of other Scriptures which clearly identify
the Father of Jesus as the ONLY TRUE GOD, and Jesus as someone else who is
NOT that God. The
problem is quickly resolved if we realise that between verses 9 & 10, the
author of the Hebrews has CHANGED THE SUBJECT without explicitly saying so! Verse 9 is about Jesus. Verse 10
is NOT about Jesus, but about Yahweh, who alone is truly God. (John 17:3) We are left to work
that out for ourselves, by referring back to Psalm
102:25-27, from which he has quoted. Be a Berean! Check
it out! (Acts 17:13) The
Psalm is a prayer for help in the midst of affliction. It is clearly
prophetic of the sufferings and distress of Jesus, as he hung on the cross.
In this prophetic aspect, Jesus is NOT the LORD who is the creator who laid
the foundation of the earth, but the one saying the prayer. This is
completely consistent with many other Psalms which also draw a careful
distinction between the LORD, who is the only true God, and Jesus as someone
else. Returning
to Hebrews chapter 1,
we should be able to see that the REAL intention is NOT to establish that
Jesus is God, but to draw a careful distinction between God and Jesus. It is
obvious in verses 1-3 that God is NOT Jesus, but the one who now speaks to us
THROUGH Jesus, in the same way that He once did through the prophets. He is
NOT Jesus, but the God whose glory Jesus REFLECTS. (verses 1-3) *
In verse 4, We see that neither
is Jesus an angel, but one who has BECOME greatly superior to angels. *
In verses 5-6 Jesus is identified
NOT as God, but the SON OF GOD, whose relationship to God is thus uniquely
and completely different to that of angels. *
In verse 7 the status and role
of the angels is defined. *
In verses 7-8 Jesus is contrasted
with the angels, when He is identified as the Messiah (the anointed one) of
the OT prophecies. *
And in verses 9-12 the writer shifts the
focus again, this time to point us to the LORD (Yahweh) as the everlasting
author of the grand scheme of creation and salvation. *
Finally,
in verse 13, the conclusion is: To what angel has HE (the LORD just identified in verses 9-12)
ever said - "Sit thou at my right hand?" This verse is of course
another direct quotation from the Psalms ..... this time from Psalm 110:1.
There Jesus is again clearly identified, NOT as the LORD (Hebrew Yahweh), but
as "my lord" (Hebrew adoni), the one who
now sits at the LORD's right hand, awaiting the time for His return to rule
over the Kingdom of God on earth. Read
the discussion about the identity of the two DIFFERENT "lords" in Psalm 110:1, in Bible Digest No 86 Allon |