HEBREWS 1

2 Hath in these last days [of the Jewish commonwealth and Mosaic economy 9: 26, Matt 21: 37-38.] spoken unto us by [in 4: 7] his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things [Psa. 2:8; Eph. I :22; Phil. 2: 9-10; l Cor. 15:24-28], by [on account of] whom also he made the worlds; [by Moses that God constituted the Mosaic ages on account of Christ]

In the first place, the Lord Jesus did not use the phrase "the end of the world" in the vulgar English sense of it. He said to the eleven, "Behold, I am with you, PASAS TAS HEMERAS, all the days, HEOS TES SUNTELEIAS TOU AIONOS, until the end of the age." Here are certain days indicated, which were comprehended in the period to elapse from the time when Jesus made the promise until the end of the age. These days are termed by Paul "these last days" (Heb. 1:2), which he characterises as those in which God spoke to the Israelites by a Son, as well as those in which he was writing to the Hebrews some thirty years after -- "these last days," says he.

Now, these days taken collectively he styles, according to the English version, "the end of the world," as it is written, "Now once in the end of the world hath Jesus appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb. 9:26). The reader will easily perceive, by the mark in the text, that the world spoken of was that to which Jesus stood related by death; that it was near its end when He was crucified by it.

But if the world is to be taken in the vulgar English sense, Paul was wrong in saying that Jesus sacrificed Himself in the end of it, for surely that period was not the end of the world, which passed away eighteen hundred years ago! But the truth is, Paul was perfectly accurate in what he wrote. He knew nothing about the English sense of his words, for there were neither Englishmen nor English words in his day. He penned Hebraisms in Greek words; that is, he put the things God had taught Israel into a Greek dress.

He wrote "the things of the spirit in the words of the spirit selected from the Greek language. What he said in the text before us was, "but now once for all EPI SUNTELEIA TON AIONON at the end of the ages hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

" The constitution of Mount Sinai was the founding of the Hebrew world, or KOSMOS, because it ordered, or arranged, the things pertaining to Israel as a system SUI GENERIS. This system had times peculiar to itself, which were appointed at. the promulgation of the law. These are termed in Scripture AIONES, that is, AIONS, from AEI alway and ON passing. The etymology of AION does not express the duration of the time; its continuance is defined by the Mosaic law.

The Hebrew Commonwealth under the Sinaitic constitution was not intended to continue always. The time of its existence was predetermined of God, but not revealed in the law or the prophets, but "reserved in His own power" (Acts 1:7; Mark 13:32). It is termed AION, and its approaching termination SUNTELEIA TOU AIONOS the end of the time, that is, of the Hebrew Commonwealth under the Mosaic law.

But, though the precise duration of this great time (1697 years) was kept secret, the lesser times, or AIONES, aions, of which it was composed, were very minutely specified, as in the case of the Jubilees, so that the whole time of the commonwealth was the AION TON AIONON, the aion of the aions, the time of the times, or age of the ages. Hence, while the Lord Jesus designated the consummation as the end of the time, Paul indicated it as the end of the times, or ages.

Elpis Israel 2.1.

Thus, then, there are three parties, yet constitutionally one family, who are heirs of the world as it will be politically organized in the future age, namely, Abraham, Christ, and the believers in the promises made to them, called saints; who are in Abraham as their father, and in his Seed as their elder Brother.

These are the inheritors of the kingdom and empire attached to the land of Canaan; "the children of the promise who are counted for the Seed;" and "not of the world," or subjects. These are men in the flesh, Jews and Gentiles, whose lives and fortunes will be at the disposal of the Royal Family of God. The members of this circle are not known now by the world which has set its affections upon those who mislead it, teaching it to look for a visionary elysium beyond the skies! But such leaders have no light in them, for they do not speak according to the law and testimony.

The word of God converts their wisdom into folly, declaring in the teeth of their traditions, that "he that putteth his trust in God shall possess the land, and shall inherit His holy mountain" (Isaiah 57:13); while Israel in the flesh "shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, as the branch of the Lord's planting, the work of His hands, that He may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, saith the Lord, will hasten it in its time" (Isaiah 60:14,18,21,22).

Elpis Israel 2.2.

Deity Manifestation not Trinitrianism

"Christ's non-existence before birth" is not a form of speech that exactly defines Christadelphian doctrine on the subject. The personage Jesus was a manifestation by the Eternal Spirit operating formatively in his conception and energisingly at his baptism—both acts being an anointing of the Seed of David with the Spirit, and constituting the resultant man the anointed or Christ.

Since the resultant man was a manifestation of the antecedent anointing power, apart from which he would have had no interest, value, or even existence, he cannot well be considered apart from that power. He would not have been Christ apart from it; and since that which made him Christ was the power of the Eternal Father working for the manifestation of Himself in the flesh of David, a true Christadelphian could not, without qualification (understood or expressed,) speak of Christ as at any time non-existent.

He was the Father in manifestation by christening or anointing of the Spirit. Hence to him, as such, words are addressed that are not addressed to the angels or to any of his brethren; and these words as often as not (as in the case of those referred to) identify him with the pre-existent Father, while as yet Jesus of Nazareth was unborn.

A great mystery it must ever be to those to whom the Father Himself must (while in the flesh) be a mystery; but it is at least as intelligible as such a doctrine can ever be, and plainly distinguishable from Trinitarianism, as the manifestation of the Eternal Father in contrast to the manifestation of an Eternal "Son," so-called.

The Christadelphian, Nov 1874

3 Who being the brightness of his glory [Gk. doxes, excellence, majesty - physical perfection], and the express image of his person, 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;

In the similitude of Yahweh

... the Son is the 'charakter' (Greek meaning 'graving') of His 'hypostasis' (substance) ... Seth was the image of Adam, and Adam the image of the Elohim (Gen. 1:26; 5:3) ... Adam the First was image of Elohim, and this was in relation to bodily form ... Body and form were the hypostasis (substance) of Adam and Seth ... Where 'image (charakter—graving) is predicated of hypostasis' (substance), that hypostasis must have both body and form.

The Father-Spirit ... is a bodily form."

Phanerosis

4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

But He is the appointed "Heir of all things, on account of whom", "the dispensations were re-arranged by the word of God, to the end that the things seen exist not from things apparent" (Heb. 1:2; 11:3).

But, says the apostle, "we do not yet see all things put under Him: but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that by the grace of God he should taste death for every man" (Heb. 2:8-9). Having been thus laid low, and for this gracious purpose, He is no longer "lower than the angels." He is equal to them in body; and made so much superior to them in rank, dignity, honour, and glory," as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they" (Heb. 1:4).

In Jesus, then, raised from the dead, incorruptible, and clothed with brightness as when He was transfigured upon the Holy Mount (Matt. 17:2), we behold the image and likeness of the God. When we contemplate Him by faith, as we shall hereafter by sight, we see A MIRROR from which the glory of Yahweh is reflected in intellectual, moral, and physical grandeur.

He that would know God must behold Him in Christ. If he be acquainted with Him as He is pourtrayed in the prophets and apostles, he will understand the character of God, whom no man hath seen, nor can see; who chargeth His angels with folly, and before whom the heavens are not clean. Jesus was the true light shining in the darkness of Judea, whose inhabitants "comprehended it not." Through Him, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shone into the hearts of as many as received Him, to give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; that so they might receive power to become the sons of God, believing on His name (2 Cor. 3:18,4:6; John 1:5-12).

How consoling and cheering is it, then, amid all the evils of the present state, that God hath found a ransom, who is willing and able to deliver us from the power of the grave; and not only so, but that "at the manifestation of the sons of God " (Rom. 8:17-25), when He shall appear in power and great glory, "we shall be like Him: because we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). Then will the saints be "changed into the same image from glory," now only a matter of hope, "into glory," as seen and actually possessed, "even as the Lord " Himself was changed, when He became "the spirit giving life," or "a quickening spirit."

Elpis Israel 1.2.

5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

I will be to him for a Father

He never did say such things of the angels in the sense He did of Jesus. And when Jesus was exalted, made incorruptible and glorious—a reflection of the Father's glory, and an exact likeness of His substance—it declared, but did not enhance the fact of his sonship.

He was Son of Deity from his birth, directly produced and fashioned by Him; named by Him His Son, the Saviour, Christ, the Lord, Emanuel, God with us: the word which from the beginning was with the Deity, and was Deity made flesh. God's grand scheme of salvation, which up to now had been a matter of promise, and type and shadow, had now become corporealised, visible, tangible. And old Simeon could exclaim

"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."

The whole purpose of Deity towards the earth was centered in that babe. Deity had now begun to manifest Himself in flesh. When we find the Deity declaring by Isaiah

"Beside me there is no Saviour;"

and when we find the same Deity announcing to the shepherds by His angel,

"To you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord,"

is it not tantamount to saying that Jesus was then incipiently what we find declared concerning him, Emanuel, God with us? And when we find Zecharias, the father of John the Baptist, speaking inspirationally of Jesus as the Horn of Salvation raised up to Israel; and when we find the prophet David in 2 Sam. 22. and Psalm 18., saying of Yahweh,

"He is the horn of my salvation,"

we cannot but conclude they are speaking of the same power in two phases—one, the Eternal God of Israel, and the other His Manifestation for the salvation of His people. The whole of Scripture teaching goes to show that Jesus was a spirit-produced, spirit fashioned, spirit-taught, spirit-upheld Son of Deity, although a Jew after the flesh.

(All things are produced and upheld by the Spirit, but Jesus in a direct manner).

The suggestion that Jesus was educated by his mother and his reputed father, for the mission he had to fulfil, is in direct conflict with the evidence. Neither Mary nor Joseph understood that mission, nor his disciples afterwards, though he told them. This is expressly testified. When Simeon spoke prophetically of him as set or appointed for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which should be spoken against, we are told that Joseph and his mother wondered at those things which were spoken of him.

And again, when they found him at twelve years of age with the doctors in the temple, and when, in answer to his mother's remonstrance, he said,

"Know ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

we are told that "they understood not the saying which he spake unto them." These and other things we might mention, prove that neither Mary nor Joseph understood his mission. Therefore they could not train him for that mission. No one will deny that they would instruct him out of the law and the prophets, to the best of their ability, but such instruction would come very far short indeed of the education he required.

The education of Jesus for the development of a sinless character—a manifestation of the moral character of Deity in fact—was the work of God. This is the real, scriptural, and therefore only satisfactory solution of the matter.

The Father would certainly train and equip His own child for the work He had to do. That work was the Father's work, the Father's business. The character of righteousness to be developed by Jesus was as much a part of the Father's work as proclaiming the gospel, or raising the dead, or dying for the condemnation of sin.

Jesus did always what was pleasing to the Father, he loved righteousness and hated iniquity; he endured the cross, and despised the shame; he overcame, he conquered. But how? Because of what he was as Emanuel.

RD

The Christadelphian, Sept 1875

These promises are styled "an everlasting covenant even the sure mercies of David" (Isaiah 55:3; Acts 13:34). There can be no doubt to whom they refer, for the apostle has applied them to Christ.

In his last words, David thus expresses himself concerning them,

"The God of Israel spake to me, saying, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And He (the Just One) shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although my house be not so with God; yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He make it not to grow" (2 Sam. 23:3-5).

This covenant of the throne and kingdom was David's desire and salvation, because it promised him a resurrection to eternal life, in the assurance that his house, kingdom, and throne, with God's son and his son, one person, sitting upon it, should be established in his presence for ever. (Psa 89:3-4, 19-28, 34-37).

"I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, saying, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing which has gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven'' (Psalm 89:3, 4, 19-28, 34-37).

After these testimonies there requires no further proof that David's family was constituted by a solemn covenant the Royal House of God's Kingdom; and that one of David's posterity whom God should acknowledge to be his son, should be its everlasting king. The claims of Jesus to be David's Seed and God's Son have been fully established by his resurrcetion from the dead; which is an assurance to all men, both Jews and Gentiles, that God hath appointed him, as the Holy one of Israel their king; to rule the world in righteousness, and to establish truth and equity among the nations; as God sware to Moses, saying, "Truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord."

Elpis Israel 2.4.

6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Man, however, differs from other creatures in having been modelled after a divine type, or pattern. In form and capacity he was made like to the angels, though in nature inferior to them. This appears from the testimony that he was made "in their image, after their likeness," and "a little lower than the angels" (Psalm 13:5), or Elohim. I say, he was made in the image of the angels, as the interpretation of the co-operative,

"let us make them in our image, after our likeness." ...

...David says, "worship Him all ye gods;" (Psalm 92:7) which Paul applies to Jesus, saying, "let all the angels of God worship Him" ... But the race will not always be inferior in this respect. It is destined to advance to a higher nature; not all the individuals of it; but those of the race "who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that age (the future age) and the resurrection from among the dead . . . who can die no more: for they are equal to the angels (isaggeloi); and are the sons of God, being the sons of resurrection" (Luke 20:35-36).

Elpis Israel 1.2.

7 And of the ["unto" - Mg] angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits [Psa. 104:4], and his ministers a flame of fire.

The Ministering Spirits

àIn another place, God is said to appear to Jacob (Gen. 35:9), and in the eleventh verse to say to him, "I am God Almighty;' and in the thirteenth, "God went up from him in the place where He talked with him." He was then at Bethel, where formerly "the Elohim were revealed unto him." On that occasion he dreamed that he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, "the Lord standing above it, and the angels of God ascending and descending on it."

These angels were the Elohim, or "ministering Spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1:14). On one occasion they declared to Jacob the promises made to his father and grand-father in the name of the "Invisible God;" he wrestled with God in wrestling with one of them, &c. Hence, they speak in the first person as personators of the Invisible and Incorruptible Substance, or Spirit, who is the real author of all they say and do.

Elpis Israel 1.6.

8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God [Elohim Psa. 45:6] , is for ever and ever [the hidden period and beyond]: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

The sceptre: the constitution and policy of Messiah's dominion, divine laws and teachings

" righteousness" - Gk. dikaiosenen, integrity, virtue, purity of life...

We Look For New Heavens

Give us a government animated by pure benevolence, armed by universal authority and irresistible power; and distinguished by the wisdom essential to successful enterprise of all kinds, with the world's exchequer at their disposal, and therefore untrammelled by considerations of economy in the arrangements made for the comfort and convenience of the people -- give us such a government, and all the people in every land would be as well looked after as the passengers on board the magnificent liners that plough the ocean in all directions. Man cannot give it us: God can and will: for He has promised. Therefore, we patiently wait.

Bro Roberts, Dairy of a Voyage, page 27

14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? [Acts 15: 14]

Ministering spirits

But at the fitting up of earth as a new arena for the display of the power and wisdom of the Eternal Spirit, they who figure in the work, had attained to their eternal redemption; and had become "spirits" -- Holy Spirit corporeal intelligences -- because they had been born of the Eternal Spirit or Father.

To what orb or planet of the universe they are indigenous, is not revealed; but as they are not ab-original to an earth-born race, they are not sovereign here; but only, as Paul says, "public official spirits, sent forth for service on account of those thereafter to inherit salvation"

Phanerosis - 'Elohim Developed From The Seed of Abraham'

***

Israel and the nations are under their vicegerency till the Lord Jesus comes to assume the sovereignty of the world. When he appears in his kingdom, the land of Israel especially will be no longer subjected to their superintendence.

Elpis Israel 2.3.

"What part do angels take in the Kingdom of God?

They will be the glorious attendants on Christ at his coming (Matt. xxv. 31). They will take part in the triumphant ascription of praise to his glory (Rev. v. 11), and they will be the visible mediums of communication between heaven and earth during the reign of Christ (Jno. i. 51)." (Matt 25:31; Rev 5:11; John 1:51 cf. Mark 13:26,27; Acts 1:11; 1Thess 4:16).

Bro Roberts

Furthermore, it is a well established principle of the sacred writings, that what the Everlasting Father does by His agents, He is considered as doing Himself. There is a maxim in law similar to this which runs somehow thus, qui facit per alios facit per se, what one doth by, or through others, he does of himself. If this be borne in mind, many incongruities will be harmonized.

Thus, the Lord is said to have appeared to Abraham as he sat in his tent door (Gen. 18:1), but when he first caught sight of the visitant he did not see the Lord, but "three men," or Elohim, of whom one was the chief. Read the whole chapter and to v. 29 of the next, and it will be seen that the Everlasting God talks and acts by, or through, these Elohim, but chiefly through one of them styled the Lord God.

In another place God is said to appear to Jacob (Gen. 35:9) and in the second verse to say to him "I am God Almighty," and in the thirteenth "God went up from Him in the place where He talked with him." He was then at Bethel where formerly "the Elohim were revealed unto him." On that occasion he dreamed that he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, "the Lord standing above it, and the angels of God ascending and descending on it."

These angels were the Elohim, or "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1:14). On one occasion they declared to Jacob the promises made to his father and grandfather in the name of the "Invisible God;" he wrestled with God in wrestling with one of them, etc. Hence, they speak in the first person as personators of the Invisible and Incorruptible Substance, or Spirit who is the real Author of all they say and do.

On a certain occasion, the Invisible God spake to Job out of the whirlwind and said "Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof? Declare if thou knowest. Or, who hath stretched the line upon it? Or, who laid the corner stone thereof; when the Morning Stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy?"

Job could not answer these questions. He knew, doubtless, what the Elohim had done; but "touching the Almighty," by whose spirit they operated, "we cannot," said Elihu, "find him out." The Elohim were these Morning Stars and Sons of God. Jesus is styled "the Bright and the Morning Star," "the Day Star," and the Son of God. To say, therefore, that the Elohim are Morning Stars and Sons of God, is to speak in the language of Scripture.

The relation of the Elohim to Him that dwelleth in the light in the work of creation and providence may better appear by the following illustration. Experimental philosophers can form water, air and earths; they can bring down lightning from the expanse; they can weigh, or rather, calculate the weight of, the sun, moon and stars; they can speak by electricity, paint by sunlight, and outstrip the wind by fire. These are the wonderful combinations of their genius. But what have these they did not receive? And from whom did they receive it?

They subject certain substances to certain conditions. They do not originate a single principle. The elements and the laws to which all simple and compound bodies are subject are independent of the experimenters. They may say "Let water be formed;" and by passing the electric spark through the gaseous mixture water will be formed; but it is the power of God that does it, not theirs. After a like manner the Elohim gave the word; they brought the latent elements of the globe into play; they gave direction and application to power; and the spirit of the Invisible God accomplished all they were commanded to arrange.

The spirit of the Incorruptible God, through the Elohim, created the heavens and the earth. They said "Let there be light;" they saw that it was good; He made the expanse; they called it heaven -- He did it all through them, and they executed, by His power, what He enjoined. This power or spirit being committed to them, it became "the spirit of the Elohim."

Hence, in the beginning, the spirit of the Elohim created; which, being plainly indicated in the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis, needed not afterwards to be repeated; so that

throughout the chapter "Elohim" is written instead of "the spirit of the Elohim," and is found in connection with a singular verb, not as its nominative, but as the governed word of the nominative singular, ruach, spirit, understood. This is the solution I offer of the grammatical enigma.

It is a part of the "strong delusion" which has supplanted the truth, to suppose that the Invisible God left the throne of the universe on a visit to this region of immensity, where, like a mechanic building a house, He worked in creating the earth and all things therein. After this fashion He is supposed to have made man; and, when his mechanism was complete, to have applied His mouth to his nostrils and "breathed into him a particle of His own divine essence, by which he became a living and immortal soul."

Such a procedure on the part of the "Only Potentate," whose abode is in the light, and whose servants, the Elohim, are innumerable, would have been unfitting His dignity and underived exaltation.

He has revealed Himself to us as a Potentate, a King, a Lord, etc.; now, they who fill these stations commit to others the service of executing their will and pleasure, And thus it is with the Invisible and Eternal Potentate. His kingdom ruleth over all. His angels, or Elohim, mighty in strength, do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His words. They are His hosts, His ministers that do His pleasure (Psa. 103:20, 21).

Elpis Israel 1.6.