Introduction

Good morning!  Grab your bibles and open them up to Hebrews, chapter 1.  We are going to finish the first chapter of Hebrews this morning, covering verses 10-14.  To this point in Hebrews we have seen that Christ is the appointed heir of all things and that is facilitated by the fact that Christ is the creator of all things.  We also saw that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God and he is the exact imprint, or the visible replica, of God’s nature.  Even more, Christ upholds the universe by his sustaining word and has made purification for our sins by his atoning work.  Christ is to be worshiped and served because of all that and because he is the mediator of a better covenant, one that saves us and promises us eternal life.

The author of Hebrews, as he concludes this section, summarizes once again the reality of who Christ is.  To do this, he opens to us Psalm 102 to illustrate not only that the Psalmist was talking about Christ but to show the full extent of Christ’s deity.  I don’t want to give too much away at the beginning but seeing that you know where we are going, the point the author is making here is that in the whole of the universe there is only one person, or one thing that is everlasting.  Christ, by nature of him having created all things, is the only thing to have no beginning and no end.  I use the word “thing” to describe Christ, not out of any disrespect but because I am not sure any word we have is sufficient to address him.  

He is a person but also eternal and infinite.  He is a man, but also God himself.  What do

you call the infinite, all powerful, all knowing, creator, heir, and sustainer of all things?  How do you even describe and articulate one of this magnitude?  No language could ever have the words which is why I believe that the majority of the words used here in the first chapter to frame Christ are Old Testament quotations.  How better can we explain Christ than with the spirit inspired words about him through the ages?

So, we will look to Psalm 102 as given to us in Hebrews to flesh out the fullness of Christ’s deity.  In that effort, there will be a bit of a science lesson this morning in the discussion of a principle known as entropy.  Entropy is the scientific term used to describe the observable reality that things trend towards disorder.  It might be better stated that everything slowly degrades.  We, as humans, must confess that we all at some point in our lives have become aware of the fact that we are degrading.  All plants and animals and everything else in creation, including all the heavenly bodies we can see in the night sky are presently degrading.  All the energy that was created by God during creation is slowly dissipating back into the vacuum of space.   

This observable reality would be a terrifying thing if not for the one thing in the whole of the universe that sits above the entropy.  While all else around us and we ourselves are slowly degrading, God in his word gives us a beacon of hope in the person of Christ, saying, do not fear and do not be dismayed because he is with us.  When we are hurting we need a comforter and he is a lamb.  When we are being threatened by the enemy we need a defender and he is a lion.  When we are stricken with grief and fear because we see that everything around us is changing and degrading we need stability and he is everlasting.  The one who doesn’t entropy.  

That is where we are going this morning and I pray the Lord uses these words to bless and encourage us this morning.  Stand with me as we read Hebrews 1, 10-14

10 And, 

  “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, 

and the heavens are the work of your hands; 

 11  they will perish, but you remain; 

they will all wear out like a garment, 

 12  like a robe you will roll them up, 

like a garment they will be changed. 

  But you are the same, 

and your years will have no end.” 

13 And to which of the angels has he ever said, 

  “Sit at my right hand 

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 

14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? 

Christ’s Immutability

The bulk of our text this morning is a quotation from Psalm 102 so let’s look a little more closely at the context of that Psalm.  The psalmist begins in this way, 

1  Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you! 2  Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call! 3  For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. 4  My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. 5  Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. 6  I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; 7  I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. 8  All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. 9  For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, 10  because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down. 11  My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

How often do we feel similarly to the way the Psalmist feels?  I would contend it’s quite often because such sentiments are echoed not only in Psalm 102 but many others, as well as in Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Job, and more.  To return to where we started, we all feel the weight of entropy, whether or not we have ever called it that.  To put it more poetically, as the Psalmist does, we feel our days like an evening shadow and we wither away like grass.  

Blow out a candle and watch a momentary wisp of smoke rise and then quickly dissipate into the surrounding air to be seen no more.  Doesn’t that feel much like our lives? A wisp and we shall dissipate back into the star dust we came from.  If that was the end of the Psalm and our end, I contend we should close our bibles and go eat and drink for tomorrow we die but that isn’t the end, right?  It is under the heavy burden of entropy where Christ meets us and reveals to us his immutability. The one in whom there is no change or dissipation reveals himself, in all his stability and infinitude, declaring behold I am making all things new.  

The appearance of chaos, the observation of entropy doesn’t have the final word, the unchanging immutable Christ has the final word and what is said of him? “But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;” In the midst of your uncertainty the Psalmist says, 

18  Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: 19  that he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, 20  to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, 21  that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord.

What is the one thing that can offer comfort, real comfort, to the decaying and destitute? 

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, 

and the heavens are the work of your hands; 

 11  they will perish, but you remain; 

The unchanging Christ, the universal stability, the one who holds all things together is not going anywhere and because of his great mercy he has promised to give new life, eternal life to all who trust in him.  Just imagine a day when entropy begins to run in reverse.  There is probably a word for that but a day when each passing hour does not degrade but each passing hour everything becomes richer, more real, deeper, and wider. A day in which everything isn’t dissolving into nothing but rather everything is becoming more real and more tangible than we could ever imagine.  Life isn’t slipping away but each day you have more life and more joy than you ever knew. 

This seems almost unbelievable but this is the biblical implication of Christ immutability and why it is so important to hear the word when it says to us that Christ is the same and his years will have no end.  There is a danger though to the immutability of Christ and to his infinitude and that is his judgment.  Consider Genesis 7: 

4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”

or Isaiah 13: 13

13  Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

Just as Christ preserves all and will renew and restore the heavens and the earth, he will also judge the wicked and his anger will be kindled against those who turn away from him.  

Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; 

let them perish in disgrace, 

 18  that they may know that you alone, 

whose name is the Lord, 

are the Most High over all the earth. Psalm 83:17-18

Christ’s Immutability and everlasting judgment offer a warning to all who deny him and turn away.  Christ gives and he takes away, he preserves and he can destroy, the immutable one is the sovereign one who does what he pleases.  Again, we must not let this bring us back to fear but to further comfort. 

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 6: 9-12

So we let the immutability of Christ and the warnings that go with it, be to us both an eternal comfort and an encouragement to continue running the race to win.  Not becoming sluggish or complacent but all the more earnest to serve the immutable Christ who is making all things new.  

Christ’s Deity

The second thing that we need to draw from our text this morning is the stated deity of Christ.  We talked about this a little last week but I want to again make mention of the fact that the author of Hebrews is not mixing his words concerning the reality that Christ is God.  He is further showing that God in Psalm 102 is calling Christ Lord. If you read Psalm 102 without Hebrews, you would assume that the whole of the Psalm is from the perspective of the writer taking solace in his affliction in that the “LORD” is enthroned forever and has laid the foundation of the earth, and so on.  The “LORD”, by the way, as referenced in Psalm 102 is the proper name of God, Yahweh.  

If we read Psalm 102 now, in light of Heabrews, we see that there is much more to this Psalm.  What is fully being communicated, by way of the spirit’s inspiration to the Psalm writer, is that the one in whom we find solace in our distress is Jesus Christ.  God the Father, through the inspiration of the spirit, was always talking about Christ.  Christ is Yahweh.  Christ laid the foundation of the Earth, the work of the heavens are the work of Christ’s hands, everything perishes but Christ remains, everything will wear out, will change, will pass away, but Christ is the same and his years have no end.  We shall dwell secure, when we rest in him.  

How would we ever know the fullness of God’s intent and meaning in these texts without further revelation giving us this full meaning and intent.  In theological terms this is called the analogy of faith.  Simply stated this is the understanding that scripture interprets scripture for us.  Culture doesn’t interpret scripture nor do your ideas and inclinations interpret scripture.  God interprets scripture for us in scripture.  This is incredibly important for us to grasp not only so that we read the bible for all it’s worth but also so that we form a correct understanding of the character and nature of God.  One the worst offenses in this area pertains to Christology and more specifically the deity of Christ.  

We can conclude from Hebrews and the insight that we are given into Psalm 102 that Jesus Christ is God, was always God and will always be God.  Again, Hebrews is saying that in the Psalms, the father is calling the son, Christ, Yahweh.  So Christ did not earn his deity through his perfect life, as some might teach.  Nor did he forfeit his deity when he took on flesh as others might teach.  Neither of those things can be true because such ideas would directly conflict with both Hebrews and the Psalms.  Do you see this? 

It is on that basis of interpretation that we can formulate doctrines like the impeccability of Christ.  Many teach that in order for Christ’s atonement to be valid he needed to have the potential to sin.  That Christ needed to surrender his deity so that he could have the ability to sin and resist it or that he only earned righteous deity when he fully resisted.  Church, these are gross inaccuracies at best and intentionally deception at worst.  Christ is impeccable because Christ is God.  He could not sin because God can not sin and when Christ took on flesh he did not become any less God.  He was fully God and was fully man.  

Why is that important concerning our text? Because, as we have said, the point of this book is to give struggling and wavering people something on which to stand and rely.  Someone which to stand on and rely on.  The truth of Christ’s deity gives us that.  When Christ took on flesh there was no possibility he wasn’t going to succeed in his work of righteousness and atonement.  Failure was never an option, because Christ is God.  

I have been blessed such that I haven’t had many days where I was lost to desperation or overcome by despair but in those moments, whether conscious or subconscious, what I need more than anything is rock that can not fail.  A foundation that can not shift.  A savior in whom there is no change.  A Lord who will win against sin and despair and temptation because he can not lose.  This is Jesus Christ.  He is someone worth relying on, someone worth giving your life to, because he is God, he is the same and his years will have no end.   

Christ Seated on High

Our section this morning concludes with the grand picture of Christ seated on the throne, with all in subjection to him.  We have seen this picture back in the first or second week through Hebrews but it is certainly worth returning again because here we see it from a slightly different perspective.  Previously the seating of Christ was a picture of his rest after having completed the work he came to complete.  Here though we see the father seating him as a picture of authority and Lordship.  The throne on which Christ sits was not taken by him nor was his authority taken by force.  This throne was given to him by the father so even in the triune nature of God we see power in humility. 

Power in that everything is in subjection to Christ and Christ will reign until every enemy bows to him and they will.  Every knee will bow to Christ willingly or otherwise and this is a display of his grand and unmatched power and authority.  All things, angels included, are presently working towards that end.  Then what? What is next after the day when all the enemies of Christ are made a footstool for his feet? 

To go back to where we started, on that day, he will finish what he has begun, he will make all things new.  The unchanged and unchangeable one seated on the throne will reverse the entropy.  Disorder will be reformed, death will be reversed, the curse will be forever broken. Unchanging, unending paradise will be restored and he will be our God and we will be his people.  We will be like him, not equal to him, but forevermore sinless and without decay.  

Conclusion

There has been perhaps a little more application sprinkled throughout than usual but let’s consider a few further points and then we will close.  First, because of the unchanging nature and deity of Christ his mediation will never cease or change.  

3  Your people will offer themselves freely 

on the day of your power, 

in holy garments; 

  from the womb of the morning, 

the dew of your youth will be yours. 

 4  The Lord has sworn 

and will not change his mind, 

  “You are a priest forever 

after the order of Melchizedek.” Psalm 110: 3-4

We can rely on the power of Christ’s atonement and his continued intercession for us because he has chosen you and he will not change his mind.  He has saved you and he will not revert on his salvation.  If you are in Christ you are in his hand and nothing will ever snatch you away. 

Secondly, because of this immutability our faith can be and must be strengthened in all other areas.  Specifically as it relates to his promises and our salvation.  

 1  O God, we have heard with our ears, 

our fathers have told us, 

  what deeds you performed in their days, 

in the days of old: 

 2  you with your own hand drove out the nations, 

but them you planted; 

  you afflicted the peoples, 

but them you set free; 

 3  for not by their own sword did they win the land, 

nor did their own arm save them, 

  but your right hand and your arm, 

and the light of your face, 

for you delighted in them. 

The hand of God has always done the winning and the saving and such realities will never change.  His promises will never fail, his salvation will never fail because it never has, and because Christ can not change it never will.  Let your faith be strengthened in the light of that reality.  

Finally, the immutability of Christ directs on how we as individuals and collectively as the church are to be like him.  That is constant, consistent, and stable in our promises, words and work.  It also compels us to long for and strive to be re-formed into his image.  Reforming ourselves and the church until the day of that final reformation when all is finally made new.  In that regard and in connection with the other topics we have covered this morning I want to read a poem by Jeremy Johnston titled “Ecclesia Reformanda”

The second law of thermodynamics states

that everything is breaking down

moving from order to disorder,

out of order, from together to

alienated. Cut off. 

Things fall apart. 

Like a new car, fresh off the lot,

already worth less: rusting, decaying, depreciating-

The inevitable entropy 

But chaos seems so dramatic 

when describing again, aching bodies,

or old batteries bleeding energy, 

or stars burning out,

or even the church growing cold. 

Losing her fire, losing her first love

Ecclesia semper reformanda

The church is always reforming,

the church must always be reformed. 

Not reinvented, not reimagined – 

but re-formed

put back together

Always re-tuning, always returning 

to Christ

His Word

His gospel

His Truth

Him

When walking the wrong path

the fastest way forward

is to turn back. 

Ecclesia reformanda   

The glorious hope that I pray you see with respect to the deity of Christ is that he is the only immutable, infinite Lord of all.  Though all else wears out, he is the same and his years have no end.  He is calling each of us to bear witness to and be a part of his final work, the re-forming of all things, the turning back to paradise, the reversal of entropy.  Amen. 

Bibliography

Phillips, Richard D. 2006. Hebrews. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)