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things are put under His feet (2:8); that all things are for Him and by Him (2:10). These give some idea of the extent
of His inheritance. Colossians adds more `He is before all things, and by Him all things consist' and `In all things
He has the preeminence' (Col. 1:16-18). His title `The Firstborn of every creature' is but another way of saying that
He is the Heir of all things. He is not only the Firstborn of every creature, He has now become the Firstborn from
the dead that in all things He might have the pre-eminence, and so we see that `all things' embraces not only the
visible and invisible universe, its sun, moon and stars, its men, angels and principalities, but the new creation of the
redeemed who will one day be presented to the Father, that God may be all in all.
In Romans 4:17 we read that when God said to Abraham `I have made thee a father of many nations', Abraham
and Sarah were `dead' so far as parenthood was concerned; the child Isaac was not born for some years after
Abraham had been made a father of many nations. Again, even when Isaac was born, the `many nations' were in
the distant future. Now the words `l have made' of Romans 4:17 and the words `He hath appointed' of Hebrews 1:2
are both translations of the Greek tithemi. The only other occurrences of tithemi in Hebrews are in 1:13 and 10:13
where we read of enemies being made a footstool. This event also is future, the Son of God sits at the right hand of
God `from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool'. The Saviour had a glory `before the world
was', a glory which He shares with none, not even the redeemed. He also has a glory which has been given to Him
in His capacity as Kinsman Redeemer. This He shares with His own:
`And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one' (John
17:22).
The inherent glory of the Son of God is defined in 1 Timothy 6:16 as being unapproachable, and a glory that `no
man hath seen, nor can see'. As Creator, He most obviously possessed by right `all things' but as Redeemer He was
appointed to be Heir of all things. This is the glory that was given to Him, an inheritance to be shared by the many
sons He brings to glory. So in Hebrews 1:4 He is said to have `by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than
the angels'. But who needs to be told that He Who created all things visible and invisible, whether they be thrones,
dominions, principalities or powers, has a more excellent name than His creatures? It is as the Son, the only
begotten, the Man Christ Jesus, the one Mediator, that Christ was appointed to be heir of all things, and in that
inheritance the redeemed find their portion, even as the two typical `heads', Noah and Abraham, are called in this
epistle `heir of righteousness' and `heir of the world'. In addition to this, Hebrews 1:2 says `By Whom also He
made the worlds'. At first reading this added statement seems to conflict with what we have already seen. The
order seems to be:
(1) Creation. (2) Appointment as Heir of all things.
But in this verse the making of the worlds follows this appointment. When John revealed the fact of creation and
said `the world was made by Him', he used the Greek word kosmos, `world'. When writing Hebrews 1:2 the word
`worlds' is not the Greek kosmos but aion. Moses Strut says `The classical use of aion is (1) age, period of time. (2)
age of man, time of life. Aionas (plural) then is used here for world, worlds, universe. Theodoret explains it as
meaning ages; and so others have since done'. This is strange reasoning. Aion means age, yet the plural means
world or worlds, Theodoret and others have maintained that aion means `age', therefore it means `world'! Creation
is ascribed to the Lord in Hebrews 1:10, but the purpose of Hebrews 1:2 is to show that the same Lord is Jehovah,
the God of Redemption, Whose name is His memorial for the age and unto all generations, Who is the same,
yesterday, and today, and unto the ages.
In like manner, we shall see that the `ages' are in view, and not the material creation, when we come to examine
Hebrews 11:3. There is a majestic sound in such phrases as `eternal salvation' and `everlasting covenant', but we
may be sacrificing precious truth by adopting this high sounding and traditional translation. One objection to the
translation `He made the ages' might be that the word `made' is more suggestive of the material creation, than of
ages or dispensations. It may be useful therefore to note that in Hebrews we have the verb poieo `to make' used
many times with the sense `appoint'. `Who maketh His angels spirits', i.e. appointed them; they were already
created, the sequel being `His ministers a flame of fire'. Christ is said to have been `faithful to Him that appointed
Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house'. The margin turns us back to a parallel usage in 1 Samuel 12:6,
where the phrase `advanced Moses and Aaron' employs the Hebrew word `made' (asah) in like manner. The
`covenant made with the fathers' does not mean `made' in the sense of creating. `Through faith he kept the