Give Him thanks.
Lord, You came to do God’s will. Indeed, it was not easy when we see what it took for us to have this table, to be able to eat and drink. You went through so much suffering.
In obedience to the Father, You died on the cross, giving us life to live forever with You. This is a great blessing. When we think about it, our song and praise shall never cease.
You have also given us many things on earth to enjoy. When we look at the days we have, our circumstances, our belongings, our families, and our church, we give You thanks.
We do not want to commit that sin of ingratitude. We want to be constantly praising You as we live in Your house, full of blessings surrounding us and grace falling upon us.
We bring this hour to You. Oh Lord, please speak to us. Enlighten us from Your Word with more blessings, which only You can give, and which we receive with gratitude. Thank You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Today’s fellowship comes from Hebrews 1:1-9 and 13.
This is the King James Version.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son,
Whom He hath appointed heir of all things,
By whom also He made the worlds;
Who being the brightness of His glory,
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;
Being made so much better than the angels,
As He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.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?And again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, He saith,
And let all the angels of God worship Him.And of the angels He saith,
Who maketh His angels spirits,
And His ministers a flame of fire.But unto the Son He saith,
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:
A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee
With the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
But unto which of the angels said He at any time,
Sit Thou on My right hand,
Until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool?
The title of today’s fellowship is The Glorious Son of God.
After reading so many descriptions about Jesus, the Son of God, I was thinking about a title. There are too many words: powerful, loving. But if there is one word that comes to mind, as we fellowship through these verses and the Lord has mercy on us and shows us light, so that we can sense and touch the Son of God, then we feel His glory. He manifests Himself in these words.
So I titled it The Glorious Son of God. I pray that, as we go along and by the end of the sharing, His glory will fill us.
Since the Son speaks in the last of these ages, in which we live, we should make the most of it.
The opening of this book is different from all the other epistles in the New Testament. It says, “God, who at sundry times…” If you break it down to the bare sentence core, it is this: In the last days, God has spoken.
As I was meditating on this, I thought it can tell us something about this book as well as about God’s Son, Jesus. It tells us that in the last days, God has spoken.
The only other book in the Bible that starts similarly is Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis is a book of creation, and the book of Hebrews is a book of upholding.
We just read that He upholds all things by the word of His power. The Jewish believers at that time faced persecution, and they became weak in their faith. It seemed that their faith was falling apart. This book is a great book of upholding, sustaining their faith.
I thought this was quite precious as a first point. There are a lot of blessings in just these first two verses.
The King James translates it, “at sundry times and in divers manners.” A much simpler way to put it is, “in different parts and various manners.”
In the Old Testament there were different prophets and their styles of speaking. God spoke to His people, to their fathers, in that manner. But when I looked at the whole Bible, it seemed that the New Testament is also made up of collections of epistles in different manners and different parts.
Yet we have to look spiritually, internally—not merely from the text. Spiritually, the Son is speaking through all these books. It is one complete message, rather than parts in the Old Testament, prophecy here and there, and then books from the apostles here and there in the New Testament.
The Son speaks in one complete message in the New Testament. He has spoken, and He is still speaking. Praise the Lord. There is much blessing in Him directly speaking to us.
Before He ascended to heaven and came down as the Holy Spirit, He was here on earth physically and spoke to people face to face. We may think, “Well, that might be better. It is much clearer. Lord, I can see Your face. I ask You a question, and You answer.”
But today it may seem that the Holy Spirit is in me, and I ask the Lord but do not get an answer. Yet the Lord does answer. He can answer all of our questions and prayers, anywhere.
In physical form, He could only talk to the people around Him. But in spiritual form today, He is in the believer’s spirit, and we can hear Him directly.
The blessing of being able to hear Him directly is that it is faster. In the Old Testament, they had to ask a prophet.
One time, two kings of Israel were going to fight, and they had to find out, “Is there a prophet among you? Quick, let us find a prophet.” There were about four hundred prophets of Baal, all false prophets. But the more right king asked, “Is there a real prophet?”
The bad king, Ahab, said, “Well, yes, there is one. His name is Micaiah, but I hate him. He never prophesies good things to me.” But they went and got him. Micaiah said, “What the Lord says to me, that will I say.”
That was the way the Old Testament worked. Today, in every believer, the Lord can speak directly to us. We do not have to be afraid, because He is gentle and meek.
Remember when the Lord gave the law and Moses was at the mountain? There was fire coming out of the mountain, and the people were so afraid. They said, “Please speak to us, Moses. Do not let God speak to us; otherwise, we will die.”
Today, Jesus, in His fine and refined humanity, speaks to us directly.
He also speaks to us in the whole Bible, through our circumstances, and through people. In the New Testament, there are prophets, evangelists, and apostles. He does speak through people for the edification of His Body.
He speaks through circumstances too—even through a big thunderstorm and rain. I will share a short testimony. Two young brothers were going to go to a worldly club. They loved the Lord, but they were also drawn to that. They wanted to go and just check it out.
While they were going, they got stuck in heavy rain and traffic. Then they thought, “Is this the way the Lord is telling us not to go?” They turned back. Both of them really had a heart for the Lord, and they did not go.
Here is another testimony. The Lord’s speaking meets our needs. He guides us, nourishes us, and gives us revelation.
There was a brother who had a simple need for a table. He was very poor and did not have much money. But he prayed, and the Lord spoke a word to him. He said, “Oh, the Lord gave me a word.”
The word of the Lord is like Genesis 1, when the Spirit of God moved, or hovered, over the waters. When the Lord speaks to us, His Word and His Spirit hover in us.
Another rendering from the original is like birds over eggs, incubating them. That brother knew the original text, and he said, “Oh, I am pregnant. The Lord spoke. I am pregnant now.” He meant that the Lord had answered his prayer and was going to give him a table, although it had not come yet.
Not long after that, a table was given to him. Praise the Lord. The Lord’s speaking can meet all our needs as well as strengthen our faith.
What should our response be? If the Lord speaks directly to us and we have easier access, we should give Him earnest heed. That is in Hebrews 2. Do not take it for granted. Give the Lord earnest heed.
When we pray to Him, He always replies, if we are silent and listen to Him. To “make the most of it,” in more casual language, means in our daily spiritual walk with the Lord, pray. Pray for His guidance in every need, great and small.
Even in the smallest need, like the brother who needed the table, pray to Him. He replies by speaking to us. He also reproves, disciplines, and chastens our old man, our sinful nature.
The phrase “in these last days” is better translated, “in the last of these ages.” While we are living in the last of these ages, we need the Lord’s Word. The kingdom is set right before us. This is the age right before the kingdom comes. Thank the Lord.
We are not in the age of the patriarchs, nor in the Old Testament dispensation of law. We are in the last of the ages, right before the kingdom.
The One who speaks is all of this. He is the heir and Maker of all things, and the One to be worshipped, so that we cannot live for ourselves.
As the heir of all things, He is the recipient of all things. God the Father gives Him all things.
We can start with the physical universe. Yes, it is all His. Brother Jerry shared last time: it is all His. As the owner of physical things, He has ownership rights as well as control over them.
When He was on earth, He was able to calm the sea. Remember, the disciples were in the boat, rocked by a great storm. He can calm the sea because it is all His. He also has authority over plagues, pestilence, and all such things. By one word, He can stop them all.
The verse that comes to mind is that the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hands.
He also gave Him sovereign rule—nonphysical power. One particular matter concerning that rule is judgment. The Bible says that He has committed all judgment unto the Son, and has given Him power over all flesh.
When we sin, who judges us? Not any angel, but the Son. He has sovereign rule to govern and judge our actions and even our thoughts.
He also gave Him creative power and wisdom to create all things. When we look at creation, it is not merely the things themselves—the galaxies, the universe, space, planets, and our environment. Attached to His creation is His intent.
He has the right to design the universe and His creation, and attached to it is His purpose. We have heard much about the eternal purpose of God. In creating man, He is the One who designed the purpose, and since He created it, He is also the One who fulfills His purpose.
Physicists, when they study the universe, can see constants that are so balanced that one cannot deny there is Someone behind it who designed it. Even if things were slightly different, there could be no life as we know it.
A particular physicist who said this was not a believer. He openly said there is no God, but he still wrote that there is such design out there.
When an architect draws plans for a house, each room has a purpose. In the same way, God created the universe with a purpose. In reading the Word, we know this, and we ought to share it with worldly people who do not know.
There is a piece of music called The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives. It asks, “What is the meaning of life?” In the piece, people give this answer and that answer, and in the end nobody knows the meaning of life.
That is the world. Sadly, worldly people do not know the meaning of life or the purpose of their existence. But we do, in the Word of God. It tells us the purpose of His creating man, and we have to share it with people and with our loved ones.
He created all things for His pleasure and for His will. Colossians also says that all things were made by Him and for Him.
The verse says, “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” Of course, we people also need to worship Him.
What brings up this idea of worship? The mere fact that He is God the Creator, and we are the creatures, ought to be enough. When we recognize that we are created beings and that He is the Creator, we ought to worship Him.
But there is much more. The more we know Him, the more we worship Him. Hebrews 12 says that we serve God with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
The more we know Him—as we consider the next elements—we will worship Him. Brother Kong once said that worship is “worth-ship”: worth and the suffix -ship, meaning the state of being worthy.
Our Lord Jesus, even when we come to the table and see His suffering, is He not worthy of our praise, thanksgiving, adoration, and love? When we know Him more and more, we give Him honor, praise, and thanksgiving.
We can come up with all these words, but they are not enough until we give Him all our being—our consecration. That is why the brother said at the end of that message that we do not even have the right to live for ourselves. That is true worship, the ultimate worship of God by man.
There is light from these first three things about the Son of God. He is the heir of all things. Do I own anything? He gives things to us, but really it is all His. Our physical things are for the Lord to use, but so are nonphysical things, such as our education.
There was a brother—I think he may have been here, but I will not name him—who was a civil engineer. At his memorial service, they said the Lord called him right after college, when he was about to begin his career. The Lord called him to full-time ministry.
He never worked one day in an office as a civil engineer. The world would think, “What a waste.” But no. Our consecration to the Lord is the best worship we can give Him.
How about the fact that He is the Judge of all? One day He will judge the house of God, beginning with the house, and then the whole world. Whom are we sinning against?
If we in the church sin against one another, yes, we sin against one another, but we also sin against the Lord. Last time Brother Kenny shared concerning Philadelphia in the church.
Of course, with those who are not meeting near us, it is hard to express Philadelphia. In the spirit, we ought to have Philadelphia with all the brothers and sisters in the world. But when people are right in our vicinity, that expression ought to be true. When it is not, we sin against the Lord.
There was a sad situation in an assembly I attended in California. Two brothers had such strong contention and argument that they departed from one another. One day they saw each other on the street. At first, they greeted each other nicely, but then they quickly brought up the contention.
It escalated very quickly. The conversation ended like this: “Well, I will see you at the judgment seat of Christ.” Oh, Lord.
Philadelphia—do we know whom we are sinning against? The Lord will judge. He will judge.
The fulfillment of His purpose relates to all our service and function in the church. He is the Head of the church. It is His way of doing things, His way of building the church, and His way of fulfilling His plan and purpose.
In The Normal Christian Life, there is a chapter concerning how our natural man often wants to serve the Lord as soon as we are saved, but we bring many natural thoughts and natural ways into service. That does not do very well in the church, because it has to be the Lord. The Lord has to deal with us by the cross, and then He will build His church and fulfill His purpose.
He is the radiance, the imprint, the Sustainer, and the Majesty, worthy of all our awe and reverence.
The full phrase is “the radiance of His glory.” The Bible uses the example of the sun and its rays to typify God the Father and God the Son. God the Father is like the sun, and the rays—the effulgence or radiance—are like the Son.
This is an analogy, but it is also a spiritual reality, because the Bible uses it. When Jesus was on earth, He did many miracles. Consider His healing miracles. Mankind was injured by sin, and there were many sick people: lepers, paralyzed people, those with withered hands, the blind, and the mute. He healed them all.
As we read through the Gospels, we often see the words, “Then they glorified God.” When He healed the blind, they glorified Him. When Lazarus died, Jesus said that they might see the glory of God, and He raised Lazarus from the dead. When He turned water into wine, it says that He manifested His glory.
There is something about radiance and light. Brother Spock often said, “What is true in the natural world is true in the spiritual world.” Light must come from a source. It is the principle of emission. Light must emanate from a source.
A verse came to me: the Son can do nothing of Himself, but only what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
Light cannot emanate from nowhere. Jesus says that He cannot do anything of Himself. When He was on earth healing people and shedding grace on people, behind Him was a source: the Father.
The Father’s heart shows mercy to the blind. The blind would say, “Son of David, have mercy on us.” The Father shows mercy, and Jesus the Son shows mercy and heals them.
Whatever was on the heart of God the Father was shown and manifested in the Son, Jesus, on earth. The radiance, or rays, is outward.
The next phrase is “the imprint of His essence.” The King James says, “the express image of His person.”
An imprint is like this: there is a mold, and it is impressed onto something else, so that what was imprinted has the same mold. The Bible uses these things to help us know God.
May the Lord help us see this. I admit that I do not have a full, or even close to a good, understanding of the essence of God. But may God help us see a little.
We use the word Godhead to denote His inner essence—His character, all His traits, and all that makes Him God. This is enclosed in the word Godhead, or His divine essence.
God imprinted on His Son all that He is.
This involves the Trinity. We often hear that the Trinity is three in one: one God and three Persons. I prayed and thought about this a little more. What are the three, and what is the one?
The one, of course, is one God and one essence. But the three are three distinct lives. Yet what are they? That is the mystery and wonder of it.
John 5:26 says that the Father has life in Himself. This means that God the Father has life that does not depend on anything. He has His own life. And so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself.
The Son also has life that does not depend on anything. But here is the mystery and wonder of the Triune God: although They are both capable of independent life, They act in one accord. It is one essence—two, or three, expressions of distinct lives, yet in one essence.
Although the Son, Jesus, when He was on earth, was fully capable of acting independently because He has life in Himself, the Triune God ordained among the Three that They would be one in everything They do—one action in everything They do. Oneness, oneness.
Jesus can pray to the Father in John 17 because He has a distinct life. He can pray to God the Father, and They can talk to one another.
This is also something for us to learn. We were created in the image of God. Jesus prayed that they may be one even as We are one. The expression of God’s people being one is very important.
That oneness expresses God, because we are made in the image of God. It is also a great blessing in the church. We just studied Acts 13, where five brothers served in the ministry of the Word: Simeon called Niger, Lucius, Manaen, Barnabas, and Saul.
There were five brothers, but are there five when they minister the Word and the Son speaks? There are five distinct lives, but their actions and ministry were one. That brought about wonderful church life in Antioch.
The imprint is so that the Son may express the Father. Consider John 8, when they caught the woman committing adultery. Those people were ready to kill her. Their hearts had such an accusatory attitude.
But what is God the Father’s heart like? It is full of meekness, love, forgiveness, mercy, and illumination. Jesus said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.” Such light came out of His mouth.
One by one, from the oldest to the youngest, they all walked away. He showed them that they were all sinners and not worthy to cast a stone. God the Father’s wisdom was in Him. He manifested all these things. Praise the Lord.
He is the Sustainer of all things by the word of His power. He sustains not only the physical world, including our bodies. Last time, a testimony was shared of a brother who was dying and whose body was disintegrating. But the brother used this Word, and the Lord healed him.
More than that, He sustains our circumstances, ministry, and service. When we view our faith, ministry, or service as falling apart, it can really discourage us. But His Word upholds us.
Throughout history, the church has had times of revival and times of declension. After the revival we know that went from China to Taiwan, there were some problems. A brother felt that the service was falling apart, but he prayed and prayed and prayed. Then heaven was opened to him.
He said to the brothers, “Everything is all right now.” The Lord upheld him, and he continued to serve the Lord.
The Lord upholds not only physical things and our circumstances; He upholds the ages. He created the ages in time, but they are also centered upon His people: the age of the patriarchs and the age of Israel.
How many times was Israel taken captive by surrounding enemies? But the Lord’s Word says:
Behold, He that keepeth Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper.
That Word upheld the nation of Israel throughout the entire Old Testament, and even today. Otherwise, how many times have enemies attempted to annihilate that nation?
Today, in the age of grace, the Lord upholds His church. Starting shortly after the early church, the Roman Empire made a great attempt to annihilate and destroy the church.
But the Lord said, even while He was alive on earth:
Upon this rock I will build My church;
And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
That Word has upheld the church throughout all these two thousand years. No one has been able to destroy the church.
What about the age to come? What kind of kingdom are we going to receive? Hebrews 12 says that we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. How sure this Word is.
In the millennial kingdom, His Word continues to uphold. What about the new heaven and new earth? When we come to Revelation 21 and 22, we read all the details: the walls and foundations, which all typify spiritual things.
Then it says, as we sang in the first song, “These words are true and faithful.” God’s Word will uphold throughout eternity—in the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem, the holy city, forever and ever. This Word is faithful and true.
The verse says that, having purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He purged our sins, and then sat down.
Initially, I thought, “Oh, Lord, when we want to see the Son of God, should it not all be glorious, grand, and great things? Why did You put this here?”
When He came to purge our sins, He took on human form and suffered such shame and pain, and died on the cross. This shows such great love for us. That is why every week we come to the table and give Him praise and thanks.
There is another side. Yes, He went through death, suffered shame, was hung on the cross, and bled. It was very tragic. But it says that glory never departed from Him.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
Crowned with glory and honour.
There is an even greater positive side listed with the greatness of Christ. What is honor?
When we see Jesus obeyed God the Father—as Brother Steve shared—there was a clash of wills in the garden of Gethsemane. But He prayed, “Not My will, but Thy will, Father, be done.”
We really need to honor Him. He deserves to be honored. Honor means that we recognize, ponder, esteem His worth, and act accordingly. That is to honor Him.
When we come to the table and see that He suffered so much for us, we recognize it, and our hearts react to it. We act accordingly, reacting in praise and thanksgiving. That is honoring Him.
The angels praise Him in Revelation. We often sing, “Unto Him who has washed us, be glory, honor, thanksgiving, power,” and so on. One of those things is honor. To honor Him demands that we recognize His worth.
Glory is the manifestation of His greatness. To honor is to recognize it, and the manifestation of it is glory. Jesus, after suffering on the cross, is crowned with both glory and honor.
One more thing about Him coming to save us is His faithfulness. He is the great Creator and Maker of all things. The design power was given to Him, but He did not say, “Oh, man sinned. Let us wipe everything out and recreate.”
Does He have the power to do it? I believe so. But what keeps Him from doing that? What comes to my mind is His faithfulness to His purpose.
There is an example showing faithfulness from the book of Judges. There was a judge named Jephthah. Every time I come to this part, I tend to jump over it because I cannot stand the tragedy of it.
Jephthah went to fight against the Ammonites, and he prayed to the Lord, “Whomever comes out of the door first, I will offer as a burnt offering.” It was his daughter who came out. He had made the oath already.
The daughter said, “Father, do according to your word.” I am not saying that the daughter typifies Christ, but it shows the faithfulness of a judge at that time—faithfulness to his word.
So he offered her as a burnt offering, and she died that way. The people remembered her that way.
After the Lord resurrected from the dead, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. There is a triple exaltation here. We read the verse that God highly exalted Him.
He sat down at the right hand. The right hand denotes strength and power. Then it says, “of the Majesty.” In other passages it says, “the right hand of God,” but here all three words are very descriptive.
It does not simply say that He sat down on the throne. It says that He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty. Majesty means the greatest splendor and greatness.
When the Lord brought the people across the Red Sea, that was awesome. When Joshua told the sun to stand still and the moon to stop, that showed God’s greatness.
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. “On high” denotes superiority through being elevated in a higher position. Even King David’s throne had six steps leading up to it, showing the king’s superiority over the people.
This is triple exaltation: He sat down at the right hand—the power—of the Majesty—His greatness—on high.
He has inherited a more excellent name, and every knee shall bow. Hebrews 1:4 says that He was made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
There is a comparison here. When I first read it, I did not catch it until I read and meditated on it closely. It says “so much better than” and “as,” showing a comparison.
You can put it this way: He is better than the angels. By how much? By as much as His name is more excellent than theirs. If we know how much more excellent His name is, then we know how much better He is than the angels.
Of course, our Lord’s name is far better than that of any angel. His name is Jesus, the Savior of the world. No angel can save man. There is much that we can think about simply from the name Jesus.
His name is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. I was at an assembly, and we were looking for a place to rent. It was very difficult because most owners in California did not want churches.
We prayed with this verse: “Lord, You can do wonders.” Wonderful means that You can perform miracles. Then we found a place, and we prayed, “Lord, help us. You are our Counselor in our negotiations to get into this place.”
We did get in. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God—He showed Himself to be Mighty God. Then, once we were there, the church preached the gospel. Everlasting Father means that He is the Father of eternity. He can give whoever believes eternal life.
Church life there showed Him to be the Prince of Peace. With Christ there, we had peace in the church. Is not His name far better than any angel’s? In casual language, no angel can even hold a candle to Him.
In His resurrection, He also obtained a better name. This is the familiar passage in Philippians 2:
Being found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,
Even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him,
And given Him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
Of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.
This has not yet been fulfilled. Prophetically, it was spoken by Isaiah: every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. It is not fulfilled in Israel. Do they confess and bow at the name of Jesus? It is not fulfilled in the world today either.
It will be fulfilled when the Lord comes back, takes His kingdom and throne, and establishes His kingdom on earth.
Angels are ministering spirits, but the Son is God and King, culminating in the everlasting kingdom.
We will say one thing about angels as ministering spirits. Some translations say “winds,” because spirit and wind are the same word. You cannot see the wind, but you can know it is there by its effect.
We here on earth often face danger. A few weeks ago, a car was coming head-on toward us. I said, “Lord,” and it stopped perhaps ten feet in front of us. Things like that happen, and we know the Lord sends His ministering spirits around us. By the effect, we know they are there.
But let us focus more on the Son. The Father says concerning the Son:
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:
A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.
There are five things related to kings. These are called regalia: the crown, the robe, the scepter, the footstool, and the throne. Four of these are mentioned in Hebrews 1 and 2. The robe is not mentioned here, but it denotes His deeds.
The crown: He is crowned with glory and honor. The crown sits on the head, and the head is the first thing we notice about a person. When we see Christ, we see His face and identity. It is Christ who is crowned with the royal diadem. He has authority and power.
The robe denotes His righteous deeds. On the mount of transfiguration, His garment was illuminated and white. This is righteousness.
Then there is the scepter. The verse specifically mentions the scepter, so let us fellowship a little more about that. A scepter is held in the hand. It is the instrument of rule.
From very old days, it was simply a staff. In the time of Moses, he held a staff in his hand, and the Lord said, “Use your staff.” During the ten plagues and the judgment of Egypt, the staff represented authority. There were gnats, frogs, and water turned to blood.
At the crossing of the Red Sea, Moses also used the staff. It signifies the authority to carry out authority. It is held in the hand, and the hand is for doing the work.
In Revelation, it says:
I will give Him power over the nations:
And He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
As the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers:
Even as I received of My Father.
The rod of iron is a scepter. It is the instrument of Christ’s rule in the millennial kingdom. The picture of breaking all the vessels into shivers is a picture of commanding all obedience. Every knee shall bow.
The scepter tells us how He is going to rule. He loves righteousness. We just read that He loves righteousness, so He is going to rule righteously in the millennial kingdom.
A Psalm says that He loves righteousness, and the whole earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. In a kingdom, what nation would not be filled with goodness, pleasantness, and desirability?
When the Lord Jesus comes back, the whole earth will be under His righteous rule. It will be filled with the goodness of the Lord.
Next is the throne. The throne is the seat that embodies, upholds, and secures authority. The throne is forever.
It is fixed in heaven. In Revelation 4, the apostle John says, “I saw a door opened in heaven: and behold, a throne was set in heaven.” That means it is fixed, not shakable.
There was an attempt by the devil, by Satan, to shake and take the throne. But praise the Lord, our Lord sits on the throne that will never be shaken.
There are two aspects of the throne. In Revelation, concerning the millennial kingdom and eternity, we first see lightning and thunder proceeding out of the throne. There is the aspect of judgment, because God committed all judgment unto the Son.
What follows in Revelation 4 is the great tribulation. The whole earth is to be cleaned up. Then, when we come to Revelation 21 and 22, what proceeds out of the throne is a river of the water of life. In the midst of it is the tree of life.
The throne, in its aspect of judgment, corrects life. Because we have sin, it corrects life and sets things right.
Then, when we come to eternity, the throne nourishes life. The Triune God Himself nourishes us. The river is the Holy Spirit. The source is the Father, and the Son is the tree of life.
You can find this even in Psalm 36. The brief summary of the Psalm is that people are wicked and sinners, devising iniquity, and then there is judgment. But then it says that they will eat of the fatness of God’s house and drink of the river of His pleasures.
The fatness is Christ, the abundant riches of Christ. The river is the Holy Spirit, and the fountain of life is the source. The Triune God was already shown in the Old Testament.
In eternity, the throne—God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—will nourish us. Praise the Lord, we are also brought into Christ, so that He shares His throne with us. We rule and reign with Him forever and ever.
Praise the Lord. Let us close with a word of prayer.
Oh, Lord Jesus. Lord, God the Father has promised You the throne of David, an everlasting throne. Lord, we acknowledge that, and we praise You.
Although we are not worthy, You are worthy. We are fallen men, but You came to save us. You personally came. You did not send an angel, but You personally came to save us by dying on the cross.
Having purged our sins, You sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Oh, Lord Jesus, when we see from Your Word even a glimpse of Your glory, we are so filled with joy.
We give You praise, thanks, honor, and thanksgiving. One day we look forward to seeing You face to face.
Thank You that You bring us into Your kingdom. We would be happy just to be citizens. You are the King. You are the righteous King. But You also invite us to sit with You on the throne.
Oh, such grace, Lord. Such grace. We thank You in the name of Jesus. Amen.