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Meditations on the Glory of Christ: He is the Heir of All Things

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In Hebrews 1:2-4, the author makes seven claims about Jesus that when taken together greatly exalt his glory. The first claim is that Jesus was appointed by God the Father to be heir of all things. The word “appointed” here literally means “to put or place” and it was sometimes used in royal circles to refer to the installation of a king or to another person who was being granted a position of authority. So the point of this first claim is that God the Father has exalted the Son to an utterly exclusive, unique, and permanent place to which no other will attain, specifically, the Father has made him the sole heir of all things.

The word “heir,” as we would expect, refers to “one appointed to receive an inheritance” but the emphasis is not so much on what the Son has inherited as it is on the high position he has inherited. In other words, since Jesus has come into the possession of “all things,” he has come into the position of God.

Let’s think this through for a minute: normally an inheritance is granted when the owner of an estate dies, right? But in this case the Son has come into the fullness of his inheritance while God the Father lives, and the Father will always live! What a glory to think about the fact that the living God has bestowed “all things” upon his living Son and has thus made his Son equal to himself.

And what specifically has the Son inherited? Only this: everything in creation and all the promises of God! Everything that exists outside of the Father himself has become the possession of the Son, including the very great and precious promises that led to and are fulfilled in the Son. Galaxies and suns and moons and stars belong to the Son. Skies and trees and land and seas belong to the Son. The birds of the air and fish of the sea and beasts of the field belong to the Son. The promises God made to Abraham belong to the Son, namely, that he would bestow upon him land, seed, and blessing. The promises God made to David belong to the Son, namely, that if he would only ask, the Father would grant the nations as his inheritance. The promises God made through all of his prophets point to Jesus and are fulfilled in Jesus and are the blessed possession of Jesus.

Beloved, this is no theoretical claim: Jesus has inherited all things from his Father while his Father is still alive! Think about how great he must be in light of this truth. Think about how exalted a position he must hold in light of this truth. Indeed, Jesus is highly exalted and is alone worthy of our praise, our allegiance, our souls, our lives, our all!


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