[Power of the Word] God Calls the Son "God"
Daniel Brady
But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” --Hebrews 1:8
Earl claimed to be God. Many other religious leaders have claimed to be God, and they have even succeeded in getting others to worship them as God. We’ve all heard the stories of such cult groups. And sadly, most of the stories end in mass suicide. Not to sound cold-hearted, but this all goes to show that these men indeed were not God, despite their claims to deity, and despite the fact that they got some people to worship them.
So what about Jesus Christ? He claimed to be God. And several other people worshiped Him as God. Even doubting Thomas, who refused to believe in the resurrection until he could see the risen Christ for himself, upon seeing Him, cried out, “My Lord and my God.”
But is that enough to convince us that Jesus is God? For those of us who believe, the answer may be yes. But what about the skeptic? How would you answer someone who says, “I want to know what God has to say about this. Does God ever say that Jesus is God?” Yes He does. And the place where He says it is in Hebrews 1.
Now, Hebrews 1 is one of the most fascinating passages in the entire Bible. To set the background for it, let me just say that the overall theme of the book is The Superiority of Jesus Christ. And the theme of chapter 1 is Christ’s Superiority Over Angels.
In establishing Christ’s superiority over angels, the author of Hebrews contrasts what God says about angels with what He says about Jesus Christ. In verse 5, it is indicated that God never said to any angel, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” Nor has He ever said about any angel, “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son.” But the way in which it is pointed out that God never said this to any angel implies that He did say it to someone. He did say it to His Son.
Verse 6 then says that when God brought the Firstborn (Jesus Christ) into the world, He said, “Let all God’s angels worship Him.” Now, keep in mind that only God is to be worshiped, both by men and by angels. The fact that God, here, commands His angels to worship Jesus Christ is a strong indication that Jesus is God.
Verse 7 contains something God does say about the angels, as opposed to what He does not say about any of them. But now we come to verse 8. And if verse 6 were not convincing enough, the meaning of verse 8 is unmistakable.
Hebrews 1:8 contains a quote from Psalm 45:6: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness.” Now, in this Psalm, David is addressing God. It is a hymn of praise to God. And I do not believe that as he wrote it, David realized he was writing a prophetic psalm about Jesus Christ.
However, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the author of Hebrews saw and realized that, in these words written as a psalm of praise to God, written by David, God was actually speaking of Jesus Christ. In fact, He was not merely speaking of Jesus Christ, He was speaking to Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews is telling us that what David said of God, God said of and to Jesus Christ.
What does God say to Jesus? That His kingdom is forever and ever, and that His scepter with which He rules His kingdom is the kingdom of uprightness. But notice how God addresses the Son: “Your throne, O God…” God is the one speaking in Hebrews 1:8. Jesus is the one He is speaking to. God calls Jesus “God.”