4, They always attend his throne: Isa. vi. 1, 2, “I saw the Lorp
VER. 1, 2.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 51
sitting upon a throne,” and “about it stood the seraphim.” ThisIsaiah “spake of him when he saw his glory,” John xii. 39-41. He was upon his throne when he spake with the church in the wilderness, Acts vii. 38,—that is, on mount Sinai: where the angels attending him as on chariots, ready to receive his commands, were “twenty thousand, even thousands of angels,” Ps. lxvili. 17, Eph. iv. 8; or “thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand,” as another pro- phet expresseth it, Dan. vil. 10. And so is he in the church of the new testament, Rey. v. 11; and from his walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks, Rev. i. 13, are the angels also present in church assemblies, as attending their Lord and Master, 1 Cor. xi. 10, And so attended shall he come to judgment, 2 Thess. i. 7; when he shall be “revealed from heaven with the angels of his power :” which was fore- told concerning him from the beginning of the world, Jude 14, 15, Thus his lordship over angels is universal and absolute, and their subjection unto him answerable thereunto. The manner of the grant of this excellency, power, and dignity unto him, must be further cleared in the opening of these words of the apostle, verse 4, “ Being made better than the angels.” The original right and equity of this grant, with the ends of it, are now only to be intimated. 1. The radical, fundamental equity of this grant lies in his divine
nature, and his creation of angels, over whom as mediator he is made Lord. Unto the general assertion of his being made “ heir of all,” the apostle in this place subjoins that general reason, manifest- _ ing the rise of the equity of it in the will of God that it should be -so: “ By whom also he made the worlds.” Which reason is parti- cularly applicable to every part of his inheritance, and is especially pleaded in reference unto angels: Col, i, 15, 16, “ Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature,’—that is, the heir and lord of them all; and the reason is, “ For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him,” His creation of those heavenly powers is the foundation of his heirship or lordship over them. ’Ezricéy, that is, saith a learned man (Grotius) on the place, “not created or made, but ordered, ordained; all things were ordered by Christ as to their state and dignity,” But what reason is there to depart from the proper, usual, yea, only sense of the word in this place? “ Because,” saith he, “ mention is made of Christ, which is the name of a man; and so the creation of all things cannot be attri- buted unto him.” But Christ is the namie of the Son of God in- carnate, God and man; “ Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Rom. ix. 5; See Luke ii. 11. And he is here spoken of as “the image of the invisible God,” Col. i. 15,—the essential image ot the Father, endowed with all his eternal attributes; and so the
52 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP I.
creator of all. The Socinians add that the words are used in the abstract, “ principalities and powers,” and therefore their dignities, not their persons, are here intended. But, (1.) “ All things created, in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible,” are the substances and essences of things themselves, and not their qualities and places only. (2.) The distribution into “ thrones and dominions, principalities and powers,” respects only the last branch of things affirmed to be created by him, namely, “things in heaven,—invisible ;” so that if it should be granted that he made or created them only as to their dignity, order, and power, yet they obtain not their purpose, since the creation of all other things, as to their being and subsistence, is ascribed unto him. But, (8.) The use of the abstract for the con- crete is not unusual in Scripture. See Eph. vi. 12, avevxwarineé for avevmare. Thus nyeusvag nal Baorers, “rulers and kings,” Matt. x. 18, are termed cdpyul xu! 2Eovoio, “ principalities and powers,” Luke xii. 11. And in this particular, those who are here “ principalities and powers” are ‘‘ angels great in power,” 2 Pet. i. 11. And Eph. i. 20, 21, he is exalted imepdvw wreons apyis nal eEovotag xe) duve- pens noi nuprornros,—that is, above all vested with principality and power,” as the next words evince, “ and every name that is named.” So Jude tells us of some of whom he says, Kupiérnrog xarappovoiures, dsEag od rpemovor BAUopnuodyres xuplérnra, dHEerovor, OiEas BAKoDnModosr— “They despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities;” that is, those vested with them. And Paul, Rom. viii. 38, 39, “I am per- suaded that neither angels,” odre dpyal, olrs duvdmerc, “nor princi- palities, nor powers;” ore rig xriois érépu, “ nor any other creature.” So that these principalities and powers are xr/oe:s, certain “ crea- tures,” created things and subsistences,—that is the angels, variously differenced amongst themselves; in respect of us, great in power and dignity.