"And: In the beginning, Lord, You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment, and like a cloak You will roll them up..." In today's text the apostle refers to the text...
"And: In the beginning, Lord, You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment, and like a cloak You will roll them up..."
In today's text the apostle refers to the text of the prophet Isaiah: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will grow old" (Isa 51:6). But this is, of course, far from the only place in the book of the prophet Isaiah where the end of days is mentioned. It is part of every prophetic ministry to remind people about the end of the days of "earth and heaven," about the end of the existence of the physical universe. "And all the host of heaven will decay; the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll; and all their host will fall, as a leaf falls from the vine, and as a withered leaf from the fig tree" (Isa 34:4).
Sergei Averintsev wrote this: "The last light brightens the firmament, / White walls like peaceful death, / all times curl up like a scroll, / minutes linger and the cup is full." Peaceful death is something very important for us today, because pictures of the end can frighten us and therefore inevitably cast us into depression. And Averintsev's words are not some late interpretation whose comfort we may distrust because it is too modern, too young, and untested by time. No: the prophet himself says immediately after this, "say to those who are fearful of heart: do not fear; behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you" (Isa 35:4). We need only enter God's peace, now, while still on earth, and then say with the apostle in joy: "You are the same, and Your years will not end."
Our own fate after death is not what matters to us; we love the Lord so much that we dissolve our selfhood in Him. The main thing is that "You are the same, and Your years will not end"; the main thing is that You, beloved God, will not die the death of decay. And in You are all who have entered Your peace, and all whom we love so much.
2 In this and the two following chapters the apostle sub - joins an exhortation, answering each head of the preceding chapter.
2:1 Lest we should let them slip - As water out of a leaky vessel. So the Greek word properly signifies.
2:2 In giving the law, God spoke by angels; but in proclaiming the gospel, by his Son. Steadfast - Firm and valid. Every transgression - Commission of sin. Every disobedience - Omission of duty.
2:3 So great a salvation - A deliverance from so great wickedness and misery, into so great holiness and happiness.This was first spoken of (before he came it was not known) by Him who is the Lord - of angels as well as men.And was confirmed to us - Of this age, even every article of it.By them that had heard him - And had been themselves also both eye - witnesses and ministers of the word.
2:4 By signs and wonders - While he lived. And various miracles and distributions of the Holy Ghost - Miraculous gifts, distributed after his exaltation. According to his will - Not theirs who received them.
2:5 This verse contains a proof of the third; the greater the salvation is, and the more glorious the Lord whom we despise, the greater will be our punishment. God hath not subjected the world to come - That is, the dispensation of the Messiah; which being to succeed the Mosaic was usually styled by the Jews, the world to come, although it is still in great measure to come Whereof we now speak - Of which I am now speaking. In this last great dispensation the Son alone presides.
2:6 What is man - To the vast expanse of heaven, to the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained! This psalm seems to have been composed by David, in a clear, moonshiny, and starlight night, while he was contemplating the wonderful fabric of heaven; because in his magnificent description of its luminaries, he takes no notice of the sun, the most glorious of them all. The words here cited concerning dominion were doubtless in some sense applicable to Adam; although in their complete and highest sense, they belong to none but the second Adam. Or the son of man, that thou visitest him - The sense rises: we are mindful of him that is absent; but to visit, denotes the care of a present God. Psa 8:4.
2:7 Thou hast made him - Adam. A little lower than the angels - The Hebrew is, a little lower than (that is, next to) God. Such was man as he came out of the hands of his Creator: it seems, the highest of all created beings. But these words are also in a farther sense, as the apostle here shows, applicable to the Son of God. It should be remembered that the apostles constantly cited the Septuagint translation, very frequently without any variation.It was not their business, in writing to the Jews, who at that time had it in high esteem, to amend or alter this, which would of consequence have occasioned disputes without end.
2:8 Now this putting all things under him, implies that there is nothing that is not put under him. But it is plain, this is not done now, with regard to man in general.
2:9 It is done only with regard to Jesus, God - Man, who is now crowned with glory and honour - As a reward for his having suffered death. He was made a little lower than the angels - Who cannot either suffer or die. That by the grace of God, he might taste death - An expression denoting both the reality of his death, and the shortness of its continuance.For every man - That ever was or will be born into the world.