By DR. JOHN OWEN, D.D.
“But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, the sceptre of thy Kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, wherefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Hebrews, chap. i, verses 8, 9).
It is Christ then, the Son, that is spoken to and denoted by that name Elohim, ‘O God,’ as being the true God by nature, though what is here affirmed of him be not as God, but as the king of his church and people; as in another place, God is said to redeem his church with his own blood.
Secondly. We may consider what is assigned to him, which is his kingdom; and that is described (1) by the insignia regalia, the royal ensigns of it, namely his throne and sceptre. (2) By its duration—it is for ever. (3) His manner of administration, it is with righteousness—his sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness. (4) His furniture or preparation for this administration—he loved righteousness and hated iniquity. (5) By an adjunct privilege—unction with the oil of gladness: Which (6) is exemplified by a comparison with others: it is so with him—above his fellows.
The first insigne regium mentioned is his throne, whereunto the attribute of perpetuity is annexed—it is ‘for ever.’ And this throne denotes the kingdom itself. A throne is the seat of a king in his kingdom, and is frequently used metonymically for the kingdom itself, and that applied unto God and man (see Dan. vii. 9; I Kings viii. 25). Angels indeed are called thrones (Col. i. 16); but that is either metaphorically only, or else in respect of some especial service allotted to them; as they are also called princes (Dan. x. 13), yet being indeed servants (Rev. xxii. 9; Heb. i. 14). These are nowhere said to have thrones; the kingdom is not theirs but the Son’s. And whereas our Lord Jesus Christ promiseth his apostles that they shall at the last day sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel, as it proves their participation with Christ in his kingly power, being made kings unto God (Rev. i. 5), and their interest in the kingdom which it is his pleasure to give them, so it proves not absolutely that the kingdom is theirs, but his on whose throne theirs do attend.
Neither doth the throne simply denote the kingdom of Christ, or his supreme rule and dominion; but the glory also of his kingdom, being on his throne, he is in the height of his glory. And thus because God manifests his glory in heaven, he calls that his throne, as the earth is his footstool (Isa. lxvi. 1). So that the throne of Christ is his glorious kingdom, elsewhere expressed by his sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Secondly. To this throne eternity is attributed; it is ‘for ever and ever.’ So is the throne of Christ said to be in opposition unto the frail mutable kingdoms of the earth. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth and for ever” (Isa. ix. 7). “His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. vii. 14; Micah iv. 7; Psa. lxxii. 7, 17; Psa. cxlv. 13). It shall neither decay of itself, nor fail through the opposition of its enemies; for he must reign until all his enemies are made his footstool (I Cor. xv. 24-27). Nor is it any impeachment of the perpetuity of the kingdom of Christ, that at the last day he shall deliver it up to God the Father” (I Cor. xv. 24), seeing that then shall be an end of all rule. It is enough that it continue until all the ends of rule be perfectly accomplished; that is, until all the enemies of it be subdued, and all the church be saved, and the righteousness, grace, and patience of God, be fully glorified; whereof afterwards.
Thirdly. The second insigne regium, is his sceptre. And this, though it sometimes also denotes the kingdom itself (Gen. xlix. 10; Numb. xxiv. 17; Isa. xiv. 5; Zech. x. 11): yet here it denotes the actual administration of rule, as is evident from the adjunct of uprightness annexed to it. And thus the sceptre denotes both the laws of the kingdom, and the efficacy of the government itself. So that which we call a righteous government, is here called a sceptre of uprightness.
Now the means whereby Christ carrieth on his kingdom, are his word and Spirit, with a subserviency of power in the works of his providence, to make way for the progress of his word to avenge its contempt. So the gospel is called, “The rod of his strength” (Psa. cx. 2) (see II Cor. x. 4-6). “He smites the earth with the rod of his mouth, and slays the wicked with the breath of his lips” (Isa. xi. 4). And these are attended with the sword of his power and providence (Psa. xiv. 3; Rev. xix. 15), or his rod (Psa. ii. 8), or sickle (Rev. xiv. 18). In these things consists the sceptre of Christ’s kingdom.
Fourthly. Concerning this sceptre it is affirmed, that it is a sceptre of uprightness. In the first sense it denoteth righteousness, in the latter mercy. According to the first sense, the following words, “Thou hast loved righteousness,” discover the habitual root of his actual righteous administration. According to the latter, there is a progress made in them to a farther qualification of the rule of Christ, or of Christ in his rule. But the former sense is rather to be embraced; the latter metaphor being more strained, and founded only in one instance that I remember in the Scripture, and that not taken from among the people of God, but strangers and oppressors (Esther v. 2).
The sceptre then of the kingdom of Christ is a sceptre of righteousness, because all the laws of his gospel are righteous, holy, just, full of benignity, and truth (Titus ii. 11, 12). And all his administration of grace, mercy, justice, rewards, and punishments, according to the rules, promises, and threats of it, in the conversion, pardon, sanctification, trials, afflictions, chastisements, and preservation of his elect; in his convincing, hardening, and destruction of his enemies; are all righteous, holy, unblameable, and good (Isa. xi. 4-6, xxxii. 1; Psa. cxlv. 17; Rev. xv. 3, 4, xvi. 5); and as such will they be gloriously manifested at the last day (II Thess. i. 10), though in this present world they are reproached and despised.
Fifthly. The habitual frame of the heart of Christ in his regal administrations—He loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity. This shows the absolute completeness of the righteousness of Christ’s kingdom, and of his righteousness in his kingdom. The laws of his rule are righteous, and his administrations are righteous, and they all proceed from an habitual love to righteousness, and hatred of iniquity in his own person. Among the governments of this world, oft-times the very laws are tyrannical, unjust, and oppressive; and if the laws are good and equal, yet oft-times their administration is unjust, partial, and wicked; or when men do abstain from such exorbitancies, yet frequently they do so upon the account of some self-interest and advantage, like Jehu, and not out of a constant, equal, unchangeable love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity; but all these are absolutely complete in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. For whereas the expression both in the Hebrew and the Greek seems to regard the time past, “thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity,” yet the constant present frame of the heart of Christ in his rule is denoted thereby.
Sixthly, The consequence of this righteous rule in Christ, is his anointing with the oil of gladness; wherein we may consider (1) The Author of the privilege conferred on him; that is, God, his God. (2) The privilege itself—unction with the oil of gladness. (3) The connection of the collation of this privilege with what went before; wherefore, or for which cause.
1.
For the Author of it, it is said to be God. The name God, in the first place denotes him absolutely who conferred this privilege on the Lord Christ, that is God; and in the second place, a reason is intimated of the collation itself, by an appropriation of God to be his God in a peculiar manner.
God is said to be the God of the Son, upon a threefold account: (1) In respect of his divine nature; as he is his Father, so his God, whence he is said to be God of God; as having his nature communicated unto him by virtue of his eternal generation (John i. 14). (2) In respect of his human nature, as he was made of a woman, made under the law, so God also was his God, as he is the God of all creatures (Ps. xvi. 2, xxii. 1). (3) In respect of his whole person, God and man, as he was designed by his Father to the work of mediation; in which sense he calls him his God and his Father (John xx. 17). And in this last sense is it, that God is here said to be his God; that is, his God in especial covenant, as he was designed and appointed to be the Head and King of his church. For therein did God the Father undertake to be with him, to stand by him, to carry him through with his work, and in the end to crown him with glory (See Isa. xlix. 1-11, l. 4-9).
2.
For the privilege itself, it is unction with the oil of gladness. There may be a double allusion in these words: (1) To the common use of oil and anointing, which was to exhilarate and make the countenance appear cheerful at feasts and public solemnities (Ps. civ. 15; Luke vii. 37, 38). (2) To the especial use of it in the unction of kings, priests, and prophets (Exod. xxx). That the ceremony was typical, is evident from Isa. lxi. 1, and it denoted the collation of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, whereby the person anointed was enabled for the discharge of the office he was called unto. And in this sense there is commonly assigned a threefold unction of Christ. (1) At his conception, when his human nature was sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Luke i. 35), and radically endowed with wisdom and grace in which he grew up (Luke ii. 40, 52). (2) At his baptism and entrance into his public ministry, when he was in an especial manner furnished with those gifts of the Spirit, which were needful for the discharge of his prophetical office (Matt. iii. 16; John i. 32, 33). (3) At his ascension, when he received of the Father the promise of the Spirit, to pour him forth upon his disciples (Acts ii. 33). Now, though I acknowledge the Lord Christ to have been thus anointed, and that the communication of the gifts and graces of the Spirit unto him in fullness, is called his unction; yet I cannot grant that any of them are here directly intended. But that which the apostle seems here to express with the Psalmist, is the glorious exaltation of Jesus Christ, when he was solemnly instated in his kingdom. That is that which is called the making of him both Lord and Christ (Acts ii. 36), when God raised him from the dead, and gave him glory (I Peter i. 21). He is called Christ, from the unction of the Spirit; and yet here, in his exaltation, he is said in an especial manner to be made Christ, that is, taken gloriously into the possession of all the offices and their full administration, whereunto he was anointed and fitted by the communication of the gifts and graces of the Spirit unto him. It is, I say, the joyful glorious unction of his exaltation, when he was signally made Lord and Christ, and declared to be the anointed one of God that is here intended (see Phil. ii. 9, 11), which also appears.
1.
From the adjunct of this unction—He is anointed with the oil of gladness; which denotes triumph and exaltation, freedom from trouble and distress. Whereas, after those antecedent communications of the Spirit unto the Lord Christ, he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and exposed to innumerable evils and troubles.
2.
The relation of this privilege granted to the Lord Christ unto what went before—He loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, doth plainly declare it. The Lord Christ’s love to righteousness and hatred to iniquity, proceeded from his unction with the graces and gifts of the Spirit; and yet they are plainly intimated here to go before this anointing with the oil of gladness, which is therefore mentioned as the consequent of his discharge of his office in this world, in like manner as his exaltation everywhere is (Phil. ii. 9, 11; Rom. xiv. 9). And if this anointing denote the first unction of Christ, then must he be supposed to have the love to righteousness mentioned from elsewhere, as antecedent thereunto, which is not so. Wherefore these words do declare at least a relation of congruency and conveniency unto an antecedent discharge of office in the Lord Christ, and are of the same import with God (Phil. ii. 9), and so can respect nothing but his glorious exaltation, which is thus expressed.
The last thing considerable in the words, is the prerogative of the Lord Christ in this privilege—He is anointed above his fellows. Now these fellows, companions, or associates of the Lord Christ, may be considered either generally as all those that partake with him in this unction, which are all believers, who are co-heirs with him, and thereby heirs of God (Rom. viii. 17), or more especially as those who were employed by God, in the service, building, and rule of his church, in their subordination unto him; such as were the prophets of old, and afterwards the apostles (Eph. ii. 20). In respect to both sorts, the Lord Christ is anointed with the oil of gladness above them; but the latter sort are especially intended, concerning whom the apostle gives an especial instance in Moses (chapter iii) affirming the Lord Christ in his work about the church, to be made partaker of more glory than he. In a word, he is incomprehensibly exalted above angels and men.
And this is the first testimony whereby the apostle confirms his assertion of the pre-eminence of the Lord Christ above angels, in that comparison which he makes between them.