Hebrews 1:6f
‘God…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…when He had by Himself purged our sins…. You, Lord, in the beginning had laid the foundation of the Earth. And the Heavens are the works of Your hands. They shall perish…. They all shall become old…. They shall be changed. But You are the same, and Your years shall not fail!’ Hebrews 1:1-12.
Calvin comments: “God, Who is always like Himself, and Whose Word is unchanging — to us…, has given His Own Son…. When He says — ‘has spoken to us at the end of these days’ — He means that there is no further reason why we should be in doubt whether to expect any new revelation. It was not a part of the Word that Christ brought, but the last closing Word…. When He had given salvation to men in the world, He was received into heavenly glory — so that He might rule over all things…, taken to the very highest pinnacle of empire….
“‘You, Lord, in the beginning had laid the foundation of the Earth’…. Christ…is God everlasting, Creator of Heaven and Earth…. His being is eternal, free from all change…. He is removed from the order of all created things.
“What David says about the Heavens perishing, some explain away as a mere possible contingency — as though there was no firm statement. But what is the need for this forced explanation, when we know that all creatures are subject to vanity? To what purpose is this renewal which the Heavens also await with all expectancy, like that of those in travail — except that they are now falling to destruction?… They will (thereafter) share in this renewal, that Christ communicates!…
“The Kingdom of Christ seems to be on the verge of ruin. But this promise that Christ will never be dragged from His throne and that rather He will lay low all His enemies — banishes from us all fear….
“Whatever these enemies do, they will never prevail, because Christ’s place at the right hand of the Father is not temporary — but to the end of the world…. All those who do not submit to His rule, will be trodden down and trampled under His feet…. Christ’s Kingdom…will last for ever!”
Calvin also says in his Institutes I:13:7,11,26 & 16:4: “The Apostle…tell us that the worlds were created by the Son, and that He sustains all things by His mighty Word (Hebrew 1:2)…. Those qualities which in the Epistle to the Hebrews (1:6,10) are applied to the Son — are the brightest attributes of God.
“‘You, Lord, in the beginning had laid the foundation of the Earth!’… Christ…is the eternal God Who founded the Earth…. Hebrews (1:3)…, wishing to prove the divinity of Christ, says that He upholds ‘all things by the Word of His power.'”
The Heavens shall perish, but the eternal Lord remains!
