"Thou, Lord, insofar as the beginning is concerned, hast established the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest; and they all shall become old as a garment, and as a cloak shall Thou fold them up, and as a garment shalt Thou change them, but Thou art the same and Thy years shall not come to an end" (Hebrews 1:10-12, Author's translation).

Christ existed with God before time began, in the eternal infinite. The word, "beginning," is a time word. It is relevant to the human realm--the space-time continuum. When we have been at last united with God, we ourselves will no longer be prisoners of time and space. The very first word of the Bible draws us into this temporal mode--Bereshith--"In beginning." John picks this up in his gospel, in the first phrase of the book, and identifies Christ with the Eternal Creator and the beginning of time--"In beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word" (John 1:1) (Authors translation). Then John established Jesus as the incarnation of Christ, the Word. Later, Jesus--the Word made flesh--would die in the flesh, and rise again to become forever a part of the Eternal Christ--the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Thus the Christ of Hebrews is the God of the Universe--eternal, changeless, the "Creator of the ends of the earth."

"Thou hast established the foundation of the earth." The Godhead--Father, Son, Spirit--brought about the beginning of time and matter. The Godhead existed before time and matter. Genesis begins with the word, "beginning." Prior to that time there was no time sequence. In the issue of origins, something had to exist as the first cause of existence. It would seem more logical to assume an eternal spirit deity, than to assume an eternal atom. The Bible begins with "beginning." Prior to that moment, there is no relevance for space-time creatures. To attempt to discuss what went before is as futile as to discuss life in a fourth dimension. There can never be any verification--only speculation.

At the point in time called "beginning," Christ was the effective agent of the Godhead in establishing the heavens with its endless reaches of galaxies and celestial bodies, into which He set the earth--the special habitat of the wondrous creatures who bear His image. Is it too much to believe that He who established the heavens and the earth can also establish our lives and give us an eternal footing? Whatever the insecurities of the temporal, transient world, our spirits are eternally established with the Creator of the ends of the earth.

The changelessness of Christ is set over against the transiency of the space-time realm. But this passage is not to be taken as a literal prophecy of coming events. It is a rhetorical device in a poetic setting to emphasize the permanence of God's eternal realm. It is from Psalm 102. David is lamenting his soul-searing afflictions--"For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten and withered like the grass; so that I forget to eat my bread... My days are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like the grass" (Psalm 102:3,4,11).

These are all figures of speech. They are a form of poetic license called "hyperbole"--a legitimate form of exaggeration. At the end of the Psalm, David speaks of the contrast between the permanence of God and the transiency of earthly phenomena. The passage is not to be taken as a prophetic word from God, concerning what he is going to do when he comes, but rather a way David chose of emphasizing the point that even if the heavens and the earth would pass away, God remains everlastingly the foundation and security of all who trust in Him. This paean of praise raised to God by David, is here ascribed to Christ--King of Kings; Lord of Lords; Ageless Creator of the heavens and the earth.

PUT YOUR TRUST IN HIM. HE MADE THE UNIVERSE; HE CAN HANDLE YOUR LIFE.

David Morsey

September 1985

www.harvestermission.org