October 8, 2018

Hebrews 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things

Here’s a quick Roman Empire history factoid about the man who was ruler at the time Jesus was born: “He was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia. His maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesar’s will as his adopted son and heir” (Thank you Wikipedia). The next Emperor was Tiberius who was not Octavius’ biological son but step-son and appointed as heir after Augustus, the name Octavius used as Caesar, married his mother. The point of all this is that folks at the time the words above from Hebrews were written understood what it meant for someone to be “appointed heir of all things.” As people struggled to comprehend and articulate what it meant that Jesus was God and yet could pray to God his Father, heir was one of the analogies they found helpful. What might it mean to you that Jesus was the “Son, whom God appointed heir of all things?”