There are several things about Jesus that demonstrate that He is God. One of those things is that He is eternal. The writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament begins his presentation of Jesus as superior to all previous revelations from God by comparing Jesus to angels. This is a very rich passage that needs more than one BLOG to cover, but I want to focus on one part of this comparison.
After writing that angels worship Jesus and are therefore of lesser importance than Jesus, he compares the fleetingness of angels existence to the unending existence of Jesus. In verse eight the writer states that the Psalmist addressed Jesus as God. Jesus’ throne is an eternal throne. It will never end.
He continues to contrast the angels’ fleeting existence with Jesus eternal one by stating that Jesus was there already when creation itself was made. The image of laying a foundation is used.
I am getting ready to build an addition to my house. The first thing that gets done is the foundation. I am here before the foundation is to be built. I am planning it already. I will get an architect, a concrete contractor and get the proper permits from the county. Then I will lay the foundation. I exist before my new foundation.
When the first parts of creation were being put into place, Jesus was there already. He is the One who made them. And He won’t wear out like a garment. He will always be around. Creation itself is talked about as the temporary garment that will fall apart with use and get rolled up, but Jesus stays the same. His years never come to an end.
Someone might well say that this is poetry and therefore we can’t draw truths like this from the text. But I would argue that the writer was trying to convey an actual meaningful argument using these words. The flow and meaning of the text clearly support Jesus’ eternity. Poetry has meaning, and in this case, as in many cases, a clear meaning. The writer doubles back repeatedly to emphasize this point, so even though it is poetry, his point comes through.
There are many passages of Old Testament Scripture that the writer could have chosen to further his argument that Jesus is greater than the angels because He is eternal, but he chose these passages.
And these are not the only passages of Scripture that state that Jesus is eternal. Here are several more that can be examined. They each show in various ways the extent of Jesus’ existence. John 1:15, 8:58, 17:5, 24, Col 1:15, John 1:1, 1 John 1:1, Micah 5:2, Isa 9:6, Rev 1:11, John 5:26. These are just a few.
The Arnold Journey 