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Hebrews 1:2 (KJV) says about the Son of God:

[God] hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

So God (the Father I suppose) has appointed his Son (Jesus) as heir of all things.

How is this possible though, when Jesus is fully God, as the OT says about God in 1 Chronicles 29:11 (KJV):

Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.

How can God the Son be appointed heir of „all things“ if “all that is in the heaven and in the earth“ belongs to Him already? How can God the Son be exalted if God is already „exalted as head above all“?

Does 1 Chronicles 29:11 speak about God the Father or about the triune God? If it’s speaking about God the Father only, does that mean that God the Son is below God the Father in authority, power and „wealth“ so that God the Father could appoint Him heir? If so, why wasn’t Jesus already appointed heir before „these last days“?

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  • When He came to save us, He emptied Himself. In the same way He needed to have His original glory returned (John 17:5), He would have the original authority returned. Commented May 9 at 17:03
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    So through redemption everything belongs to the Father again? Did God repay his own debt? I don’t think so - the dept was caused by Satan, Adam and Eve on Humanity towards the creator. Humans became indebted to Him. God never ceased to be owner. Out of Love He paid our debt through His Son. Returning Glory is getting something back - getting something back is not the same than inheritance- inheritance always means receiving something by testament/covenant that you never owned before.
    – Js Witness
    Commented May 10 at 6:02

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Christ is "heir of all things", but he has not yet inherited all things.

Currently, it is Satan that rules this world (as proclaimed every day in the news headlines):

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
John 12:31

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, …
2 Corinthians 4:4

During the Temptation, Satan offered to share his power with Jesus:

And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Luke 4:3–8

But while Jesus rebuked Satan for tempting him, he didn't in any way deny Satan's claim of being able deliver this power.

God has not yet claimed "all things". That will happen when Christ returns:

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Revelation 11:15

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  • where does the idea that 'Christ is "heir of all things", but he has not yet inherited all things' come from? Could you cite that (extra-biblically)?
    – Peter Turner
    Commented May 9 at 19:22
  • @PeterTurner. Biblically, Hebrews 1:2 says "heir of all things" and Revelation 11:15 says "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ". So, unless one believes that Revelation 11:15 describes something that occurred before Hebrews 1:2 was written, he has obviously not yet inherited the Kingdom, Commented May 9 at 20:39
  • As for "extra-biblically", I'm not sure what you are asking for. A quick search for “Jesus OR christ "not yet inherited" kingdom” lists this "Bible Bulletin Board" page first: Christ Is Appointed Heir Of All Things, which says "He has not inherited everything at this present time. He has not yet inherited all nations, and all humanity. This will not be fulfilled until a future date, when Christ sets up His 1000 year earthly kingdom". Commented May 9 at 20:39
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    But that would mean that 1 Chronicles 29:11 is wrong?
    – Js Witness
    Commented May 10 at 5:20
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The writer of the Book of Hebrews explains the "superiority" of the Son in various ways to show us why He is heir of all things. This does not "preclude" Him from already being the heir, which He is. The following is a summary of each verse.

Vs2, "He appointed the Son the heir of all things, through whom He made the world. Vs3, The Son is the radiance of His Father's glory and the exact representation of His Father's nature. (Please give me an example of a son that does not share the exact same nature as its father?)

VS4, "having become much better than the angels. (So how can Jesus be Michael the archangel?) Vs5, The words of this verse are rhetorical, "For to which of the angels did He/the Father ever say "Thou are My Son?" None of the angels.

Vs6, says the angels are suppose to worship the Son. Vs8, The Father calls the Son God. Vs10, the Father credits the Son as the creator.

Getting back to the "heir" subject, (and this is very important, the parable of the landowner and his son). Matthew 21:37-38, "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying they will respect my son. Vs38, But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, "This is the HEIR; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance." In short, Jesus Christ was already the heir.

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If the eternal Son of God had remained in heaven (as the Word of God, who is God, and who made everything that was made John 1:1-3), the matter of inheritance would never have arisen. It only arose because a usurper arose, intent on wresting away from God control over his creation. He involved heavenly creatures (like himself) in the attempted coup, so it wasn't just the material creation that was involved.

The entire material creation of God started to become contaminated with the sin introduced ("All creation groans..." Romans 8:22). As God is too pure to look upon sin, had not God started to enact his plan of redemption which was formed before any creation started, all of that material creation would have been lost. The coup would have succeeded. Evil would have corrupted and ruined it all. But we know that God's plan of redemption was mentioned in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). At just the right time, while we were helpless, human nature was added to the Son of God, who retained his divine nature, and entered our stricken world as Jesus. Trinitarians speak of that as "the incarnation".

That is why Jesus was able to say he saw Satan fall like lightning at a certain time (Luke 10:18). Heaven was cleansed of satanic, demonic beings. God remained sovereignly in control, and had never at any time relinquished his sole rights to creation. Everything the evil one does as "god of this world" is deception, and he knows his time is short. He knows what awaits him and his hordes when Christ the King suddenly returns in glory to usher in the Day of Resurrection and Judgment.

That is when "a new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" shall replace the present corrupted set-up (Isaiah 65:17 cf. 2 Peter 3:10-13).

This preamble is necessary to show why the Son of God was promised to become heir of all things. He had to lower himself, to leave his glory in heaven and become a servant on Earth. Then, having done the will of the Father, return to the glory he once had and the promise then be fulfilled. That is why he prayed the following things before entering Gethsemane:

"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was... Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." John 17:5 & 24 A.V.

A return to that glory had been promised the Son, he agreed to be sent into the world in full faith that the Father would keep that promise, and Hebrews 1:2 confirms all that. But if the plan of redemption had not been formed prior to any creating starting, there could have been no letter to the Hebrews telling us that, nor the gospel of John with those bits quoted here, nor any other books of the New Testament, nor any books of the Old Testament, for creation would have been usurped; wrested away from God by deceit. But what kind of a god would not have foreseen that and prepared for the legal condemnation of the illegal would-be-usurper? God is God, and knows all things, and will yet transform all creation to glory untarnished - "a new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will dwell".

The eternal Father and the eternal Son and the eternal Spirit are bound up together from the planning of, and the execution of, this turning back to initial pure glory and sinlessness, which is what Hebrews 1:2 hints at, enlarging on this theme before the chapter ends:

"And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" Hebrews 1:10-13 A.V. bold emphasis mine.

1 Chronicles 29:11 is clearly addressed by king David to "the Lord God of Israel". Verse 10 states that. Only those confused into wrongly thinking that the term "God the Son" means a second god, distinct from the Lord God of Israel, would ask the questions posted in the last paragraph here. The totality of God is involved in total creation, and the totality of the Son is involved in total creation, which is why John 1:1-3 was invoked in the opening paragraph of this answer.

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  • Did God repay his own debt? I don’t think so - the dept was caused by Satan, Adam and Eve on Humanity towards the creator. Humans became indebted to Him. God never ceased to be owner. Out of Love He paid our debt through His Son. Returning Glory is getting something back - getting something back is not the same than inheritance- inheritance always means receiving something by testament/covenant that you never owned before. Your last sentence/statement would prove 1 Chronicles 29:11 is wrong if it were true. If the Son is totally God, He can't inherit anything because He has everything!
    – Js Witness
    Commented Jul 16 at 15:24
  • @JsWitness I could weep when I see how unable you are to grasp the significance of who it was who lowered himself, emptying himself of his glory, coming as a servant to bear the punishment for our sins that we deserve. It was God in Christ doing for us what we could never do for ourselves to ensure righteous judgment was dispensed at Golgotha. God's wrath was born by the sinless one, when we should all, individually suffer that. If Christ had not bern God incarnate, he would not have the magnitude necessary to paying such a debt. Nobody can grasp this without God revealing just who the Son is
    – Anne
    Commented Jul 16 at 15:49
  • He left all that he had in the glory. He put faith in the Father’s promises that he would be restored to glory. And he was, being given the name above every name – not every ‘other’ name as you read in your translation. But it’s hopeless trying to explain this to you for as long as you are determined that your leaders are the only ones on the face of the Earth whom God approves of, and is ‘speaking’ through. Believe their every word if you like, but we will all have to answer for ourselves on that day of Judgment before the throne of the glorified Christ when everything hidden will be revealed
    – Anne
    Commented Jul 16 at 16:04
  • I wish you would be as correct as you are passionate about the matter. If you think I downplay Jesus’ role, or His immense importance, or both God the Father’s or His Son’s enormous sacrifice and love, I’m telling you, you misunderstand. I firmly believe there is greater love in the version that I think the Bible truly teaches, than the trinitarian understanding (as far as I can imagine) suggests. By sacrificing His only begotten Son, God gave showed more love for Humanity than if He would have sacrificed Himself.
    – Js Witness
    Commented Jul 16 at 20:16
  • And please believe me, I would not have become a JW if I wouldn’t have checked beforehand, and wouldn’t have had a series of what I can’t call other than epiphanies and fought against accepting these “minority views” in prayer. I didn’t want it to be true and had many inner fights - I would have naturally chosen another life, not being part of a religion that is mostly looked down upon. But I sincerely believe I am where God wants me to be - he drew me here, and I’m more convinced than ever that He led me into the truth.
    – Js Witness
    Commented Jul 16 at 20:27

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