ppointed Heir." He
is more than the goal of a development. He is the Son of the living God,
and therefore the Heir of all the works and purposes of His Father. He
holds His position by right of sonship, and has it confirmed to Him as
the reward of filial service.

The word "Heir" is an allusion to the promise made to Abraham. The
reference, therefore, is not to the eternal relation between the Son and
God, not to any lordship which the Son acquires apart from His
assumption of humanity and atoning death. The idea conveyed by the word
"Heir" will come again to the surface, more than once, in the Epistle.
But everywhere the reference is to the Son's final glory as Redeemer. At
the same time, the act of appointing Him Heir may have taken place
before the world was. We must, accordingly, understand the revelation
here spoken of to mean more especially the manifestation of God in the
work of redemption. Of this work also Christ is the ultimate purpose. He
is the Heir, to Whom the promised inheritance originally and ultimately
belongs. It is this that befits Him to become the full and complete
Revealer of God. He is the answer to the question, Whither? in reference
to the entire range of redemptive thought and action.

Again, He, too, is the Creator. Many seek to discover the origin of all
things by analysis. They trace the more complex to the less complex, the
compound to its elements, and the higher developments of life to lower
types. But to the theologian the real difficulty does not lie here.
What matter _whence_, if we are still the same? We know what we are. We
_are_ men. We are capable of thinking, of sinning, of hating or loving
God. The problem is to account for these facts of our spirit. What is
the evolution of holiness? Whence came prayer, repentance, and faith?
But even these questions Christianity professes to answer. It answers
them by solving still harder problems than these. Do we ask who created
the human spirit? The Gospel tells us who can sanctify man's inmost
being. Do we seek to know who made conscience? The New Testament
proclaims One Who can purify conscience and forgive the sin. To create
is but a small matter to Him Who can save. Jesus Christ is that Saviour.
He, therefore, is that Creator. In being these things, He is the
complete and final revelation of God.

_Second_, previous revelations were given in divers manners. God used
many different means to reveal Himself, as if He found them one afte