Hebrews 1:11

They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) And they all . . .—Both the earth and the heavens: see Isaiah 34:4, “The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll;” and Isaiah 51:6, “The earth shall wax old like a garment.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:4-14 Many Jews had a superstitious or idolatrous respect for angels, because they had received the law and other tidings of the Divine will by their ministry. They looked upon them as mediators between God and men, and some went so far as to pay them a kind of religious homage or worship. Thus it was necessary that the apostle should insist, not only on Christ's being the Creator of all things, and therefore of angels themselves, but as being the risen and exalted Messiah in human nature, to whom angels, authorities, and powers are made subject. To prove this, several passages are brought from the Old Testament. On comparing what God there says of the angels, with what he says to Christ, the inferiority of the angels to Christ plainly appears. Here is the office of the angels; they are God's ministers or servants, to do his pleasure. But, how much greater things are said of Christ by the Father! And let us own and honour him as God; for if he had not been God, he had never done the Mediator's work, and had never worn the Mediator's crown. It is declared how Christ was qualified for the office of Mediator, and how he was confirmed in it: he has the name Messiah from his being anointed. Only as Man he has his fellows, and as anointed with the Holy Spirit; but he is above all prophets, priests, and kings, that ever were employed in the service of God on earth. Another passage of Scripture, Ps 102:25-27, is recited, in which the Almighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ is declared, both in creating the world and in changing it. Christ will fold up this world as a garment, not to be abused any longer, not to be used as it has been. As a sovereign, when his garments of state are folded and put away, is a sovereign still, so our Lord, when he has laid aside the earth and heavens like a vesture, shall be still the same. Let us not then set our hearts upon that which is not what we take it to be, and will not be what it now is. Sin has made a great change in the world for the worse, and Christ will make a great change in it for the better. Let the thoughts of this make us watchful, diligent, and desirous of that better world. The Saviour has done much to make all men his friends, yet he has enemies. But they shall be made his footstool, by humble submission, or by utter destruction. Christ shall go on conquering and to conquer. The most exalted angels are but ministering spirits, mere servants of Christ, to execute his commands. The saints, at present, are heirs, not yet come into possession. The angels minister to them in opposing the malice and power of evil spirits, in protecting and keeping their bodies, instructing and comforting their souls, under Christ and the Holy Ghost. Angels shall gather all the saints together at the last day, when all whose hearts and hopes are set upon perishing treasures and fading glories, will be driven from Christ's presence into everlasting misery.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They shall perish - That is, the heavens and the earth. They shall pass away; or they shall be destroyed. Probably no more is meant by the phrase here, than that important changes will take place in them, or than that they will change their form. Still it is not possible to foresee what changes may yet take place in the heavenly bodies, or to say that the present universe may not at some period be destroyed, and be succeeded by another creation still more magnificent. He that created the universe by a word, can destroy it by a word and he that formed the present frame of nature can cause it to be succeeded by another not less wonderful and glorious. The Scriptures seem to hold out the idea that the present frame of the universe shall be destroyed; see 2 Peter 3:10-13; Matthew 24:35. "But thou remainest." Thou shalt not die or be destroyed. What a sublime thought! The idea is, that though the heavens and earth should suddenly disappear, or though they should gradually wear out and become extinct, yet there is one infinite being who remains unaffected and unchanged.

Nothing can reach or disturb him. All these changes shall take place under his direction, and by his command; see Revelation 20:11. Let us not be alarmed then at any revolution. Let us not fear though we should see the heavens rolled up as a scroll, and the stars falling from their places. God, the Creator and the Redeemer, presides over all. He is unchanged. He ever lives; and though the universe should pass away, it will be only at his bidding, and under his direction. "And they all shall wax old." Shall "grow" or become old. The word "wax" is an Old Saxon word, meaning to grow, or increase, or become. The heavens here are compared to a garment, meaning that as that grows old and decays, so it will be with the heavens and the earth. The language is evidently figurative; and yet who can tell how much literal truth there may be couched under it? Is it absurd to suppose that that sun which daily sends forth so many countless millions of beams of light over the universe, may in a course of ages become diminished in its splendor, and shine with feeble lustre? Can there be constant exhaustion, a constant burning like that, and yet no tendency to decay at some far distant period? Not unless the material for its splendor shall be supplied from the boundless resources of the Great Source of Light - God; and when he shall choose to withhold it, even that glorious sun must be dimmed of its splendor, and shine with enfeebled beams.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. They—The earth and the heavens in their present state and form "shall perish" (Heb 12:26, 27; 2Pe 3:13). "Perish" does not mean annihilation; just as it did not mean so in the case of "the world that being overflowed with water, perished" under Noah (2Pe 3:6). The covenant of the possession of the earth was renewed with Noah and his seed on the renovated earth. So it shall be after the perishing by fire (2Pe 3:12, 13).

remainest—through (so the Greek) all changes.

as … a garment—(Isa 51:6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They shall perish; the heavens themselves instanced in, as containing the most excellent part of the creation, (such as the Gentile philosophy esteemed incorruptible), are mutable, as by the various changes, not only in the airy part of it, but in the ethereal, doth appear: the glorious lights in it have their spots and rusts, as the sun itself, both increasing and diminishing upon them, and so as to their present, natural frame, are changeable, perishable, and dissolvable, Isaiah 51:6 Matthew 24:35.

But thou remainest; but the Son Jehovah is unchangeable, hath a stedfast being, such as never loseth its state, no term is set for the ending of him. His immutability proves his Deity.

Remainest is an expression of present time, denoting constant abiding. He was before, in, and after all ages immutable, Lamentations 5:19.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, Hebrews 13:8.

And they all shall wax old as doth a garment: the antiquation of a garment is a metaphor borrowed, to show the corruptibility of the heavens. A garment wears and decayeth with use in tract of time, it changeth its fashion, is another thing as to its matter and form: so will the heavens, as to their form and face, decay, they are gradually coming to an end as to what they are now, 2 Peter 3:7,10.

That which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away, Hebrews 8:13; so these heavens do.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They shall perish,.... That is, the heavens and the earth; not as to the substance of them, but as to the quality of them; the present form and fashion of them shall pass away; the curse will be removed from them, and they will be renewed and purified, but the substance of them will continue; otherwise there would be no place, either for the righteous or the wicked,

But thou remainest; without any change or alteration, neither in his natures, divine or human, as God or man, nor in his office as Mediator; as a priest, he has an unchangeable priesthood, and ever lives to make intercession; as a King, his kingdom is an everlasting one, and of it there will be no end; and as a prophet, he will be the everlasting light, of his people.

They all shall wax old as doth a garment; garments in time wax old, and lose their beauty and usefulness, unless when a miracle is wrought, as in the case of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Now the heavens, and the light thereof, are as a garment and a curtain, Psalm 104:2 and these, together with the earth, will in time come to their end of usefulness, in the present form of them; see Isaiah 51:6.

Geneva Study Bible

They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Hebrews 1:11. Αὐτοί] refers back not to earth and heaven, Hebrews 1:10, taken together (Kuinoel, Stuart, Bloomfield, Delitzsch, Kurtz), but, as is evident from the following πάντες, and in particular from ἑλίξεις, Hebrews 1:12, only to οἱ οὐρανοί.

ἀπολοῦνται] shall perish. Comp. Isaiah 34:4; Isaiah 51:6; Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21:1.

σὺ δὲ διαμένεις] but Thou abidest for evermore (throughout all duration of time, διά). On account of the environment of futures, and because the future is used here in the Hebrew, Bleek, after the example of Luther, Cornelius a Lapide, Peirce, Bengel, Wetstein, alii, accentuates: διαμενεῖς. So also the Vulgate (permanebis). Hardly in the sense of the author. For, since he employed only the LXX., not the Hebrew original, he surely took σὺ δὲ διαμ. as a parallel member to σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, Hebrews 1:12, consequently also construed the former as a present.

ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται] will grow old like a garment, which by long use is worn out and laid aside, to be replaced by a new and better one. Comp. Isaiah 50:9; Isaiah 51:6; Sir 14:17.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. They shall perish] Isaiah 34:4, &c.; 2 Peter 3:12; Revelation 21:1. remainest] The verb means “abidest through all times.”

as doth a garment] A common Scripture metaphor. Isaiah 50:9, &c.

Bengel's Gnomen

Hebrews 1:11. Αὐτοὶ, they) the earth and heaven.—ἀπολοῦνται, shall perish) There is the same word at Luke 5:37; Jam 1:11; 1 Peter 1:7; 2 Peter 3:6.

Hebrews 1:11

Vincent's Word Studies

They (αὐτοὶ)

The heavens: not heaven and earth.

Remainest (διαμένεις)

Note the present tense: not shalt remain. Permanency is the characteristic of God in the absolute and eternal present.