Christ is Superior to Angels Pt. 2
Notes
Transcript
introduction
We are continuing our lesson in Hebrews and picking up where we left off last week. The theme of this chapter is the superiority of Christ, specifically, that he is superior to the angels.
Just a recap of where we are so far. The readers of this letter are of a Jewish background and the unknown author is addressing Christ and his divinity through the use of OT scriptures.
The theme of the OT and the NT is Christ.
Matt. 5:17
Luke 24:27
Luke 24:44
That concerns the OT scriptures in it’s application to Jesus.
John 20:31
He is also the theme of the NT.
If Christ is the meaning of the OT, then when he arrives, he closes the meaning of the OT. He is the arrival of all that was spoken about and the fulfillment of who was to come. The meaning of the OT, to the jews, began to become confusing because there was nothing to apply it to. The confusion was gone when he arrived.
2 Cor. 3:14
There will never be a way to properly interpret the OT without seeing it through the fulfillment and the person of Christ.
Last week we addressed that Christ had a greater title than the angels in verses 5 and 6. He is called the son. What angel became the son? Which angel did God become their father and he his son? The answer is none. No angel has ever been called the son.
Then we said that his worship makes him superior.
Psalm 97:7
The angels worship him now but they don’t see him in his full glory yet. Remember we read Revelation 5 concerning Jesus opening the seal and then moving towards his second coming. At that point the angels will have a clear understanding of his awesomeness and worship utterly and fully. So he deserves the worship of angels.
“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.
He told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.
All who serve carved images,
those who boast in worthless idols, will be put to shame.
All the gods must worship him.
His nature make Him superior
His nature make Him superior
So, his title is better, and his worship shows he’s better but now we see he is superior because of his nature.
In this verse, we see the nature of the angels. Who makes the angels? According to this, Christ does. And, in order, if Christ creates the angels then he is superior or better than the angels.
Jesus made the universe, the ages and everything in it (this was in verse 2). He also made the angels. What kind of pronoun is used here for His? It’s a possessive pronoun, they are his angels. He makes his own angels. This is from Psalm 104:4. Another example of the OT to speak towards Jesus.
Why angels referred to as winds? Could it be because they are invisible, powerful, rapid movement? They are also called flames of fire. Why is this?
Whenever you hear about a flame of fire, it usually is in connection to divine judgement. Look at Genesis 19:13-15.
Here, these angels were sent to destroy Sodom. What was Lot’s wife warned not to do?
These angels brought down fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah. There are judgement angels. in the NT there are two verses that address them too.
Matthew 13:41-42.
These creatures are the winds and the fiery flames, they worship Christ and are created by him and are his. They are created servants, ministers who do operate at God’s and Christ’s direction.
What is the difference between Christ’s nature and the nature of angels? verse 8.
Hebrews 1:8
The difference is that Christ is the eternal God.
Alot of people say that Jesus was just a man, or he was an angel, or a prophet, or a lesser god, an inferior god. These people are liars and bring a curse on themselves. This verse shows us that God, the father, confirms that Jesus Christ, the son, is God. The undeniable proof of Jesus’ deity.
The Jews of that time were told this but they denied it.
John 5:18
He also told the people he was god.
John 10:30
Now going back to our text, he has a scepter which means he rules eternally. But in verse 9 he moves back to the incarnate sonship and sees Jesus incarnate.
Hebrews 1:9
This shows his actions but also his motives. He loves righteousness and hates lawlessness.
Verses 8-9 address his deity, his exalted position, kingship, the excellence of his rule, the perfection of his incarnate character, his willing submission to God in Sonship, his coronation and his preeminence.
And about the angels he says:
He makes his angels winds,
and his servants a fiery flame,
and making the winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the Lord, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness. They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
but to the Son:
Your throne, God,
is forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.
This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
I and the Father are one.”
You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness;
this is why God, your God,
has anointed you
with the oil of joy
beyond your companions.
His eternity makes Him superior
His eternity makes Him superior
We see some of this in verse 8.
This is quoted from Psalm 102:25-27 to show that Christ is better bc he is the eternal creator and will exist eternally.
Hebrews 1:10
What this says is that if he, Christ, was in the beginning to do it, he must have been before the beginning, which makes Jesus without beginning.
John 1:1
If the word, Jesus, was in the beginning, he laid the foundation of the earth and everything on it, then he populated it as well. If he created those things, then he surely created angels as well, which substantiated verse 7.
Hebrews 1:11
What will perish? The heavens and the earth. Peter talks about this.
Hebrews 1:11-12
They are going to perish but you remain. This is His eternal presence.
We need to remember that Jesus is no creature, he is eternal. He is immutable, he never changes. He is the same throughout all time. But this is saying that the permanent things that we see from day to day will be folded up and removed. Things will change but he will remain the same.
He fold or roll everything up, both the earth, but also the heavens.
Revelation 6:14
Creation comes and then it goes. Revelation talks about how this will take place. This is chapter 8:7-12
When Hebrews 1:11 says everything will perish, that’s exactly what it means.
Man comes and goes, worlds come and go, angels are subject to decay (the fall), but Christ never changes or alters. Thus he is superior to angels in title, in worship, in nature and in eternity. Finally he is superior in destiny.
but to the Son:
Your throne, God,
is forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.
Long ago you established the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you will endure;
all of them will wear out like clothing.
You will change them like a garment,
and they will pass away.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.
And:
In the beginning, Lord,
you established the earth,
and the heavens are the works of your hands;
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
they will perish, but you remain.
They will all wear out like clothing;
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.
they will perish, but you remain.
They will all wear out like clothing;
you will roll them up like a cloak,
and they will be changed like clothing.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.
the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
His destiny makes Him superior.
His destiny makes Him superior.
Now to which of the angels has he ever said:
Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool?
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?
Here is the last OT quote.
Psalm 110:1
This addresses His destiny and then the angels destiny.
These are rhetorical questions. What angel has these things ever been said? None.
The destiny of Christ is that everything in the universe is going to be subject to him.
Philippians 2:9-11
Jesus Christ, in God’s plan, is destined to be the ruler of the universe and everything that inhabits it.
1 Corinthians 15:23-26
1 Corinthians 15:28
When are these things going to happen? At his second coming.
Revelation 19:15
Revelation 19:16
His destiny is to reign eternally. Look again at verse 13 of Hebrews. It says sit. Nowhere in scripture do you see an angel sit. Their work is never done.
Jesus reigns, that’s his destiny. The angels will serve and minister to those who are the heirs of salvation. Who is that? Believers.
So, some may read all this and say “so what?” The writer, I think, knew we would say that and then he answers it in the first few verses of Chapter 2.
Hebrews 2:1-3
If God expected a reaction to the law that came through angels, what reaction do you think he will expect from you when it came from the Son himself?
Now to which of the angels has he ever said:
Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool?
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve those who are going to inherit salvation?
This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
For this reason God highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death.
When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty.
And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.