Angels

Better Than Angels

The next 10 verses speak about Jesus being better than the angels

We will look at this but first we need a background

Just like last week with the day of atonement Jesus sacrifice was better than the the high Priest going into the Holy of Holies every year

Jesus once and for all made the sacrifice of his own body to atone us from our sins

then He sat down at the right hand of the Father having completed Hid work

Read V 1-3 The author is laying down a foundation of the superiority of Jesus

V 4

now he will do the same with the angels

how Jesus is superior to them

but we are going to look at the angels

who are they?

what do they do?

where do they come from?

Table talk magazine

by Dustin W. Benge

ANGELS AND DEMONS, CREATION, & WORSHIP

On September 21, 1994, Touched by an Angel premiered on CBS. It went on to run for 211 episodes over nine seasons. The series featured two “angels” named Monica and Tess. Throughout the series, Monica is tasked with conveying guidance and messages from “God” to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives. Eventually, Monica and Tess are joined by another angel named Andrew, the angel of death, who makes appearances in sickness, tragic events, or the moment he seemingly ushers individuals into heaven. The series became one of CBS’s highest-rated series, with more than 121 million viewers, and it was nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy awards and three Golden Globe awards. This series revealed that the human fascination with angels in our present day has not waned since the early history of the church. In fact, angels have been depicted throughout the history of art, music, and culture.

There is a Christmas movie that Clarance is an angel in training who is earning his wings

we also want to make the dead into angels in Heaven

angels are not baby faced cherubs with wings

Ok you with the bow go and kill 160,000 Assyrians

Angel Facts

the angels are a created being

and there are a finite number of them

Colossians 1:16 LSB

For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

they were created and part of their duties are to worship God

Nehemiah 9:6 LSB

“You alone are Yahweh. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down to You.

Isaiah 6:1–3 LSB

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.”

Seraphim have 6 wings and are in the throne room of God

and in Revelation we have an unknowable amount of angels

Revelation 5:11 LSB

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,

Angels make announcements

They assume human form to do this

the angels came to the shepherds

came to Mary and Joseph

the angels came to Daniel

Zechariah

Came to the tomb

they came to minister to Jesus in the wilderness at the end of his fast

came to minister to Jesus in the garden at the end of his prayer

there is also the death angel

the death angel who went through Egypt

went through the Assyrian camp

went through Israel the time when David sinned and counted the army

The do not reproduce

Jesus speaks of them

Matthew 22:30 LSB

“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Angels are not to be worshipped

Revelation 19:10 LSB

Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the witness of Jesus. Worship God! For the witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

what is the Angel of the Lord /Yahweh in the Old Testament?

Judges 6 the Angel of the Lord came to Gideon and they have a conversation

fight Midian

Judges 6:16 LSB

But Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as one man.”

The Angel of Yahweh is God the Son

WE are in time on this planet

The angels are in the spirit world

they are outside of time but God has duties for them in our realm

angels have the ability to decide wether to follow the Father or not

Lucifer was at one time the top angel before he fell and took 1/3 with him

Now we have refreshed ourselves on angels

and humanity's fascination to them

Why is the author of Hebrews putting in so much time into them?

The Worship of Angels

During the Time between the Testaments

in what is called the silent years people started to have a intense fascination with Angels

literature was written on the subject

a lot like today

their thoughts needed to be recalibrated to think about the superiority of Jesus

They need to know that Jesus is not an angel

the Mormons today think that Jesus and Satan are brothers

JWs think that Jesus is an angel

most Americans think that we turn into angels when we die

Better Than the Angels

Hebrews 1:4 LSB

having become so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

Having become denotes that at one time he was lower than ‘

Philippians 2:6–8 LSB

who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

this is where he became lower than BUT

Philippians 2:9–11 LSB

Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Lord means ruler, sovereign. Jesus is the now ruler of the universe

this name above all names is what The Father has given to the Son

Jesus is not a created being He is the creator

Jesus is superior to the angels/ fallen angels, satan

angels are God’s servants to aid His people on this earth

V 14

be thankful for angels but do not think they are to be worshipped