Better Than the Angels--Part 2

Better Than the Angels—Part 2 Spring Valley Mennonite; August 25, 2019; Hebrews 1:7-14 This morning we are continuing our study in the first chapter of the Book of Hebrews. We remember the overall purpose of this letter is to assist the early believers in making the transition from the practices of Judaism to Christianity. Amid the difficulties caused by unconverted family, Jewish society, and Roman persecution, the temptation to revert to Judaism was strong. A convincing argument for the overwhelming superiority of Christ and His New Covenant would keep these believers on the right track and advancing in their spiritual growth. In our culture today we are not tempted to revert to Judaistic practices, but we too are allured by many things from our humanistic culture which can tend to draw us away from the pure truth of God’s Word. Sometimes we find ourselves believing what the culture says we should believe rather than the absolute truth from Scripture. There are very clear and valuable applications to 21st century believers from our study in Hebrews. The main application to be made is that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man and He is far superior to anything else, and worthy of our complete confidence, worship and devotion. We continue in the first chapter of Hebrews which speaks of the superiority of Jesus to the angels. (READ V. 7) The author is pointing out that: I. ANGELS ARE ONLY GOD’S SERVANTS AND MINISTERS The quote would be familiar to those from a Jewish background. One popular Jewish belief was that individual powerful angels controlled each aspect of the weather, like the wind, rain, hail, snow, and so forth. This verse from Psalm 104 compares the angels to wind and lightning, clearly natural and created phenomenon which God controls. Likewise, Angels are created beings who are ministers on His behalf. The passage goes on to contrast these mere messengers of God to the exalted eternal Messiah who will inherit an eternal throne. But let’s take a moment to look at this verse and what it says about angels. First, it demonstrates how the Bible interprets itself. Reading Psalm 104 by itself would not give you the fuller meaning that God is speaking of angels as Hebrews 1:7 does. The Bible is a very good commentary on itself! Secondly, it points out that God uses natural phenomenon like the wind and lightning to accomplish His will. At the very least natural disasters serve to demonstrate man’s weakness and vulnerability, and to humble our pride; at the most, God uses the forces of nature to judge wickedness. This certainly will be true in the last days with the scroll judgments of Revelation. A third observation is clearly that angels are servants of God, subordinate to Him. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to clear up some misconceptions about angels. First, angels are real and are very numerous. Some would believe angels are imaginary. Second, angels and humans are always separate. We do not become angels in heaven. Angels may appear as humans, but they never become humans permanently, contrary to popular mythology. They are not just plump babies with harps. Third, angels are not all-powerful and all-knowing, although they can be majestic and awe-inspiring when they appear. Their understanding of the redemption of man is a mystery to them. Fourth, angels don’t just float around heaven aimlessly; they are created to worship and serve God. And fifthly (this might be quite surprising and not really of great importance, but something I find interesting,) there is no clear scriptural evidence that teaches that angels ever sing! We read of them speaking or loudly proclaiming their praise, but we cannot claim with complete confidence that they ever sing. It is possible that only humans are given the gift of music to praise God! We must be careful to let Scripture rather than hymns or popular—even Christian--culture determine our theology. Now, angels may sing, but it cannot be proven conclusively from scripture. Even Job 38:7, where God asks Job where he was at creation, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” is not conclusive. The Hebrew word translated “sang” doesn’t always denote music. It can also be translated as “joyfully shouted,” “resoundingly cried,” or “rejoiced.” In Revelation 5 it is the Four Living Creatures alone which join the 24 elders in singing praise to the Lamb who breaks the seals. Do all the angels join in this singing? Perhaps, but the verse really is silent. That probably is more time to spend on whether angels sing or not, but the principle is that we should not add to scripture any embellishments as did Jewish tradition. Continuing in the text, the next Old Testament quote is from Psalm 45:6-7 (READ vv. 8-9) This proves: II. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH, GOD IN FLESH, WHO WILL REIGN OVER AN ETERNAL KINGDOM By contrast to angels who are servants, Jesus is the Messiah who will inherit an eternal throne and eternal kingdom. The Father, who is speaking, addresses the Messiah as God. There could not be a clearer testimony of Jesus’ Deity than these words! The Messiah is said to hold the scepter of righteousness by which He will rule His eternal kingdom. Verse 9 speaks of Jesus’ time on earth where He lived a sinless life, being a friend of sinners, but always condemning sin and wickedness, most pointedly among the Jewish leaders. Because of His sinless life, ONLY JESUS could be the Lamb of God Who was worthy of taking away the sin of the world. He was the anointed one who, like King David, was anointed above all his brothers, and He proved by a sinless life that He deserved to receive the Devine anointing above all others. There have been and will be many who claim to be God’s emissary, having received some sort of special “anointing” from God: Mohammed comes to mind, as does Joseph Smith of the Mormons or Judge Rutherford of the Jehovah’s Witness. Wikipedia, perhaps not the most trustworthy of sources, lists 67 different religious leaders who over the years have had a significant following as they claimed to be the Messiah. But only Jesus of Nazareth made the claim to be God and rose from the dead to prove His deity. Above all others, Jesus is the anointed one, the Messiah. None of the angels even remotely approached any such status. They are servants; He is God. III. JESUS IS IDENTIFIED AS THE CREATOR The author continues to press his argument on the superiority of Jesus over angels with a conclusive statement that Jesus, the Second member of the Trinity is the creator of heaven and earth. (Read vv. 10). God the Father is the Architect of Creation, Jesus is the builder of the earth and universe and all created things—including angels. The force of this statement is that the Creator is greater than any part of His creation, including the angels. The created universe has a deadline upon it, it will perish in contrast to its Creator Who is eternal. (Read v. 11-12) This creation, the earth and heavens will perish, but the son is eternal. I have a habit of keeping things, even beyond their point of usefulness. I have three drawers full of T-shirts, many of them decades old. Some of them have nostalgic value, and there is always the need for a shirt to paint in, but some are worn out and need to be trashed. Like outdated and worn out clothing, the Universe is aging, and soon will come to the point of needing to be changed. “Why?” You ask? The present universe is negatively affected by sin. Like an old soiled, worn-out and stinking garment it needs to be changed. Romans 8:20–21 “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Charles Ryrie explains, “After Adam sinned, God was obliged to subject the creation to futility so that man in his sinful state might retain some measure of dominion over creation. Nature was involved for evil in man’s fall; she will be emancipated when man receives the adoption as sons.” This adoption will be completed at the Resurrection of the body. The new heavens and new earth will come some time later, but it will come as 2 Peter 10-13 foretells: 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. In contrast to the temporary nature of this world, the Lord Jesus is eternal. This certainly could not be said of the angels. IV. JESUS IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE FATHER, WHILE ANGELS ARE ACTIVELY BEING SENT OUT TO SERVE THE ELECT Read v. 13-14. This quote from Psalm 110 has always been considered as a Messianic Psalm which speaks of the exaltation of the Messiah to rule over all the Kings and Kingdoms of the world. Just before Jesus ascended back into heaven, his disciples asked Him, as recorded in Acts 1:6-8: 6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Jesus is stating that the Kingdom will eventually come, but first the gospel must accomplish its work throughout the whole world. The exaltation of Jesus over all His enemies (they will be subjected under His feet) will happen at His Second Advent at the conclusion of the Tribulation Period. Jesus then returns to earth as the Conquering King. All His enemies, those who have rejected His offer of forgiveness of their sins, will perish at the judgments surrounding the battle of Armageddon. Until His return, the Lord Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the time when the Father says “Now”. Why does the Lord delay? 2 Peter 3:9 gives us the answer: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” Notice that while Jesus sits, waiting for the time the book of His inheritance will be placed in His hands, the angels are active in serving. The angels serve God and do His bidding. They not only observe God working, but actively participate in administering judgment and His redemptive work. They were especially active during the ministry of Jesus on earth, from His incarnation to His resurrection, and continue to support the ministry of believers and the church. Verse 14 tells us that God sends out angels to “render service” for believers. In what manner is this service experienced? The two main ways angels serve us is in the areas of protection and provision. Perhaps you can remember times where you were in great danger, but in some miraculous manner were protected. I remember traveling with my family on an icy road, following a car pulling a large trailer. As the driver increased his speed, the trailer began weaving back and forth, and suddenly turned sideways in front of our car. The only way I can explain how we avoided hitting the trailer is that God intervened, enabling me to swerve around him. Was that an angel moving that car and trailer out of my way? Perhaps. I read the following account given by one of my professors in Seminary, “Regarding accounts of angelic protection, Dr. Kenneth Gangel gives the following account which is similar to others I have heard about, especially with missionaries: A veteran missionary friend of mine (now retired) tells the story about a woman missionary alone on a compound in northern Africa during a riot by one of the local tribes. She hid in a closet and prayed as warriors advanced along the dusty road toward the houses where the white missionary, (considered by the warriors as an intruder,) lived. Amazingly, she never heard them. No one ever entered her building, and there was no evidence of any turmoil. My friend learned later that the warriors, who intended to kill everyone at the missionary compound and burn it to the ground, instead retreated when they found the compound guarded by tall warriors dressed in white and carrying large swords. Angels? Another and similar account was also reported by a medical missionary at his home church in Michigan: “While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, I traveled every two weeks by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This required camping overnight half- way. On one of these trips, I saw two men fighting in the city. One was seriously injured, so I treated him and witnessed to him of the Lord Jesus Christ. I then returned home without incident. Upon arriving in the city several weeks later, I was approached by the man I had treated earlier. He told me he had known that I carried money and medicine. He said, “some friends and I followed you into the jungle knowing you would camp overnight. We waited for you to go to sleep and planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.” I laughed at this and said I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, “No, sir, I was not the only one to see the guards. My (Jave) friends also saw them and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.” At this point in the church presentation in Michigan, one of the men in the church jumped up and interrupted the missionary, and asked, “Can you tell me the exact date when this happened?” The missionary thought for a while and recalled the date. The man in the congregation told this side of the story: “On that night in Africa it was morning here. I was preparing to play golf. As I put my bag in the car, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for you. In fact, the urging was so strong that I called the men of this church together to pray for you. Will all of those men who met with me that day please stand?” The men who had met that day to pray together stood—there were 26 of them! Again, we ask, were these angels? While I cannot verify this story, I have no doubt whatsoever that it could be true.” As for angels providing for us, we remember how angels came to our Lord after His temptation in the wilderness providing sustenance. Several of the Old Testament prophets received food in miraculous ways, perhaps at the hands of angels. Since angels can take the appearance of humans, it is very possible that the kindness of a stranger might be God’s angelic provision. The following account demonstrates this possibility: In 1944, the penniless wife of a pastor and evangelist in Switzerland, (by the name of) Susie Ware prayed, “God, I need five pounds of potatoes, two pounds of pastry flour, apples, pears, a cauliflower, carrots, veal cutlets for Saturday, and beef for Sunday.” A few hours later, someone knocked on the door, and there was a young man carrying a basket, who said, “Mrs. Ware, I am bringing what you asked for.” It was precisely what she’d prayed for—down to the exact brand of pastry flour she wanted. The young man slipped away, and even though Rev. and Mrs. Ware watched at the window to their building, the man never exited. He just disappeared (Anderson, Joan Wester. Where Angels Walk, New York: Ballantine Books, 1992, pp. 60-62). There is a great possibility that unseen angels are serving us every day, protecting us from danger and providing for our needs. We also realize that there are fallen angels, now called demons, who work tirelessly against believers. Perhaps there is warfare going on in the spirit world all around us, as the holy angels fight against demonic forces. This certainly is the picture we gain from the book of Daniel, where the “Prince of Persia” fought against Michael as he came to answer Daniel’s prayer. The main take-away for us is to praise God for His protection and strengthening ministry through whatever means He chooses, including angels. We are reminded later in this letter (chapter 13, v. 2), “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”