Hebrews 1:3b-14
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Hebrews 1:3b-14
Hebrews 1:3b-14
Review context of last week.
Highest revelation
Heir of all things.
Sovereign Lord.
Theme Jesus is better.
And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
When he had made purification of sins..
This is speaking of the atonement of Christ. Atonement is just a big word that means payment.
That which we owed Christ paid.
He is speaking in reference to the priestly work of Christ.
The language of purification takes us back to the Old Testament.
The job of the OT priest was to symbolically and ritually cleanse the people.
This is why they offered sacrifices, and why they had a continuous job of cleaning and making thing pure. But the OT priest were inferior to Jesus.
later on in Hebrews we will get to this more deeply, specifically in chapters 9 and 10.
But we will learn that Jesus is the greater priest and how he is superior to the OT priest.
And he gives a little wink at this now.
Jesus after having made purification of sins, sits down at the right hand of the Majesty.
In other words, Jesus as priest has done all that is necessary for salvation from sin.
He sits now, because he finished his work of atonement. He sits now having conquered all our enemies. And he is above all things.
And He is able to do his work because of who he is.
At times we skip over who Jesus is and only speak of what Christ has done.
But we cant divide the two. The author of Hebrews is going to work and go through exactly who Jesus is.
And he does this because who Jesus is is reason why he can do what he has done and will do.
We need to know Jesus.
In the next few verses, the author of Hebrews will expound on who Jesus is. Specifically, he is going to establish that Jesus is more powerful than the angels. In fact he is above the angels in control of the angels.
listen to what he says in verse 4
having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
In other words, Jesus is better than the angels.
The angels are not King.
Christ is King.
The angels are not in control.Christ is in control.
Now why does he feel the need to saythis?
He does this because during this time period and I would argue during our time period as well, that people seem to be fascinated and overcome with curiosity over angels.
There are lots of unbiblical ideas surrounding angels even today.
Some people believe that we will become angels. That we get our wings when we die.
People in this time and in our speak in terms of “Guardian angels” and protectors.
The people of Israel during this time were of the belief that the angels would come and liberate them.
And here is the problem with all of this.
Its unbiblical.
It takes our focus off of where it should be.
The Bible doesn’t say that we become angels.
Listen to what it does say.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
It is not our goal to “get our wings” it should be our goal to be like him and to see him just as he is.
Contrary to the belief of that day, the angels would not come and liberate. Rather it is Jesus who they should be focusing on.
But rather than focusing on the Messiah, they were focusing the angels (which are a creation) rather than the Creator. Christ.
It is Christ, not the angels who have inherited a more excellent name. What does he mean by that?
Paul in Philippians 2 references this.
For this reason also, God 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,
His name is higher. He is the Son. He is the exalted one.
Look what he says here in verse 5
For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”?
The answer to the rhetorical question is none. He doesn’t say this of any angels.
Jesus is better than to angels, because Jesus is the Son.
And because he is the Son he has been given it all and he is King.
You should know here that the author of Hebrews quotes here from Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7.
Both are references to Jesus being the fulfillment of God’s promise to David. Jesus is the one who fulfills God’s covenant with David that there would be a Son whose kingdom would be forever.
So not only Jesus better than the angels, he is also better than David.
David died. His rule was limited, because his rule and reign ended when he died.
Solomon died. His rule was limited. Every other earthly king died. Their rule stopped upon death. There rule was limited.
Jesus comes as the Son, from the line of David and his rule as king will be forever. Because though he died, he rose again, as the Conquering King.
Jesus is better than the angels because Jesus is the Son who is the eternal King.
The author of Hebrews says this in the next few verses. Listen to what he says.
And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”
Here we see the author of Hebrews takes us back to the Old Testament to show us that Jesus is the Sovereign LORD of the Old Testament who is worthy of worship from the Angels.
Jesus does not worship the angels. The angels worship Him.
The angels are His servants who come to declare His entrance into the World. They are caught up in worshipping the Creator.
And if the angels are caught up in worship of the Son, then so should we be.
Jesus is better than the angels, evidenced by the fact that they worship Him, not the other way around.
They also Serve Him as King. Look what he says in verse 7-8
And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
Verse 7 refers to angels as being winds or spirits.
He also calls angels his messengers, his servants.
I want to be clear here, Angels are important.
They work for God. They are sent by God. They are his messengers, they are his spirits sent out to do his will in heaven and in earth, but they are merely spirits and messengers. And they serve the King.
Don’t miss that. He is contrasting the difference between what God the Father says about the angels and what God the Father says about the Son.
The angels are spirits and messengers.
The Son is God and King.
Listen to verse 8
But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
The angels are spirits and messengers.
The Son is God whose rule and reign has no limits and no end.
His throne is forever and ever.
And though he has always been God, he proves His worthiness of this throne, and the name that is above every name, through his ability to do what no other human was able to do.
Here we see the Gospel.
Jesus came as God in the flesh and accomplished what you and I and every other human could never accomplish.
He mentions this in verse 9
“You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
Jesus loved righteousness.
In other words, He always did what was right in the sight of God.
He always pleased the Father. He always upheld the Law.
You and I, I am sure of it, have already failed today in doing this. We fail daily.
Maybe you argued on the way to church this morning. Maybe you groaned and complained about coming to worship today. Maybe someone got your park or your seat. Most of us have already at some point today have had a sinful thought.
But this never happened with Jesus.
Jesus never wavered. He loved righteousness.
Tempted by Satan himself, Jesus remained faithful.
He proved himself to be righteous even in an unrighteous world.
Tempted in every way that we are yet without sin.
His obedience was flawless, and his obedience was to the end.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
He was obedient. He loved righteousness.
He also hated lawlessness. He hated it. You should know, there are things that God hates.
God is God of perfection and standards.
Jesus is God, and being God he has perfect standards.
People often picture and mischaracterize Jesus as only loving. That Jesus was a pushover and was accepting of everything.
That is just not the case.
People love the imagery of Christ as the lamb of God and he is the lamb of God.
But did you know that, in the book of Revelation, we are told that in Hell, those in torment will be in the presence of the Lamb.
he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Jesus hates lawlessness. He hates sin.
We would mistaken to misunderstand Jesus as one who will wink and turn a blind eye on sin.
He won’t. One day, he will administer the wrath of God.
From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
He is King.
He is a King who loves righteousness, and hates sin.
look at the rest of verse 9.
“You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
In other words, Jesus is the anointed one. The Messiah.
He is the King over all his companions.
Which by the way keeping with the argument that he is better than the angels would include his companions in heaven and on earth.
In other words, he is king over the angels and he is King over us.
And at the end of it all, all His enemies are conquered, the Creator Christ will be standing above all.
verse 10 tells us that he is the Creator and the one who will remain the same.
And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; And they all will become old like a garment, And like a mantle You will roll them up; Like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.”
Though everything else will undergo changed, everything else will change, one will remain the same, because perfection has no need to change.
His years will not come to an end.
He is eternal. The alpha and Omega, the beginning and end.
Just as he was, and is, he will always be.
This is who our Savior is.
Jesus is better than the angels.
Jesus is the creator of angels.
He is the commander of the angels.
He is worshipped by angels.
He is the Son.
He is the Messiah
Jesus is King. As King he will; reign over all as the angels continue to go and do his work.
Thats what he is saying in verse 13 and 14. He ask another question.
But to which of the angels has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies A footstool for Your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
Once again, He is the conquering King over all. Not the Angels. Christ.
The second part of this verse, The angels are ministering spirits to God’s people.
The angels are used by him to accomplish his will for us. This verse doesn’t teach that we all have a guardian angel, but it does teach that God uses angels to minister to and render service to those and for those are to inherit salvation.
So how can we apply this passage?
1. I think firstly, we need to Avoid the fascination with the angels, rather be fascinated with the one the angels worship. We should worship the Creator not the creation.
2. If the angels serve Him, we should as well. They do what he says. They exist to do his will.
3. If the unredeemed angels worship Christ, how much more more should we as redeemed sons and daughters of God worship Christ? He has done for us, what he did not do for them.
4. We need to trust and fear God.
We are living in unprecedented days. Difficult days. Hard times. Trouble it seems at every turn. The last few months have been some of the worst times, I believe any of us have ever experienced. Disease.
Ungodly and sinful actions by people at every level of our society.
If you are anything like me, maybe you’ve said said I just want things to go back to normal. But thats where I’m wrong.
Because the normal of six months ago was desperately wicked as well.
I shouldn’t long for things to return to normal. This now and that then was not and is not what will be.
As believers, we look toward and forward to something better. I want to live as Abraham.
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Obedient, faithful, and looking forward to better.
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
There is better coming. For those who believe and overcome.
The one who rules the angels has promised.
But there is worse coming for those who choose to remain in their sin and rebellion against Christ.
The one who rules the angels has also promised that.
Will you submit to Him?