Christ’s Superiority Over All (Heb. 1)

Introduction to Sermon

Good morning, Hosanna Evangelical Church. Today we’ll be continuing our series on Christology. And that’s a fancy theological term that just means the “study of Christ.” So we’re going to learn more about Jesus Christ today. Who He is, and a little about what He does. The passage we’ll be looking at today is Hebrews chapter 1. We’re going to see what the author says about Christ and how He is superior to the prophets and superior to the angels.

Introduction to Hebrews

Now, the book of Hebrews was written to a Jewish-Christian audience. The whole reason for the author writing this book is to discourage people from falling back into Judaism. He doesn’t want them going back to Judaism with all their constant sacrifices and offerings that don’t do anything for their sin except remind them of how sinful they are. Jesus, on the other hand, gave the ultimate sacrifice that is sufficient to atone for our sins. Something that the animal sacrifices in the Law of the Old Testament could not achieve. The other problem is that to be a Jew in the time that Hebrews was written, you had two options: 1) you had to reject Christ as Messiah, or 2) you had to be ignorant that the Messiah had come. And his audience was already aware of Christ, so they had to fall under option 1, which was very dangerous. The Jews, in general, during Christ’s time on earth rejected Him and they were looking for another Messiah. The religious Jews today are still waiting for a Messiah who has already come. So because the purpose of Hebrews is to discourage his audience from falling back into Judaism, he makes a lot of comparisons between Judaism and Christianity. And his main point is that Jesus Christ is superior, better, greater in every way, than everything in Judaism. Christ is superior to the prophets, superior to the angels, superior even to Moses, and the new covenant that Jesus offers is superior to the old covenant. The old covenant was where you were under the Law and you had to follow all the rules about not eating pork, sacrificing grain offerings, burnt offerings, sin offerings, making sacrifices on the Sabbath, and so on. And none of that saved you. None of that paid the price for the horrible consequences that sin brings. But under the new covenant, and this is all from Hebrews chapters 8 and 9, under the new covenant, your salvation is based on your faith in Jesus Christ. The faith, that God has given us, put in Christ, assigns Christ’s sacrifice, His atonement, as full payment for our sins. This is what saves. Not our works. Not animal sacrifices. And no longer are people required to do them, because Christ gave the once-for-all sacrifice. This is why it is foolish to go back to Judaism. And this is the author’s main point in the book of Hebrews.

Reading

Let’s read Hebrews 1 now and I want you to look for all the comparisons that the author makes between Christ and the old things of Judaism. See how much greater Christ is to the prophets and the angels. [Read Hebrews 1]

Heb 1:1-4

This chapter is divided into two paragraphs. Verses 1-4 and 5-14. Let’s focus on the first paragraph, verses 1-4. God, in the last days has spoken to us in His Son. Beforehand, He spoke in the prophets. For the author, the word “prophet” here just means any Old Testament writer and not just prophets like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and so on. We know this because he quotes Psalms as being spoken by God in the second paragraph even though they were written by David. In the most basic sense, a prophet is someone who speaks the words of God, which David and the other Psalmists did. God spoke through the prophets in many portions. Portions means in different parts. God did not give the full revelation through the prophets, just different parts and in different times. God also spoke through the prophets in many ways: through visions, dreams, verbally speaking to them directly, and writings such as the tablets of stone God wrote on for Moses.

However, things have changed in the author’s time. In these last days, God spoke to us in His Son. The “last days” refer to the last period of time, the last age. Before Christ, God spoke to the Jewish ancestors through prophets. Then God spoke to us in His Son. It was not in many portions and in many ways, but in one portion and in one way by the Son who took on flesh and spoke God’s word. When Jesus came to earth, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven, the age of the last days began. And when Jesus comes again, this will mark the end of the last age which finishes with the passing away of the old heaven and earth and the establishment of the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21). Almost two thousand years later, we are still in this age, these last days, and though we do not know when it will end, we know that we are not to expect anything or anyone else. We are not to expect a prophet like Mohammad telling us that God has a new revelation for us. We are not to expect a prophet like Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, also known as the Latter-Day Saints, who comes with new revelation. Ironically, both of these men claimed to be prophets, whom Jesus is superior to. Both of these men also claim to have received their revelations from angels, but Jesus is greater than angels as well. The end of our divine revelation is with the New Testament. In the New Testament we have the apostolic teachings given by Christ, taught by His apostles, and written down by specially-chosen authors that God raised up. No one can override the revelation given to us through Christ because He is superior to all.

The Son is heir of all things and has authority. Not only that, but God the Father made the world through the Son. This parallels with passages like [John 1:1-3]. The Word here of course is Jesus Christ as we learn in verse 14 of John 1. [Colossians 1:16-17] is even closer. As John 1:2 says, “apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” If everything that was created had to be created through the Son, then the Son must be outside of creation. Because nothing, absolutely nothing, came into being apart from Him. Not even Himself. This means that the Son of God is not a created being, but that He is preexistent and eternal, as the Father is. If the Son was before all creation, and if only God is before all creation, because God is not a created thing, He always existed, if that’s all true then the Son is God. This is the first main indicator of Christ’s deity, which is His status as God.

Further, the Son is the radiance of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of His nature. These are more indications of His deity. The Son also has such power as to uphold and sustain all creation. None of these things were ever said of any prophet or any angel. The Son of God is far above any of them.

Later in verse 3 we see the Son, Jesus Christ’s, humiliation and exaltation. He was humiliated by going from His high position in heaven to taking on flesh, being born on earth, being rejected, spat on, and crucified. But through that crucifixion, He made atonement and purification of sins. Afterward, He was exalted, He was brought up to the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Majesty on high is just another way to refer to God. And so Jesus is much better than the angels and through His great sacrifice for our sins He has inherited a greater name than they. This name is given in verse 2 and repeated in verse 5. It is more than just a title though because it belongs to Jesus by right of eternal inheritance and it shows the relationship that He has to the Father. And as John 3:16 says, Jesus is God’s one and only Son. His unique Son. The Greek there is monogenēs and highlights His uniqueness. In verse 6 of Hebrews 1 we see that He is the firstborn. Craig Keener, a New Testament scholar, writes that the term “‘firstborn’ specified further the inheritance rights of the oldest son, who received double the portion of any subsequent son (Deut 21:17)[ Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Heb 1:6.].” What this means is more evidence that the Son of God is unique. Christians are all sons and daughters of God, plural. But we are created beings and adopted into God’s family. We were certainly not there in Hebrews 1:2 when God made the world through the Son. Right?

So we’ve now covered the first paragraph of Hebrews 1. The Son is superior to the prophets and to the angels. Now the author is going to spend time telling us just how the Son is greater than the angels. He does this by quoting the Old Testament.

The first quotation is from Psalm 2:7. This is a Messianic Psalm, which means that it’s about the Messiah. And as Christians, we know that the Messiah is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. To which of the angels did He, the Father, ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? This is a rhetorical question. The answer is none. To no angel did God ever say this. This is how the Son is greater than them, He has an extremely intimate relationship with the Father as the Son. One issue we have to look at is the word “today” I have begotten you. Does this mean that there was a time when the Son of God was not the Son? To answer that, we have to look at Psalm 2 and see how the author of Hebrews is using it.

[Psalm 2] is a coronation Psalm. A coronation ceremony is when a king is given rule, reign, and authority. When he is put in a position of power. The declaration of sonship in Psalm 2:7 happens after the king is put into power. The author of Hebrews sees this coronation of the Messiah and relates it to the Messiah’s exaltation to the right hand of God. Verse 8 says that the Son is on a throne and rules His kingdom in righteousness. He was exalted and coronated as King when He sat down at the right hand of God to begin reigning over His kingdom. Let’s go back to the question. Was there a time when the Son of God was not the Son? No. As George Guthrie writes in his commentary on Hebrews, “What does it mean that God has “become” the Son’s Father “today” and that he “will be” his Father? These, of course, are not references to a bringing into existence,” because the Son has always existed. “We have already seen that Jesus was considered the Son prior to creation itself and is later referred to as “Son” in the Incarnation (e.g., Heb. 5:8). Rather, the early church understood these passages to refer to Jesus’ induction into his royal position as King of the universe at the resurrection and exaltation. With these events God vindicated Jesus as Messiah and established his eternal kingdom (see Acts 13:32–34; Rom. 1:4). God’s becoming the Son’s Father, then, refers to God’s open expression of their relationship upon Christ’s enthronement.[ ]” In other words, God is giving a declaration of something that is already true, but restating it during this glorious moment of history when the Messiah is exalted. David Allen, another commentator, writes, “one can say that Messianic sonship rests upon prior eternal sonship, but it is the former and not the latter that is primarily in view here[ David L. Allen, Hebrews, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group, 2010), 131.].” So you can talk about Christ’s sonship in two distinct ways here. First, you have His Messianic sonship. This is the sonship, in the Old Testament, that is demonstrated when the Messianic prophecies are fulfilled. When Christ fulfills these prophecies about the Messiah, such as in Psalm 2 about the Messiah’s exaltation, He is fulfilling His role as the Messianic Son and it is appropriate to say “today I have begotten You” at the fulfillment of His messianic exaltation. On the other hand, the second way you can talk about sonship, the Son has always been the eternal Son of God.

Onto the next verse. This is still the Father speaking about the Son. [Read]. God says, let all the angels of God worship the Son. Here’s an easy question, to who and who alone should we worship? To God alone. If we worship anything or anyone else, it is idolatry. There are two conclusions that you can make here. 1) Either the Son is God because angels worship Him, or 2) God is wrong to have told the angels to worship the Son. I take option number 1. Jesus is God. And there are other passages that ascribe worship to the Son. In Matthew 28:17, after Jesus rose from the dead, the Disciples saw Him and worshiped Him. Jesus does not rebuke them, He affirms their worship by saying [28:18]. As some commentators have said, “If you don’t worship the one who has authority throughout the entire universe, whom do you worship?[ Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2007), 39.]” So that’s Jesus affirming their worship and giving the reason that they should worship Him. Philippians 2:10-11 says that every knee will bow to Jesus. This is worship. In Revelation 1:17 John fell at Jesus’s feet. This is an act of worship and fear at how awesome Christ is. However, in Revelation 19:10 John falls at the feet of an angel to worship him but he is rebuked by the angel. The angel says do not worship me, worship God.

Some people reject Jesus as God and appeal to a verse like Exodus 7:1 where God tells Moses that he will be like a god to Pharaoh as a representative of the true God. And they say that Jesus is just representing God but that He is not God Himself. This one verse annihilates that entire idea. No one worshiped Moses. No one. That would be idolatrous, blasphemous, heinous sin. No one worshiped him. But, we see that worship is given to Christ. As John Stott said, “Nobody can call himself a Christian who does not worship Jesus. [But] To worship him, if he is not God, is idolatry; to withhold worship from him, if he is, is apostasy.”17[ Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2007), 42.] This is a sticky situation for anyone who denies that Jesus is God. They are either committing idolatry if they worship Jesus and think that He is not God, or they are committing apostasy if they refuse to worship Him.

We see clearly now that Jesus is superior to the prophets and the angels because He is God.

Now let’s quickly finish up the rest of the chapter. Of the angels, God makes them winds and fire. We don’t know exactly what this means, but it might mean that the angels are changed into wind and fire, a concept from Jewish thought, or perhaps the author is making a comparison to wind and fire which rapidly change and vanish. Either way, we can learn the author’s point by looking at the next section which contrasts the Son with the angels. The next section begins with “but.” First he talked about angels, now here is how the Son is different. His throne is forever and ever, and the next quote says that He does not perish or change. There are two points of contrast. The angels are made winds and fire. This is a drastic change, whatever it means. However, the Son does not change. He is the same. The second contrast is that angels are ministers, they are servants. The Son of God, however, has a throne and rules the kingdom. He does not serve like angels do.

Now you might have read verse 8 there and might be a little confused. This is the Father speaking about the Son still. And God the Father says to God the Son, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” This is the clearest and most obvious way we can see that the Son is God. The Father talks to the Son and acknowledges that the Son is God. How amazing is that? Matthew Henry, the Puritan commentator, writes, “Here one person calls another person God … And, if God the Father declares him to be so, he must be really and truly so; for God calls persons and things as they are.”

Immutability

Let’s take a look at the next section. Verses 10-12. All creation changes and will pass away, but Jesus stays the same and will never pass away. The theological term is immutability, unchanging. Creation is mutable though, which means changing and changeable. However, only God is immutable and unchanging. After considering the Old Testament, Robert Bowman and Ed Komoszewski write, “For first-century Judaism, the contrast between the mutable, changeable universe and the immutable, changeless God was basic to their worldview.[ Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2007), 110.]” For example, if someone or something is created and comes into existence then it has changed. It is not unchanging nor eternal. It hasn’t always existed. Only God did not come into existence. God always was, is, and will be eternally. And yet we see that the Son is unchanging. Yet another proof that the Son is God.

Last Two Verses

Let’s finish the chapter with verses 13-14. The footstool metaphor simply means that they will be under the Son’s full control and subjugation. And this passage is another reason as to why the Son is superior to angels. They are only servants helping those who will inherit salvation. They are not the source of salvation. Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice, and as Hebrews 2:10 says, Jesus is the author, originator of salvation. The angels are only used by God to help people who are getting the salvation already made possible through Christ.

Reading Application

Before we conclude, let’s take a look at who’s speaking all these things. In verse one we see that God is the one who is speaking through the prophets and through the Son. Every time the author of Hebrews quotes the Old Testament He makes it clear that God is the one saying those things. Even though David and others wrote such Psalms, God is speaking.

It’s common today to hear people ask God to talk to them. “Why isn’t God speaking to me?” “Why is God silent?” “Where are you, God?” “Why can’t I hear God?” And so on. What the author of Hebrews is telling us, however, is that if you want to hear from God, open up your Bible and read it. Scripture is the Father speaking. In Hebrews 3:7, the author introduces yet another Old Testament quotation, but says that the Holy Spirit is speaking. In Hebrews 10:5 the author says that when Jesus entered the world He said “Sacrifice and offering you did not want…” But this is a quotation from a Psalm! We have the entire Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit, speaking in the Scriptures. This only makes sense if the Father is God, if the Holy Spirit is God, and if the Son is God, and that God speaks in the Scriptures. If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. God has made it so simple for us, let’s not neglect the gift that He’s given. If we are Christians, then we should love and desire to hear from God. A lack of Bible reading is one of the great tragedies of the Church today. And I don’t mean just reading a little verse or even chapter each day. That takes like 2 minutes. That’s nothing. Imagine if you listened and talked to your spouse for just two minutes a day, if you didn’t forget to, of course. A decent time to shoot for is about an hour a day. This varies a lot with circumstances of course, but this is just to give you a concrete goal. Still, that’s only 1/24th of a day. That’s nothing. We should shoot for even longer. At this point there are about four groups of people with different reactions to me telling them to read their Bible. The first group’s reaction is nodding your head, you’ve been making progress in spending more time in the Bible, maybe you’ve reached an hour, that’s great. But you thirst and hunger for more. You can’t put the Bible down, it’s like your favorite book as a kid that you read under the covers with a flashlight so your parents didn’t see that you weren’t asleep. That’s the first group. The second group is more sorrowful. You feel convicted, you know you should read more and you are planning on doing so and will make a great effort to follow through with that. That’s good too. So long as you make the effort. The third group are those that just don’t care about reading the Bible. They think it’s dull, boring, or they think they know everything about it already. This is the most dangerous group of people, because it does not seem like they truly love God and want to hear from Him. They do not show that by their actions, thoughts, or words. It then becomes questionable if they really are saved, because salvation brings a change of heart and desires. Not only that, but atheists and non-Christians would fall into this category of not caring about reading the Bible. This is an atheistic mindset in practice. “I don’t want to read the Bible. It’s boring, it’s dumb.” That’s the most dangerous group. The fourth group of people are those who have been thinking and making up all sorts of excuses about not reading the Bible while I’ve been talking. “Oh, I’m just so busy. I have the kids to take care of. I have to commute to work. I have three full-time jobs. I have school.” These are all excuses. Maybe you’ve even lied to people and yourself about how much you read the Bible because you’re embarrassed and don’t want your pride to be hurt. If you want to read the Bible, you will find ways to do so and you will do it. Now here’s the catch. The fourth group making excuses and the third group which thinks the Bible is boring and dull are the same group. That’s the catch. The fourth group doesn’t say with their words that they don’t want to read the Bible, they show it by their actions. They show where their heart is. They do just what atheists do: not read the Bible in any earnest way to hear from God. That’s dangerous. I’m not saying that you aren’t saved if you aren’t reading your Bible, I don’t know that. I don’t know your heart. But what I am saying that this may be an indicator that you aren’t truly saved. Because if your heart is in the right place, you will be reading God’s Word. If you’re not, your heart may not be in the right place.

Here are some tips. 1) Reading is a skill, and it takes time to develop. 2) Don’t make excuses, God deserves better. 3) Try an audiobook. If you find it hard to concentrate, or you’re on a long commute, or if you’re doing something routine like cleaning. There are many free audiobibles out there. 4) Try a fast-paced Bible reading plan. A 3-month or 6-month plan is ideal. That way you will read enough each day to grasp the overarching message of the book, follow the flow, and not spend weeks in a genealogy. Moses did not intend for you to spend a week slowly reading a genealogy one verse per day. A faster reading plan will get you through the genealogies and back into the narrative story with the genealogical information in mind to help understand the story. 5) Lastly, if you’re planning on starting to read your Bible on the New Year, January 1st as a New Year’s Resolution…Don’t. Do. It. Start today. If you are waiting then you will not follow through. Show your resolve and determination now and start today. Even if things aren’t perfect. Do it. If you wait for the New Year’s to start you’re probably not getting past a month of reading. And more importantly, you wouldn’t be reading it now. And you should be reading now. Today.

In conclusion, we’ve covered a lot of ground here. Christ is superior to the prophets and superior to the angels. Worship is given to Christ, and only God should receive worship, so Christ must be God. Angels are servants and they change, but Christ reigns and is unchanging. Just like God is. Further, in verse 8, the Father calls the Son God. None of these things have been said or done to any prophet or angel, and rightly so, because that would be blasphemy. Finally, if you want to hear God, read your Bible. I promise that if you get into Scripture with an earnest heart, prayerfully asking for God’s help, you will find the greatest joy and fulfillment you’ve ever experienced. And read today. This sermon does not count as your personal Bible reading for today. Have a blessed rest of the service!