The Comparison

4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” 10 And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.” 13 And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

I’m very grateful that God brought Leanna into my life and I am deeply grateful that she likes doing grocery shopping because I am horrible at it. For the last 6 years I have improved a lot, but even this week she sent me to Aldi to get some sort of salad, I came back with salad, which is quite an accomplishment, but the wrong kind of salad. Years ago she sent me to the store with a list of four things and I don’t know how, but I went home with 6 wrong things. The possible reason that I am horrible at grocery shopping is that I don’t compare things. I don’t pay attention to the differences, things are not simple, there is not only one kind of pudding, and there are three dozen types and varieties and flavors and brands.

The Scripture that we will study today also makes a comparison, but a very different kind of comparison. When we compare something we learn more about each and we learn the differences between them. The comparison in this text is between Jesus and angels.

We have taken a bird’s eye view of two topics, fallen angels and angels, in preparation for looking at these verses in Heb. The reason we did this preparation is to better grasp the depth of this comparison. When reading these verses we might say: yeah I know that Jesus is far greater than angels, without even realizing and recognizing some false conceptions that we hold about angels and fallen angels, or without recognizing Christ’s greatness and how much He is worthy of all praise and honor.

We have seen from Hebrews 1:1 - 3 the great exaltation of Jesus, declaring that He is God’s Son, that He is the heir of all things, through Him the world was created, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of God’s nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Then in v4 the author of Hebrews starts the comparison saying that Jesus is much superior, higher exalted than all or any angels because the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Considering the previous verses it seems to be unnecessary to make this comparison. So, why does the author now makes this comparison?

There are two main possible reasons: First, it may be in response to Heb 2:2 which says that the OT message was declared by angels. He is talking about angels to show that the final message of God, through Jesus Christ is not inferior to the message of the OT. Gal 3:19 tell us that the OT law was “put in place through angels by an intermediary.” So now Hebrews is making it clear that the message of the NT through Jesus Christ is safeguarded by even more majestic sanctions than those of the Old Testament, which was brought by angels.

The other possibility is that the believers to whom this letter was addressed were in danger of being led by false doctrines, including the worship of angels. Heb 13:9 says “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings,” Maybe these believers were facing a similar situation as the believers in Colossae, Col 2:18 says “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind”

Whether these believers were in danger of holding too strongly to the OT law or falling into false doctrine. God had a specific message to them. And today this message is still just as relevant. In our context, we have those who lack true biblical knowledge about angels and therefore elevate angels to a higher degree than they should. We also encounter false teachings that teach that the OT is not relevant, ignoring the fact that all of Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

It is based on this authority of Scripture that the author of Hebrews in v4 makes his argument that Jesus “having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs”

The author begins by giving the reasons for Christ’s superiority. Mainly the name Christ inherited. This inherited name is referring to the title or name son of God that was already mentioned in v1 -3. Which we have studied extensively Christ’s greatness. Here the author simply “summarizes” these truths in His name. Christ’s name is not dependent on anything that Christ did, it is who He is. Because of who He is, He is far greater than anything in creation.

Then we see in v5 -14 the author uses 7 OT quotations to defend his argument. These quotations could be arranged into three groups. The first group, found in v5-6, focuses on Jesus’ sonship. In the second group, v 7-12, the author is arguing that Jesus is superior to angels because he is eternal, unchanging, and of His role in creation. The last group, v13-14, has an exaltation of the Son followed by a comment on the inferior rank and status of angels.

What you might notice in all of these comparisons is that Jesus is far greater, not only to angels but, He is far greater than anything or anyone in creation. There is no one like Him. He is the most important and the one that deserves our focus and attention.

In order for us to properly study these verses, we are not going to look at all of them today. Today we will look at the first group of quotations that deal with Jesus’s Sonship and look at the references to angels in these verses.

Jesus’ Sonship

Let’s start with quotes in v 5-6. In these two verses, there are three quotations, respectively from Psalm 2, 2 Sam 7, and Deut 32. The first two quotes point to Jesus’ Sonship, and the third one reaffirms Jesus’ deity.

The first quote is from Psalm 2 where it says “you are my son, today I have begotten you.” It has been almost one year since we studied Psalm 2, but you might remember that this Psalm is a messianic Psalm that clearly points to the future kingship and rule of Christ on earth. After Christ has taken the due penalty for our sins, He was raised to the right hand of God the Father with full authority and power. Before He came as a man He had full authority and power, because He is and was from eternity past God’s Son. He has no beginning. The authority and power that Psalm 2 is referring to must be the power and authority Jesus has to redeem and rule supremely because He came as a humble servant and gave His body as redemption for sins. When the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 2 “you are my Son, today I have begotten you” he is also having in mind Jesus’ authority and power as the Son of God.

The second quote, from 2 Sam 7:14. “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”. The context of this passage is when David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, then the prophet Nathan came back to David with a word from the Lord, saying that David shall not build a house for God, but that his son will build a house for God. This was partially fulfilled by Solomon, David’s son who built the temple for God. However, the rest of the prophecy says that David’s throne shall last forever and that God would be his father and David’s descendent shall be my son. Clearly, Solomon did not fulfill part of this prophecy, he died and if you know your Bible you know that at the end of Solomon’s life he did not follow God with his whole heart.

Therefore, this prophecy must have to be fulfilled by the Messiah, who would not only be a descendent of David but whose kingdom would last forever and would be God’s Son. This is something that the Hebrews would have known and even put faith in - they didn’t need convincing that the Messiah would be of the lineage of David- rather would have readily accepted this as strong evidence for this argument.

These two quotes declare with a loud voice that Jesus is God’s Son. In all of Scripture, we also see God the Father declaring with a loud voice Jesus’ Sonship. In addition, there are only three instances that I know of in the NT when God the Father speaks audibly and people hear a voice from heaven. Of these three times, twice the Father talks clearly and directly about Jesus as His Son.

Let’s imagine for a second that there would be a book or a documentary that is going to record the history of the century we are living in right now, and you would be allowed to say only one thing two times about a loved one, your spouse, or a child. This would cause us to think really hard about what would be the most important thing to say, what people must know about him or her.

God the Father spoke in an audible voice from heaven to people about Jesus. I’m sure He could have spoken for centuries and centuries about His Son, however, the Father spoke only a few words. And on two of the three occasions, He spoke very similar words. Remember repetition indicates the importance of these words, therefore we must pay close attention to what He said. The two occasions are during Jesus' baptism and at the Mount of Transfiguration. (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Luke 9:35; Matthew 17:5).

What does God the Father say about the Son in these two instances?

At the baptism, the Father said “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”

The other instance is when Jesus took Peter, John and James up on a mountain to pray and Jesus was transfigured. There Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah when a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said to Peter, James and John “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Do you see both times the Father says the same thing: this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, the second time he adds a command listen to him.

We could have a sermon just on this phrase and its meaning, but briefly, we can see that Jesus from the beginning of time is beloved by the Father. The Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existed before anything was. The only triune God didn’t have to create anything to be complete or to know love or fellowship. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, perfectly love each other and have perfect fellowship and perfect delight with each other.

Yet He did create. And when He had a chance to speak directly to His creation, twice He felt it necessary to point out that Jesus is His Son. The author of Hebrews begins the defense of his argument by twice stating that Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. He is God. Listen to Him. Look at Him. Pay attention to Him.

God has given us 5 senses. Two of them we relied on the most. Our Hearing and our Sight. Is it any wonder that God, challenges us to keep these 2 senses on Jesus?

So, are you listening to God? Are you looking at Him? We might say yeah sure, sure. But, are we really? If we reflect on how much time we spend watching, listening fill in the blank, in your phone, computer, tv, etc. Compare it to the time you spend listening and looking at Jesus, what is the percentage? No wonder that we often need to be reminded to listen to Jesus, to keep our eyes on Him.

But the author of Hebrews takes this defense one step further… as if God the Father telling us Jesus is the Son of God wasn’t enough. He quotes what most believe to be Deut 32:43, but could also be a reference to Psalm 97:7.

Deut 32 is the song that God told Moses to teach the people before Moses died. The intent of the song according to Deut 31:19 is to act as a witness for God against the people of Israel because of their lack of obedience, before they entered the promised land. It is from the very end of this song when it says “Let all God’s angels worship him” or some translations say “let the sons of God worship him”.

This verse in Deut is a very difficult verse to understand if we would not have this reference and explanation from Heb 1:6. For many years the explanation to this verse in Deut was a rabbinic tradition that explains that God is calling the angels to worship Adam. Which we know this to be wrong because only God is allowed and commanded to be worshiped, nothing else in creation. God is a jealous God, The Lord says in Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise.”

We see this even clearer in the NT when in Acts 12, Herod was receiving glory from the people and immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not redirect this glory to God.

Considering the jealousy of God, and His holiness, it should surprise us that God doesn’t strike down world leaders more often. However, we are in no place to point fingers. If God would deal with us in the same way He did with Herod or even Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, we would all be struck, fall down and breath our last. It is only by God’s grace and mercy that we all are breathing right now. Because in many times and many ways we sin against the one who poured out his blood for us.

We take His praise and glory as our own. Think about this. When someone gives you praise for a job well done. Did not God give you that ability? or when you receive an award for something He called you to do, to serve, to love, etc. Is that not glory that belongs to God? I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy praise or awards, but we must also redirect much of this back to God. For me, I am often uncomfortable when you tell me that was a good sermon, good job. Because I know that if it was any good it was because of God’s grace not anything in my own ability. The verse that often comes to my mind is Luke 17:10 “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ” However, for the sake of brevity, I often will just say praise God.

We’ve all heard athletes or actors so this is almost cliche but in all truth, this is exactly what must be done least they “steal” His glory and praise. This is part of their act of worship, which should in turn cause us to worship him. How is God asking you to redirect praise or glory? How might this become a testimony to those around you?

The amazing thing is God’s grace, because “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Now going back to Heb 1:6 and Deut 32:43. If we take into consideration God’s holiness and His rightful worthiness to be the only one to receive all praise and honor. it seems clear that the one who should, and was, and is, and is going to receive all worship and glory from the angels and all creation is solely Jesus. No one else can take Jesus’ place to receive worship from angels or any other created being. The reference to Deut 32 “Let all God’s angels worship him” in Heb 1:6 makes it even clearer that Jesus is God’s Son. Because who Jesus is, He is worthy of all praise and honor and glory and worship from all creatures including angels.

In these three verses, the author of Hebrews has said a lot about Jesus. He has focused on His Sonship and His authority as God. However, this section in Hebrews is a comparison between Jesus and angels, so what does it say specifically about angels?

Angels

Previously, in our study on the topic of angels (which you can listen to on our church website if you missed it). We did not look in detail at the verses in this section of Scripture about angels rather we used all of Scripture, to “right” our understanding of who angels are. In our study of angels, we saw that there are three main roles that angels have: They worship, watch and serve.

Here in Hebrews, we learn a few more details about angels to help solidify our understanding. As we do, I want to note the pattern of these “vague” pronouns in v5-6.

5 For to which of the angels did God [Father] ever say, “You [Jesus] are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I[Father} will be to him a father, and he [Jesus] shall be to me a son”? 6 And again, when he [Father] brings the firstborn into the world, he [Father] says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.[Jesus]”

Thus we learn that it is a commandment from God the Father to angels to worship Jesus. Some angels worship God continually day and night. They have been worshipping God from the beginning of time, they are worshipping God right now and they are going to be worshiping God throughout eternity.

Now let’s look at v7 and identify the pronouns: “Of the angels he [Father] says, “He [Trinity or God] makes his angels winds, and his [Trinity] ministers a flame of fire.”

This verse is quoting Psalm 104:4. This passage tells us that God, the Trinity is the one that equips the angels for their service by making them swift and powerful. The reference to winds might point to the swiftness of the angels' ability to carry out and execute God’s commands, while the reference to “flame of fire” indicates the power and strength they have in carrying out God’s commands. The word ministers indicate that angels are God’s servants or ministers and although they are powerful and swift in obeying they are in no comparison to the Son of God but are His servants. In fact, you might be thinking of the several times when the angels were especially ministering to Jesus while He was on earth, such as after His 40 day fast and encounter with Satan.

The last reference to angels in this section is not a quotation from the OT, but it is a summary in the form of a question. “14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

You see that this is a rhetorical question, it does not expect an answer, rather it is a statement with an expected impact on the readers. Mainly that we would recognize after all the evidence presented that angels are much inferior to Jesus and are His servants.

So, what is this author saying? Just what we saw through His previous points. First, that angels are unlike the Son who is exalted and sitting at the right hand of God, having dominion and power and glory over creation. Second, angels from the highest to the lowest are all servants of God, and remarkably their service is to benefit those who are to inherit salvation. Not because of anything in us but because of our association with Jesus, and ultimately is for the glory and praise of God.

Application

But how does this portion of Scripture apply to us?

I have been struggling in prayer as to how to end this sermon. Because I don’t think that we are tempted to worship angels or to consider the message of the NT inferior to the OT. Rather we are more likely to consider erroneously that the OT is inferior to the NT. We know that Christ is greater than angels and greater than anything in creation.

But as I have been praying for each of you to become more and more like Christ, to be strengthened in your inner being. I have been reminded that many of you are overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the intense demand for your time and talent across many areas.

This passage indicates that during these times we can be apt to put our focus on other things or persons or devastatingly on our own power. For the Hebrews, this was angels and the superiority of the OT. The message God had for them was - are you nuts? - did you forget? The Father clearly and repeatedly tells us Jesus is the Son of God! He is who you need. He is greater than anything in creation, visible or invisible.

What we need the most is Christ, it is only Christ who can fully sympathize with our struggles and pains, He is the one that can give us the energy, confidence, strength, and wisdom that we need right now.

We can get so easily focused on all sorts of things, spend our time on so many different things. What we need is to focus on what really matters; What matters eternally; What really matters right now in our struggle. And what matters is Jesus. We need Jesus.