On Earth as It Is in Heaven

It is the first Sunday of Lent. This is the season of the year when the church remembers again the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The season of Lent leading up to Easter is also a time when the church reflects again on the depths of our own broken sinfulness and our need for God to provide for our salvation from sin.

Hebrews has an unknown author

This year we are using the New Testament book of Hebrews as our guide through this season. Hebrews was written by an unknown author; in fact, it is the only book in the New Testament for which the author is not known. For this reason, the book of Hebrews barely made the cut to remain in the Bible as we have it when the protestant reformers revised scripture in the 16th Century. The protestant reformers considered authenticity of authorship a high priority for New Testament books, and Hebrews comes up well short of pinpointing an author. However, there is so much rich content in the words of Hebrews that the unknown origin was considered acceptable in order to preserve the message of Hebrews as part of God’s divine revelation within scripture.

Hebrews is not written to a Greek gentile audience — assumed that readers know Old Testament and accept it as God’s Word

What else makes this New Testament book unique? Unlike the letters of Paul, which are all written with an eye towards the gentile converts to Christianity scattered throughout the Greek culture of the Roman empire, the book of Hebrews is so named because it is written to the Hebrew people. There is an assumption in Hebrews that the readers are very well aware of the Old Testament law of Moses and the other writings of the Old Testament prophets and Psalms. We will see right here in chapter 1 that Hebrews is crammed full of quotes taken from the Old Testament assuming that the readers know these ancient writings and accept them as .

purpose of Hebrews is to connect the Old Testament to Jesus

The purpose of Hebrews, then, is to connect the Old Testament to Jesus. The author is making an argument here that all the ways God gave his people in ancient Israel to be made right before God have all been fulfilled in Jesus. This will be the theme we are going to bump into again and again in the coming weeks as we look at Hebrews. It is as through the author is surveying all the regulations and traditions of the Israelite people and showing over and over the way that Jesus perfectly completes every single one of those regulations and requirements.

We begin today in chapter 1 with what looks like an unusual commentary about angels, and the place of angels, and the place of Jesus above the angels.

Hebrews 1:5–14 NIV

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? 6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.” 8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” 10 He also says, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, 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 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” 13 To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Why start here with a discussion about angels? I don’t want this to be a subject that is confusing or gets us sidetracked. It seems that for some people, angels can be a fascination that draws attention upon itself and away from Jesus. This is not a place for us to wander down a discussion of how and where angels exist today in our world. This is a discussion about the relationship of Jesus among the angels.

Jesus Christ the Son is eternal God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit from before the creation itself

There must be speculation from the author that his readers in some way considered Jesus to be an angel or something like an angel. It is pretty important in this section for the writer to tell us that Jesus is completely unlike any of the other heavenly beings, that Jesus is fully divine as part of the Trinity along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not get a promotion from within the ranks of heavenly beings. He did not rise to the position of divinity. Jesus Christ the Son is eternal God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit from before the creation itself.

quotes in Hebrews 1 come from Psalm 2, 1 Samuel 7, Deuteronomy 32, Psalm 104, Psalm 45, Psalm 102, and Psalm 110

These opening verses of Hebrews go to one example after another from the Old Testament to simply make that point clear, that Jesus is no angel, nor is he even like the angels, he is apart and above the angels. The quotes here in Hebrews 1 come from Psalm 2, 1 Samuel 7, Deuteronomy 32, Psalm 104, Psalm 45, Psalm 102, and Psalm 110. But again, why is this such a big deal? Why does it matter so much?

angels are messengers from God

Let’s consider for a moment what we do know about angels. The angels are messengers from God. They are heavenly beings who minister before God and are given the task of conveying the message of his will. In the Old Testament, one of the ways in which God spoke to his people was by sending angels to communicate the message. It was angels who came and visited Abraham and Lot in Genesis. It was an angel who come to Joshua before the battle of Jericho. Gideon was allowed to see the army of Angels God sent to surround the Midianites. In the gospels, angels are given a special place of announcing the incarnation of Jesus. It is an angel who reveals God’s will to Zachariah before John the Baptist is born, an angel that speaks to Mary, and an angel that speaks to Joseph. Angels announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in Bethlehem. Angels are messengers. In fact, the word angel comes from the Greek word angellos which means ‘message’ or ‘messenger.’

Jesus came to accomplish the work of God by doing what no one else but God could do

Jesus did not come as a messenger from God, he came to accomplish the work of God by doing what no one else but God could do.

what Jesus accomplished on the cross is cosmic

Yet, even in making the point that Jesus is apart from and above the angels in heaven, these verses in Hebrews pull back the curtain just a little bit and remind us that what Jesus accomplished on the cross is cosmic—meaning, it is a salvation which extends throughout the entire cosmos, the entire creation. It is a reminder that Jesus did not go to the cross just to save the souls of people. Jesus went to the cross in order to redeem the entire creation which had been thrown under the curse of sin. The apostle Paul puts it like this:

Romans 8:19–23 NIV

19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

The redemption of our bodies—the physical world, the creation, the cosmos. God’s plan of salvation is cosmic. Jesus did not come so that your soul could spend eternity in heaven and the rest gets thrown away; Jesus came for resurrection, a cosmic redemption that does not bring us to heaven but brings heaven to us. When the disciples asked Jesus how they should pray, Jesus gave them a prayer which includes this line:

Matthew 6:9–10 NIV

9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

glimpse towards the angels in heaven as a way of reminding us that the perfect will of our God as it exists in heaven represents the kingdom of Christ which he brings to us as part of his plan to redeem all the creation

On earth as it is in heaven. The book of Hebrews open with this little glimpse towards the angels in heaven as a way of reminding us that the perfect will of our God as it exists in heaven represents the kingdom of Christ which he brings to us as part of his plan to redeem all the creation. The angels have it within their domain to do the perfect will of the God in heaven. Only God himself has the power to bring his perfect will down to earth in such a way that we are included. This line of the Lord’s prayer is an acknowledgement of our desire for God’s perfect will as it exists in heaven to also become his perfect will here with us and throughout the entire creation.

Ash Wednesday is personal and individual — but the entire creation itself needs to be made right with God again

Perhaps this is a good reminder for us today as we enter this season of Lent again. We began on Ash Wednesday with a rather personal and individual introspection. Ash Wednesday is about recognizing and acknowledging that my own personal sinful nature falls short of God’s glory, that I am the one who needs redemption. Today we expand that thought to encompass the way that the entire creation itself needs to be made right with God again.

regiment of habits involving priests and sacrifices and offerings always fell far short of providing any permanent lasting redemption for all creation

The Jewish people of the Old Testament had a regimented set of habits which reminded them of the way their sins are covered as they receive God’s mercy. But that regiment of habits involving priests and sacrifices and offerings always fell far short of providing any permanent lasting redemption for all creation; it was never meant to. It was only meant to point forward to the Messiah who would make things right once and for all. This was God’s plan from the very beginning. From the moment sin entered the world, God had in mind that only he himself could redeem what was broken and save what was lost.

God’s entire plan of redemption for his entire creation was pointing towards Jesus the whole way

I think this is the other point that the writer of Hebrews wants us to see here in this opening chapter. Jesus was not plan B as if somehow plan A failed. Jesus was not called into the game from off the bench as a sort of second-string team. Jesus is not the relief pitcher who takes over in the ninth inning to finish the game. (Alright, enough of the sports analogies.) God’s entire plan of redemption for his entire creation was pointing towards Jesus the whole way. Hebrews give testimony to this truth by pulling all these references from the Old Testament forward here in these verses today.

Jesus is not the result of guesses, uncertainties, miscalculations, and failed attempts

may our glimpse into the glory of God’s kingdom fill us with hope that we may see more glimpses of redemption in our world as we await God’s complete restoration of his creation

Here is what that means for us today. God was not just trying out different ideas to maybe fix his broken world until he found one that sticks. Jesus was not the result of trial-and-error guesses. Your redemption and our world’s restoration does not dangle on a thread of maybe-it-will-work-this-time kind of effort. Jesus is not the result of guesses, uncertainties, miscalculations, and failed attempts. We begin our time of Lent by peeking behind the curtain into the throne room of God where the angels serve. It is a reminder for us today that God’s redemption of our fallen and broken world has always been secure within his perfect will as it exists in heaven. Our time in Lent looks with eager expectation upon God’s perfect holiness and echoes again that prayer of Jesus: may your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May our glimpse into the glory of God’s kingdom fill us with hope that we may see more glimpses of redemption in our world as we await God’s complete restoration of his creation.