The theme of the book of Hebrews is the Superiority of Christ. The author begins by showing the superiority of Christ over the angels, by highlighting the glory of Christ as the Son of God, God in the flesh, King, and Creator.
Jesus: Much Better than the Angels
Hebrews 1:4-14
The theme of the book of Hebrews is the Superiority of Christ. That’s why he begins his letter giving us seven different truths highlighting Christ’s glory.
- Jesus is God’s Final Revelation
- Jesus is the Heir of all things
- Jesus is the Creator of all things
- Jesus is the Visible Image of the Invisible God
- Jesus is the Upholder of all things
- Jesus is the Purifier of sins
- Jesus is the King of the Universe
Having given us such an exalted view of Christ in the first three verses, we are now given a comparison between Jesus and the angels.
Hebrews 1:3-4 “Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.” The words “having become” tell us that because of something Jesus did, His status was changed. In 2:9 we are told that Jesus was made for a little while lower than the angels. When did that happen? When He became a man. But when He finished His Father’s work on earth and accomplished His mission, He was raised to a dignity far superior to that of the most exalted angel.
Notice that Jesus become much better than the angels after he made purification of sins and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (1:3-4). Philippians 2:8-11 tells us that Jesus was “found in appearance as a man, and humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 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, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” It was because Christ was obedient unto death that God exalted Him and gave Him the name above every other name. Paul is saying exactly the same thing in Philippians 2 that we read of here in Hebrews 1.
The point in Hebrews 1 is that Jesus has become much better than the angels because He was obedient unto death. He is on the throne; the angels are before the throne. Jesus is the Sovereign ruler; the angels are His servants. He is the Creator; the angels are His creatures.
Now the author proves verse 4 with verses 5-14. Verse 4 is the text; verses 5-14 are the sermon on that text. In verses 5-14 the author quotes seven Old Testament passages to prove Jesus is much better than the angels. He quotes Psalm 2:7; 2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 97:7; Ps. 104:4; Ps. 45:6-7; Ps. 102:25-27; and Ps. 110:1. Let’s notice first what this chapter has to say about Jesus, then what it has to say about the angels.
1. Jesus Christ
God Declared That Jesus is the Son of God. What was that name that He inherited that is more excellent than the angels? Well, the next verse says, “For to which of the angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You?” Apparently this more excellent name was Son. It is true that angels as a class are sometimes referred to as “sons of God” as in Job 1:6 and 38:7. But no individual angel was ever called The Son of God. Jesus is God’s unique one and only Son.
Of course, Jesus was the Son of God from all eternity, but there seems to be a special declaration of His Sonship at His resurrection.
Psalm 2:7 records the words of Jesus, “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” When did the Father beget the Son? This verse tells us “Today.” When was that day?
The apostle Paul helps us out with this in his sermon at Psidian Antioch in Acts 13. After telling us that Jesus was crucified, he says in verse 33, “God raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.” In other words, Paul interprets Psalm 2:7 where we are told that the day the Father begot the Son, was the day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
Paul confirms this understanding in Romans 1:4 “Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.”
Jesus inherited the name, “Son of God” was declared to be the Son of God at His resurrection from the dead. If Jesus was given a name never given to the angels, then He is superior to them.
God Commands the Angels to Worship Jesus. Hebrews 1:6 quotes Psalm 97:7 and says, “And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.” The firstborn in a family would be that child who had the highest rank and honor of any of the siblings. Obviously if angels commanded to worship Jesus Christ, He is superior to them!
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is an angel – the archangel Michael. They teach that He is the first and greatest creation of God. Therefore, to them Jesus is not eternal, and is not God. However, if God commands all of the angels to worship Jesus, and Jesus is an angel, then God is commanding one creature to worship another creature, which is idolatry! Jesus told Satan in Mt. 4:10 “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” I submit to you that it is impossible to harmonize Hebrews 1:6 with the idea that Jesus is not God!
Jesus is better than the angels, because Jesus is God!
Jesus is to rule over an Eternal Kingdom.
Hebrews 1:8-9, “But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.”
The first thing I want you to notice is that in verse 8, God calls Jesus God! “But of the Son, He (God) says, “Your throne, O GOD, is forever and ever.” This is probably the strongest and clearest statement in the New Testament on the Deity of Christ. God is the one making the statement, not a human or angel. And God calls Jesus God. To deny this you must say either that either God or the Bible made a mistake, and I’m unwilling to affirm either of those options.
Verse 8 also affirms that Jesus is a king who holds the scepter of righteousness. A scepter is the emblem of royal power.
Verse 8 also mentions that He has a kingdom, therefore must be a King. And he rules forever over His kingdom, because we are told that His throne is forever and ever.
Jesus has been exalted by the Father to be the king of the universe as the result of His obedience unto death. It is the reward for His sufferings. Now He has all authority in heaven and earth given to Him.
In verse 13 we are told that God said to Jesus, “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet” which is a quotation from Psalm 110:1. After Jesus made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And from time until His second coming, God is making His enemies a footstool for His feet. Some of His enemies become His footstool because they surrender their lives to Him in repentance and faith. All those who refuse to surrender to Christ before He returns, will be forced to surrender to His sovereign rule, and then cast into the lake of fire. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
The relationship between Christ and the angels is like the relationship between a King, and his loyal subjects who wait upon him. Jesus is superior to the angels in the same way that a King is superior to his servants that wait upon him.
Jesus is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth.
1:10-12 is a quote from Psalm 102:25-27, and teaches that Jesus both created the heavens and the earth and one day will destroy the heavens and the earth.
10 And,
“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Your hands;
11 They will perish, but You remain;
And they all will become old like a garment,
12 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.”
This passage is providing further support to the claim that the author made in verse 2 that “through Jesus God made the world.” Verse 10 tells us that Jesus laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.” Not only was planet earth created by Jesus, but the entire starry heavens. And just to show us the magnificence of Christ’s power, God didn’t make just our solar system, or a few thousand other stars. Astronomers estimate there are about 2 trillion galaxies. If the galaxies average 100 billion stars each, that is 10 to the 24th power stars. We can’t even fathom that number. If you were to count all the stars, one per second, it would take 300 trillion years to count them all! There are thousands of times more stars than there are grains of sand on all our beaches. And Jesus created all of them. Ps. 147:4 says “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.”
Not only is Jesus the Creator, but one day He will destroy the heavens and the earth. Verse 12 says “And like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed.” This is the same truth that Peter gives us in 2 Peter 3:10, 12 “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… 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.”
Hebrews 1:11 says “They will perish, but You remain; and they all will become old like a garment.” Our clothes get old. Our socks and underwear eventually get holes in them. Our shirts fade or get stains on them. Eventually we throw them away and buy new clothes. The same is true of the heavens and the earth. But Jesus is not that way. “They will perish, but You remain.” Verse 12 says, “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.” Jesus is eternal, without beginning and without end. He never deteriorates, gets worse, needs to be fixed, or repaired. He is always perfect in His being. He is immutable.
Since Jesus is the Creator, He is far superior to the angels which are His creatures.
2. The Angels
The angels are described in verse 7 and 13.
Winds. The angels are compared to winds.
The wind is invisible. True, we can see the effects of the wind when trees sway back and forth, but we don’t see the wind itself. So too, angels are invisible unless they intentionally appear to us. Verse 14 tells us that they are spirits. Jesus said in Lk. 24:39 “a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
The wind is powerful. A hurricane or tornado is so powerful that it can bring complete devastation to an area, and reduce what was once a populated neighborhood into a pile of rubble. So too, angels are powerful beings. In fact they are so powerful, that the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night – 2 Kings 19:35
Ministers. That word means servants. Jesus is King, the angels are His servants.
Flame of Fire.
Fire often represents God’s judgment in Scripture. When the Bible says that angels are a flame of fire, it may have the meaning that they are instruments of God’s judgment. It was the angels that brought destruction upon Sodom and Gomorrah. It is the angels who will gather out of God’s kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt.13:41-42).
The angels may also be referred to as a flame of fire because of their brightness and terrifying appearance. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife, she went and told her husband that his appearance was “very awesome.” When Jesus rose from the dead, angels attended him. Mt. 28:3-4 tell us that the appearance of the angel was like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow. The guard shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
The angels may also be referred to as a flame of fire because of the zeal in which they serve God. Ps.103:20 says, “Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!” When the angels are given an assignment they perform their instructions immediately with zeal and swiftness.
Ministering Spirits (1:14). The angels are not human. Some people think that when someone dies, they become angels. That’s not true. Angels do not possess human bodies. They may appear as human briefly in order to fulfill a mission given them by God, but they were not created with bodies. They are also different from humans, because all humans were brought into existence by the procreation of their parents. Angels do not have parents. They are not born because of acts of other angels. They were all created at one time. That’s why humans can be held responsible for the sin of one man. All those humans descended from that one man. However angels were all created individually by God without angelic parents. Therefore they are all responsible for their own actions.
Sent out to render service. They are not giving orders. They are carrying out God’s orders. There is an entire race of created beings made for the sole purpose of serving God and us!
Those who will inherit salvation. Will inherit is in the future tense. Who are these people? They are God’s elect, the ones He chose before the foundation of the world! We are not told that the angels render service to those who will not inherit salvation.
Conclusion
Remember, that the Book of Hebrews was written to Jews who had professed faith in Christ. The author knows they are being tempted to leave Christ, and this letter is to exhort them to persevere in faith. In order to urge them to persevere, he must show them Jesus is better than anything else.
- Worship Jesus Christ! We are told in this passage that God commands all the angels to worship Jesus. Therefore, if all angels should worship Jesus, then all people should worship Him. If the angels worship Jesus, then Jesus is worthy of your highest devotion. Decide that you are not going to give Him a slice of your life, or portion of your devotion. Decide that you are going to submit all of Your life to Him as Lord, and seek to glorify Him in everything you do.
- Trust Jesus’ Unchanging Nature! Everything about us changes, especially as we age. Our looks change, our moods change, our sense of hearing, sight, small and taste all change. That’s why we need a solid rock to stand on. The good news is that Jesus is that solid rock, because He does not change. This world will be rolled up like a scroll and perish, but He will remain after it is gone. He is the One rock solid Person that you can have absolute trust in. He who believes in Him will not be disappointed.
- Avoid a Misplaced Focus! What I mean by that is that we need to avoid obsessing over things that really don’t matter, and neglecting that which does really matter. When Paul wrote to the Colossians he told them they must not worship angels or take their stand on visions. It can be easy to get distracted from the main thing in the Christian life and get totally wrapped up in angels, visions, some secondary doctrinal issue, spiritual warfare, demons, etc. But none of those things can hold a candle to the glory of the Person of Jesus Christ. If you must be obsessed with something, be obsessed with Christ.
- Avoid Any Teaching that Minimizes Jesus Christ! Muslims tell us that Jesus was a prophet but not the Son of God. Hindus tell us that Christ is only one of the paths that lead to God. Mormons believe Jesus is the spirit of brother of Lucifer (Satan). Buddhists believe Jesus was an enlightened teacher who realized His own divinity rather than the unique Savior. Jews believe Jesus is a false Messiah and is not divine or a mediator. All of these views minimize His Person and Work. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and the only Savior of sinners. Therefore no one can be saved unless they come to Christ.
Let’s pray.
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