Better Than the Angels- Part 1

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HEBREWS 1:4-14

NAS Hebrews 1:4-14 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels did He ever say, “Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee”? And again, “I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me”? 6 And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 7 And of the angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds, And His ministers a flame of fire.” 8 But of the Son He says, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. 9 “Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee With the oil of gladness above Thy companions.” 10 And, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Thy hands; 11 They will perish, but Thou remainest; And they all will become old as a garment, 12 And as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; As a garment they will also be changed. But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end.” 13 But to which of the angels has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies A footstool for Thy feet “? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

THIS IS ANOTHER BLOG IN WHICH THE INTENTION IS TO EXALT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Lifting up Jesus is our goal in this study of the book of Hebrews and in the purposeful ancillary study of the New Covenant. I’m sure you agree with me that intention should be our purpose in our lives each day.  Jesus is not only our Savior; He is our Lord.  He is to be obeyed as Lord and He is to be exalted – amen?!

“IN CHRIST WE HAVE…

    • a LOVE that can never be fathomed
    • a LIFE that can never die
    • a RIGHTEOUSNESS that can never be tarnished
    • a PEACE that can never be understood
    • a REST that can never be disturbed
    • a JOY that can never be diminished
    • a HOPE that can never be disappointed
    • a GLORY that can never be clouded
    • a LIGHT that can never be darkened
    • a HAPPINESS that can never be interrupted
    • a STRENGTH that can never be enfeebled
    • a PURITY that can never be defiled
    • a BEAUTY that can never be marred
    • a WISDOM that can never be baffled
    • a RESOURCE that can never be exhausted.” – Gene Getz

“MY HEART IS STIRRED, WHEN’ERE I THINK OF JESUS… That blessed name which sets the captives free.” – Hymn

“THERE’S NOTHING AS PRECIOUS AS YOU, LORD, Nothing as precious as You.  No one else is so dear to my heart, nothing as precious as You.” – Hymn

SOMEONE ONCE SAID, “As you study the Scripture you are really gazing at Christ’s glory.”  Let us study the Scripture together and gaze upon the glory of Jesus, thanking God for the blessing it is and will surely be.

THE SPECIFIC THOUGHT WE WILL BE FOCUSING ON IN THIS PARTICULAR BLOG IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS BETTER THAN THE ANGELS.

THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, “SO MUCH BETTER.” In the Greek text there is an adjectival pronoun that is used to intensify.  The writer makes it clear that he is not comparing Jesus and angels as if there might be some doubt as to who is superior.  No.  He is, indeed, comparing Jesus to the angels, but he makes it clear at the beginning that there really is no comparison.  The NET Bible says, “so far better.”  The NIV says, “much superior.”  The NLT reads, “far greater.”

CHRIST ABOVE THE ANGELS IS A MAJOR CONCERN for the writer of Hebrews.  Angels concern the bulk of chapter one and most of chapter two.  Maybe some of the ancient readers were given to the worship of angels.  It is well known that many Jews – both of ancient times and today – place great emphasis on the fact that angels were used by God in the deliverance of the law to Moses…

NIV Acts 7:53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

BECAUSE OF THIS ATTENTION IN THE OPENING VERSES OF HEBREWS IS FURTHER SUPPORT FOR SEEING THE BOOK OF HEBREWS HAVING BEEN WRITTEN MAINLY TO JEWS.

MAYBE SOME OF THE JEWS WHO WERE TEMPTED TO ALL BACK INTO JUDAISM attempted to skirt the issue of Christ and salvation through Him by saying He was merely an angel.  Jehovah’s Witnesses today teach that Jesus is not God but an angel.  Whatever the reason, angels are especially important to the writer of Hebrews.

ANGELS ARE IMPORTANT IN THE ENTIRE BIBLE.  The Bible has much to say about angels.  One thing it says clearly: angels are real.  The Scriptures unequivocally reveal the certainty of the existence of angels.  Because God’s inerrant Word declares it so, the fact that angels exist is equally as certain as the fact that God Himself exists. Of the sixty-six books of the Bible thirty-four have something to say about angels; seventeen in both Testaments.  Angels are mentioned almost 400 times in the Bible (213 in the O.T.; 186 in the N.T.) in almost 300 different situations. In the Old Testament angels are presented as genuine personal beings serving as messengers and ministers of God.  Through the biblical account it is possible to determine in some detail their character, position, power, and activity.  These creatures of God are so intimately woven into the fabric of Scripture that to remove them would be cripple the cause and continuity of many significant historical events, such as, no less climactic historical events as the Incarnation and Resurrection of the Jesus…

WHAT EXACTLY ARE ANGELS?  Just weeks ago, I wrote a blog on angels and defined them as spirit beings created by God and sent out by Him to minister to and on behalf of believers.

UNDERSTAND ANGELS ARE CREATED BEINGS. They are not eternal like God.  Angels must never replace God to us.  Angels must never be prayed to or worshipped.  Angels are not little gods,” as I once heard someone say.

KJV Psalm 148:1-5 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.  Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.  Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.  Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.  Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.

WE GET OUR WORD “ANGEL” FROM THE GREEK αγγελος (ahng-gel-os), meaning “messenger.”  An angel is a heavenly spiritual being who is sent with a message or commission.  The basic meaning of the word is “one who is sent.”

IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER THAT NOT ALL ANGELS are good angels. While God created all angels, and all angels were originally good, Satan’s rebellion enticed some angels to follow him, thus these became the “evil” angels or “fallen” angels…

NAS 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  Therefore it is not surprising if his servants (fallen angels) also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.

JESUS IS “SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS”…

YOU’LL REMEMBER, HOWEVER, THAT THERE WAS A TIME when Jesus humbled Himself and temporarily became lower than the angels…

KJV Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

TEMPORARILY CHRIST BECAME LOWER THAN THE ANGELS…

KJV Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

AND THAT INCLUDES THE ANGELS…

JESUS IS “SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS.”

IN THE FIRST THREE VERSES the writer to the Hebrews listed seven things about the Son that proved He, Jesus, was superior to the prophets.  Seven facts are presented about the Son of God that illustrate His unmatched greatness and demonstrate why the revelation that He brought is the highest that God can possibly give.

    1. The Son is heir.  The Son shares ownership with God in all things.
    1. The Son is Creator.  Through the agency of the Son the whole universe of space and time was brought into existence.
    1. The Son is the brightness of God’s glory.  You will remember in verse 3, the text says that Jesus was the “radiance,” the light shining forth, of God.
    1. The Son is the exact representation of God’s nature.
    1. The Son is the sustainer of the universe.

NAS Colossians 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

    1. The Son is the redeemer from sin.

KJV 1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

    1. Finally, the Scripture tells us that the Son sat down at the Father’s right hand.  That image does not mean that Jesus is something less than God.  The words denote triumph and completion.  When the priest or prophet sat down that act indicated that the work at hand was accomplished and there was nothing more to be done…

NAS Hebrews 10:11-12 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,

WHAT A WONDERFUL SAVIOR!  What a wonderful divine Son: Jesus! Praise His wonderful name!

AND THIS WONDERFUL JESUS LOVES US!

NKJ Hebrews 1:4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

THROUGHOUT THE BOOK OF HEBREWS, THE WRITER UNDERSCORES the fact that Jesus Christ is superior to anything previously and all things eternally.  It is the writer’s intention to illustrate this superiority of Christ in numerous comparisons.  We saw in vv. 1 and 2, in the first such comparison, that Jesus was superior to the prophets.  Now in our passage for this week we see Jesus is superior to the angels.  As has been said, angels were particularly important to the Jews, especially in the area of the giving of the ancient law…

“BECAUSE OF THE TALMUDIC WRITINGS AND popular rabbinical interpretations and ideas, the Jewish people at the time Hebrews was written had begun to embellish the basic O.T. teachings about angels (the Talmud was and is the Jewish commentary on the O.T. and rabbinical teachings refers to the interpretations of the leading Jewish rabbis; rabbi means teacher – TR).  The writer of Hebrews, therefore, was writing not only against the backdrop of true biblical teaching but also against that of common Jewish misconceptions.” – MacArthur

IN MY READING THIS WEEK I FOUND THAT ACTUALLY SOME ANCIENT Jews respected angels to such a degree that they worshiped them.  The Gnostics were false teachers late first and early second centuries who taught, among other heresies, the worship of angels.  They had reduced Jesus to an angel.  Today Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is not God but an angel.

SO, ANGELS WERE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO THE JEWISH MIND. THE WRITER OF HEBREWS WAS WRITING PRIMARILY TO JEWISH CHRISTIANS. IF HE WAS EVER TO CONVINCE HIS READERS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS SUPERIOR TO MOSES, THAT THE NEW COVENANT IN CHRIST WAS SUPERIOR TO THE COVENANT GIVEN THROUGH MOSES, HE HAD TO SHOW THAT CHRIST WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS.

– Professor Thomas A. Rohm