Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Hebrews

Jesus Christ, Superior to Angels, Part 3

Hebrews 1:7-14

 

I know it seems like we are moving very slowly, but getting through the first fourteen verses of chapter 1 requires some time.  We’ll pick up the pace a little as we progress.  But these first few verses give us so much information about the person of Jesus Christ that I don’t want to hurry. 

 

The book of Hebrews is written to show the Jewish reader that Christ is superior to everything and everybody, but we get the benefit of it also. 

 

In particular, verses 4 to 14 deal with Jesus Christ's superiority to angels. Now verse 4 gives us the primary thought.  "Being made so much better than the angels" is the basic proposition.  Then he begins building that case.  How is he better than the angels?  He uses seven Old Testament scriptures to drive down five primary qualifiers. 

 

So far we’ve seen He is superior in His name.  No angel ever bore the name and relationship of a son.  That belongs to Jesus. 

 

Then we saw He is superior in His worship.  Angels worship Him as God; they don’t yet understand it all, but there is coming a day when they will recognize that Jesus in the flesh is worthy of their worship.  I think angels, who are superior to man, have a hard time understanding how a man could be worthy of their worship, but one day they will understand.

 

 

Thirdly, Jesus is superior to angels because of

 

 

Verse 7

 

Now in this verse we see the nature of angels. What are angels? Well, first of all, who made His angels?

Look back to chapter 1, verse 2.  If Christ created everything, angels must be included and if He created angels, He must be superior to them. 

 

And by the way, don’t miss the little word “His” in verse 7. If I remember correctly from English class, “His” is a possessive pronoun.  To Whom do the angels belong?  They're His angels. He made His own angels. And by the way, verse 7 is a quote from Psalm 104:4. So to theses Jews the author is writing to, he again uses the Old Testament to verify the superiority of Christ to angels.

 

So on the one hand, we have angels.  They are referred to as spirits and ministers of fire.  What does that mean?

 

I think they primarily are descriptions of their abilities and responsibilities.  Wind is invisible; it is powerful and can move quickly and without being seen. 

 

Then they're called flames of fire. Whenever you read about a fire or flames in Scripture, it's usually connected to judgment.

 

And so we see that angels are God's executioners of judgment on the earth. 

That picture is seen as early as Genesis 19 with the destruction of Sodom and continues until the end of time as Jesus referenced in Matthew 13.

 

So angels are created beings; they are powerful, swift and invisible. They are also God’s agents of judgment.  But they are also “His” angels, and thus are created ministers or servants.  Therefore, they do not operate on their own, but under God’s direction.

 

What about Christ? What is the difference between the nature of angels and the nature of Christ?

 

Verse 8

 

See the difference?  To the angels He said you're just ministers, servants, created beings. 

 

But to Jesus, He says, O God, your throne is forever. 

 

I would say there is a tremendous difference between being a servant of God and being God!

 

This is an amazing verse.  God the Father is acknowledging Jesus as God the Son. I don’t know that there is any other verse in Scripture as clear as this one regarding the deity of Jesus Christ. 

 

If you want irrefutable proof that Jesus is God, then just listen to what God says about it! And if you disagree, then you can call Him a liar or tell Him He’s confused or doesn’t know what He’s talking about. 

 

 

 

 

God identifies Jesus as the eternal God and as such,

He is the eternal king with an eternal kingdom and a sceptre of righteousness. In other words, He is the ruler of all, including the angels and as such He rules rightly, justly, righteously.

 

So in verse 8 He is eternal God, then in verse 9 He is anointed by God and the writer moves us back to Jesus in the flesh. 

 

Verse 9

 

What we have in these two verses is both sides of the incarnation.  Not only is He God, but as a man the Son of God.

 

Now this verse is interesting in that it tells us something about Jesus in His incarnation.

 

He loves righteousness and hates iniquity."

 

Now those words reveal not only the actions of Jesus, but His motives. He didn't just do righteousness. He what? He loved it.

 

How many times in our Christian lives have we obeyed without joy and kind of in an unwilling obedience?  Do you ever do something, not because you want to, but just because it is the right thing to do?  Or not do something, not because you don’t want to, but because you just know it’s wrong? 

 

Jesus never did that.  He always did the right thing and never did the wrong thing because He loves righteousness and hates sin. 

 

 

Not only were His actions right, His motives were right also.  The spring of everything Jesus did was His love for righteousness.

 

You can’t say I love righteousness, but I also like sin. We try to say that. But when there is true love for God there will be true love for righteousness and there will be total hatred for sin. Jesus hated sin. You see it in His temptation. You see it in His cleansing the temple. You see it in His death on the cross.

 

And I'll tell you something, the more you and I become conformed to Jesus Christ, the more we're going to find out we love righteousness and hate sin. And you can pretty well tell how close to being conformed to Christ you are by your attitude towards righteousness and toward sin. And most Christians unfortunately would agree that they love righteousness but would also have to agree that they love sin to a degree.

 

Then comes a direct a statement of His superiority to angels in verse 9.

 

Now some commentators think the word companions or fellows in KJV has to do with men. But that doesn’t make a lot of sense in the context of what is being addressed.  What’s the author talking about?  Jesus superiority to angels. 

 

the point that is being made here is that Jesus Christ is greater than angels.  The word “companions” is not the issue of the passage but that Jesus is superior to the companions.  He is exalted above the others. That's a clear statement that Jesus is better than angels.

In fact, He has been anointed.  Now in the mind of a Jew, they knew not everybody got anointed.  In fact, only the king got anointed.  And since Jesus Christ is anointed that puts Him on top. He is greater than His companions, superior to angels. He is the anointed.

 

And notice that He is anointed with the oil of gladness. What is that talking about?  When did that happen?

 

I believe what he's referencing here happened immediately after the resurrection.  It was at that time that the Father exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name and so forth and so on. He assumed His kingship at His ascension.

 

And in reality, He hasn't really brought all of His kingdom together yet.  But someday He will. So we see that Jesus has a greater nature than angels.

 

Let’s look at something else.  We’ve seen His Name, His Worship and His Nature show that He's better than angels.  Fourth, we see

 

 

There is a hint of this in verse 8 which is a quote from Psalm 102: 25 to 27

 

Then notice verse 10

 

Now the verse begins with God talking to Jesus.  And here we find Jesus was around “in the beginning”.  He didn’t begin at the beginning.  He was in charge of the beginning.  To create in the beginning He must have been before the beginning and thus without beginning.

verses 11-12

 

Here we find a contrast between that which is eternal and that which is temporary and the point is Jesus is eternal. He doesn’t change like yesterday’s fashions.  You don’t roll Him up and put Him in the closet because He’s out of date. 

 

Everything else folds up and wears out, but not Jesus.  No matter how permanent things may look, nothing is eternal except God.

 

Even the angels are subject to change as the fall of angels indicates. But Jesus Christ never changes. He is eternally the same. And thus He is superior to angels in Name, in Worship, in Nature, in Eternity and finally in

 

 

Verses 13 and 14

 

Now here we find the seventh Old Testament quote and it's from Psalm 110:1. And it climaxes the full superiority of Christ to angels.

 

First He presents the destiny of Christ and then of angels.

 

Verse 13

 

The answer is none of them.  No angel ever heard God say that.

 

But that is the ultimate destiny of Jesus Christ.  Ultimately everything in the universe will be subject to Him.

That’s what Paul meant when he said to the Philippians, “At the name of the Jesus every knee should bow, things above the earth, on the earth, and under the earth.”

 

Jesus Christ is destined to be the ruler of the universe and everything that inhabits it.

 

Listen to 1 Corinthians 15:23-24a

 

What happens at the end?

 

Just keep reading. 

 

Verses 24b-28

 

As the Son of God, Jesus Christ is destined to rule and reign over everything except God.  Only in His designation as a Son is He under God, and everything else is under His feet. 

 

When does that happen? It happens at His second-coming. It happens when He comes in glory.

 

The destiny of Jesus Christ is an eternal reign.

 

Now, one final thing and I’m through.  Notice in verse 13 the little word “sit”.  God invites Jesus to sit down. 

 

Did you realize that at no time in Scripture do you ever find an angel sitting?  Do you know why? They're work is never done.

 

You and I get to.  We’ll see in Hebrews 4 there awaits a rest for the people of God. Revelation 14 says we’ll rest from our labors.

But no angel ever sat down.

 

Jesus sits down because it's over. He reigns. That is His destiny.

 

In contrast, notice the destiny of angels in verse 14

 

Jesus reigns, they serve, and they'll keep serving forever those who are the heirs of salvation. That's us. Isn't that great? The angels are going to serve us forever.

 

You say what are they going to do for us? I don’t know, but that’s what the verse says.  Their destiny is to minister to us throughout eternity. Jesus' destiny is to reign.

 

He is superior to the angels in every way. And every one of his superiorities is confirmed by an Old Testament passage.

 

Jesus is Messiah. He is God in flesh. He is the mediator of a new covenant, better than the old. And just think back for a minute will you. In this little brief 14 verse chapter we have seen the deity of Jesus Christ established in a variety of ways. 

 

He's called Son, Lord, and God. We find Him creating, sustaining, governing, redeeming, and purging sin. He is seen as omniscient, omnipotent, unchanging, and eternal. He is the one to be worshipped by the angels and all creatures in the universe and the One Who will reign for all eternity. 

 

Now, someone might read that and be tempted to say, “So what?” Well, that's exactly what the author  thought you'd say.

So He wrote the first verse of Chapter 2 just for you. 

 

Chapter 2:1

 

If God is expected a reaction to the law that came through the angels, what do you think He expects from you who have received what came through Jesus Christ?

 

We need to listen closely to what He has to say. 

 

Let's pray.