Lesson
Two
God’s Superior
Messenger
Heb.
1:6-14
Theme: Christ is Superior to the Angels as
God’s Spokesman and Revealer (1:4).
Therefore, we must seriously listen to Him, carefully obey His counsel, and diligently nurture the great salvation we have in Him.
a.
Jesus is Superior as Deity (1:6–9).
A third way in which Christ is greater than the angels is that He is to be the
object of their worship, whereas they are His messengers and servants. None of the angels are called God, and no
angel is worshiped by his fellows. Yet Jesus is given the name of God, and the
angelic hosts worship Him.
i. He
is worshipped by the angels (v. 6).
1.
When He came into the world, the
angels worshiped Him. God commanded them to do so, which proves that Jesus
Christ is God; for none of God’s angels would worship a mere creature.
2.
This passage could also look forward
to the time of the Second Advent of Christ (Matt. 13:39–42; 25:31, 32; 2Thess.
1:7, 8) when the kingly prerogatives of the Son will be recognized with the
public worship of angels (Ps.
97:7). Jesus Christ must be God, because the Father commanded
these angels to worship Christ. To worship any creature is idolatry, and God
resents idolatry more than any other evil. Yet God here commands that the Lord
Jesus Christ should be worshiped by the
angels. This can only mean that He is God.
3.
In
any case, angels are not to be worshiped (see Col 2:18; Rev 19:1-10). It
is idolatry to worship any but the true God. We should not regard any spiritual beings, spiritual
guides, intermediaries, or authorities as greater than Christ. Jesus is God. He
alone deserves our worship. He alone should be our ultimate leader.
The angels of God are wonderful, but they are inferior to the Son. They are His
angels, they are His ministers, and they are His worshipers. They
worship Him. He does not worship them.
ii. He
is served by the angels (v. 7).
1.
This is a quotation from Psalm
104:4. The Hebrew and Greek words for “spirit” are also translated “wind.”
a.
Angels are created spirits, note the
word “maketh.” They have no bodies, though they
can assume human forms when ministering on earth (Gen. 18-19; Judg. 6:11-23; 13:3-23).
The emphasis is upon the variableness of the angelic nature. They are what they
are at any time according to the purpose of God, fit for any special service by
this characteristic.
b.
The point is that the angels are not
merely servants, but of such a nature that God makes them according to the
needs of His service—they are changeable, in marked contrast to the Son who is
their ruler, and unchangeable.
2.
Angels at times served our Lord when
He was on earth (Matt. 4:11; Luke 22:43), and they serve Him and us now (Heb.
1:14).
iii. He
is God enthroned and anointed (vv. 8–9).
1.
He is the eternal Sovereign; His
throne lasts forever and ever. His kingdom shall indeed “stretch from shore to
shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.”
a.
“Thy throne, O God.” This is God the Father calling God
the Son God! Do you want to
deny that Christ is God manifest in the flesh? If you do, then may I say that
you are contradicting God Himself. God called the Lord Jesus God. What are you going to call Him?
I don’t know about you, but I am also going to call Him God. He is God manifest in the flesh. He is superior to angels
because He is going to rule over the universe. He is the Messiah. He is the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is going to rule over the earth some day.
–McGee, J. Vernon
i. In
some false cults this quotation from Psalm 45:6–7 is translated, “Thy divine
throne,” because cultists dislike this strong affirmation that Jesus Christ is
God. But the translation must stand: “Thy throne, O
God, is forever and ever.”
ii. Angels
minister before the throne; they do not sit on the throne.
b.
One of the main teachings of Psalm
110 is that Jesus Christ, God’s Anointed (Messiah, Christ), is now enthroned in
glory. Jesus Himself referred to this important psalm (Mark 12:35–37; 14:62),
and Peter used it on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:34–36). Our Lord has not yet
entered into His earthly kingdom, but He has been enthroned in glory (Eph.
1:20). Our Lord’s throne is forever, which means He is eternal God.
2.
He is the righteous King (v. 8-9).
a.
The psalmist speaks of Him as
wielding a scepter of
righteousness, which is a poetic way of saying that this King rules in
absolute honesty and integrity.
b.
His
personal uprightness is evident from the fact that He has consistently loved righteousness and hated
iniquity. This doubtless refers primarily to His thirty-three years of
life on earth, during which the eye of God could find no flaw in His character
and no failure in His conduct. He proved His fitness to reign.
–MacDonald, William
c.
“Thou hast
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity” is a tremendous statement.
Imagine this old earth being ruled by One who loves righteousness and hates
iniquity!
3.
He is anointed with the most
excellent joy. When Christ ascended and
entered the heavenly glory, He was anointed for
His heavenly ministry with “the oil of gladness”
(Heb. 1:9).
a.
This probably refers to Psalm 16:11,
which Peter referred to at Pentecost: “Thou shalt make Me full of joy with Thy
countenance” (Acts 2:28). What a joyful scene that must have been!
b.
Psalm 45 is a wedding psalm, and our
Lord today is the heavenly Bridegroom who experiences “the joy that was set
before Him” (Heb. 12:2). Angels praise Him, but they cannot share that position
or that joy.
b.
Jesus is Superior as Creator
(1:10–12).
i. He
is Eternal Lord (v. 10). Eternal and “for ever and ever” (v. 8) seems to point to unlimited
duration.
1.
Like the angels (who are immortal,
not knowing birth or death as we do) Jesus will outlast the universe; He is
eternal (Rev. 1:4–8; 11:17; 22:13).
2.
Unlike angels, however, He was there
“in the beginning” when He laid the foundations
of Creation. Angels change and grow in knowledge as the centuries unfold God’s
plan, but Jesus remains the same; as God He knows all (Ps. 119:152). But all of this suggests Christ’s past
eternality.
3.
Note also the Father is addressing
the Son as in verse 10 as “Lord.”
a.
…
God here in verse 10 addresses His Son as Lord, that is
Jehovah. The conclusion is inescapable: the Jesus of the NT
is the Jehovah of the Old. –MacDonald, William
b.
The
context of Ps. 102, from which these verses are taken, clearly indicates that
the LORD is the One who would
appear in the future to Israel and the nations (see Ps. 102:12–16). Thus the
psalm can only refer to Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, the only One
who would become incarnate. Jesus is God become man.
–Nelson Study Bible
c.
Acts
4:33; 16:31;
Luke
2:11; Acts
9:17; Matt.
22:43–45. It is true that this term is used of men, e. g., Acts
16:30—“Sirs
[Lords], what must I do to be saved?” John 12:21—“Sir
[Lord], we would see Jesus.” It is not used, however, in this
unique sense, as the connection will clearly show. In our Lord’s day, the title
“Lord”
as used of Christ was applicable only to the Deity, to God. … So when the New
Testament writers speak of Jesus as Lord, there can be no question as to what
they mean.”—Wood. –Evans, William
d.
The Son, then, is Lord and has
created both earth and the heavens (Heb. 1:2). The unchangeable and eternal power and
majesty of the Son, spoken of in verses 11, 12, find their basis in the fact
that He is the One who laid the foundation of the earth and fashioned the
heavens.
ii. He
is the Changeless Creator (vv. 10–12). This long
quotation comes from Messianic Psalm 102:25–27; it presents the Lord Jesus in
his Creative work and in his final triumph.
1.
The angels did not found the earth,
for they too are a part of creation. Jesus Christ is the Creator, and one day
He will do away with the old creation and bring in a new creation. Jesus stands
alone as the unchangeable One among changing things in a changing world.
2. Everything around us changes, but He will never change. He is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Creation is like an old garment which will one day be discarded in favor of a new one.
c.
Jesus is Superior in Destiny (1:13-14).
i. Christ
is Destine to Rule as the Sovereign (v. 13).
1.
Here
the writer sums up the function of the angels as compared to that of the Son.
He is the highest dignity, a co-ruler with God. They are His servants,
appointed to minister to the heirs of redemption.
–Wuest, Kenneth S.
2.
Again, Psalm 110:1 is quoted. The
fact that Jesus Christ is now at the Father’s right hand is mentioned many
times in the New Testament (see Matt. 22:43–44; 26:64; Mark 16:19; Acts
2:33–34; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22).
This signifies a position of highest honor and limitless power. This reality
will be manifested in the earth in the Millennial Age.
3.
No angel was ever invited to share
the rule of the universe as God’s equal. But for God to picture Jesus “on My right hand” indicates that Jesus shares God’s
rule even now.
a.
In every way Jesus is superior—and
thus it must be that the revelation He brings, and the salvation He offers is
superior to the fragments offered in the Old Testament. There is no need to
look elsewhere.
b.
In Jesus we have the whole truth—and
in Jesus the best possibility of being made whole.
4.
To have all one’s enemies
as a footstool signifies universal conquering and comprehensive
dominion. Psalm 110 is used to highlight the final victory of the Son over all His
enemies. If the Son is to have an eternal throne (Heb. 1:8), such a victory
obviously must transpire. But the victory is His and not the angels. Their
role, by contrast, is to serve those
who will inherit salvation.
ii. Angels
are Destine to Minister as the Servants (v. 14).
1.
Angels are the ministering spirits
who serve the Lord seated on the throne. The mission of the angels is not to
rule but to serve. They are spirit beings whom God has created to minister for those who shall be heirs of
salvation.
a.
To
be “heirs of salvation” (1:14) includes reigning
in the throne with Christ for faithful believers; it is the potential
share in the Son’s triumphant dominion, in which He has “fellows” (Heb. 1:9) or companions (Rom. 8:17, 18; Gal. 3:7,9,29; Js.
2:5).
b.
The Lord Jesus Himself, while on
earth, spoke much of His future kingdom and the participation of His faithful
followers in that reign (Luke 12:31-32; 22:29-30).
2.
It would be impossible to do away
with the evidence presented in these quotations. Jesus Christ is greater than
the angels, and this means He is also greater than the Law which they helped
deliver to the people of Israel.
To be continued in the next post....
