Study No. 2. Superior to Angels Chapter 1:3-14
The apostle tells tells the Hebrew Christians who had, as a result of persecution by their fellow Jews, been scattered as far as Asia minor, to re-assess the fact that Jesus, Who is superior in every way should not be allowed to slip away to a place of lesser importance in their minds.
The Jews in their tradition made much of the fact that they had Abraham for their forefather, Moses for their leader and prophet, Aaron the head of their priesthood, Joshua their heroic general, and to top it all off, angels, hosts of angels present at the giving of the law. How easy it would be to slip back to their beloved roots.
In the remainder of chapter one we will enjoy reading about the superiority of Jesus to angels.
Verse 4 begins by telling us that Jesus 'became' better than angels. If you were a 'unitarian', as were the Arians of old, you could take this verse out of its setting and say, 'See here? Jesus was not God. If He were, how could He possibly have become greater than an angel? .... He would have been greater than an angel all along!'
But here is what we will see in the chapter ... Jesus, who is God, the Son ... became a man, lower than angels ...then was exalted to a position higher than the angels. This higher position to which He is exalted is more than a return to the position He had before He came. When He returned to heaven, He returned with titles that He did not have before. He returned with the title, Son. He returned with the title, Mediator.
Angels were never called Son.
Angels were told to worship the Son as He came into the world. Worship is always from a lesser to a greater.
Angels held an exalted, God-given position (v7) but in comparison, Jesus is called God!
Angels were present at the creation and even clapped their hands (Job 38:6,7) but Jesus created!
Here the writer (Paul) quotes a Psalm.
Psalm 102:25 Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
:26 They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed.
As I have mentioned earlier, a number of sub topics are touched on in Hebrews. Here is one of them.
What does it mean that the earth will grow old as a garment and be changed?
There are two main schools of thought regarding the future of this earth in regard to what is called the New Earth in the book of Revelations.
One thought is that this planet will get revamped and renewed and be enjoyed forever. At one time this belief was mainly held by Jehovah's Witnesses and by the Seventh Day Adventists. Now it has spread into the Evangelical community (of which we are a part) as well. I purchased and read most of Randy Alcorn's book called Heaven. I like his refreshing view regarding some of the things going on at this moment in the present heaven. But in reading his book I soon discovered ... and was somewhat disappointed ... in his view that this earth will be the eternal heaven on which we will live forever. In almost every case where the scripture uses the words ... a new earth ... invariably in his comments he changes it to 'renewed'. He makes a claim that he takes scripture very literally but that is not what I see in his book. I wrote to him and received a response from his administrational assistant. The response was somewhat innocuous.
Biblically we discover that Peter1 announces that the earth and all of its elements will melt with incredible heat. He says they pass away with a terrific noise. John, in Revelation says that he saw a new Heaven and a New Earth for the first heaven and earth had passed away2. The writer of Hebrews says they are folded up as an old and discarded garment. They are changed for a new garment. He does not say that the old garment is changed INTO a new garment.
The Son --- sits at the Father's right hand. His work is over.
Angels --- are ministering spirits. Not sitting down, they continually serve (v14).
As another 'sub topic' is, what do we know and appreciate about the ministry of angels?
First of all, we are not to worship them.
Col 2:18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
In our day we have been exposed to 'Highway to Heaven' and 'Touched by an Angel'. We have heard of or seen movies that have focused on the appearance and ministry of an angel. And by the way, we are told in Hebrews13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
We read that angels carried Lazarus away to Abraham's Bosom3 (another title for the old Paradise). We are told by Jesus, "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. Mt 18:10
Jacob dreamed that he saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven4. Elisha prayed that the eyes of his servant be opened so that he might see that their predicament was not so dire as he presumed. As a result the servant exclaimed ... “There are more on our side than on theirs!”
Angels locked the mouth of lions5. Angels have fought with Satan and his angels as Satan attempted to resist the answer to Daniel's prayer for an interpretation of his dream6.
All angels were created Holy. Satan had a prideful thought. He decided he could depose God. He talked a number of angels into siding with him and then he attacked God. He lost the battle. Some of the fallen angels are presently chained up. Others are still on the loose, but now they are called demons. Satan himself is called the 'accuser of the brothers' and continues to have the freedom to go before God to accuse us 'day and night' (Rev 12:10)7. In a future time he will once again rise up against God in a final battle, once again he will lose8. After that time his activity will be restricted to earth, for the final 3 and a half years of 'life as we know it'.
Does everyone have a guardian angel? While scripture is not abundantly clear it says in Psalm 92:11 For he will order his angels to protect you in all you do. And coupled with the reference that the children have angels who appear before God, we take the position that, yes, we do have guardian angels.
We have heard many stories ... are they true? Here is one I found on the WEB.
Another and similar account was also reported by a medical missionary at his home church in Michigan: While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, I traveled every two weeks by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This required camping overnight half way. On one of these trips, I saw two men fighting in the city. One was seriously injured, so I treated him and witnessed to him of the Lord Jesus Christ. I then returned home without incident.
Upon arriving in the city several weeks later, I was approached by the man I had treated earlier. He told me he had known that I carried money and medicine. He said, “some friends and I followed you into the jungle knowing you would camp overnight. We waited for you to go to sleep and planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.”
I laughed at this and said I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, “No, sir, I was not the only one to see the guards. My Jave friends also saw them and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.”
At this point in the church presentation in Michigan, one of the men in the church jumped up and interrupted the missionary, and asked, “Can you tell me the exact date when this happened?” The missionary thought for a while and recalled the date.
The man in the congregation told this side of the story: “On that night in Africa it was morning here. I was preparing to play golf. As I put my bag in the car, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for you. In fact, the urging was so strong that I called the men of this church together to pray for you. Will all of those men who met with me that day please stand?”
The men who had met that day to pray together stood—there were 26 of them! Again we ask, were these angels? While I cannot verify this story, I have no doubt whatsoever that it could be true.
Angels have been used to 'provide' necessities of life. Jesus experienced this9 after his 40-day test in the desert. Elijah, as he was running for his life, was woken from his sleep of exhaustion and provided with a meal ... twice10.Angels have been the communicators of messages from God. They will be used to mete out God's wrath upon man in order to get them to finally repent.
As wonderful and as great as angels are, Jesus is greater. And he has made us His (little) brothers and sisters11. What will our relationship to angels be in heaven? 1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? I am thinking this refers only to the fallen angels12. But as brothers of Jesus ... we will enjoy a very exalted position for eternity.
We are called both brothers and children. We belong to Jesus both by adoption and by regeneration. Regeneration refers to a new birth. We have passed from death to life.
Adoption refers more to the particular relationship that we have with Him. He wants us that close to Him. We want to be children, that is, we want life, not death. We called on His name. We were born again. That is how it looks from our side. On His side ... he wants closeness. He wants brothers. What an eternity is in store!
12Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.11 ¶ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2Re 21:1 ¶ Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
3Lu 16:22
4Ge 28:12
5Da 6:22 "My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you."
6Daniel 10:13
7See also Job 1:6
8Re 12:7 - 10
9Mr 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
101Ki 19:7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you."
11Hebrews 2:12,13
122Pe 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
The apostle tells tells the Hebrew Christians who had, as a result of persecution by their fellow Jews, been scattered as far as Asia minor, to re-assess the fact that Jesus, Who is superior in every way should not be allowed to slip away to a place of lesser importance in their minds.
The Jews in their tradition made much of the fact that they had Abraham for their forefather, Moses for their leader and prophet, Aaron the head of their priesthood, Joshua their heroic general, and to top it all off, angels, hosts of angels present at the giving of the law. How easy it would be to slip back to their beloved roots.
In the remainder of chapter one we will enjoy reading about the superiority of Jesus to angels.
Verse 4 begins by telling us that Jesus 'became' better than angels. If you were a 'unitarian', as were the Arians of old, you could take this verse out of its setting and say, 'See here? Jesus was not God. If He were, how could He possibly have become greater than an angel? .... He would have been greater than an angel all along!'
But here is what we will see in the chapter ... Jesus, who is God, the Son ... became a man, lower than angels ...then was exalted to a position higher than the angels. This higher position to which He is exalted is more than a return to the position He had before He came. When He returned to heaven, He returned with titles that He did not have before. He returned with the title, Son. He returned with the title, Mediator.
Angels were never called Son.
Angels were told to worship the Son as He came into the world. Worship is always from a lesser to a greater.
Angels held an exalted, God-given position (v7) but in comparison, Jesus is called God!
Angels were present at the creation and even clapped their hands (Job 38:6,7) but Jesus created!
Here the writer (Paul) quotes a Psalm.
Psalm 102:25 Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
:26 They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed.
As I have mentioned earlier, a number of sub topics are touched on in Hebrews. Here is one of them.
What does it mean that the earth will grow old as a garment and be changed?
There are two main schools of thought regarding the future of this earth in regard to what is called the New Earth in the book of Revelations.
One thought is that this planet will get revamped and renewed and be enjoyed forever. At one time this belief was mainly held by Jehovah's Witnesses and by the Seventh Day Adventists. Now it has spread into the Evangelical community (of which we are a part) as well. I purchased and read most of Randy Alcorn's book called Heaven. I like his refreshing view regarding some of the things going on at this moment in the present heaven. But in reading his book I soon discovered ... and was somewhat disappointed ... in his view that this earth will be the eternal heaven on which we will live forever. In almost every case where the scripture uses the words ... a new earth ... invariably in his comments he changes it to 'renewed'. He makes a claim that he takes scripture very literally but that is not what I see in his book. I wrote to him and received a response from his administrational assistant. The response was somewhat innocuous.
Biblically we discover that Peter1 announces that the earth and all of its elements will melt with incredible heat. He says they pass away with a terrific noise. John, in Revelation says that he saw a new Heaven and a New Earth for the first heaven and earth had passed away2. The writer of Hebrews says they are folded up as an old and discarded garment. They are changed for a new garment. He does not say that the old garment is changed INTO a new garment.
The Son --- sits at the Father's right hand. His work is over.
Angels --- are ministering spirits. Not sitting down, they continually serve (v14).
As another 'sub topic' is, what do we know and appreciate about the ministry of angels?
First of all, we are not to worship them.
Col 2:18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
In our day we have been exposed to 'Highway to Heaven' and 'Touched by an Angel'. We have heard of or seen movies that have focused on the appearance and ministry of an angel. And by the way, we are told in Hebrews13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
We read that angels carried Lazarus away to Abraham's Bosom3 (another title for the old Paradise). We are told by Jesus, "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. Mt 18:10
Jacob dreamed that he saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven4. Elisha prayed that the eyes of his servant be opened so that he might see that their predicament was not so dire as he presumed. As a result the servant exclaimed ... “There are more on our side than on theirs!”
Angels locked the mouth of lions5. Angels have fought with Satan and his angels as Satan attempted to resist the answer to Daniel's prayer for an interpretation of his dream6.
All angels were created Holy. Satan had a prideful thought. He decided he could depose God. He talked a number of angels into siding with him and then he attacked God. He lost the battle. Some of the fallen angels are presently chained up. Others are still on the loose, but now they are called demons. Satan himself is called the 'accuser of the brothers' and continues to have the freedom to go before God to accuse us 'day and night' (Rev 12:10)7. In a future time he will once again rise up against God in a final battle, once again he will lose8. After that time his activity will be restricted to earth, for the final 3 and a half years of 'life as we know it'.
Does everyone have a guardian angel? While scripture is not abundantly clear it says in Psalm 92:11 For he will order his angels to protect you in all you do. And coupled with the reference that the children have angels who appear before God, we take the position that, yes, we do have guardian angels.
We have heard many stories ... are they true? Here is one I found on the WEB.
Another and similar account was also reported by a medical missionary at his home church in Michigan: While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, I traveled every two weeks by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This required camping overnight half way. On one of these trips, I saw two men fighting in the city. One was seriously injured, so I treated him and witnessed to him of the Lord Jesus Christ. I then returned home without incident.
Upon arriving in the city several weeks later, I was approached by the man I had treated earlier. He told me he had known that I carried money and medicine. He said, “some friends and I followed you into the jungle knowing you would camp overnight. We waited for you to go to sleep and planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.”
I laughed at this and said I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, “No, sir, I was not the only one to see the guards. My Jave friends also saw them and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.”
At this point in the church presentation in Michigan, one of the men in the church jumped up and interrupted the missionary, and asked, “Can you tell me the exact date when this happened?” The missionary thought for a while and recalled the date.
The man in the congregation told this side of the story: “On that night in Africa it was morning here. I was preparing to play golf. As I put my bag in the car, I felt the Lord leading me to pray for you. In fact, the urging was so strong that I called the men of this church together to pray for you. Will all of those men who met with me that day please stand?”
The men who had met that day to pray together stood—there were 26 of them! Again we ask, were these angels? While I cannot verify this story, I have no doubt whatsoever that it could be true.
Angels have been used to 'provide' necessities of life. Jesus experienced this9 after his 40-day test in the desert. Elijah, as he was running for his life, was woken from his sleep of exhaustion and provided with a meal ... twice10.Angels have been the communicators of messages from God. They will be used to mete out God's wrath upon man in order to get them to finally repent.
As wonderful and as great as angels are, Jesus is greater. And he has made us His (little) brothers and sisters11. What will our relationship to angels be in heaven? 1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? I am thinking this refers only to the fallen angels12. But as brothers of Jesus ... we will enjoy a very exalted position for eternity.
We are called both brothers and children. We belong to Jesus both by adoption and by regeneration. Regeneration refers to a new birth. We have passed from death to life.
Adoption refers more to the particular relationship that we have with Him. He wants us that close to Him. We want to be children, that is, we want life, not death. We called on His name. We were born again. That is how it looks from our side. On His side ... he wants closeness. He wants brothers. What an eternity is in store!
12Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.11 ¶ Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2Re 21:1 ¶ Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
3Lu 16:22
4Ge 28:12
5Da 6:22 "My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you."
6Daniel 10:13
7See also Job 1:6
8Re 12:7 - 10
9Mr 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
101Ki 19:7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you."
11Hebrews 2:12,13
122Pe 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;