Introduction

Good morning, let us once again jump right into the book of Hebrews.  Please go ahead and turn with me to chapter one.  We are going to make a little more progress this morning than we have the past two weeks by covering verses 4-9.  The theme for the text this morning as you will quickly see is that Christ is superior to the angels.  

I will begin by asking a question, what is your view of angels?  I can tell you what our culture generally thinks of angles in how they are portrayed in movies, for instance.  Do angels look like old men and take you on a journey through an alternate reality to restore your appreciation for what you have and to bring you back to your former Joy? (It’s A Wonderful Life) Do angels come to Earth and look a lot like Nicholas Cage and end up falling in love with a human? As much as I appreciate movies like It’s a Wonderful Life, it and many others demonstrate our innate ability to distort spiritual things into our own image.  

The trouble comes when these distortions actually frame our beliefs about something and we end up trusting in or believing in an image that is false.  This is, of course, happening today but it is nothing new.  The Jewish people at the time this letter was written held an unhealthy view of angels.  They were given a far greater emphasis than God ever intended and the writer of Hebrews is correctly re-framing the angles and putting them in their proper place in the kingdom of God.  The largest part of this effort is to put Christ in his proper place in relation to the angels so that we come away with an ordered view of God’s heavenly kingdom and an appropriate adoration of the only one worthy to be worshiped and adored.  

The reason for properly framing the relationship between Christ and the angels right at the beginning becomes clear as we get further into the letter but we can start by looking at Stephen, right before he was stoned to death.  In Acts 7:53 we read that Stephen says of the Jews who are about to kill him, “you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” So we see then that the Jews held the understanding that it was the angels who delivered to them or mediated the law, which was the old covenant.  This is supported in Hebrews 2 when the writer says that “the message declared by angels proved to be true”  in that every transgression received a just retribution.  

So what is essentially being exposed here in their unhealthy emphasis on angels and the covenant that the angels mediated is that this message, which you hold so dear, actually condemns you because every act of disobedience will be punished.  These angels, that you have lifted up, this law and your obedience to it, that you cherish is going to condemn you if something superior doesn’t come along.  But something, or someone superior does come along and this one is not an angel, nor does he mediate the law but something greater, something better, something that will not condemn us but offer to us salvation and life.  

Tell us more then about this one greater than the angels.  That is the response the writer of Hebrews hopes that we have and the heart with which we must read.  That is why we are here this morning and what, God willing, we will do.  So stand with me as we read Hebrews 1, starting in verse 4. 

4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? 

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” 

8 But of the Son he says,  “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.  9  You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; 

  therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” 

The Better Name of Christ

Many times through the book of Genesis we discussed the significance of a name.  A name represents the identity of the one named.  So as we begin this morning, I want you to see the obvious and that is that it is not the name of Christ that makes him superior but rather his great name reflects the reality of his superiority.  Christ is superior to the angels as a result of him being the second person is the Godhead, God himself, and the father shows us that identity in how he communicates the name of the son.  

The writer of Hebrews uses two Old Testament passages to illustrate this point.  Keep in mind that these are Old Testament passages that the author is explaining are about Jesus Christ.  These words of God are concerning Christ and this is important for these early Chrisitan Jews to be reminded again that the Old Testament is communicating about Christ.  Christ is the fulfillment of the old, everything there is talking about him and this is extremely important when we begin to look at the law vs. the gospel.  That certainly won’t be the last time I bring that up. If the name of Christ is that important and everything in the Old is really pointing to him then the message he delivers should be considered of great importance.  And it is, but let’s first look at these two passages that lay the foundation of the better name of Christ. 

The first of these passages is Psalm 2:7, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” If we consider the whole of Psalm 2 we find that it is a Psalm about the sovereignty of God over those who plot against him.  It is here that we are told that the kings of the earth take counsel together to scheme against the Lord and his anointed.  It is also here where we see the Lord’s response to such scheming.  He trembles in fear of the kings of the earth’s scheming, right? No, of course not, “He who sits in heaven laughs.” The God in heaven laughs at such foolish planning and the vain attempts of those who are against him.  He will terrify them in his fury, saying “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Plan all you want to overthrow the sovereignty of God, it will be in vain because the father has placed his King on Zion.  Who is this King who the plotting against brings laughter to God? It is his son, his only begotten son.  

So this is the author of Hebrews saying that Jesus Christ has been given a name that can never be said of the angels and never was given to anyone else.  Jesus is the son of God, the King of Zion. Not only that but this begotten son of God is the hinge upon which the judgment of God swings.  Reject the son and the wrath of the father is kindled quickly against you and you will perish in the way.  Receive the son and you will find blessing and refuge.  Can this be said of the angels? Surly not, this can only be said of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  

This is a truth and a connection that the apostle Paul made as well in Acts 13:32 saying, 

32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “ ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’

And he emphasizes further in Romans 1 saying that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” So it is through the whole counsel of Jesus’s work that we see him having a name that is above the angels, a name that is above all names.  

Secondly, Hebrews references 2 Sam. 7: 14, saying. “I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.” This is such a bold statement and has so many implications when you consider it within the context of 2 Samuel.  Understanding then that the author of Hebrews is telling us that 2 Samuel is actually talking about Christ.  King David had the realization that while he was living in a house of cedar the ark of God was still in a tent and he wished to rectify that by building a great temple for the Lord.  God spoke to Nathan and said this to him, 

And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

These words from God were in the short term speaking of Solomon but Hebrews is showing us that what God is really communicating there is that not only is Jesus Christ the true son of God mentioned, but that Christ is the son who builds the house of God.  This son, this offspring of God will establish the true Kingdom and his throne will be forever.  Of which angel can it be said that he is a temple building, kingdom establishing Son who will give us rest from all our enemies? There is none but Christ alone.  

Christ is to Be Worshiped

Continuing with our text, the second reason that the author gives to demonstrate the supremacy of Christ over the angels is that God requires the angels worship him and that all worship him.  

6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

My bible has a reference to Deut. 32:43 in connection with this statement, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” but it also could be a reference to Psalm 97:7 which says the same thing.  In either case this speaks of one who will come and bring judgment to those who hate him and mercy to his children.  In the case of Deut the wording is much stronger saying, 

I will take vengeance on my adversaries 

and will repay those who hate me. 

 42  I will make my arrows drunk with blood, 

and my sword shall devour flesh— 

We may say though that the angels bring forth the judgment of God against wickedness, think of Sodom and Gomorrah or the judgment against Egypt in the days of Moses and the angels show mercy.  This is correct, the difference though is that the judgment and mercy of the angels is not everlasting and nowhere are the angels commanded to be worshiped.  On the contrary when Christ was born, Luke tells us that a multitude of heavenly hosts, that is an innumerable amount of heavenly beings, perhaps the largest choir ever assembled sang out among the heavens “glory to God” at the advent of Christ.  

The angels rejoiced at the open tomb after the resurrection of Christ, the angels rejoiced when Christ went back to heaven at his ascension and the angels will forever worship him in heaven on his throne, 

numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, 

  “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, 

  to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might 

  and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:11

Christ receives this level of worship not because he is a little better than the angels but because he created the angels, he is the God of the angels, he is God himself.  Which makes it even more amazing that Christ was made for a little while lower than the angels so that he could complete the task of redemption and salvation.  Despite the fact that Christ took on this human nature for our sake, it is clear all throughout scripture that the heavens never questioned who Christ was.  There was never a doubt as to who he was, he was and is God, worthy of our worship and lives.  

Christ is Sovereign

Our final point from the text this morning is that Christ is sovereign. I want to be careful when we are elevating Christ above the angels, as we should, we do not diminish the value or power of the angels.  Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.”  Millions of people in the southeastern US will confess this morning the devastating power of the winds.  The wind, though it is unseen, moves with an invisible, sometimes unimaginable force.  Think of Job, and the great wind that struck the house that his children were in and killed them.  Wind is nothing to be trifled with so to compare the angels to wind is really saying something.  Further, they are a flame of fire, which is to say they are powerful and full of fury.  

Everytime time an angel makes himself visible to humans in the bible, the response is to be stricken with fear and with a temptation to worship them.  All that is to say that the quickness with which the angels exact God’s commands and the power they implore in that duty is nothing short of terrifying.  However, of the son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” 

As awe inspiring and terrifying as the angels are, they are but a reflection of the glory and power of the sovereign God on the throne.  As powerful as these angelic ministers are they are just that, ministers to the throne.  Servants to the sovereign Christ whose throne is forever and ever.  How great and terrifying must Christ be in glory that he commands an innumerable host of these angels.  What an awesome God we worship and serve.  

Let me further support the sovereignty of Christ over the angels and over all things by referencing a passage in Isaiah, one that we quote frequently in the coming months. 

 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The sovereignty of Christ can be a terrifying thing to consider but it doesn’t have to be.  Isaiah prophesied the positive aspect of Christ’s sovereignty.  He has placed the government on his shoulder and he will bring everlasting peace, he will uphold justice and with him righteousness will have no end.  The sovereignty of Christ is an incredibly comforting fact for those who are on his side, those who trust in him.  

But how can it be that the person of Jesus Christ is sovereign over all things? I think I have made this point clear enough but it is here again in our text so it is worth repeating.  “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness therefore God, your God, has anointed you.”  What that statement amounts to from Psalm 45 is the reality that Christ, the person, is one with God.  Christ is sovereign over the angels and over all things because Christ is God.  

We know this without question because Christ himself made this claim on many occasions but perhaps most clearly in Luke 24, 

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures

Don’t miss what Christ says there.  He says the law, and the prophets and the Psalms (which constitute essentially the whole of the Old Testament), were written about him.  The whole bible is about me Christ says.   What greater declaration of sovereignty can there be than everything that has ever been said concerning God’s will and God’s plan of redemption was all about Christ.  Even more Christ then, by his divine power, opens the minds of the disciples to see what was previously cloudy.  Namely that everything is about him and finds its end in the death and resurrection of Christ which is the final act or final fulfillment of everything that had previously been said.  Now go and tell people who I am and what I have done.  

That is why we are here each week.  Because of the better name of Christ, the name that is to be worshiped and the name that is sovereign over all.   The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Conclusion

As always, a few points of application and we will close.  First, the text commands us to find our salvation in none other that this one who is superior to the angels.  There are many things to fear in this life, I could run through a number of them but that would really only add to a list you probably already keep close to you each day.  I need to remind us though that the one who is superior to the angels is superior to everything else including that list you keep.  The only real fear is to be separated from God because in his grace everything else has been redeemed and is currently being renewed.  

Fortunately for us all, today is the day of salvation.  Hear the words of Christ,

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Where are you looking for your salvation? In whom or in what are you believing in to give you eternal life? It must be Christ or it is nothing.  You must look on the Son and believe in him and I pray that the grace of our God opens our hearts to see him for the first time or the millionth time, because it is only in Christ we will find salvation and peace.  

Secondly, the text points us to our new, eternal family.  In verse 5 there was referenced more than once this concept of Father and Son.  Not as though the son, Christ, is inferior to God the father but rather such language is used to illustrate to us the kind of family that God is redeeming.  Paul says in Colossians speaking about Christ, 

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Christ is not simply the sovereign or preeminent one over all creation.  He could be just that and he would not be any less God but he is more than that.  He is the beginning of something more, the firstborn from the dead.  Christ is the firstborn son over a new creation.  God the father in Christ has begun a new creation, a new family that has been redeemed in Christ and one which he will live with again forever.  

Just like in the beginning before sin entered in but in this new family there will be no sin nor any potential for sin.  It will be endless paradise, a perfect life with our perfect redeemer, where joy and happiness will never cease.  Come Lord Jesus and bring us to that happy beginning.  

Finally, in connection with that second point, the text calls us to look in faith to Glory.  Christ is bringing us into joy and gladness as our text read this morning.   I know it may not seem like it now but glory is coming. 

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3  to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61: 1-3

Glory is coming, hear the good news this morning and receive it with gladness.  Praise be to Christ that he is superior and because he is, we can experience joy without end by trusting in the one who is superior to the angels. Amen. 

Bibliography

Phillips, Richard D. 2006. Hebrews. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)