Mid
Week • Hebrews 1
The
Book of Hebrews is deep and fascinating.
Let me say right up front that it is not an easy book to understand –
and there’s a simple reason for that.
The reason Hebrews often proves difficult for modern
Gentiles readers is because it’s addressed to a unique historical group of
people – Jewish Christians!
These
believers lived in the midst of a difficult situation.
Though there’s some debate among scholars over several of the specifics
of this letter; like -
1) who wrote it,
2) where it was addressed,
3) and at what time,
There’s little doubt that it was meant to be an encouragement to a
group of beleaguered followers of Christ.
As
we read through the book we realize this group was under pressure and as a
result they were toying with the idea of quietly renouncing their faith and
reverting back to the simple Judaism of their past.
So
the author argues masterfully for the supremacy of the Gospel of Christ and
exhorts his readers to hold fast to their faith.
In one round of argument after another, he artfully lays out how Christ
has fulfilled all that Judaism anticipated in its ceremonies, rituals, and law.
In effect, he says, “It doesn’t get any better than
this – so why would you go back?”
The whole point of chapter 11, which is the most well known passage in
Hebrews, and is called the Hall of Faith – is a record of the Bible’s
heroes of faith and how they also faced monumental pressure and doubt, but
chose to believe God and pressed through the obstacles in faith.
It was that very struggle and their tenacity that makes them heroic.
The writer seeks to encourage his readers to the same kind of
victorious faith in the midst of their pressures.
One
of the questions that has long challenged Bible students is – What exactly is
Hebrews?
It is a letter, an essay, a sermon – or what?
While most Bibles title it as the “Epistle to the Hebrews” – it lacks
several of the marks of a letter.
There is no opening To & From.
It lacks the usually greeting and giving of thanks
or prayer.
But
it does end like a letter with a benediction, and a short list of greetings
from specific people.
Actually,
there are close similarities between the structure of Hebrews and 1 John.
Though 1 John is a letter, it too lacks the standard opening.
There is no To & From, no greeting or opening
prayer of thanks.
But both Hebrews and 1 John, in their opening
paragraph, give a quick summary of all that is to follow in the body of the
letter.
All
in all, it is probably best to understand Hebrews as a letter.
The reason why it lacks the typical opening greeting is because the
author intended his readers not to take it as a personal correspondence so much
as a formal treatise.
This was a reasoned argument for the superiority of
the Gospel of Christ and he wanted them to receive it as such.
Now,
as to the question of who wrote Hebrews . . .
I
won’t take the time to go into all of the various suggestions and their
supporting theories.
But let me just list some of the people that have been suggested as the
author of Hebrews:
1) Apollos
2) Barnabas
3) Priscilla
4) Paul
Personally
– I think the evidence stands strongly in favor of Paul.
The language, the style, and the reference to Timothy at the end of the
Letter all seem to point to a Pauline origin.
In 13:24 the author says, “Those from Italy greet
you” so this moves me to conclude that this was written by Paul while he was in
Rome during his first imprisonment.
And the ones he’s addressing it to are the Jewish
Christians back in Jerusalem.
At
this time, things were heating up in Israel between the Jews and the Romans.
In fact, just a few years later, it would all spill over in to outright
revolt when the Jewish nationalists would rally and succeed in ousting the
hated Romans for a short season.
Of course, the Romans returned in force with 3
armies and crushed the rebellion.
But
at this time, things were heating up as the Jewish cry for national
unity and opposition to the Romans was growing.
Caught in the middle were the Jewish Christians.
They were being pressured from two sides: their
fellow Jews on one side, and the Romans on the other.
As Jews, they felt a deep sense of loyalty to their
nation and kindred.
But as Christians, they knew they were called to
submit to the governing authorities.
Their fellow Jews looked at them with suspicion as the followers of
Christ.
This suspicion often resulted in persecution and
charges of betrayal.
The Romans tended to look at Christians as a suspect sect of Judaism
that followed a new political leader called Christ.
Several other such Jewish sects had rallied behind other so-called
christs and had taken up swords against the Romans.
In their minds, the Christians were just one more of
these potential trouble-makers.
The
cumulative result was that the Jewish Christians were being pressured to chose
sides.
And because they were Jews by birth, if they were going to give in –
there was really only one-option – to quietly renounce their faith in Christ
and revert back to Judaism.
Hebrews
was written to steel them in their faith – to reinforce their confidence in
and stand for Christ.
So
the author argues for the superiority of Christ.
It’s
clear that whoever wrote Hebrews, he was well trained in the law and the heart
of Judaism.
In an absolutely masterful use of the Greek language, he shows how
Judaism is anticipation and Christ is fulfillment.
The rituals and ceremonies of the Mosaic Law are the shadow cast by the
light of God falling on the object of Jesus Christ and the Cross.
As
I mentioned earlier – one of the reasons the book of Hebrews has proven
difficult for many modern readers is because it presupposes it’s readers are
well-steeped in Jewish traditions and religious ceremony.
Hebrews has 29 direct quotations and 53 allusions to the Old Testament.
That’s a total of 82 references and shows how this
letter was aimed at people with a Jewish background.
1God, who at various times
and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2has in these last days
spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things,
through whom also He made the worlds;
3who being the brightness of His
glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word
of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high,
4having become so much better
than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than
they.
Bible
scholars and critics of the Christian faith alike recognize and laud these
first 4 verses as some of the most eloquent and moving in all the literature of
the ancient world.
The structure and grammar are exquisite!
This is more than mere communication – this is art!
And
it reminds us that in the midst of the debate over who penned Hebrews,
the real author is God Himself – for regardless of who set pen to
parchment – it was the Holy Spirit who moved him to compose what he wrote.
In this first chapter, the author wants to show Jesus’ superiority to
the angels.
He begins by reminding his readers that God is not silent, but
throughout history has revealed Himself to man through various means.
This will be the focus of my message on Sunday so
I’ll be brief with vs. 1 & 2 tonight and leave the meat of what we find
here till then.
Though God had spoken to the Jewish people in the
distant past through the prophets, and the record of their message was now
contained in the Hebrew Scriptures –what we call the OT, in the days just prior
to this – He had done something different in His revelation to man.
Instead of speaking through
an intermediary, He had come in person.
Now – let’s keep the context in mind – this is
written to a group of Jewish Christians who are being pressured to revert to Judaism.
The advocates and apologists
for Judaism said that they had the prophets and guys like Moses and Abraham on
their side.
This was supposed to lend
credibility and weight to their argument for Judaism.
So the writer agrees with
them, but takes their argument sand uses it to support his position.
If we’re to give credence to
the prophets and to someone like Moses who spoke FOR God, then how much MORE
ought we listen to God Himself when He comes to us and speaks?
That’s
precisely who Jesus was – God incarnate!
And that’s what the author presses on to prove in the verses that
follow.
God’s Son is nothing less than God Himself.
Though he is called “the Son” they must not allow
themselves to think that Jesus is anything less than God revealed in human
form.
Notice
how he argues to this conclusion . . .
1God, who at various times
and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2has in these last days
spoken to us by His Son,
Now
he lists 6 things that mark Jesus as unique and superior to all creatures,
starting with the angels.
1)
whom He has appointed heir of all things,
The
Father has set it up so that the Son is the One to Whom all things go!
Think about that for a moment!
What this means is that all creation, which is what
“all things” means, are ordained to be Christ’s possession.
Now, the Bible is quite clear – all things have been
created for God’s glory – for His pleasure and they exist for Him.
If the Father has appointed all things for the Son –
what does that tell us about the Son?
He is God!
2)
through whom also He made the worlds;
Here
the Son is called the Creator of the worlds.
Actually – the word “worlds” refers not to planets,
but ages!
This would be better understood as the entire universe,
the complete physical and spiritual creation.
Now, there are two categories of being; Creator, and created!
Here the Son is put in the Creator category – which once again means He
is God.
3)
3who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of
His person,
In
Isaiah 42:8, God firmly declares that He will not give or share His glory with
another.
Yet here we find that the Son IS the brightness of God’s glory and the
express image of His person.
There isn’t any stronger language affirming the
essential unity of the Son with the person of God.
The Son doesn’t reflect God’s glory, like the
moon reflects the light of the Sun.
The Son is the sun itself – He radiates the light
and brightness of glory.
He is not a representative of God – He is the very
person of God made visible.
4)
and upholding all things by the word of His power,
Besides
being Creator – the Son is Sustainer of the universe.
It is His power that holds the very fabric of creation together.
After
listing these 4 things about who the Son is, the writer moves to list 2 things
the Son has done.
5)
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high,
This
looks to the Cross and the ascension of Christ to Glory.
The problem is – as Gentiles, we may not realize the
profound implication of what the author is saying here.
Look at the way he words it – “When He had by Himself purged our
sins.”
This stands in stark contrast to the work of
the Jewish high priest!
Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the
high priest would enter the Holy of holies with the blood of a goat and
sprinkle some of it on the mercy seat.
This provided a temporary covering of the
sins of the nation for another year.
But the point was the high priest brought the
blood of a sacrificial offering – a goat.
He didn’t, as we read here, “by himself”
purge sins – he needed the blood of a suitable sacrifice!
The reason why the high priest couldn’t purge
sins “by himself” was because he, like the people he represented, was sinful.
Jesus, on the other hand, “by Himself” purged out sins.
He was perfect and sinless and brought His
own blood in to the heavenly holy place to provide perfect redemption and
forgiveness of sins.
Our sins haven’t been merely covered over –
they’ve been purged – expunged, erased, wiped out, removed, cast away,
eradicated, nuked, dissolved.
And having purged our sins – the Son has now taken a seat at the
favored place.
6) 4having
become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more
excellent name than they.
The
Jewish people honored and revered angels as the messengers of God.
In their view of things, animals were the lowest form of life, then
humans, angels, and then at the summit – God.
Here the author is saying that the Son, though He
was for a time humbled to a station below angels, has now been elevated
above them.
In fact, he wants his readers to understand that
it’s improper for them to think of Jesus as merely an angel – that is not the name
the Father has given Him.
His name is higher than any angel.
His name is Emmanuel – “God With Us.”
Jesus was given a work to do that was never entrusted to any angel.
Indeed, and angel could never have done what the Son did.
So though the Son was for a time lower than the
angels in terms of His incarnation, through the incarnation, He was able to
accomplish something that no angel ever could, and that was provide salvation
from sins.
This then sees Him exalted above the angels to
reclaim the glory and position He had enjoyed before the incarnation.
Now,
beginning in v. 5, the writer will use several OT passages to support his
argument that Jesus is superior to angels.
Why
did the author feel it necessary to argue this point?
Again, we need to remember who this is addressed to – Jewish
Christians!
And they knew that the Old Covenant came by the hands of angels to
Moses.
A better covenant would need to come by a higher
mediator, and that’s who and what Jesus is.
Also, there was a dangerous tendency in the early Church to worship
angels.
Paul’s Letter to the Colossians deals with this heresy.
There were those who were teaching that Jesus was
just one of the angels – but this passage roundly refutes that idea.
This
passage ought to be the death knell to the errant teaching of the Watchtower
and the Jehovah’s Witnesses because this is what they teach.
They claim that Jesus is nothing more than an appearance of Michael the
archangel.
There s no way to support that belief in light of what we find here . .
.
5For to which of the angels
did He ever say:
“You are My Son, Today I
have begotten You”? [Psalm 2:7]
And
again:
“I will be to Him a
Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? [2
Sam. 7:14]
Asked
as a rhetorical questions, the answer is – NONE!
To
what angel did the Father ever say, “You are My Son?”
None!
In Job 1:6 the angels are collectively called the
sons of God, but no angel is ever singled out as God’s Son.
This name – “Son” is the more excellent
name mentioned in v. 4.
To
what angel did the Father ever say, “Today I have begotten You?”
None!
Now, don’t let that word “begotten” trip you up!
Many of the cults actually use this as proof Jesus
is NOT God.
Their error is a common one of misinterpretation.
Jesus is begotten, not created and
refers not to His origin but to His relationship with God.
It is THAT RELATIONSHIP to which the author here is pointing.
Let me put it this way – when we say the Jesus is
God’s Son, we don’t use the word “Son” as descriptive of His origin.
As God, Jesus is eternal –
He has no origin, no beginning.
The word “son” speaks of and
refers to the kind of relationship between God the Father and Jesus.
That’s the way we’re to
understand the word “begotten” here.
Look at it again: “Today
I have begotten You.”
This is taken from Psalm
2:7, which is prophetic of the Messiah’s earthly reign over all the
kingdoms of the earth.
The Father is saying to the
Son that on that Day, He will be placed in a position of rule and dominion.
The challenge to the readers
of Hebrews is this – to what angel did God ever give the title “Son” and to
what angel was there ever promised the unique position of Messianic rule over
the nations?
The
quote from 2 Samuel is just a further affirmation of these same things.
It points to the uniqueness of the relationship between the Father and
the Son.
6But when He again brings the
firstborn into the world, He says:
“Let all the angels of
God worship Him.” [Deut.
32:43 (in the LXX and DSS) Psa 97:7]
The
title “firstborn” here, as with the word “begotten” refers not to origin
but to priority.
In
the ancient world, as well as in many cultures even today, the first-born is
the one who stands to inherit the name and wealth of the family.
His younger sisters and brothers all depend on his generosity.
But it was completely up to the will of the father if he wanted to
bestow the blessing and favor of the first-born on one of the later sons or
daughters.
We see the bestowing of the favor of the first-born on later sons often
in scripture.
David, Ephraim, and Jacob are all examples.
As a title, “First-born” refers more to pre-eminence
of favor than birth order.
Jesus
is the firstborn because He enjoys the position of chief favor.
This
is proven by the fact that the angels are told to worship Him!
Since worship is to be given only to God Himself – nothing could be
more clearly indicative of Jesus’ deity than this!
7And of the angels He says:
“Who makes His angels
spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.” [Psa 104:4]
8But to the Son He says:
“Your throne, O God, is
forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than
Your companions.” [Psa. 45:6-7]
The
contrast between angels and the Son here is dramatic!
Angels are spiritual creatures who’s task it is to serve.
The Son, on the other hand, is a Ruler whose
dominion is eternal.
In
vs. 8-14, the writer piles up quotes from the OT that speak powerfully to the
deity of Christ.
In v. 8, the Father calls the Son, “God.”
Sorry
– you just don’t get any clearer than this.
It’s hard to understand how the cults can deny the deity of Christ in
light of such clear and striking proof.
Yet they do – and here’s how:
They say that the bible refers to many gods;
it calls idols “gods” and speaks of the objects of pagan
worship as gods.
Satan is called the god of this world, while
the judges of ancient Israel were referred to as gods in terms of their role as
mediators of civil life.
But this is merely a dodge and doesn’t help the cultist explain away
this passage.
You see, whenever the bible refers to anyone other than Almighty God as
god, it means that they are a “false-god” – not the genuine
thing, but a wannabe substitute.
I love to talk to Jehovah’s Witnesses and
challenge them on this point when covering John 1:1.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God and the Word was God.”
They can’t accept that straightforward
revelation of Jesus as God so their translation twists the grammar and inserts
an indefinite article before the word God; it reads –
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God and the Word was a God.”
Then they explain this away by the previous
argument – that the Bible calls many things “god.”
So I respond by clarifying, “So – how many
Gods are there really?”
And being Jehovah’s Witnesses they say,
“One!”
I agree – but then press for further clarity
– “So when the bible calls idols gods or satan god or certain men gods, it
means that really they are false gods – right?”
To this they nod – not sure where I’m going.
Then I ask, so, according to your translation
of John 1:1, or here in Hebrews 1:8, Jesus is a false god – is that what you’re
saying?
And it’s right there they realize that their
cute little attempt to explain away the clear teaching that Jesus is God falls
apart.
Look
at what they would have to do to v. 8.
8But to the Son He says:
“Your throne, O False
God,
is forever and ever; A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
See
– it just doesn’t work. The context and
direction of the argument the writer is making here does not allow us to insert
this meaning to the text.
On the contrary – the writer is asserting in the clearest possible
terms that the Son is God.
He is called so by the Father.
And the Son, as God, sits on an eternal throne which is marked by
righteousness.
V.
9 makes sure that we see a fundamental difference between the persons of
the Father and the Son.
Though v. 8 makes it clear the Son is God, v. 9 refers to His Father as
God as well.
Look
at v. 9 once more –
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than
Your companions.”
There
is a cause-and-effect relationship here:
Because the Son loved righteousness and abhorred
lawlessness – therefore the Father has bestowed upon Him an overwhelming
spirit of joy and happiness.
Do
you realize that gladness is directly proportional to holiness?
As Jon Courson observes, “Happiness and holiness go hand in hand.”
The extent to which we chose to be holy is the
degree to which we will experience true happiness.
This is one of the reasons why people were attracted to Christ.
Because He was holy, He was happy.
Gladness flowed from Him, joy radiated to others
around Him – because He loved righteousness and shunned anything that smacked
of compromise or evil.
It’s unfortunate that for many people, the idea of being holy and being
happy are polar opposites.
They think of holiness as being tied up in narrow and limiting rules
regarding diet and dress.
In order to be holy, you have to wear black garments
that go down to the ankles and wrists and up to the chin.
Men have to keep their hair in a crew cut while
women wear bonnets and aprons.
Shoes must be black and pinch the feet like
miniature torture chambers.
Oh – and underwear is made of burlap!
Why is it that so many people think of holiness in such lifeless and
joy-quenching terms?
Why must holiness wear a sour expression?
Why is holiness marked by a consistent command of
“Don’t!”
In
this false view of holiness, pleasure is wicked and destined for the
wrath of God.
Since happiness is pleasurable, then it must involve something bad,
something worldly.
We need to get away from this twisted view of both holiness and
pleasure.
Holiness is not negative – it’s intensely positive.
It’s all about being right and living within
the boundaries God has established for us as men and women.
And pleasure isn’t inherently evil; God is the one
who created us with the capacity to experience pleasure.
Happiness
is the result, the fruit of being holy.
It’s the mark and measure of our success at living within our
God-defined parameters.
The
problem is, sin has turned us against God and since God IS HOLINESS
personified, we’ve come to hate holiness.
Turning from God, we set our aim on pleasure itself; we make happiness
our objective.
But it keeps eluding us because happiness was never meant to be the
object of our lives.
God is the only right object of our attention and
affection, and holiness is the means of reaching that objective.
Happiness is the result of a right set of
priorities.
A farmer bought a big new plow.
It had a closed cab with air conditioning, stereo with 6 disk CD
changer and heated leather seats with Cyclo-massage.
That cab was comfy and plush and he actually liked
sitting in it.
But a plow is made for one thing – digging furrows
in a field.
So he headed out one day in his new plow to dig up
the back 40.
Being a farmer, he knew that the key to plowing a
straight row was to keep his eyes on the a set spot across the field.
Though the uneven ground caused the wheel to twist
and turn in his hand, if he kept his eye on the landmark on the other side of
the field, he could steer the plow and make straight rows.
After plowing a half dozen furrows – he decided to
put some new CD’s in to the changer.
Taking his eyes off the landmark, he fixed them
inside the cab of the plow at his CD collection.
One hand on the wheel, the other flipping disks and inserting them in
to the changer.
Once that was done, he fiddled with the settings on
the air conditioner.
Then he reached down to the side of the seat and
began fiddling with the seat controls.
The whole time he’s doing this – looking around inside the cab – he’s
totally pre-occupied with what’s going on inside the cab and with making
adjustments to make it more comfortable.
And the more he works at it, the more distracted he
becomes and starts wondering why he didn’t get the more expensive model with
everything automatic.
In the meantime – he’s wandered all over the field
and left behind a maze of rows that are useless.
If the farmer had kept his attention fixed on the job at hand instead
of his comforts inside the cab, he could have ended the day with joy, and
delighted in the comforts of his new plow.
Unfortunately, the comforts had become a distraction instead of a
blessing.
You and I were made to keep our eyes fixed on Christ.
He is the landmark by which we steer our course through this life.
If we do, then we can live straight, right lives.
And the pleasures God has built in to this world can
be enjoyed in the right context.
But if we get distracted by the comforts of this life and end up fixing
on them, then life gets out of balance and will end up crashing against some
wall or we’ll end up in some ditch.
I
think the reason why many people reject Christianity is because they’ve bought
the idea that being holy is equal to eternal boredom.
They see holiness as a withdrawal from the joys of
life.
The
reasons they think this is because not a few Christians have presented it that way
to them.
They’ve run in to cheerless, nay-saying bores who lack color and joy.
We need to do our part to counter the fallacy that holiness equals
lifeless gray.
Holiness is the frame upon which God can stretch a canvas filled with
color!
Let’s boldly love and serve Christ and then soak in the anointing of
the oil of gladness that the Spirit will pour over us.
Let’s prove to the world that of all people – we are
the Happy Ones!
What
the writer is saying here is that because Jesus was the most holy person to
ever live, His capacity to experience joy was greater than anyone else’s.
He
goes on and says . . .
10And:
“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the
foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
11 They will perish, but You remain; And they
will all grow old like a garment;
12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will
be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.” [Psa 102:25-27]
In
v. 10, he gets even more specific on just who the Son is.
For here he says that the Father calls Him, “LORD.”
This is the OT covenant name for God – Yahweh, or Jehovah.
This really tweaks the Jehovah’s Witnesses because they firmly reject
the deity of Christ and demand that people refer to God by His covenant name.
When you say that Jesus IS Jehovah, they just lose it!
In these verses, the writer continues ot
reveal the superiority of Jesus to the angels by showing that he is eternal.
If he was already there in the beginning, then he could not have had a
beginning but must be eternal.
That is precisely what v. 10 says.
V. 11 says that even when the physical creation has served it’s purpose
and is allowed to dissolve, Christ will remain unchanged.
Indeed, Jesus is to the Creation what a pair
of clothes are to a man.
They can be put on or taken off, but the man is not changed.
Jesus is separate and distinct from His creation.
13But to which of the angels
has He ever said:
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? [Psa.
110:1]
14Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
Again, this is a rhetorical questions that the author expects his
readers to answer with a, “None!”
The point is that Jesus is superior to the angels
because He has sat down, having completed His work, while the angels
work on continually.
There’s
an interesting thing to observe as we look at the scenes of heaven painted for
us in the Book Of Revelation.
God is seated on His throne.
And the 24 elders which represent the redeemed of
all generations are given seats to sit on.
Other than that – there are no seats.
It is the posture of the heavenly host to stand and bow before God, not
sit!
Sitting speaks of a positions of rest and favor.
If you were ushered in to the Oval Office of the White House, you would
not just casually walk over and plop down on the sofa – you’d remain standing
until you were invited to sit.
This custom was even more pronounced in the ancient world where
monarchs held court and sat upon regal thrones that were symbols of their
power.
Everyone else stood, except those select few who
might rarely be invited to sit on a stool next to the throne.
There is a story about a man named Lear who was hired to give Queen
Victoria art lessons.
Things were going well, and Lear started to feel
quite at home in the palace.
He liked to stand in front of the fire, lean on the
hearth and warm himself in a relaxed manner, but every time he did, one of the
Queen's attendants would invite him to look at something on the other side of
the room, making him move.
No one explained it to him, but after a while, he
got the idea: good manners said that it was wrong for a subject to have such a
relaxed attitude in the presence of their Queen. [David Guzik]
The angels don't relax before God.
They stand before the Father, but the Son
sits down -- because He isn't a subject, He is the Sovereign. [David Guzik]
As
v. 14 says, the angels are spirits of service, not governing
spirits.
They are called to serve, not rule.
The Son though – does rule.
V. 14 leaves us with a provocative little hint at something profound.
Regarding angels, the author says . . .
14Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?
Vs.
5-14 are concerned with one thing – revealing the superiority of Jesus Christ
to angels.
The writer needed to do this because Angels were the mediators of the
Mosaic Covenant.
He was revealing the superiority of the New Covenant
by showing it comes through a superior mediator – Christ.
Remember
that in the Jewish mind, man ranks below angels and angels below God.
Yet here in v. 14 we are told that the angels are
spirits of service – and their service is to minister to those who will inherit
salvation.
That means Christians – those who look in faith to
the Redemption Christ secured at Calvary.
Jesus Christ is Lord of the Angels – as it says in v. 7, they are HIS
angels!
As it is their chief duty to serve Him, He dispatches them to attend to
the needs of His people.
I think that only in heaven will we be able to see
how we were kept and served by angelic forces.
But what is most amazing to realize is that these august, glorious
creatures, which rank so high above us now, will one day under-rank us as we
will be the glorified redeemed of heaven.
For you see, as it says in Ephesians – we are destined for the throne.
As the Bride of Christ, we will sit with Him upon
His throne.
It’s critical we seek ever more to know and understand who and what
Christ is because He is our eternal destiny and companion.
And His resurrection and glorification are the
pattern of our own.