The Book of HEBREWS
James J. Barker
Lesson 03
CHRIST IS BETTER THAN THE ANGELS
INTRODUCTION:
- We saw last
Wednesday evening that the Lord Jesus Christ is “better than the angels”
(1:4). The key word is “better,” and it is found
13 times in the epistle to the Hebrews (cf. 1:4).
- “Being made so much better than
the angels…” Christ is so much better than the angels because…
- CHRIST HAS A MORE EXCELLENT NAME
- CHRIST IS WORSHIPPED (ANGELS ARE NOT)
- CHRIST IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD
I.
CHRIST HAS A MORE EXCELLENT NAME
- Christ has “obtained a more
excellent name” than the angels (Heb. 1:4).
- Philippians 2:9-11 says,
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.”
- Acts 4:12 says, “Neither is
there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.”
II.
CHRIST IS WORSHIPPED
(ANGELS ARE NOT)
- “And again,
when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all
the angels of God worship him” (Hebrews 1:6).
- This is the great theme of
the epistle. The Son of God is to
be worshipped as God the Father is to be
worshipped.
- Angels worship the Lord
Jesus Christ, and so do men. Luke
2:13 and 14 says, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men” (cf. Matt. 2:11; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25;
28:9, 17; Mark 5:6; John 9:38).
- By the way, the word
“worship” has been removed from several verses in the NIV and most of the other
modern Bible translations.
- In Matthew 8:2, the NIV
says, “A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if
you are willing, you can make me clean.’”
- The Greek word rendered
“knelt” means “worship.”
- The Authorized King James
Bible says, “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying,
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean.”
- In the NIV, Matthew 9:18
says, “While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and
said, ‘My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she
will live.’”
- In the NIV, Matthew 15:25
reads, “The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she
said.”
- In the NIV, Mark 5:6 says,
“When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front
of him.”
- The KJV says “worshipped” in
all these verses. In fact, the same
Greek word is translated “worship” elsewhere in the NIV, so there is no good
reason for not being consistent and translating the same word as “worship” in
these other verses.
- This is just another subtle
attack on God’s Word from the devil.
- Once the readers of this
epistle understand that Jesus Christ is God, and is to be worshipped as God, and
once they acknowledge this, they could never return to
Judaism.
- Once they have accepted the
Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, they are to go forward serving Him (cf.
6:1).
- Angels are God’s
“ministering spirits” (1:7). They
are messengers. But Christ is more than a messenger sent from God. He is the eternal Son of God, and He
is God manifest in the flesh (1:8; cf. Psalm 45:6,
7).
- The throne of God refers to
Christ’s sovereignty (1:8, 13).
- Angels are created beings,
whereas Christ is the Creator (cf. 1:2, 10).
- “All things were made by
him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John
1:3).
- Matthew Henry gives five
reasons why Christ is greater than the angels.
- “First,
His true and real divinity, and that with much pleasure and affection, not
grudging him that glory: Thy throne, O God. Here one person calls another
person God, O God. And, if God the Father declares him to be so, he must
be really and truly so; for God calls persons and things as they are. And now
let who will deny him to be essentially God at their peril, but let us own and
honour him as God; for, if he had not been God, he had never been fit to have
done the Mediator’s work nor to have worn the Mediator’s
crown.”
- “Secondly,
God declares his dignity and dominion, as having a throne, a kingdom, and a
sceptre of that kingdom. He has all right, rule, authority, and power, both as
the God of nature, grace, and glory, and as
Mediator.”
- “Thirdly,
God declares the eternal duration of the dominion and dignity of Christ,
founded upon the divinity of his person: Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever, from everlasting to everlasting, through all the ages of time…
This distinguishes Christ’s throne from all earthly thrones, which are
tottering, and will at length tumble down; but the throne of Christ shall be as
the days of heaven.”
- “Fourthly,
God declares of Christ the perfect equity of his administration, and of
the execution of his power, through all the parts of his government: A
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved
righteousness, and hated iniquity (1:8, 9).
- “Fifthly,
God declares of Christ how he was qualified for the office of Mediator, and how
he was installed and confirmed in it – Therefore God, even thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (1:9). Christ has
the name Messiah from his being anointed. God’s anointing of Christ signifies
both his qualifying him for the office of the Mediator with the Holy Spirit and
all his graces, and likewise his inauguration of him into the office, as
prophets, priests, and kings, were by anointing.”
- “Therefore God, even thy
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (1:9). In the context, “fellows” would probably
refer to prophets, priests, and kings who were anointed for their
office.
- As God, Christ has no
“fellows,” other than God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. But as man, Christ has “fellows.”
- Matthew Henry said that as a
man, Christ has his fellows, “and as an anointed person; but his unction is
beyond all theirs.”
III.
CHRIST
IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD
- Christ is better than the
angels because no angel has ever been invited to sit at the right hand of
God.
- Psalm 110:1 says, “The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool” (cf. Hebrews 1:13).
- Our Lord said in Mark 12:36,
“For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou
on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
footstool.”
- These Scriptures remind us
that the Lord Jesus Christ has enemies – rebels who do not have Him to
reign over them.
- I mentioned on Sunday that
Elijah had enemies, and so did Elisha, and John the Baptist, and the apostles,
etc.
- So we should not be
surprised if sinners oppose us.
- The “right hand” of God
signifies strength and power (cf. Mark 16:19; Acts 2:33, 34; 5:31; 7:55, 56;
Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; I Peter
3:22).
- In Mark 14:61, the high
priest asked Jesus, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Our Lord replied, “I am: and ye shall
see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clouds of heaven.”
- Our Lord said in Luke 22:69,
“Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of
God.”
CONCLUSION:
- I read an interesting
article recently.
- Christopher Hitchens is a
well known atheist, a political columnist for Vanity Fair,
Slate, and other magazines, and is frequently on various political
television programs.
- He is the author of the best
selling book God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything.
- Since the book’s publication
in 2007, Hitchens has toured the country debating a series of religious leaders,
including some well-known Christians.
- During a recent trip to
Portland, Oregon, he was interviewed by a woman named Marilyn Sewell. She is the
recently retired minister of the First Unitarian Church of Portland, a former
teacher, psychotherapist and the author of numerous
books.
- Marilyn Sewell said to Mr.
Hitchens, “The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist
faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories
from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that
Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make a distinction between
fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?”
- Christopher
Hitchens responded by saying, “I would say that if you
don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he
rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re
really not in any meaningful sense a
Christian.”
- For the rest of the
interview Mr. Hitchens continues to attack the Bible and the Christian faith,
and this wretched Unitarian woman continues to agree with
him.
- Even after he continues to
insist that she is “not in any meaningful sense a Christian,” she still keeps
spouting her foolishness.
- Cf. Hebrews 1:1, 2.
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