Hebrews 4
Jesus is Greater than anything.
Jesus and Angels part 2
Hebrews 1:4-14
Remember our theme of Hebrews – Jesus is SUPREME and ABOVE and OVER everyone and everything.
The author of Hebrews shares with us that Jesus is Greater than the Angels and because many of the Hebrew Jews had Jesus on the same level or less than the angels and therefore neglected to see the importance of Him and His deity.
Recap briefly last week. Angels.
The Hebrews Author points out 5 reasons that Jesus is Greater than the Angels.
- Jesus is greater because He has a more Excellent name. vs. 4 – 5
Hebrews 1:4-5, “having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the Angels did He ever say, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten you? And again, “I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to me?”Quote from Psalm 2:7
The Angels had always been only ministers and messengers.
Only Jesus Christ is the son.
No angel had ever been called son, they had been created by and for Jesus. So when you see Jesus, you see the SON of GOD, not the created creature of God like the angels. He is greater.
Luke 1:32, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”
The term Son – indicated to the Jewish readers the truth that Christ was God’s incarnate Son.
Proverbs shows the anticipation of the coming of the Son and the title of son.
Proverbs 30:4, “Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His SON’S NAME?
Surely know!”
Incarnation = incarnate, being or form. A living being embodying a deity or Spirit.
When Christ comes he comes as the Son of God. This makes Him both God and man. A man in human form as the Son, God as the deity who was since the beginning in Heaven with God.
He was always God, but He became a son.
HE HAS A MORE EXCELLENT NAME. HE isn’t just some angel.
2. Jesus is Greater because the angels worshipped him. Vs. 6
vs. 6, “And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” Quote from Psalm 97:7
Even though Christ humbled Himself and came to earth, and even for a time He was made lower than an angel, that is in human form, the angels are to worship him.
I think of Matthew 4 and the temptation satan put Jesus through and standing on a pinnacle he said to Christ, “If you are the son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, “He will command His angels concerning you,” and “on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
That is worship.
We saw them worship him in great multitudes at his birth. They descended and began singing “Glory to God in the highest.”
And then
Revelation 5:11-12, “And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads and myriads (MEERIADS), and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
So (Hebrew Jews) if angels are to worship Jesus, He must therefore be greater than they are. And IF He is greater than they are, then the New Covenant is greater than the Old.
3. Jesus is Greater because of his creative nature. vs. 7
Vs. 7, “and of the Angels He says, “Who makes His angels winds and His ministers a flame of fire.”
Makes = Greek – Poieō = to create, to make.
Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Not only did He create them, but they are for Him and His possession.
His winds.
His ministers.
4. Jesus is Greater because of His Eternal Existence. vs. 10-12
Vs. 10-12, “ And, “You, Lord, in the beginning Laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands, they will perish, but you remain, and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up, like a garment they will also be changed. But you are the same and your years will not come to an end.” Quote from Psalm 102
John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.”
Now we know that Angels have fallen, BUT JESUS CHRIST IS FOREVER UNCHANGING, ETERNALLY THE SAME. HE IS GREATER.
5. Jesus is greater because of His Past, His Present, and His future Revelation. vs. 13-14
Vs. 13-14, “But to which of the angels has He ever said, “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?” Quote from Psalm 110:1 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”
The angels minister and render services to believers, but JESUS,
He came that whoever believed in Him shall not Perish. Born of a virgin.
He Died so that we might live.
And One day – Philippians 2:10, “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in Heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.”
