Jesus, Greater Than the Angels — Anton Bosch

Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 1, and we're going to be in verses 4, from verse 4 onwards this evening, but let's read from verse 1 through 14. Let's read the chapter. Hebrews chapter 1, reading 1 through 14.

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has 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, who 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, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained 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 to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him.

And of the angels, he says, who makes his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But to the Son, he says, your throne of God is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain, and they will grow old like a garment, like a cloak you will fold them up, and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will not fail. But to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool?

And are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? So God spoke through the prophets, and he's now speaking through his, or has spoken through his Son.

Jesus Greater Than the Prophets, Angels, and Creation

I remember that we said that one of the things about Hebrews is that it highlights the greatness of the Lord Jesus, that he is better than many of the things that they had in the Old Testament. And in this chapter there are three things that he is better.

He is better than the prophets, because God spoke through the prophets, he's now spoken through his Son, and so Jesus is greater than the prophets. And then what we're going to look at this evening is he is greater than the angels.

And then you'll see hidden in there with the angels is creation, verse 10. He is greater than creation. And I know that we'd look at those things and maybe you say, well, you know, obviously he's greater than the angels, he's greater than creation.

But this is not obvious to everyone. Many people see the angels as being equal to Jesus, and we will get into that a little this evening. And many people obviously worship creation more than they worship God.

Remember Romans chapter 1, they worship the created rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. So three things that he is greater. In order to make his point concerning how great Jesus is relative to the angels, he quotes seven scriptures from the Old Testament in verses 5 through 13.

And I'm not going to look at each one of those. You can go back, you can look at your cross-reference, hopefully you have a cross-reference Bible, and you can look up those cross-references. I'm only going to look at the first one in Psalm 2, but the others you can look up for yourself.

So you can see what he's doing. We mentioned this, I think, last week or the week before, and that is that this is expository preaching. He's taking the Old Testament and he's preaching from that the greatness of Jesus.

And he's using these scriptures and he is expositing them, he's amplifying them, explaining them how that they relate to Jesus. Obviously one of the other things that he is doing in these verses that we're coming to now is he is showing that Jesus is indeed the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.

So he is not just a Johnny-come-lately who just arrived and said, well, here am I. I mean, every day we have new politicians, new celebrities who arrive on the scene and say, well, here I am, and I'm the best thing since sliced bread, and I'm going to fix all your problems.

That's happened for thousands of years. It still happens today. No, Jesus was prophesied from the very beginning, and he came and he fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. So that's one of the things that he is doing in these verses.

Jesus' Name and Sonship Above the Angels

So let's begin then in verse 4, and again you'll see that for some reason, certainly in my translation, there's a heading above verse 5 which says, the sun exalted above the angels. Cutting verse 4 off from verse 5, but in fact verse 4 and verse 5 are very closely connected.

So let's have a look at verse 4. So, having become so much better than the angels. So there's the introduction, and this really is the point that he's going to be hammering home in the next 10 verses.

Having become so much better than the angels. So Jesus is better than the angels, and he's going to prove that point through a number of points that he's going to make in these next seven verses. So we're going to come back to that.

As he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. So the first thing that makes Jesus greater than the angels is his name. And we understand that someone's name defines who they are. Our names don't really matter that much.

We have family names, and none of us are particularly famous. The fact that there are washing machines and power tools named after me, that's another story. But no, obviously not. But our names are not that important.

But when you have certain other names, certainly in this country, if you have the name Kennedy, or Bush, or one of those names, then it identifies you as somebody of importance as far as the world is concerned.

And so his name defines who he is, and defines him as being greater than the angels. So now the question then is, what is the name? And I want you to notice that he obtained a more excellent name than they.

It was given to him by inheritance, and he obtained it. Which seems to say to me that that was not always his name. And I'm not going to get into a big thing about that, but there just seems to be something there.

He obtained a more excellent name than they, and he says, for which of the angels did he say, you are my son? So what name did he have, or did he obtain, that makes him better than the angels? Son. Son.

Because he says, I will be to him a father, you will be to me a son. And then, sorry, let's jump down to verse, don't worry, I missed it. So to which of the angels did he say, you are my son? Now, we know there are verses that speak of the angels as being the sons of God, in a general term.

You find that in the book of Job. It says that the sons of God came and presented themselves to God. But no angel is singular the son of God. So they are generically the sons of God. The same way as today, all mankind is, in a sense, the sons of God, because God made everybody.

God is everyone's father. But not everyone is a true son. They are simply sons in the sense that they were made by him. The angels are sons of God in the sense that he is their creator, he is their father, he made them.

But he doesn't identify any of the angels, not even the archangels, as my son. Only of Jesus is it said, he is my son. And so the relationship or the position in heaven, clearly the son is greater than the workers.

We've just been through Luke, the prodigal son. I'm not worthy to be your son, make me as one of your servants. The father makes him a son. Clearly the son and the servants are at a different level. They're not equal.

And so the angels are servants. And in fact, you'll find that idea in the last verse of chapter 1. Are they not ministering or serving spirits sent forth to minister for us, in fact? So they are God's servants.

Jesus is not his servant. Jesus is his son. And so he has a better position than the angels. Now we say, well, we are the sons of God, because we've been born into the family of God. As many as received him, John 1 12, to them he gave the power or the right or the authority to be called the sons of God or the children of God.

But we are not sons in the same sense that Jesus is the son. When Jesus is the son, he is the son because he is one essence with the father. We are sons in a sense of adoption. And while by adoption we have full rights as sons to being children of our father.

And he is our father. He cares for us. He provides for us. We have an inheritance. All of these wonderful things are ours because we are the children of God. But we are not sons or children of God in the same way that Jesus is the son of God.

So while he is our brother, and we speak about that, and Jesus speaks of us as his brethren, at the same time we understand that he is at a different level to us. So he is at a greater level than the angels, because none of the angels were identified as, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a father, he will be to me a son. So he has a father-son relationship between God and the Lord Jesus. Now this verse creates tremendous problems.

Eternal Generation, Subordination, and the Trinity

And I said to you that there are many difficulties and very difficult, very controversial. They're not that, I don't think they're that difficult, but they're very controversial passages in the book of Hebrews.

And this is one of them. And there are two problems that come from this for some people. And I'm going to, let me deal with the last one first, and I'm going to move back. I will be to him a father, he shall be to me a son.

Now there is a teaching that is called eternal generation. And what it says, and I'm going to spend a little time on this because it's important, because it's at the heart of many teachers, that Jesus was begotten in eternity past.

Some say it was, he continually is generated, the eternal generation by the Father. I don't even know what that means. I don't think anyone knows what that means. But others say, no, there was a time, but because there's no time in eternity, it was an eternity that Jesus was begotten.

That what this verse is speaking about is a point in eternity when Jesus came forth, and they quote a verse from the book of Proverbs, which speaks about wisdom and not about Jesus. I'm going to address that in a moment, but attached to that then is this idea of what is called subordination.

I think we understand that word subordination. Sub means under, to ordinate, to place. So that Jesus then is inferior since his creation, since his begottenness, he is inferior to the Father, because, and they like this verse, he is the Father, he is the Son.

Fathers and sons are not at the same level. Well, I guess those of us who are older understand that. Those who are younger don't understand that, because today sons are more important than fathers. Sons tell fathers what to do, not the other way around.

But of course, that's not natural. That's not right. It's not good. So the fact that he is father and son then, what they're saying then is that the son is subordinate. He is lower than he is under the father.

Now, all of these things that I've just told you, you can hear that there's a problem, because what it does is it denies the co-equality of the Trinity. What I mean by that is that one of the fundamentals of the faith, and it's in our statement of faith, is that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are co-equal.

The Father is not less or more than the Son. The Son is not less or more than the Father or the Spirit. They are co-equal. They are at the same level. They are equally God. They are equally of the same essence of God.

And so the idea that there is that Jesus is less than the Father is unbiblical. Now, we understand, and we're going to see this in the book of Hebrews, that in his incarnation, in his humiliation, he is made, and we'll see that in this passage, a little lower than the angels.

So he willingly submits himself to the Father and becomes a man. And becoming a man, he is now under the angels. Because remember that in the hierarchy of things, you have God, you have the angels, and you have man.

And man is less than the angels. Angels are far more powerful than we are. Angels have not been redeemed. We have been redeemed, and so we are in a special relationship with the Father. But in the order of creation, angels are greater than men, because that's what the passage says.

But Jesus is made lower than the angels. Now, remember that he was originally higher than the angels. He was equal, co-equal, with the Father. But in his humiliation, or in his incarnation, he takes a position of a man.

And remember, not just as a man, but he comes as a servant and is obedient to the point of death of the cross. Hebrews is going to speak about his obedience, and we're going to see that. So for his earthly ministry, he submits himself to the Father, and he obeys the Father.

But remember that in his incarnation, he is no longer living as God, but he's living as a man. And this is where this whole thing just becomes very clear, if we understand that there was a time when he was God, and he never ceased to be God.

So, you know, we're getting into complicated stuff here. But he was God. He was equal with the Father. He became a man. And during that time, his whole relationship with the Father changes. His power is limited.

He himself limits his power. He's not living his life as God, but he's living his life as a man. But God is still within him. He still has that power. He still is God. He doesn't cease to be God, but he's living as a man.

And I guess the best way you can illustrate that is that reality show called, I've forgotten, when the boss puts on camouflage and he... Undercover Boss. I think everybody knows the show. Jason doesn't know the show, so I have to educate him.

In Undercover Boss, the boss puts on a disguise, and he goes and he works with the workers. And normally he's a high-powered guy. They have many branches, and he'll go to one branch, and he works as a driver.

And over there, he works as a packer or whatever, flipping burgers. And so he's learning about what his workers think of him, what the workers are experiencing, the struggles that they have, so that he can be a better boss.

And then, obviously, there's a reveal at the end, obviously. And he calls, and he takes the disguise off, and he calls the people in, and they see, oh, this is who this guy actually is. He's not just another worker.

But while he's in disguise, he works under his workers. So he's put under a supervisor, and he does what the supervisor tells him to do. But who is he? He's the boss. He can fire the supervisor. He has not limitless power, but he has enormous power within the context of the company.

But he willingly becomes a gopher, or whatever he does. Willingly submits himself to the instructions of the supervisor, or the branch manager, or whatever setup they have. But he's still the boss. But he has set aside his boss-ship for a while, that he might be able to be a worker.

And that's exactly what Jesus has done. Jesus never surrendered his divinity. He never stopped being God. But he willingly put on himself humanity. And he lived as a man. Now, you can imagine, in that reality show, in that undercover boss thing, if the boss orders lunch, and a chauffeur comes with a fancy car and silverware, and they set it out because that's how he eats in the boardroom in New York City, or wherever he is.

And the workers have a look at this, and they say, well, what's this? He's a worker, but he doesn't live like us. He doesn't eat like us. No, if he's going to be true to what he's trying to do, he has to live exactly like they live.

He has to work the eight hours, or whatever it is that they're working. He has to do whatever dirty jobs they do. He has to take the bad treatment from a difficult supervisor. He has to just go through the whole experience, because that's the point.

And so Jesus goes through all of that, and he lives as a man. So in that situation, he has surrendered his will, as it were, to the Father, limited himself. And these are difficult things, because I know there are people who are watching right now and looking to trip me up on a small technicality, because we're dealing with very complex ideas here.

But they are important for us to understand, and I'm trying to make them as clear as I possibly can. So the Father-Son relationship is his relationship on earth, because the book of Hebrews is going to make that clear, that he learned obedience through the things that he suffered.

Now, we'll explain that when we get there. And so this is happening in his humiliation. So now, you are my son. Today, I have begotten you. I think that I consulted about eight commentaries on this passage today, and each one had a different idea as to what this day means.

What does today mean in this passage? To some people, it means some time in eternity past. That some time in eternity past, as I said earlier, Jesus became the Son, or Jesus came into being. Now, we must reject that idea, because that is what the learned people call Arianism, and I'm not going to get into that.

But what it says, then, is that Jesus is not God, that in some way or the other, and there are many variations on the theme. The Mormons have their idea, the Jehovah's Witnesses have their idea, others have other ideas, and this is what the difference is between heresy and true Christianity.

True Christianity says he is eternal. He does not have a beginning nor an end. He has no father or mother. We're going to see that with Melchizedek when we get there, also in Hebrews. So he has no beginning.

The moment you say Jesus has a beginning, that Jesus, and when I say Jesus, when I mean the second person of the Trinity, was begotten, doesn't matter how many billions of years ago, if there was a point at which he began, then he is not eternal, because God has no beginning.

And of course, our minds boggle. We can't figure that out. We just have to say, well, you know, it's by faith, in a sense. But that's who God is. God is from eternity. God always has been. He always will be.

And so if Jesus was created, if he was born, if he was begotten, if he came into existence in one way or the other, then he is no longer eternal. I'm speaking of the second person of the Trinity, not Jesus Christ who walked on the earth.

And so this, as far as I'm concerned, is heresy, and yet it is built into some of the creeds of the church. And as I said, it's really called Arianism, and what Arianism does is it denies the full divinity of Christ, that he is fully God.

People have different levels. Some will say he's an archangel, he's greater than the angels. Others say he is the son of God, but somehow he was born in some kind of relationship, and the devil was his brother.

This is Mormonism, and the list goes on and on. Many, many ideas, but anything that denies that Jesus always existed is heresy. It's as simple as that. So when it says today, I have begotten you, and the word begotten simply means that he's come into being.

When did Jesus then, when was he begotten? And that's the answer, that's the question we have to answer. So this comes then from Psalm 2 verse 7, I will declare the decree, the Lord has said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you, today I have begotten you.

So now the question is, when is today? The first thing that we must understand is that today is a specific day. You can't make today, in this verse, a period of time. You cannot make it eternity past.

It can only be a literal day. So some say, well, it was some time in eternity. No, there were no days then. So if he was begotten in eternity past, then you can't, then why does the scripture use the term today?

When the Bible uses the term today, most of the time, and of course we understand there's concepts like the day of the Lord, which is a thousand years. But generally, when the Bible uses the term day, it means a 24-hour day, as in creation.

Now, when Hebrews uses the term today, today I have begotten you, we need to understand the context. So if we go to Hebrews 1 verse 5, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Hebrews uses the term today, I think, six or seven times, particularly in Hebrews 3 and 4.

We're going to see that when we eventually get there. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, exactly the same word, two chapters on, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Chapter 4 verse 7.

Again, he designates a certain day, saying in David, today, after such a long time has been said, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. When is that today? In chapter 3 and 4. Today.

Tomorrow is not today. Yesterday is not today. Today is today. The point that Hebrews 3 and 4 is making, as we'll see when we get there, he says, if you want to hear the Lord today, don't say, I will hear, remember the Roman, I will hear of you some other day.

No, he says today. So he's meaning a literal day. He's not saying, today, if you want to hear my voice, you know, in other words, in the next five years or in your lifetime. No, today means a literal 24-hour day.

Hebrews chapter 1 says, today, I begotten you. Hebrews chapter 3 and 4, several times, speaks of today as a literal day. And then at the end, and so sandwiched between these is the same term, Hebrews 5 verse 5, you are my son at the end of the verse, today, I have begotten you.

So clearly in the context of Hebrews, today means a literal 24-hour day, and it can only mean a specific day, a specific day. So when was Jesus begotten on a day? Now we need to figure out when that day is.

The Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem

So all I'm trying to prove or show is that that day is not a period of time, and it is not eternity past. It is a literal day within the framework of this present creation, which is made up of 24-hour days.

So somewhere in this present creation, Jesus was begotten. Now I think you'll say, well, the answer is easy. And the answer is easy, if you're not a theologian. And remember, theology is the art of making simple things difficult.

So theologians, and they have good reason, because they quote various scriptures. Some will say it was at his baptism. Why do they say at his baptism? Because there was a voice from heaven saying, this is my son in whom I'm well-pleased.

So he's identified as the son at his baptism, so that was the day he becomes the son. Others say, no, it was in his resurrection and his ascension, and they quote other scriptures that refers to him as the son in his glorification.

But the whole point of the chapter—and this is important for us to understand how we interpret scripture—the whole point of the chapter is that he was made lower than the angels, that he was made a man, and that God has highly exalted him.

So when was he made lower than the angels? In his birth. In Bethlehem, when he was born. Now, we can argue about when the conception began, and we know that whole argument, but when he was born, he became the son in an earthly sense.

Now his relationship with the Father has changed. He's no longer God. Well, he is God, but he's no longer in that position. He has now taken on the form of a helpless little baby, and he's now going to live his life in obedience to his parents, grow up as a man, learn the trade of a carpenter, and then ultimately begin his ministry, preach for three and a half years, die, be buried, rise again, and then glorified.

Others say that it was between the cross and the ascension, I think, that they placed this day. I really believe that they're just trying to make things difficult. I think it's pretty obvious to anyone—and this is the point, the scriptures were not written for theologians, it was written for us to understand, for every common person to understand.

And no one can read this passage and think anything other than his birth in Bethlehem. That is when he was begotten. So he was not begotten at any other stage. He was not created at any stage, but he was born, obviously, through Mary, with the seed of the Holy Spirit, and we understand that whole concept.

Jesus as the Firstborn Worthy of Angelic Worship

And so, verse 6 then, but when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. So he brings the firstborn, the Greek word is protokos, the primary one, the most important one.

The same word is used in the book of Colossians of the Lord Jesus, that he is the firstborn of all creation. Again, it's not saying that he was born in eternity past, it's referring to his incarnation, but he is the most important, and in a sense, in comparison to creation, he predates creation.

He was there before creation began. So he is the primary one. He is the protokos. He is the one who existed from eternity, and of all the sons that God would have, you and I, he is number one. He is the prime one.

He is the special one. And I'm not going to get into this word begotten, or only begotten, or first begotten, because that explains a lot of that also, but we're going to get sidetracked. So when he brings the firstborn into the world, he, that's God, the Father, says, let all the angels of God worship him.

Were angels part of the birth of Jesus? Well, they didn't come and worship him like the rich men, the wise men did, but the angels sang and glorified God when Jesus was born. And so the Father now says to the angels, he may have taken on the form of man, but he is still to be worshipped.

He is still to be worshipped. And so again, remember the context. What is he proving? He's proving the greatness of Jesus, and he is quoting a scripture that says that God tells the angels to worship Jesus.

Now remember the principle. In the book of Revelation, John sees an angel, and what does he do? He falls down to worship, because what he sees is magnificent. And here's the thing. Angels are very glorious and powerful beings.

Sometimes they appeared, took on the form of man, and appeared like men, but in their natural state, they are fiery beings. Isaiah sees them as having six wings, with two they fly, and with two they cover their feet, and two they cover their faces, and they cry, holy, holy, holy.

Angels had a very important role to play in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The word angel appears hundreds and hundreds of times in both Testaments. Angels are in one night, one day. Remember when David counted the nation, and God sends pestilence, but he sends it by the hand of an angel, and in one day, one angel killed 70 ,000 of Israel.

On another occasion, an angel comes against the Assyrians, Israel's enemies, and kills in one night 185 ,000 men. Now what kind of army do you need to take on 185 ,000 men? You need one angel. That is how powerful they are.

But the Father says to these great powerful beings, and remember we saw this in Peter, be careful what you say about the devil, because he's powerful, because he's still an angel. He's a fallen angel, but he still is powerful.

But God says to these great powerful beings, worship the Son. And so John falls down before the angel, because he sees this glorious being, and the angel says, don't do it. Worship God alone. Only God can be worshipped, and that's a very important concept to remember when you're dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses and others who deny that is God, because only God is to be worshipped, and an angel declares that.

Now remember there was an angel who wanted to be worshipped, and he was thrown out of heaven, but only God is to be worshipped, and God says to the angels, worship the Son. What is God saying? What is the Father saying?

The Son is God. The Son is God. The Father has never, anywhere in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, instructed anyone to worship anything other than himself. Only God is to be worshipped, and so the Father, and you can see what the writer is doing, what this preacher is doing, he is showing us the greatness of the Lord Jesus, and he is saying that he is to be worshipped, and that angels are to worship him, that everyone is to worship him, because he is God.

He is not just a man, and folks, this is the problem we have, is that we read the Gospels, and you know we're teaching through the Gospel of Luke, and we see Jesus living as a man. We see him getting frustrated with the unbelief.

We see him getting discouraged. We see him getting tired, hungry. We see him sorrowing, and that becomes imprinted in our minds that this is who Jesus is, because here's the problem, is that most churches only preach Jesus from the Gospels, but that's not who he is.

That's who he was for a short period of time. Who is he now? He is now who the writer is saying. He is the one who is to be worshipped. He is the one of whom the Father said, this is my Son, and as I've said before, that's why a revelation is so important.

Revelation is not important because it tells us about future things, because that's what everybody thinks, but revelation is important because it shows us who Jesus is now, glorified, powerful, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one who will come and set up his kingdom forever and ever, and so if you've been raised on Bible stories and on the Gospels, and of course I'm not minimizing the Gospels are important.

It's important to understand his teaching and what he did while he was on earth, but we must remember that he's not that anymore. He is not gentle Jesus, meek and mild, as some parents teach their kids to pray at night.

No, he is glorified. He is the Son of God. He is eternal. He is greater than the angels, and the angels are instructed to worship him, and we are instructed to worship him, and I think we'll stop there.

So I pray that the Spirit will help us to just understand the greatness of the Lord Jesus. I was blessed by one of the commentators who's a man called Andrew Murray. Andrew Murray is a very highly respected South African teacher who died in 1919, I think, and he wrote a book called The Holiest of All, his commentary on the book of Hebrews, but he was Dutch Reformed.

Now our understanding of Dutch Reformed is very different to who Andrew Murray is, but Andrew Murray said that unless the Spirit reveals the glory of Jesus to us in these verses, we will not understand it.

You cannot grasp what we, and while we've taken an intellectual approach this evening, you cannot understand these things unless the Spirit reveals it, and so we need to ask God to help us that we understand, that we may work our way through these verses, that we go back and study them, and forget about all the technicalities that we've dealt with this evening, because unfortunately we have to deal with them because they're part of the text, but that's not what it's about, and I wish that we didn't have these problems that people have set in our way that we have to get out of the way first before we can get to the real meaning, but that we may just get to the essence of the text, and that is that Jesus is great.