The Eternal is Greater Than The Angels Hebrews 1:10-14

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I'm Rob and I'm with Dan and we are, what up? We're continuing going through the book of Hebrews. We are trying a different format. So this is, this is the second week recording. We are, instead of going live, we are pre-recording and we're trying to only do 30 minutes at a time.

And so this will be the second week of our pre-recorded sessions, even though for us, we don't have to wait nearly as long. That's right. And so we hope it's going to be a good thing and you'll be edified.

We are again, back in Hebrews chapter one, this week's introduction isn't going to be as long. So maybe we can get through a few more verses, but just we're long winded. It was a really long introduction, but we do that sometimes.

Hebrews in the Overlap Between the Old and New Covenants

But just to recap that introduction, one of the reasons Dan and I have walked through a couple, several books, the Old Testament, looking at eschatology, and we talked about eschatology as a partial preterist, simply, and I like the terminology, the eschatology of Israel.

Not us, but Israel. And that was the phrase that we heard in that podcast. And so as partial preterist, the end of the old covenant was happening. The book of Hebrews was written in that overlap time between the old covenant and the new covenant.

And so this is, it almost helps me, Dan, when we're thinking about it in those terms, to appreciate the heart of the author, because he knows the end of this old covenant is coming to an end and he doesn't want them to stay there.

And he doesn't want them to go back. He wants them to see, see what this new covenant is all about and see what this kingdom is all about and see what it's supposed to be going.

Forward. Right. He knows that if they throw in their hat with the Jews who reject Christ, he knows exactly what their end will be. And he.

Does not want that for them. Right. And that end is the destruction of.

Jerusalem and the temple. Right. Individually in their death with the rejection of Christ, it will be the destruction of their soul. Right. So this is... I don't think it's a one time and over annihilationism destruction of the soul, but an ongoing separation from Christ where your soul is no longer full or free.

It's, it's withering for an eternity. So he knows exactly what's at stake. Right. And so he calls them several times, look to the one who's going to save you and do not turn back.

So when I say I can appreciate the heart of the author here, really, really reaching out to this Hebrew audience. I mean, he he's got all this in mind, the destruction, the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 24.

And I don't know that he had revelation at the time. I don't know that the dating, but you've got the you've got the Old Testament prophecy. You got Jesus prophecy. And and it says, if you are in Jerusalem.

Get out. If you're outside of Jerusalem, don't come in. You're going to have armies surrounding Jerusalem. And then on top of that, as Dan stated, your soul is at stake for rejecting the king. Right.

Now, one of the things that the book of Hebrews could have done, they would have seen him to be correct when the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem was ransacked and and judgment was rained down upon their people.

They would have seen all that and they could have. Oh, man, I've messed up. So it can it can serve a couple couple purposes, which I mean, really, if you look at it, any any Jewish folks today, these things are a warning.

Do not neglect the Christ that has come because. The nation, the nation was judged for their rejection of that Christ. Right. The same same with anybody else who would come along. If the judgment began here with God's people.

I mean, it's going to come to you, too. So as you've seen, God's faith, God's word come faithfully in the destruction and punishment of sins. Know also that just as much is the the salvation that comes through Christ.

Sure. And that's the Christ that we're we're telling to you today. That's the Christ that's being revealed in Hebrews is the one that is coming to meet out judgment and bring salvation to those who believe.

Yeah. And I think this what we just talked about is so vitally important. But to have this type of perspective when you're approaching Hebrews, because it takes it takes Hebrews away from. The perspective or mindset of.

I'm going to play chapter one on my way to work so that I can check off my daily Bible reading to. This is for real. And he his his heart was for these people and he wanted them to live. Sure. Yeah. And it changes the whole perspective, changes the whole ballgame as we approach Hebrews.

Christ the Creator and the Eternal Son in Hebrews 1:10-12

Let's let's jump let's jump back into Hebrews chapter one, starting at verse ten. Let me read verse ten for us. And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work works of your hands.

I can read. Yeah, they will as well.

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.

Right. Wow. It it's incredible that this is he picks this statement as a furthermore. Here's what I mean by that. He just puts one little word. I mean, I think I think it's great that he quotes the scripture like this.

It would not fly in an academic paper if you get called out for plagiarism or something. But it says in verse is contrasting to which of the angels did he say this? He didn't say that. He said it about the son.

What did he say to the son? Well, he said this. He said, I'll be to him a father. He'll be to me a son. You are my son today. I've begotten you. He said all the angels will worship him when he comes into the earth of the angels.

He said they are they're a wind and they're a flame. Basically, they're being used of God to accomplish God's purposes. But in contrast to that of the sun, he's saying your throne, oh, God, is forever and ever.

And then he goes. And so this is a furthermore. This is a another. No, this is four of the five fingers of the punch that he's throwing in here. It's a bad analogy, but there are five things, so we'll just run with it.

So you come here and he's given another reason why. It's so important to listen to to Christ, it says, you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning and in the heavens. Basically, he's saying you were there at the beginning.

You made everything, all of the earth, all of creation. And if everything rolls up like a robe, if all of it burns up like fire, if it's tossed away, like I'm going to take off my shirt when I go to bed, I'm going to take it off, ball it up and throw it in the clothes hamper.

Hopefully not on the floor where my wife gets upset with me. Ball up my shirt and throw it away like it's just some other piece of clothing. If the whole of the universe were to be balled up and thrown away, it would change.

Christ would not even he created the world. And if the world changes, Christ does not. He's bigger and badder than anything that you could come up with in all of creation. And that's just a furthermore, by the way, and it's it's just so hard hitting.

But one of the one of the really neat things about it is that it's quoted from Psalm 102. If you go there, Psalm 102 back up to start in verse 18 and then it'll lead us there. We'll kind of follow along to what the Psalm is saying.

You want to read that, Robert? I've been talking a while starting. I want to cut you out.

Oh, that's all good. I like hearing from you, bud. Starting in verse 18. Yeah. This will be written for the generation to come that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. For he looked down from his holy height from heaven, the Lord gazed upon the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner to set free those who were doomed to death, that men may tell of the name of the Lord and Zion and his praise in Jerusalem.

When the peoples are gathered together in the kingdoms to serve the Lord, he has weakened my strength in the way he has shortened my days. I say, oh, my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days.

Your years are throughout all generations. Of old, you founded the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. Even they will perish, but you endure and all of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing.

You will change them and they will be changed. But you are the same and your years will not come to an end. The children of your servants will continue and their descendants will be established before you.

It's amazing because what is being said here is the Christ that will come, there's a generation that's going to see this happen. And the generation that's going to see this happen is going to be the one who sees the fulfillment of Christ coming to the earth.

And it's going to happen so that God receives glory, so that he's worshiped, he receives his just due. And verse 19, for he looked down from his holy height from heaven, the Lord gazed upon the earth.

You hear the groaning of the prisoner to set free those who are doomed to death. Which of the angels did that? Right. Which of the angels was in the heaven and looked down and saw you and me in the future, a generation to come and said, those folks are doomed to die.

We hadn't even been born yet, not even conceived yet. And was it Gabriel? Michael. One of the other ones, I don't know their name. I mean, there's lots of lots of angels there. Which one of them looked there and said, I've got to do something or I'm going to do something.

I mean, it's not like he was reacting. He said, I'm going to do something.

The Surety of Christ and the Security of His Promises

Right. Not only do you have that perspective of the angels, none of the angels did this. But the other perspective that you have here in this passage is who is he talking about here? Who's the recipient of this?

Who's the who's the groaning prisoner who was doomed to death? I'm the recipient of this disgrace.

Right. Yep. And he puts it he tries to put it in terms that the finite little pea bearing creatures like us can understand. Yeah. You know, what is what is more sure? We'll put it this way up here at my house, I have.

Chickens, turkeys, a barn. I've got a little pond out back. I've got some land. There is predators, predators who try to eat all of my chickens and birds. But there's I'm trying to think of. A way, realistically, where I would see like.

Half of my yard in the mountain behind us just gone. I can see all the birds that we've had and we're down to seven at this point. They came and went, but the mountain back here is stood. The pond's been there since it was dug.

The springs over here on this side have been flowing for, I don't know, probably forever because it just will not let my yard dry out. And yet Christ is more sure than the mountains that have been in the mountain about back has been standing there since the beginning of time.

It's like one of my chickens who was here for a year and gone, who got ate up by a fox or a weasel.

So since you're talking about nature. The reason that the promises are sure is because he's sure. The surety, the surety and trust in him. Puts the surety of his promises like you were talking about nature.

We're promised that. After the flood, there's not going to be ceased to be seasons. OK, we can we can trust the surety of that promise because of the surety of the Lord. Right.

Right, because he's the one that caused it all to spin up. He's the one who caused it all to be. And so we can take it to the bank that more sure than the things that he's created exist. More sure than the, you know, the the wood in your desk or the, you know, the the paper in your book, more sure than that is real and exist.

Christ is going to do what he said he's going to do. He laid the foundations. He will remain. They will perish. He will stand forever. And same goes for his promises, which are. Wonderful. That's great promises.

You know, we left ourselves with like. 12 minutes to talk about one of the most quoted Psalms and all of Scripture. So once you once you go back to Hebrews and read verse 13 and 14, we'll see what we can see how little justice we can do that passage in 12 minutes.

Well, I want to cut it down just a few more minutes, too, because I wanted to make this comment about the bookends of what we just read. 18. It speaks of speaks of generations and then verse 28 speaks of generations or the children of your servants will will be will continue and your descendants will be established before you.

And, you know, I know that you and I both think of our children and I know our parents think of us and our grandparents thought of us in any Christian parents think about their decisions, think about their children and grandchildren and you have concerns for them.

And we we should lead them to the Lord. We should pray for their souls. But we can have the assurance that if if they're in him because of our because of the surety of the Lord, our descendants will be established and they will be before him.

We can we can have that confidence in that promise. And so of all the things that we can worry about, we don't have to worry about that. Right. They they will be secure in his hands. If if we if they are led to the Lord and they're found in him.

Right. The we can trust 100 percent that the Lord who created heaven and earth will do what's right when it comes to our children.

That's right. Amen. All right. Back to Hebrews, Hebrews 13 and 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. Are they all?

Huh?

None of them. No, no. I was answering answering that rhetorical question.

And they not are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

I know where this is a quotation from. Yeah, this is a quotation from Psalm 110, the first verse, which says the Lord says to my Lord. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Go on, we go on with the song. The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, saying rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will volunteer freely in the day of power or in your day of power or in the day of your power and holy array from the womb of the dawn.

Your youth are to you as the do. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings in the day of his wrath.

He will judge among the nations. He will fill them with corpses. He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. He will drink from the brook by the wayside. Therefore, he will lift up his head. Now, that is amazing.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. To which of the angels did God ever say that he's going to shatter the kings in the day of his wrath?

You didn't say that for Michael's sake or Gabriel's sake. Didn't say he's going to fill the land with the corpses of those who are rebelling against him, not the angels. He did not say he was going to judge the nations for the purpose of the angels.

But what he did say is that he's going to set all of his enemies there until they're made a footstool for his feet. In contrast, it says, are they not all ministering spirit sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

That is the contrast. Here you have Christ who has all of history working towards his end because that is the decree of God. All of his enemies are being made a footstool for his feet. And what are the angels doing?

The angels are working to make sure that that happens at the direction of God in heaven. So who are we going to trust? The message of angels, which was sure and reliable, or the message of Christ? And the answer is both.

But you shouldn't neglect the message of Christ.

Absolutely. And this passage here goes back to the boundaries. You know, God's operating. God's functioning in this world. What is he doing? This is what he's doing. And like you said, this is Psalm 110 is what is the most quoted?

Yep.

Is that accurate? The most quoted? The most quoted in the New Testament. We got Matthew 22, Mark 12, Luke 20, Acts 2, Matthew 26, Ephesians 1, Colossians 3, Hebrews 8, 10, and 12, 1 Corinthians 15. Ephesians 1.

That's just the first line. You go into the second line and you've got, let's see, I may have misspoke. Yeah, that's for the first verse. The first verse is quoted in all of those, which is why I said we're not going to be able to do justice to how that verse was used.

Because if you really, really want to study how a verse should be interpreted, you would need to look at how does the New Testament interpret the verse that is quoted more in the New Testament than anywhere else or than any other verse.

So if we were to, and it may be beneficial to do this at some point, like on our next episode, I don't know, to actually go through and look at all of the references that quote Psalm 110 and see what they're saying about this verse and then take that understanding and see how it's used specifically in Hebrews.

It'll give us a more full orbed understanding of what the Holy Spirit is revealing to us when he's saying, it's not the angels, it's the one that I said, here, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Right.

I think that would be really beneficial because yes, there are so many ways that what, how God is doing things is mysterious because he has probably more than one, one trillion operations. Functioning and happening at one time to get to where he's going with so many, with the universe being so big and so many people being on this earth, there's so many things going on.

So many things that we don't understand behind the scenes that we don't see and God's in control and in charge and sovereign over all of it. But what we can know from this passage is we know that this is happening in the kingdom of Christ, that enemies are being put under his feet and angels are ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who are going to inherit salvation.

We know at least, and looking at all those passages would help us to understand how that operation is happening in more detail. I think that would be very beneficial. But what we do know at least is, is you've got these, these two things happening.

You've got these two categories. You've got those who are being put under his feet as a footstool, or you've got those who are inheriting salvation.

Christ’s Supremacy, Salvation, and the Whole Story of Scripture

And to bring it, to bring the whole passage back together, because we're coming to the end of the first chapter of Hebrews. So what is it saying all together when it goes from the very beginning all the way through this?

At various times, in many ways, God has spoken to our fathers by, or to the fathers through the prophets. But in these last days, he's spoken to us through his son. And then it tells us that the son is the imprint of his nature, the exact representation of him, of his exact imprint of his nature, the radiance of his glory.

It also says that he made all things, upholds all things by the word of his power, made the purification for sins and sat down at the right hand of the father in heaven. So what he's saying is that you have been given an incredible word from the Lord for your salvation.

And that word of the Lord was the same word that those ministering spirits, those angels from before were ministering to your fathers. But now you've been given a more, more full word, a more, you've been given basically the whole story.

And here's the one coming who was relaying that message to you before, the angels. And they were relaying the message of the one who has now come and made the purification for sins forever. And that's the one who's going to come in judgment.

He's going to come with healing and salvation in his wings. Those angels that spoke to you back in when they spoke to Moses and the prophets and through all of those, those angels are coming with him to do his bidding to ensure that those who believe will absolutely inherit salvation.

So what he's saying is that the whole of the created order is working together to fulfill God's purposes on this earth. And those purposes are to bring himself glory through meeting out justice on those who will not repent and believe.

And by bringing salvation through the message of the gospel of Christ's death, burial and resurrection, and now his putting down of his enemies and his saving of the people for himself. And it's just incredible the way that it puts it all together, because it really is.

Here is the whole of scripture and all of human history laid out before you. And all of it points to one reality. And that is that Christ is king and that we need salvation from our sins or we are in deep, deep trouble.

And we find that salvation in Jesus Christ. Absolutely. It's as sure as the mountain is behind my house, even more so because that thing may burn up one day. That's right.

That's right. So much of what you said, and this could happen with so many passages in scripture. It just so happens that that Lord willing, I'm going to be preaching on Matthew chapter 17 and the balance transfiguration.

And so those things are coming to mind as I'm hearing you speak about the you first started talking about Hebrews 1, 1. He spoke long ago to the prophets or to the fathers and to the prophets in many ways.

I mean, the last days he spoke to his son, you started there and you talk about how sure this this salvation is, how sure this promise is. And you talk about the mountain behind you and everything. I'm reflecting so much on what I'm learning from the mountains, transfiguration and the parallels that I'm that I'm learning there with what we're talking about tonight.

And it reminded me of second Peter, because we talk about how Peter was there. And then he recounts that time there. And this is what he says in second Peter, chapter one, starting in verse 16, for we did not follow cleverly devised tales.

When we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God, the father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majesty of glory, this is my beloved son.

That's who we've been talking about, with whom I'm well pleased. And then the account of Matthew says God told them, this is my son. Listen to him. And that goes along with he is he is now the the word that we listen to.

He spoke long ago, but now he speaks to a son. Listen to him. And we ourselves, verse 18, heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Verse 19, so we have a prophetic word made more sure.

Yep. Wow. What an amazing thing. Good stuff. Absolutely. So as, as Dan said, come to Christ, there, there is no more sure place to run, um, with all the, all the things in the world, all the turmoil that you face in your personal life, all the negative things that come across your screen on TV, there are good things happening.

If this is how God is functioning in the world, enemies are being, and will continue to be defeated and made a footstool. He, he will prop his feet up on his enemies until they are no more. The last enemy is going to be dead.

And there are people who are inheriting salvation and the nations will run to him. Jesus, Jesus is going to save the, his creation and it's a glorious thing. And so as Dan was, was pleading with you, hold on to that short promise.

Come to Jesus tonight. Let me, let me pray for us, father. We thank you for this time that we've had in your word. Thank you for the book of Hebrews. Thank you for opening our eyes to potentially the heart of the author who knew the realities of the end of the old covenant, the destruction, the judgment that was coming.

The, um, they, they, they knew Malachi isn't Elijah supposed to come and quoting Malachi before the great and terrible day of the Lord. And Jesus confirmed that the judgment was coming because he had been rejected as John the Baptist suffered.

He said that he would have to suffer as well by the hands of men, but he promised them that he would be resurrected. And when he was resurrected, he said, then speak of my glory, the glory that God had spoke or, or given to me.

And we see that in Hebrews. You're showing us in Hebrews. You're showing us in, in Peter. You're showing us in your word, how glorious your testimony is and how sure it is. And father, by your spirit, father, help us to cling on to the sure promise in our daily lives.

When, when things are hard and when things are tough, father, I thank you for this time again, and I pray that you were glorified in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you everybody for watching. This was a fantastic time in Hebrews.

Thank you, Dan. I really appreciate your words and insight. It was, it was really, really good. Yes. Come back and join us. Give us a like a heart, a share. We appreciate your encouragement and prayers.

Remember that Jesus is King. Go live in the victory of Christ to speak with the authority of Christ and go share the gospel of Christ. And Dan and I hope to see you real soon.