Hebrews 1:5-14 (Better Than Angels- Jeff Kliewer)

You are God, beget, arisen, God who is living on the throne, and is sovereign over all. You are not a God created, you are not a God created, you are God unchanged.

Hebrews 1 and the Son’s Superiority Over Angels

So Hebrews chapter 1, you turn your Bibles, verse 5 to the end of the chapter, Hebrews chapter 1, 5 to 14, and I know when Rich is there, he's going to shout amen. Real loud, aren't you?

Amen!

Okay, alright. For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Or again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God's angels worship him.

Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the son, he says, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

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

They will perish, but you remain. They will wear out like a garment, like a robe, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will have no end. And 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 not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Thank you, Benjamin. Let's pray. Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. We want to thank you, God, that you make us blameless through the blood of Christ. We thank you for your law, your word, which reveals Christ.

In John 5, we know that these are the scriptures that point to you, Jesus. So this morning, we pray that our eyes would be opened to see who you are, that we would behold your glory, glory as the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Give us eyes to see and ears to hear, in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Why Comparisons Help Us See That Jesus Is Greater

We love comparisons, don't we? Comparisons can be very helpful as a point of reference. So if I were to say, to go to such and such restaurant, I might say, you need to go beyond the Wawa and the Dunkin' Donuts.

You guys know exactly what I mean, right? No, because Wawa and Dunkin' Donuts are taking over the world, so they're on every corner. That could be anywhere. But if I said, go past Montessini Pizza, you'd kind of get a sense of where I'm talking about, the direction that I'm headed.

We like points of reference. We also like to compare in order to say what's better. So there's the argument, who is the best quarterback? You're a football guy, right? Who is the best quarterback? Is it Peyton Manning or is it Tom Brady?

Oh, we got a Tom Brady guy here. Well, now, see, I'm from Tampa, so I can root for Brady now that he's a Buccaneer. So, we like comparisons or the comparison in basketball. MJ or LeBron James? Well, duh, that's not even a comparison, not even the same league, it's obviously MJ.

So we like these comparisons and these can be helpful, either to give us a point of reference or to show that something is greater than another thing. In the book of Hebrews, first chapter, verses 5 to 14, we have an extended comparison.

And the big idea here is that Jesus is better than angels. Now, the comparison is not with another prophet like Moses, which will come later, or another.

Religious person.

Some people come along and say in the 6th century AD that Muhammad is a greater prophet than Jesus. Comparison, here came Jesus, but Muhammad is the seal of the prophets in the final prophet, they say he's greater.

Well, of course, we know that Muhammad is a false prophet in the first place. But what they don't understand is that we are not making a comparison between two ordinary men or teachers or prophets. We are comparing Jesus to angels, which in the first place are far higher and more powerful and more pure than men.

So this is a comparison that we have. So before we make this comparison, a couple of points about angels. You guys believe in angels? In Western culture, there is a tendency to think, well, anything supernatural or invisible must just be imaginary, right?

But I'll tell you what, especially with Halloween approaching, fallen angels and good angels are real. Angels are real. We need to be aware of that. Consider the power of angels. When God saw the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, he sent two angels down to the city.

After talking with people and seeing the wickedness of the people, these angels struck the entire city, all of the men with blindness. Pretty powerful, right? And then they called on God who God sent fire from heaven in judgment on that city.

Angels, in fact, angel singular, killed all the firstborns of Egypt. When the Israelites were in captivity in Egypt and it was finally time for God to let his people go, he sent the angel of the Lord who killed the firstborn of every son of Egypt.

Balaam was riding his donkey and an angel of the Lord appeared and stopped him from going to do what he intended to do. There was once a Syrian army. The king of Syria was getting frustrated because every time he planned something against Israel, somehow Israel knew what was going to happen.

How?

Well, Elisha the prophet was hearing from God and would report to the king of Israel. So the king of Syria said, all right, let's go get Elisha. So he got an entire troop, an army to go against Elisha.

And he surrounded the town where Elisha was, Elisha. Elisha's friend Gehazi was just biting his fingernails. He was nervous. And he said, oh no, we're going to die. But Elisha was just calm. And he said, don't worry.

The number who are with us are far greater than the ones who are with them. And Gehazi looked around and he's like, two versus an army? I'm not seeing it. So Elisha prayed, open his eyes that he may see.

And there before Gehazi's eyes were a troop of angels on the hills, on horses with fiery swords surrounding the people. And so when the troop came to get Elisha, he just prayed. There's the connection between prayer and spiritual warfare, by the way.

And God blinded the entire troop, led them to the king of Israel, who wanted to kill.

Them all.

And Elisha said, no, give them a feast, send them home. And they went home and they never attacked Israel again. You see the power of the angel in this case to blind. One angel killed 185 ,000 soldiers in one night.

The Assyrian army, not Syrian, but Assyrian empire sent soldiers and 185 ,000 soldiers were surrounding Jerusalem. And in one night, in answer to prayer, Hezekiah's prayer, God sent an angel who killed 185 ,000.

Troops.

You getting the idea? These are very powerful beings. They've also been useful to strengthen people. When Elijah was worn out, God sent an angel to feed him, to care for him. What did he bring him? Angel food cake.

Yes, yes, yes.

And then an angel came and strengthened Jesus in a similar way. When Herod Agrippa was parading himself on the wall and accepting worship essentially from the people, what did God do? An angel struck him dead.

So you get the idea. Angels are extremely powerful. Angels are also pure. There is no angel who is before God who has ever sinned, not even once. Every angel who sinned is a fallen angel that we call a demon.

But the angels that serve God are sinless. Notice the cherubim that guarded the tree of life. When Adam and Eve sinned, because of their sin, they couldn't go to the tree of life or else they would have been sealed kind of in their rebelliousness.

So what did God do? He put a cherubim, an angel, to guard the way to the tree of life. Now the angel can go to the presence of God, but no longer can Adam and Eve come to the presence of God.

Why not?

Sin.

There is no sin in the throne room of God. And yet, what do we see? Isaiah 6. He looks to heaven and his eyes are open to see a vision of the throne room. And there before the throne are seraphim. Now if cherubim are guardian angels, seraphim are worshiping angels.

These seraphim had six wings. With two they flew, with two they covered their faces so as not to gaze on the holiness of God, and with two they covered their feet because that place was holy ground. And they sing holy, holy, holy in the presence of God all the time.

These are pure beings. No sin in them. In fact, the Bible calls them elect angels.

Did you know that?

First Timothy 5 .21, I charge you in the presence of Jesus Christ and of the elect angels, eclektos, elect angels. Elect for what? To never fall, to never sin, to always be with God, to be righteous in his presence.

Did you know that the angels are fascinated by what happens in the church? First Peter 1 .12 tells us that angels long to look into salvation. For many years, the prophets foretold of a coming Messiah who would die for sinners.

He wouldn't be an angel to die for angels, he would be a man to die for men and women. And the angels are fascinated by this. What love is this that God has that he would take on flesh to die for humanity?

What is this love? Angels long to look into these things. They don't fully understand, at least not experientially. Angels are powerful and angels are pure. And angels in that sense are higher than mankind.

They don't have a sin nature like we do. They're not restrained in a body. They can take on a body and appear as a man. But the power of an angel is just overwhelming. I mean, think of it, killing 185 ,000 people in one night.

We're dealing with a very powerful spiritual being here, right? Here's the point of Hebrews 1, 5 to 14. As great as these beings are, they are only a reference point, a point of comparison for us to understand that Jesus, the Son of God, is infinitely higher.

That's why we're talking about angels this morning. Not about them, but so that when you see them, you can get some point of reference in your mind to understand that the Son of God is greater than anything else in all of creation.

He's greater than the worries that you have, greater than the problems that you have, the fears and anxieties, whatever it is that you bring into this room. We're supposed to look at Jesus and understand he's greater than we know.

Let's look at it. So there's seven passages. And really, all of them come from the Old Testament, which is instructive because we should regard the Old Testament and spend time reading the scriptures.

Seven quotes from the OT, all of them, incidentally, are connected to a psalm. That I think is a clue also. Five psalms are quoted in this passage. Then the song of Moses is quoted. And then 2 Samuel 7 is a promise to David, which he reacts to with a psalm.

So it's very much a worshipful passage. Well, why is that? Well, I think angels worship all the time. I think that's what they're created to do, to praise him. And I think that's what we're created to do, to be praising him all day long, singing songs in our heart.

I don't know about you, but a good day for me is when I spend time singing. When I pray, not just a little bit in the morning, but it's kind of like all day long, I'm talking to God in my spirit. And there's joy in songs that come out.

And my kids, they'll testify this is not a pretty thing when I sing, except there's one place that I can sing. It's in the foyer. Give this a try. In the foyer of this church, even the worst singer in the world sounds good.

It just reverberates. So I sing hymns in there when I'm by myself. I come in to get ready to preach. I sing the old hymns in the foyer, singing because he's worthy of praise. So that's one sidebar there.

That's just free, extra, extra credit. So let's look at the first one. For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son? Today I have begotten you. Answer, none. No angel has ever heard, you are my son, my only begotten son.

John 3 .16, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. Begotten, not made. The council of Nicaea in 325 clarified this because some heretic named Arius was teaching that Jesus was a created angel.

Can you believe that? An angel. Of all things, we have Hebrews chapter 1, and yet Jehovah's Witnesses to this day will knock on your door and say, I want to teach you about Jesus. And then they'll say, he's really Michael the archangel.

If they ever do that, you go to Hebrews 1 and show every passage. Hebrews 1 is tremendous for discussing with Jehovah's Witnesses. Point being, the angels were never called a son. Begotten, not made. It means that the son has always been begotten of the father.

This doctrine is called eternal generation. There was never a time when the son of God did not exist. And we understand this relationship between God the father and God the son in the language he's given us, the father-son relationship.

But understand it's something bigger than me and my son Timothy. It's a different kind of relationship. This is an eternal and equal relationship. And we understand father-son Holy Spirit in the way it's revealed to us, but it's also bigger and beyond us.

He's eternally begotten, unlike any angel. Now, in case you don't believe me, look at the next verse. Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. The first quote came from Psalm chapter 2, a messianic Psalm, promising the Messiah.

Here we learn from 2 Samuel chapter 7. Very important passage. I know, Rich, you know it. The Davidic covenant. Yes, 2 Samuel chapter 7. That's it. The promise is a descendant of David will always sit on the throne.

Now, I'm going to read a little portion of that passage because I want you to pick up on something. From David came Solomon, and after Solomon, Rehoboam, and then all the kings of the south, the kings of Judah, leading until Jesus comes.

Do you know that Jesus comes from that family tree? Very important that Jesus be a descendant of David through Mary, through the seed of Mary, which is different, the seed of the woman. Genesis 3 15. So, Jesus comes from David's family tree, but every king along that line was a sinner like David and like us.

And so, in the passage, we're told, whenever the king commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

What's that saying? As God removed King Saul because of his unrighteousness, David is different. David's son will always be on the throne, even if he sins. So Solomon, was he a sinner? Yeah, he married a lot.

I think he had like 800 wives and 300 concubines or something like. It was a problem. He was devoted to the idols of the nations, but at the end of his life, when he writes the book of Ecclesiastes, he reflects back on that.

He repents. God disciplines him, and he comes back to his senses. All of these sinners. But the kingly line continues from David to the Christ. So does God have to discipline Christ? According to this passage, not for his own sin, but for ours.

The rod of discipline, the stripes on his back were not for his own sin. Finally, a king comes who is perfect, who is righteous, and therefore he can take the.

Rod.

So when he's beaten with that rod, when he's struck with that cat of nine tails, and his flesh is torn off his back, and the crown of thorns on his head, and he's put up on a cross, he as a king is crowned for us.

The chastisement that brings us peace is laid upon him. He's our substitute. And so that's why this promise is so important. He's a descendant of David, but he's the son that David foreshadowed. He's the substance.

David was the type. Third, we're in Hebrews 1. We've looked at Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel 7. Now we go to a song from Moses. This is Deuteronomy 32 verse 43. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,.

In other words, as great as angels are, they're powerful, they're pure, they're made to worship him. He's higher than them. They are created. He's creator. He gets their worship. Now, if you were to look in, I don't know what translation of the Bible you're looking.

At.

It may be that in your Bible, when you go back to Deuteronomy 32 verse 43, you find that that sentence is not in there. That would be a problem, right? The reason for that is the Masoretic text type, which the Jewish people continued to hold on to the Scriptures, the Old Testament, even after Christ came.

From the year 700 to about 1000 AD, put together the Masoretic text. And in that translation, that copy of the Scriptures, this verse is missing. And many English translations of the Bible work off of the Masoretic.

Good news. The Greek Septuagint, which goes back before the time of Christ, is a translation of the Hebrew into Greek. That's the text that the New Testament uses for the most part. The Septuagint, it does have this verse in Deuteronomy 32, 43.

Moreover, in 1947, there was a young boy walking along the side of the Dead Sea. And with his friends, he just took a rock. You guys would do that, right? Throw a rock into a cave. They heard a crashing sound.

And so they climbed up into the cave to see what it was. They had just discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. And in the Dead Sea Scrolls, they discover that this verse does exist. So it was corroborated again in 1947.

The New Testament had it right. Deuteronomy 32, at the end of Moses's psalm, he says, let all God's angels worship him. Moving on to the fourth point, and we're in Psalm 104, verse 4, corresponding to Hebrews 1 -7.

This is a lot to keep up with, isn't it? Here's the good news. As a preacher, my job is to find the main idea and just impress that, and apply it, and urge you to live by it. But you have all week to go home and dive deeper, and exposit those seven passages, and see, oh wow, look at this, and find gold in there.

So this is only the beginning of the study. So I'll take the 30 ,000 foot view, and direct you down into the weeds. Sound good? So in verse 7, it says, of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.

When you go study Psalm 104, who's gonna do it? Somebody out here, come on. You're gonna go study Psalm 104?

Awesome.

You will find Psalm 104 is a creation psalm. It praises God for being the maker of heaven and earth, and the trees, and the rivers, the oceans, all things that are created. And within that psalm, it says, he makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.

What's the point? Angels are created. Go to Psalm 104. Angels are made, created by God. But, part 5, if you look at verse 8, but, that contrast, that word but, of the son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

Going to Psalm 45, a messianic psalm, a wedding psalm, which points to Christ and his bride. Psalm 45 identifies Jesus as God. That's huge. John MacArthur, who's one of my favorite preachers, says, this is the clearest place in the Bible for affirming the deity of Christ.

For showing that Jesus is God in flesh. Not just a man, but God in flesh. He goes here, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore, God, your God. So, God is regarded by Jesus to be God. And God, the father, regards Jesus as God. It's reciprocal. Both the father and the son recognize one another as being God. They share the same essence, the same being, the same nature.

And yet, there's distinction in that they can identify one another. They're, they're persons that can relate to one another. And Jesus prays to his father. So, do you see the trinity in this passage? Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you.

That's Messiah, right? Christ is the anointed one, Mashiach. He has that anointing. He's been identified with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Companions here, within the context, would probably be the angels.

So, the angels that surround his throne, they worship him and recognize him. He's beyond them. He's the Messiah. And they are merely winds, flames of fire, passionate worshipers. Sixthly, as we move along, this is actually my favorite place to go.

Because this one will trip them up every time. When you get that knock on the door. Did the Jehovah's Witnesses come by your area?

I don't know.

I've talked to them a few times. They used to, maybe not as much anymore. Yeah, they stopped coming to your house. Yeah, I can understand. Well, what you do is you just go to Hebrews 1 .10. And actually, what you do first is you go to the the referent.

You go to Psalm 102. Look at Psalm 102 and verse 25 to 27. It's clearly about God. Yahweh, the Lord, lays the foundation of the earth in the beginning. And the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain.

They will wear out like a garment. Like a robe, you will roll them up. Like a garment, they will be changed. So you have this old coat that you're done with. You're going to roll it up and dispose of it.

That's how God will deal with creation. When he makes the new heaven and the new earth. We're talking about God. Only God does this. But you are the same and your years will never end. Will have no end.

Who does I, who does the author of Hebrews identify this Lord to be? He says, you, Lord, in verse 10. But the nearest antecedent to that pronoun is son. Verse 8. But of the son, he says, your throne, O God, and you, Lord.

In other words, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the God who made everything. You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth. You can say that about Jesus. Never say it about an angel. That's a comparison.

You can say this about Jesus, but not angels. Now, finally, in verse 13, we get to the last Old Testament text, which you're all going to go and read this week, right? Thank you. Notice it says, and to which of the angels has he ever said?

Where did we see that full expression already in the text? Back at verse 5. He opens this whole argument for to which of the angels did God ever say? Then he quotes something and, and, and, and, and now we get to verse 13.

And to which of the angels has he ever said? In other words, this is the climax. This is the clincher. Bring it all together. Psalm 110. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

And in a big way, this entire book of Hebrews is an exposition of Psalm 110. Because you see Jesus as Lord, who's higher and creator. Later, we'll see verse 4 of Psalm 110. The priesthood of Melchizedek gets exposited from Psalm 110.

So it's, it's a very important passage. And it's the clincher. Now, what does it say? Unlike an angel who is powerful and pure and a great and amazing thing to look at. If you ever saw one, oh, this is important.

If you ever saw one, you might do just like the great apostle John did, twice. When he saw this angel in the book of Revelation, he fell down to worship the angel. And the angel said, no, I am a servant just like you.

Worship God. And John was rebuked by that. He turned his attention back to Jesus. And then again, in chapter 22, just a couple chapters later from Revelation 19. He hears this wonderful thing. What's he do?

He sees the angel. Boom, he's on his face again. He's worshiping an angel. And the angel says, don't worship me. Every time a man falls down to worship an angel, the angel rebukes him and says, worship God.

But all through the book of Matthew, in the boat, after he calmed the storm, after the resurrection, when the women see him, they fall down and worship him. And Jesus accepts their worship. That's an important point.

That's as much evidence as anyone should ever need that Jesus is God. He accepts worship. He takes the worship joyfully, gladly. Jesus is more than just a prophet.

He's God.

And so he's seated at the right hand of the Father. He's seated on the throne. No one else belongs there. No angel. Now angels can surround the throne and worship and fall down and cry, holy, holy, holy.

But Jesus is on his father's throne. That's the clincher. Jesus is God. Verse 14, are not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? There's a comparison.

When you're driving down the highway and you just come upon an accident that if you had left two minutes earlier, that would have been you. Does that happen to you before? And you realize you were delayed two minutes because you couldn't find your keys.

And you always leave your keys in the same spot. But this one time they were on a different table. You couldn't find them. Was it an angel that moved your keys?

We don't know.

But very often angels are protecting us and serving us. The word is diakonon, like a deacon, a servant. All the time, guardian angels are watching over you. Incidentally, when we come into this place and we open this book, you better believe there's spiritual war happening.

There are demons, which are fallen angels, that would love to come and attack this place. But there are more who are with us than who are with them. And they can do nothing apart from what God allows, Job 1 and 2.

And so we know we are protected by angels that serve us. They have swords flashing. They will fight off the enemy. And in this crazy season too, I know probably many people here struggle with anxiety.

There's nothing to be afraid of. He gives his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. The angels of the Lord encamp the ones who fear him. God is greater and stronger. And he has charge of angels to watch over you.

And they serve us all the time. I don't know if it's like a one-to-one thing. I kind of think it is. Each one of us has a guardian angel. But this is who they serve. Those who are to inherit salvation.

That's us who have trusted in Christ. You have Christ, he's got angels watching you. You have nothing to fear. So in closing, the point of this passage is comparison. We're comparing angels to Jesus. And he is far greater, far higher than you could ever imagine.

When Jesus was on this earth, angels were present at every crucial moment. Right? At the incarnation, when he was born. The shepherds keeping watch in fields by night. And the angels appear. And they sing, they worship, and they direct Mary and Joseph.

I mean the shepherds to go see Mary and Joseph. When Jesus was tempted, the angels ministered. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, it says an angel came and strengthened him. When he was saying, father, let this cup pass for me.

And he's sweating drops of blood. When Jesus rose from the dead, the angels were there. Rolling away the stone, seated on the stone, in the tomb. Angels, very present. At the ascension, the angels look up to heaven.

And they're all gazing into the sky. And they say, the angel says, why are you there looking in the sky? He's going to come the same way you saw him go. Angels present in all of these moments. But on the cross.

On the cross, the angels were not there to help him. Because Jesus alone carries the cross for us. Jesus had to wear that crown and die the death that we deserve. Taking all of that punishment alone. No help from angels.

Let that sink in. As great as angels are, we have one savior. One who took the thorns for us. And the nails in his hand. We remember the purity of angels. The power of angels. In all of these things, Jesus is greater.

He has the power to save us. Ah, one more point. And I'm closing, I promise. I'm thinking of this idea of comparison, right? We compare things. And especially in this age of like Facebook and Instagram.

You see on Facebook, the best foot forward. And sometimes we might compare ourselves and say, oh, well, it looks like they have everything together. But man, am I messed up. We're constantly comparing.

Or maybe you're comparing the way your life is panning out compared to something that you envisioned when you were a kid. There's disappointments. We're constantly comparing. But what this comparison does for us is to show us that if you have Christ, you have everything.

That there's nothing that compares to him, even angels. If you are hidden with Christ in God, Colossians 3 .13. If your life is hidden with Christ in God, you have the treasure that was hidden in the field.

You have the best part. And nothing compares to him and his love. So look at Christ. See how high he is, how exalted. And as you focus on him, everything else fades away. The fears and the anxieties. Keep looking at Christ.

He is high and exalted. Worship team, come on up. I'm gonna close in a word of prayer. And let's just give him thanks. Thank him for his word. That song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 exhorted us to say, pay close attention to these words.

They are your life. Your life depends on it. So let's pray. So father, thank you so much for your word to us today. We see from your word that Jesus is better than angels, greater than angels, so much greater.

So much so that the worshiping angels are flames of fire winds that exists for no other reason ultimately than to praise the son of God. But the son of God is uncreated, creator of the heavens and the earth.

So Jesus, we confess that you are Lord. You are God. We worship you for you are worthy. And we pray that you would turn our attention completely to you. That we would not get distracted by lesser things, whether angels or sports or hobbies, politics, any of the things of this world, Lord.

While we need to be involved, we pray that Jesus, you would be preeminent and supreme in our lives. And I pray for this people who gathers here at Cornerstone, that we would go forth and read your word and go deeper and deeper, that we would know you more.

We love you and praise you. In Jesus name.

Amen.

Let's stand and close in a song.

Is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Amen.

Go in peace.