A Son Better Than Angels (Hebrews 1:4)

Kootenai Church

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All right, before we begin, let's pray. Father, it is in light of your Word that we see light.

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Your Word is truth, and only you are able to make your words alive to our hearts and to quicken us, to edify us, and to equip us for every good work.

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We desperately need the ministry of the Holy Spirit to give us understanding and illumination in your Word, and so we pray that these words may not be dry to us, but that we may see in them all that you have for us to see, and we see

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Christ. Open our eyes to that and give us obedient hearts, we pray, in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Hebrews chapter 1, we're gonna read the first four verses. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days, has spoken to us in his

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Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. And he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power.

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When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they.

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We come this morning to verse 4 of our passage here, and we have covered the first three verses and looked at these seven glories of Christ that are contained in those, and now we come to verse 4.

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Now, grammatically speaking, verse 4 belongs with verses 1 to 3. It's sort of the concluding statement.

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If these seven things are true of Jesus, then obviously, as verse 4 says, he is greater than the angels. He's greater than any of the angels.

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So, grammatically, it belongs as the concluding statement for verses 1 to 3, but thematically, it introduces us to the first major section of the book of Hebrews, which is the rest of chapter 1 and all of chapter 2.

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That's the first major section of the book of Hebrews. So, it sort of concludes verses 1 to 3, and yet it introduces us to the next two chapters of this major section.

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And what I want to do this morning is show you how verse 4 concludes verses 1 to 3, and then serves to introduce us to that first major section of Hebrews.

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Hebrews is all about comparisons, and we mentioned this, or I mentioned this in the introduction to Hebrews, that Hebrews is built around these comparisons to show that Jesus is better than, greater than, superior to all of the elements of the

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Old Covenant. So, he is better than and greater than the law, he is better than the old priesthood, his blood is better, his sacrifice is better, his intercession is better, he is greater than Moses, greater than Aaron, greater than David, greater than Melchizedek, greater than Abraham, greater than the patriarchs, greater than Jacob, greater than all the

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Old Testament saints listed in Hebrews chapter 11. He's greater than all of those things because he displays to us the nature and the character of God.

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We see in him the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature. So that is why he is greater.

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So today we're we're gonna just deal with verse 4 as an introduction or a conclusion to the first part, and then an introduction to the next section.

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So in your bulletin you'll see that it says we're gonna cover verses 4 through 14. Some of you were very excited at the thought that we're no longer gonna be just dealing with one verse, some of you were very excited and disappointed with the thought that we might be dealing with more than one verse.

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So we, this is how I bring us all together, you're all gonna be disappointed if we in some measure this morning, because we're only gonna be dealing with verse 4 and using this as an introduction to this next major section.

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If you ever had a project or something you were tackling that before you actually started the project you kind of spent a whole lot of time walking around it and asking yourself, now how am

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I gonna do this? How am I gonna tackle this? You're kind of planning, you're trying to figure out how do I lift this, or how do I pick up that, how do

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I how do I grab this in a small piece? That is the passage that is the rest of chapter 1 for me.

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Most of my week was, most of my week this week was spent agonizing over exactly how to do this, because there's something to be seen by zooming out and catching the big picture of all of these quotations from the

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Old Testament, and there's something to be seen by just zeroing in on verse 4. So we're gonna do both this morning.

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So let's first look at how verse 4, we're gonna do it in reverse order, we're gonna first see how verse 4 introduces us to this first major section in Hebrews, and then we're going to see how verse 4 concludes verses 1 to 3.

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So first, verse 4 as an introduction, he says in verse 4, having become as much better than the angels, he that is

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Christ has inherited a more excellent name than they. The very first comparison that the author raises for us is the comparison between Jesus and angels, and I thought this was somewhat interesting or intriguing, because in my mind

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I thought if you're going, if the point of the book of Hebrews shows that Jesus is better than all of the things connected with the

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Old Covenant, why start by comparing Jesus with angels? What do angels have to do with the Old Covenant?

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It seems that it would be better for him to begin by comparing Jesus to Moses. Moses, after all, was the one who received the

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Old Covenant. At Mount Sinai he brought the law down from the mountain to the children of Israel. He was the one who oversaw sort of the initiation of the covenant, and the sprinkling of blood, and the building of the tabernacle, and all that.

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Why not start with Moses? That would make sense to me, but we don't get to Moses until chapter 3. Or I thought it would make sense maybe to start with Joshua.

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After all, after receiving the covenant, Joshua was the one that brought him into the land, and the land was tied to that covenant.

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The land was tied to the covenant in terms of that was the place where the children of Israel were to dwell, and if they obeyed the terms of the covenant, they would remain in the land.

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If they failed to obey the terms of the covenant, they would be kicked out of the land, so it seemed to make a lot of sense to start with Joshua.

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We don't get to Joshua until chapter 4. Or I thought it might make sense to compare Jesus to the Old Testament priesthood, maybe

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Aaron or Melchizedek, but we don't get to that until chapter 5. Or how about comparing Jesus to Abraham, after all,

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Abraham was the father, the patriarch of the nation, with whom that old covenant was made. Why not start by comparing Jesus to Abraham?

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We don't get to him until chapter 6. And on and on it goes. Why start with angels? That seems curious to me.

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There are a couple of reasons. First, in one sense it is logical to begin comparing

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Jesus to the angels, given what he just said in verse 3. When he talks about Jesus making purification for sins, and then sitting down at the right hand of God, he is saying that's his exaltation.

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The author is saying Jesus has ascended to heaven, and he has sat down at the right hand of God, where he dwells even today in a glorified body at the

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Father's right hand on the throne of heaven. Now somebody reading this in the first century, or hearing those words, might think to themselves, well there are other heavenly beings.

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Just because Jesus is in heaven doesn't mean that he's all that great. There are other heavenly beings that we are familiar with.

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For instance, we're familiar with the angels, and all the different orders of angels, the cherubim, the seraphim, and Michael, and Gabriel, we're familiar with angels and their work, and they're heavenly beings.

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They are in heaven as well. In fact, they surround the throne of God. And so then it makes sense for him to say, yes, you may be familiar with other angelic or heavenly beings, but Jesus is greater than those angelic beings.

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So having talked about Jesus going into heaven, and recognizing he's not the only heavenly being, let us compare him to all of the other heavenly beings.

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And here's the short equation. Angels are greater than mere men. We can agree with that, right?

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Angels are greater in mere men. Greater in honor, in majesty, in power, in authority, than we as mere men are.

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If Jesus is greater than the angels, and the angels are greater than all men, then what does that make

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Jesus? A basic logic class would tell you that if A is greater than B, and B is greater than C, then

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A is greater than C. If Jesus is greater than the angels, and the angels are greater than men, then Jesus is greater than all of the men.

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So here, right out of the gate, he compares Jesus to an order of created beings that are higher even than men.

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And so if he is greater than the angels, then of course he is greater than Moses and Aaron and David and Abraham and Melchizedek and all of the other

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Old Testament patriarchs. So that I think is why he would begin with angels. That makes logical sense.

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There's a second reason, and that is that angels have a connection with the old covenant, the old with the giving of the law.

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We're not told a lot about this in Scripture, but there are references in Scripture to the events that surrounded

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Mount Sinai with the giving of the law and the establishment of the covenant. There are references in Scripture to angels in some way being involved in those events.

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And again, we're not given a lot of details, but it is referred to. What this would look like is left up to our imagination, but here are the

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Scripture references that describe that. Paul mentions it in Galatians chapter 3 verse 19 when he says, why the law then?

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It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator until the seed would come whom the promise had been made, that seed being

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Jesus. So there Paul mentions the Old Testament law was given by a mediator through and ordained by angels.

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What did that look like? He mentions it, but what did it look like? He doesn't describe that. Also Acts chapter 7 verse 53 when

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Stephen, when he was being stoned and martyred for his faith, he charged his accusers saying this, you who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it.

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In what sense was the Old Testament law, the old covenant, ordained by angels? Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 2.

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Here's some Old Testament passages that describe this. Deuteronomy 33 verse 2 describes God this way, he shone forth from Mount Paran and he came from the midst of 10 ,000 holy ones, angels.

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It's describing there, and Moses is describing there poetically, the giving of the law at Mount Sinai and how

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God shined forth and he was surrounded by thousands, tens of thousands of angels. Psalm 16 8 verse 17 says the chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands.

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The Lord is among them, that is among the angels, as at Sinai in holiness. So we're not giving a lot of details as to how this happened, but somehow in connection with God giving the law and the old covenant to the nation of Israel, it was mediated or ordained in some way.

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Angels had a hand in handing that off or transmitting that to Moses, but all of the details of that are not unfolded for us.

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Perhaps when God descended on Mount Sinai and there was smoke and the glory of God was seen there, maybe he was surrounded by tens of thousands of angels that were part of that.

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Maybe it is possible that the angels delivered the terms of the covenant or the instructions for the tabernacle or some of those things to the nation of Israel as from God and they received it as from God.

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It was in some way mediated or ordained through angels. So there is a connection between the old covenant and angelic hosts at Mount Sinai in the giving of the law.

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And in fact, in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 2, the author concludes with this. Look at, look at, he's actually bringing home a warning passage, bringing home to us a warning passage in Hebrews chapter 2.

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Look what he says, for if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

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He's describing the Old Testament law. If the law which was given through angels and was unalterable and men were held accountable for obeying the law and you could lose your life by disobeying the law, if that which was given through angels carried that much power, how much more this revelation that we have that is given to us through Jesus Christ?

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That's his point. So in some way, angels were involved with mediating that covenant and for that reason, and by the way,

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I think it's understandable why the author wouldn't go into detail, an Old or New Testament, why the authors of those various books wouldn't go into details as to what that involved.

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Because if we know anything from human history, it is that mankind has a propensity to worship any heavenly being, just so long as it is not the one true

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God. So if there had been grand descriptions of what this angelic mediation and ordination had looked like, guess what men would have worshipped?

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The angels instead of the one true God. So it is mentioned, it is referred to, and for that reason, the

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Jews in the first century and prior to the time of Christ had this very reverential and exalted view of angels, and there was, in some circles, angelic worship going on.

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For instance, some Jews believed that the angels served as God's counsel, sort of his, what would you call it, a cabinet that advised

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God, that God didn't do anything without consulting the angels. And they would point back to Genesis chapter 1 where God says, let us make man in our image, and they would say that the let us make man in our image, the us there is

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God speaking to angels, as if God created men in the image of God and angels.

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And so this is God saying to the angels, hey, I got a swell idea, how about we make man, what do you think? And the angels gave him the thumbs up, so God went ahead and created man.

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That was the Jewish notion of the role of angels. Describing some of the other mythology that surrounded angels,

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John MacArthur in his commentary on Hebrews says this, they, that is the Jews, quote, they believed 200 angels controlled the movements of the stars, and that one very special angel, the calendar angel, controlled the never -ending succession of days, months, and years.

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A mighty angel took care of the seas, while others superintended the frost, the dew, the rain, snow, hail, thunder, and lightning.

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Still others were wardens of hell and torturers of the damned. There were even recording angels who wrote down every word man spoke.

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There was an angel of death, and on the other hand, a guardian angel for every nation, and even every child.

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Angels were so numerous that one rabbi claimed that every blade of grass had its angel. Close quote.

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Now that's how the Jews viewed angels. Involved everywhere. Everywhere you looked, there was an angel to be seen.

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Now, given what Scripture says regarding angels, that's a slightly hyper -inflated view of what angels do, right?

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We recognize that God is involved in all of these things, but the Jews, in their propensity to go beyond what is written, viewed angels in that way, that the angels were involved in all of those things, giving glory to angels rather than to God.

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In fact, Paul even warns against one particular possibly Jewish and likely Gnostic group or sect that worshipped angels in Colossians chapter 2 verse 18.

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Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self -abasement and the worship of angels, taking a stand on visions he's seen inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.

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There were people who worshipped angels. They gave way too much reverence to angels. So here is the author recognizing that people had an inflated view of angels and he's saying, yes, the angels are important in God's plan and in God's purpose.

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There is a connection there between the giving of the Old Testament law at Sinai and in some way being more mediated or ordained by angels, but Jesus is greater than the angels.

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He has inherited a more excellent name than they. He is better than, having become better than, the angels.

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So this is the first comparison. And today it's not difficult to see why it is or how it is that people put so much emphasis on angels given our own culture in society today.

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Is it? Look around you and you see all kinds of a fascination with all things angelic.

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It is as if fallen man would love to be able to secure the blessings that come from heaven, the blessings of protection and provision and grace and love and gentleness and goodness and sort of that warm fuzzy feeling that we all want.

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And the best and easiest way to do that without actually having to confront God is to just simply worship and deal with angels.

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And so there is a fascination even in our own day with all things angelic. The movie touched by it, the show touched by an angel was popular for a reason.

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What is it? Because you could have all the warm fuzzies without ever actually having to be confronted with a God who does not tolerate sin, who is holy and righteous and will judge us all someday and desires a blood sacrifice for our violation of his law.

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See, so we want a mediator and people will turn to angels for that mediation between them and God as opposed to just coming to God himself.

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So back to the book of Hebrews then. That's the connection then between the old covenant law and the angels and it explains why it is that the author would begin by comparing

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Jesus to the angels. If his goal is to show that the new covenant and what is done in Jesus is better and greater than the old covenant, he might begin by talking about Jesus being superior to angels.

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This is part of a larger section in the book of Hebrews, this whole subject about angels. I want you to see it, it doesn't just take up chapter 1 where we have all these quotations from the

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Old Testament. It goes into chapter 2 as well and I just read to you chapter 2 verse 2 where he mentions angels again.

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Chapter 2 verse 5, look at that, for he did not subject to angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking.

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In chapter 2 verse 7, you have made him for a little while lower than the angels.

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You've crowned him with glory and honor and appointed him over the works of your hands. Chapter 2 verse 9, but we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels.

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Look at chapter 2 verse 16, for surely he does not give help to angels but he gives help to the descendants of Abraham.

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And that finishes up chapter 2. So this first two chapters is all about comparing Jesus to the angels.

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Angels are mentioned 13 times in the book of Hebrews, 11 times in the first two chapters, and two times after that, once in chapter 12 and once in chapter 13.

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So that is the connection then with the angels. Now in chapter 1, you will notice in chapter 1, if you just glance at your page and you're reading a modern translation, that the rest of chapter 1 is all

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Old Testament quotations. Can you see that? Every translation has it somewhat differently depending on, it's going to look differently depending on your translation.

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I think the King James is the only one that just has it in paragraph form and doesn't do anything to set apart the quotations other than to put quotation marks around it.

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If you're reading a more modern translation like the New King James, the ESV, or the NIV, then those translations will sort of put it in prose format to separate the quotations from the

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Old Testament from the rest of the text that surrounds it. The NASB, I think, is the most helpful way of framing it.

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It puts it all in capital letters. So just by glancing at the rest of the page, I say, oh, this is in all caps, and the author is not yelling to me as if you were writing an email to me.

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Instead, he is quoting here from the Old Testament, since all the quotations from the Old Testament are in capital letters.

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When you walked in here this morning and got your bulletin, you got this piece of paper. I'll give you a second to pull that out. You're gonna need that.

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If you didn't get this, well, you're gonna be lost for the next 10 minutes. So just take this opportunity to close your eyes, put your head back, get comfortable, maybe doze off, get ready for the big game this afternoon.

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For the rest of you who have this, you're gonna only be looking at this for a few seconds. You'll see that we have here on this piece of paper, you don't have yours,

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Landy? No. You gonna go to sleep? No, you can't use mine. I need mine to know what

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I'm talking about. So on this piece of paper, you'll see on the left -hand side is our passage from the book of Hebrews, and you'll see on the right -hand side all of the original quotations from the original sources.

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I want you to notice a couple of things, and this is here so that you can kind of get a big picture of what we're dealing with here in this passage.

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And you're gonna want to put this in your Bible and keep it with you for the next several weeks, because as we go back and we look at each one of these quotations, it's gonna be very handy for you to be able to see, okay, here's what it says in Hebrews, here's the original citation.

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And then also, I would give you a heads up, maybe take those psalms and those passages on the right -hand side and just read them a couple times in the weeks ahead.

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You can kind of be familiar with the whole psalm as we, you'll know where we're going as we're kind of referring to some of those Old Testament passages.

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Okay, so I want you to notice on the right -hand side, those original citations, notice the passages that are quoted.

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Psalm 2, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 97, Psalm 104, Psalm 45,

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Psalm 102, and Psalm 110. You notice anything about that list? All but one of those quotations is from the book of Psalms.

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So the author, who is trying to show us that Jesus is greater than angels, that Jesus is the divine

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Son and that Jesus is God, goes to the book of Psalms for, as his quotations, his

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Old Testament proof that these things are true about Jesus. Now I would ask you this convicting question. If I came up to you and asked you to prove to me the divine

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Sonship of Jesus Christ and that He is God in human flesh, would you be able to do so from the book of Psalms?

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No? Of course you would, because I just gave you the list of Psalms right here. Try and keep up, people!

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This is where you would turn, is this list right here. But the author does this almost second nature, he just quotes from the book of Psalms to prove his case about Jesus.

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That's significant. A second significant thing there is that these quotations come from the Jewish psalm book, their worship book.

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There's a certain irony here. In order to show that Jesus Christ is God, he turns to the inspired book of worship for the

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Jews in the Old Testament to show to them from their own worship hymnal that the one that they sing about is none other than Jesus Christ.

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That's powerful proof. Jesus is the Yahweh that is presented in the book of Psalms. And so as the

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Jews are singing their praise to Yahweh, they are in essence singing praise to the God who is incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ.

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So going to the book of Psalms to prove that Jesus is the God they worship is a powerful argument. Third thing

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I want you to notice is that there are seven different passages quoted, if you count them up. Psalm 2, 2

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Samuel 7, Psalm 97, Psalm 104, Psalm 45, Psalm 102, and Psalm 110. Seven different passages.

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Now if you're thinking the number seven sounds familiar, it's because we just covered the seven glories of Christ in verses 2 and 3, right?

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There are seven glories of Christ. He's the heir of all things, creator of all things, etc. And then there are these seven passages from the

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Old Testament quoted. Seven glories, seven passages. Is it possible that there is a one -to -one connection between the passages that are quoted and the glories of Christ that he has described?

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The answer to that is no, that is not how it works at all. There is a one -to -one correspondence between a couple of them.

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In fact, you will notice at the top and the bottom. Oh, I want you to see the structure.

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Well, let's do this. You'll notice at the top and the bottom that verse 5 and verse 13 do have a correspondence directly to statements that are made in those seven glories of Christ.

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Verse 5, 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.

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And so he begins in verse 5 with the sonship, and the first of those seven glories is that he is the heir, the son in whom

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God has spoken is the heir of all things. That describes sonship, it describes his right to be the heir of everything.

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So the glories of Christ begins with a statement regarding the fact that he is the heir, is the divine son, and the list of quotations begins with this citation from Psalm 2 and 2

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Samuel chapter 7 describing Jesus as the son. So that's a one -to -one correspondence. Then you go all the way to the bottom of the list, the very last and seventh of the glories of Christ that we looked at last week is that he has taken a seat at the right hand of the

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Majesty on high, he is exalted, and that is an allusion to Psalm 110, which if you look down at verse 13, but to which of the angels has he ever said, sit in my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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That is a direct quotation from Psalm 110. So at the top and the bottom, the head and the tail of that list of glories and that list of citations, there is a correspondence at the top, there is a correspondence at the bottom, but I want you to notice the structure and you'll see that I put some of the text in different colored font so you can see this very easily, if you can see this without reading glasses that is, because this serves a double purpose.

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This will tell you whether or not you need reading glasses because the font size the way it is. So at the top and at the bottom, you'll see the orange font.

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Okay, so the orange font in verse 5, for to which of the angels did he ever say in verse 13, but to which of the angels has he said?

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And you'll notice that that is the same question presented in a slightly different wording there, but it's essentially the same question at the top and at the bottom.

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Then you'll notice verse 6, this he says something regarding the Son in verse 6, then he says of the angels in verse 7, and then he says of the

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Son in verses 8 through 12. So at the top and the bottom, did God ever say this regarding angels?

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Here's one of the answers, of the Son he says this, of the angels he says this, of the Son he says this, but to which of the angels did he ever say this?

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Do you see the structure? It's sort of a chiastic structure where you where you have a sort of a sandwich as it were, and these things kind of work together toward the middle.

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So you have a question, did God ever say this regarding the angels? Here's what he says regarding the Son, here's what he says regarding the angels, here's what he says regarding the

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Son, did he ever say this regarding the angels? So there's something of a structure there that you'll want to observe. What is the main point of all the quotations?

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So we can't say here's the glory of Christ stated in the first two verses, the first three verses, and here's a glory, and here is an

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Old Testament quotation that cites that glory of Christ. We can do that at the top, we can do that at the bottom, but in the middle, the author's point is simply to show us that according to the

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Old Testament, Jesus Christ is greater than the angels. That's his point. Now you can deduce, all of those glories of Christ can be deduced from the truths that are quoted in all of these

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Old Testament citations. So for instance, if as it says, looking at your piece of paper, if as it says in verse 8 that the

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Son is God, the Son is called God, if it is true that He has a scepter and rules a kingdom, verse 8, if it is true that He, the

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Son, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, in verse 10, and if it is true that the Son never changes and His years never come to an end, as in verse 12, if those things are true, if He is seated at the right hand of the

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Father, and if He is indeed the Son, then all seven of these glorious statements are true.

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Then He is the heir of all things, He is the creator of all things, He is the sustainer of all things, He is the exact representation of God's nature, the radiance of His glory,

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He has made purification of sins and sat down at the right hand of the Father. In order to prove that, generally speaking, all of these things are true,

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He needs to show us that Jesus Christ is the Son, that Jesus Christ is divine, that Jesus Christ is the eternal

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God who created all things, and He has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And He makes that case from the

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Old Testament, that Jesus Christ is greater than the angels. Now there are a couple of translation issues, and I'm just going to make you aware of these before we go on to the second half of the message, now that we're 90 % through, second half of the message.

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There's a couple of places in here where what the author quotes is not exactly the same as the

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Old Testament citation. Look at verse 6, and when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, let all the angels of God worship

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Him. But look at the corresponding citation from the Old Testament, 97 verse 9 from Psalm, let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, who boast themselves of idols, worship

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Him, all you gods. That's different, isn't it? Let all the angels of God worship

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Him, worship Him, all you gods. That's quite a bit of a different citation, a different translation.

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You see it again in verse 7, but in the angels, He says, who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.

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Psalm 104 verse 4, He makes the winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers. So it's not an exact word -for -word translation when

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He quotes from the Old Testament. There are a couple of differences. Some of these differences are significant, some of them are insignificant, but we will deal with them later on.

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But that's why you're going to need to have this paper with you, so keep this. Or you can just throw it away,

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I won't judge. And Lanny, don't show up again next week unless you have one of these. Okay, verse 4 as a conclusion.

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We've looked at verse 4 as an introduction, now verse 4 as the conclusion to the argument of verses 1 to 3. Verse 4 again, let's read it.

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Having become as much better than the angels as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. Now there are two issues, two questions that we need to answer.

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The first is this, how did Jesus become better than the angels? When did that happen? How did that happen? What does that mean, that He became better than the angels?

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Second, what is the name that He has inherited, and how or when did He get that name? Those are the two questions. From verse 4, having become as much better than the angels as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

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What does it mean that He became better than the angels, and what does it mean that He inherited this name? So let's deal with the first question, how did

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Jesus become better than the angels? The word become, or having become, that is translated there as having become, that word, it does not refer to something that is made or created or formed out of something else.

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It's not a word that uses, that describes creation. It is a word that describes a change in something.

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It doesn't mean having been made, as the King James says, having, how does the King James say it?

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Having made, having been made? Being made, being made. The King James says being made, and that sort of implies the idea that He was created.

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He was made at some point. In fact, there are people who use the King James translation to argue that Jesus Christ is a created being, and they go to this passage, and they say there, see, it says having been made, or being made better than the angels, that He was then made or created better than the angels.

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But it's not describing a creation. The word is not used to describe that. It's a word used to describe a becoming. That is why the newer translations do a better job there, at least making it more clear for us, and not allowing us to read into that, the idea that Jesus was a created being.

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But that doesn't help us out too much, because if Jesus became at some point better than the angels, then that implies that at some point prior to that point, whenever He became better than the angels,

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He was what? Lesser than, or at least equal to the angels. And if at some point in the past,

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Jesus was lesser than or equal to the angels, then how is it that we can affirm that He is fully

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God and has always been God? How can He be God if at some point He was lesser than the angels?

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Because if He became greater than the angels, at some point He was lesser than the angels. You follow me?

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And that's pretty straightforward, right? I would suggest to you that it is schizophrenic thinking at best to suggest that the author of this epistle would say everything he does about Jesus in verses 2 and 3, and then turn around and suggest to us that Jesus is equal to or lesser than the angels at some point.

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So what does it mean then that He became better than the angels? The word better there is an adjective of comparison.

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It describes—it's actually one of the words that the author of this epistle uses quite frequently.

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It's one of his favorite words, because I mentioned at the beginning, the Hebrews is all about these comparisons, right? One thing is better than another.

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The old is gone, the new is better. And he comes back to this word time and time again. He uses it 13 times in the book of Hebrews.

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I'll give you a selection of the things that he says are better than other things. In chapter 7, verse 19, he describes a better hope.

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Chapter 7, verse 22, a better covenant. Chapter 8, verse 6, better promises. Chapter 9, verse 23, better sacrifices.

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Chapter 10, verse 34, better possession. Chapter 11, verse 16, a better country. And chapter 11, verse 35, we get a better resurrection.

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Those are the things that are described as better, but in what way did Jesus become better than the angels, and when did that happen?

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The answer is given to us in chapter 2. Remember, we're still talking about the comparison between Jesus and angels.

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Look at chapter 2, verse 9. Verse 9 and 10. But we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely

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Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

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We see him, that is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels.

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In what way was he made lower than the angels? That describes his incarnation, right?

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This is what we read in Philippians chapter 2, that he existed in the form of God, did not consider his equality with God a thing to be held on to at all costs, but without divesting himself of any of his divine attributes, while remaining fully

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God, he stepped into human history in the womb of a virgin, in a fetus, and in that conception he became man and took upon himself all of humanity, save sin, without any sin.

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So while being fully God, he took upon himself all of humanity, all that it means to be human without the sin aspect of our humanity.

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And in that way, in the incarnation, he became, for a little while he was made what? Lower than the angels.

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Now in terms of his essence, his nature, his essential being, he was always divine and always the eternal

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God. He left the throne of heaven, came into the body of that baby, and in the person of the

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Lord Jesus Christ we have fully God and fully man, and for 33 years on this planet he was made a little while lower than the angels.

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After his crucifixion and his resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of the Father, he is no longer lower than the angels, and I believe that that is what the author is describing here.

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He has just told us that Jesus made purification for sins and sat down at the right hand of the

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Majesty on high. Look how that is paralleled in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9. We do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely

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Jesus, because of the suffering of death, he made purification of sins through his suffering of death, being crowned with glory and honor, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the

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Father. Notice how those two things, the death of Christ and the glory that follows, they come together and they are connected here in the book of Hebrews in chapter 2.

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So for a while he was made lower than the angels, now he has made purification for sins, he is crowned with glory and honor, and he is no longer lower than the angels.

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So when did he become greater than the angels? In the event that is described in verse 3 when he took a seat at the right hand of the

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Majesty on high. For a while he left and was humiliated and now he has ascended and he is greater than the angels.

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In terms of his position, not in terms of his nature, at no point ever in time or in eternity was the

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Son ever by virtue of his nature a lesser being than the angels. He was their creator.

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He sustains them by the word of his power. Remember that? He keeps the angels angels by the word of his power. They depend upon him for their existence, for every moment that they are, they depend upon Jesus Christ for that.

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He created them, so he cannot be lesser to them. But for a while made lower, then he became better.

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How? By taking a seat at the right hand of the Father after he made purification for sins. Does that make sense? Now having understood that, then it helps us to answer the second question, which is, when did he inherit a name and what is that name?

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When did Jesus inherit this name? Now there's all kinds of speculation discussion about what the name is, like what is it the name

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Christ, is it the name Jesus, is it the name Yahweh, is it the name Son of God, is it the name Jesus of Nazareth?

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What name is it? Or is it a name maybe that we don't even know yet that Jesus has? What name is it that he was given or that he was inherited?

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And there's a good argument to be made that the name that is that is given here is the name Yahweh, which is the name of God, the

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Tetragrammaton from the Old Testaments, the name of God Yahweh, not Jehovah, but Yahweh, and that that name Yahweh is the name that now is identified with Jesus, because he has been incarnated and we have seen the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of God's nature, that the name that Jesus now has is the name

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Yahweh. I think that there's an argument to be made for that. I think in the context it is better to understand that the name that he has been given and that he has inherited is the title or the name

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Son. Son, S -O -N. Why would I say that? Because the very next verse, verse 5 says, for to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today

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I have begotten you, and I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me. And that seems to be the sort of the zenith of the argument.

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He has this name, this title Son, and it would be similar to what Paul says in Romans chapter 1, verse 4, when he says that Christ has been declared to be the

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Son of God by resurrection from the dead. In other words, though always existing in the form of, and by nature in relationship to the

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Father as the Son. The Son, when he was incarnated here, he died and he rose again, and in his resurrection, in his exaltation, it is the

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Son, specifically the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has that title. It has been manifested to all of creation, all of heaven, all of hell, all of creation, all of humanity, will bow the knee to the

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Son. And that's what Hebrews chapter, sorry, Psalm chapter 2 is all about. Do homage to the Son, bow down before the

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Son lest he be angry with you, and kiss the Son lest he pour out his wrath upon you. Take refuge in the Son.

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That's the argument of Hebrews chapter 2, and that is what is quoted right here next in verse 5. Sorry, not

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Hebrews 2, Psalm 2. It is what is quoted right here next in verse 5. So what is the title of the name that Jesus has that he has been given?

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It is the title Son. Through the resurrection, we see Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God.

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He is fully divine, radiance of the Father's glory, the exact representation of God's nature. He is the divine

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Son, and that is now demonstrated and manifested and put on display for all of creation to love and to adore, so that at his human name,

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Jesus, every knee will bow. He has been given that title, and that is why the author says, having been given that title or inherited that name

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Son, and he asked the question, to which of the angels did God ever say that? What's the answer to that?

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None. No angel. This is why Jesus Christ is the the greatest object of faith.

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This is why we are commanded to repent, to believe upon him. This is why we are commanded to trust him and to rest in him.

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This is why he is the Christians object of faith. He is the one in whom we place our faith, because he is greater than the angels.

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We can turn our back on all of the world and everything that is in this world and everything that is in this life, and we are not exchanging that which is better for that which is lesser.

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In fact, we can turn our back on everything that is in the world, and when we get Christ, we lose nothing. Even if all the world goes away, we have

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Christ, we have everything. We lose nothing, because he is better than all other things. He is better than everything that exists.

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Which of the angels made purification for your sins? Which of the angels is the exact representation of God's glory?

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Which of the angels upholds all things by the word of his power? To which of the angels has the Father ever said, come sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?

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No angel. Therefore, Jesus Christ is greater than all the angels. Let's bow. Our Father, we are grateful for this portrait of Christ that we see here in the pages of Scripture.

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Our hearts are humbled that you would send your Son to die in our place, in our stead, upon a cross, and that he would be humiliated, having been one who deserves such glory and honor in the worship of all the angels, that he would be humiliated for us, truly humbles our hearts.

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We pray that he may be for us the sole object of our faith and our trust and our confidence.

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We thank you that the one in whom we have believed is greater than all things, greater than all the angels, greater than all men who have ever lived.

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He is worthy of our faith and worthy of our trust. We pray that you would increase both our faith and our trust in him, and make us to see day to day the reality of that and the precious nature of it, that faith.