Hebrews 1:4-2:9 - Jesus is Better Than The Angels

Well, if you have heard that familiar music, you know what time it is. It is Tabernacle Talk time, and these things have not gotten any better over the past 207 episodes, I think, now we've done.

But you know what is going to get better today?

Your day, hopefully, as we dive into God's Word, we are in Hebrews, and it's a great book written from a person that has just a really commanding grasp of the Old Testament, and realizes that Jesus is the point of everything that was said, everything

that was written in the Old Testament, all of the accounts that took place, it all points us towards Jesus. And he's writing to some people that they've been undergoing really heavy persecution, and they've wondered about like, hey, should we just go

back to Judaism? Like, that's a much more kind of respected religion in the Roman Empire. It's not really viewed as a cult, like the way of Jesus is. And so when we are like espousing Jesus, we're getting blasted from every side.

And should we just go back to the old ways and just focus like on the Old Testament, and go back to the old sacrifices that we were doing? Is that what we should do? And so the writer is saying, don't go back.

Like, Jesus is the point of everything. And so he goes through piece by piece, as we will over the next, we've got 20, including this episode, 21 episodes in Hebrews. And he says, here are all of the reasons why you should not do that.

And first, as we learned last week, is that Jesus is God. He is God's final expression, His final word to the world. And so we need to follow and worship Him.

We can't be good with God and yet ignore or have no worship for His Son, for that second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. So that's where we've been. I'm going to take us in from verse number 3 and take us all the way through our passage.

We're going to get through chapter 2 and verse number 9 today, looking at the fact that Jesus is better than the angels. So he says, OK, you love God. Jesus is God.

You think that the angels in the Old Testament were amazing, incredible spiritual beings. Wonderful. Jesus is better than them because He is God.

So we're going to jump. I'm going to go from verse number 3 and we'll get a running start into our passage for today. The son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs. That is that he is called the beloved.

He is called son. It is not that God ever like physically, actually birthed Jesus, that that is the name that he has been given, as that second person of the Trinity, that he is God the son. And so he is better than just these angels.

They are not the son of God. Verse number five, for to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son, today I have become your father. Or I have begotten you, that is, I have placed this name of what our relationship is.

He says, You are my son, today I have become your father. To what angel did he ever say that? Or again, I will be his father and he will be my son.

So here he is quoting from 1 Chronicles 7, 13, and quoting from Psalm 2 and verse number 7, which I think I have referenced when we were back in Psalm 2.

I looked over at the Book of Hebrews to let you know like, Hey, this is talking about Jesus, which is exactly what the author of Hebrews is saying. He says, No, Jesus is way different.

God said things to Jesus and about Jesus that he did not say about even the great spiritual beings. Verse number 6. Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, And let all God's angels worship him.

A wonderful truth that we sing about very often at Christmas time, the angels singing the praises and worshipping God. There was never worship called for any other spiritual being other than God himself.

There, the writer is quoting from Deuteronomy, chapter 32 and verse 43 and Psalm 97 and verse 7. Then verse 7 of Hebrews 1, about the angels, he says, He makes his angels winds or spirits and his servants a fiery flame.

So he says, This is what the angels are like. Verse number 8, But to the sun, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. And the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. This is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy beyond your companions.

And there he's quoting from Psalm 45, that's a beautiful wedding style Psalm that we looked at when we were in Book 2 of Psalms. So he says he never called any angel God with a throne.

He says what he declared about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, is totally different. It is so much better than just these winds or these flames. They don't have thrones and he doesn't view them as God.

They don't rule over everything and God has not anointed or made a Christ or made a Messiah of the angels. He did make Jesus that. Verse number 10, And in the beginning, Lord, you established the earth and the heavens are the works of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain. They will all wear out like clothing. You will roll them up like a cloak and they will be changed like clothing.

But you are the same and your years will never end. And there he is quoting from Psalm 102 verses 25 through 27. In case you haven't figured it out yet, this will happen over and over and over again in the Book of Hebrews.

The author in hoping to convince these persecuted believers that they should stick with Jesus and not go back to Judaism, he's bringing everything from the Old Testament to say, hey, look at what God wrote. It is all fulfilled in Jesus.

Verse number 13, now to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool? They're quoting from Psalm chapter 8 verses, or actually, no, sorry, Psalm 110 and verse 1.

So he says, here, there is the one that is seated on the right hand of God until God subdues his enemies underneath him. And verse 13 says, to what angel did he ever say that?

Verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to those who serve those who are going to inherit salvation? He says, the point of angels is that they go and do God's bidding in the world. Like, they don't sit at God's right hand enthroned.

God is the one that is enthroned and the angels serve him. So there's something different between an angel and the son of God. Verse, sorry, chapter two and verse number one, now he kind of brings it to bear.

So he's been establishing there's a difference between Jesus and the angels. Chapter two, verse one, for this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard. So that we will not drift away.

Here he says, there is a natural bent that we have towards going away from following Jesus, towards not obeying him, towards not believing, towards not following. That's our natural state. We just kind of drift.

It's not necessarily that we're like paddling away. It's not that we're opening up the sails and just really pursuing away, but we naturally drift. And so he says, we've got to pay attention to what we've heard about Jesus and the Gospel.

Verse number two, for if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

So here what's being referenced is the angels were the ones that gave Moses God's laws, taking them from heaven where God was and taking them to Moses.

And so he says, so if this Old Testament law that was given by angels was something that everyone had to obey and follow for millennia after, how much more do we have to listen to Jesus, to God?

If God saved Israel, if he made them his own set apart special people with forgiveness and joy and a hope of a messiah in their own land and promised victories, if all of that came through them listening to the word that was brought by angels, how in

the world are we going to survive if we ignore what Jesus himself has done for us and has given to us and has declared for us? Continuing there in verse number three, this salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord.

Here's talking about Jesus. And it was confirmed to us by those who heard him. Okay, so here he's saying, Jesus preached this gospel, and then those that heard Jesus preach the gospel, they brought it to us.

So this is one of the reasons why this verse in particular is one of the reasons why people don't believe that Paul was the one that wrote Hebrews, because Paul heard from Jesus. So he would say like, hey, I heard from Jesus, and I told you.

That's what he says in Galatians 1. That's what he says in 1 Corinthians 15. So this is kind of a different type of person here that is speaking.

He says, we've been around the apostles, and we heard what they told us about the gospel that Jesus preached. And so we need to listen to them.

Verse number four, at the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will.

So he says, we heard the gospel, and then we saw with our own eyes, like the people that were speaking in tongues, we saw Paul and Peter heal people. We saw the miracles that took place.

Peter declaring what was in the heart and mind of Ananias and Sapphira.

We saw these amazing things that took place that all proved that what Jesus said and that the apostles were accurately saying what Jesus said, that all of it was factual and real. And so we don't, we can't doubt what God has said through Jesus.

Just as we had to pay attention to the Old Testament law, and all of you guys, you have, and you know God's word, and that's why I'm telling you all of these verses to prove that Jesus is better than the angels.

And if we couldn't ignore that word that came by God through the angels to Moses to us, then certainly we can't ignore what has come through Jesus. Verse number five, for God has not subjected to angels the world to come that we are talking about.

That is when God remakes our world, when He makes all things new, He's not putting it under the control of the spiritual beings. Verse number six, but someone somewhere has testified, what is man that you remember him?

Or the son of man that you care for him? You made him lower than the angels for a short time. You crowned him with glory and honor and subjected everything under his feet.

So that's in Psalm eight verses five through seven. And then he talks about those verses for just a second. He says, for in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him.

He says, for this one, this son of man, that for mankind in general, God has put everything under him, all of the animals and all of nature, all of those types of things like we would read about in Genesis chapter one, that we're to have dominion

over all of the earth and all of the creatures, all of the birds and the creeping things, the insects, all of that. So we have all of those things under us.

But here the author is highlighting, OK, but this is speaking to a much deeper truth with Jesus and that God is subjecting everything under him. And there's nothing that is accepted about that.

He doesn't say we're going to God's going to subject everything except this to Jesus. He says everything is going to him. He says, as it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him.

He says, not everyone obeys Jesus or follows Jesus right now.

Verse number nine, he says, but we do see Jesus made lower than the angels for a short time, so that by God's grace, he might taste death for everyone, crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.

They are quoting from Psalm 22 and verse 22. He says that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels and becoming human and dying for us.

And because he did die for us, now he is crowned with glory and honor because he is the victorious one over death. And so he deserves our accolades and our praise. Oh, man, that's the that's the end of our section for today.

OK, so tomorrow we're going to look at the next portion that the author highlights for us, which is Jesus didn't just like come and was greater than the angels, but he came and became one of us so that he calls us now his brothers and sisters, that

we are joint heirs with Christ. And what a wonderful truth that is. I will save all of that topic for tomorrow.

So for today, as we look and we see like Jesus is better than the angels in every way, that Jesus is deserving of things that angels are not deserving of, that Jesus is called Titles, that the angels are not called.

Jesus is uncreated and actually he created the angels. And so we should worship Jesus. He is better than any other spiritual being.

No other spiritual being comes close to who he is or how wonderful and amazing he is.

And if we needed to listen to the Old Testament, you can look at all of the times when angels show up to people and they freak out and they're like, oh, my goodness.

And the angels, one of the most common responses that they have towards them is, hey, don't fear, because like God is with you. And so if people feared the angels, how much more do we need to be in awe in and respect and worship our holy Christ?

Because he is the one that, though he was high and lofty above everything else on the throne of God, that he came down as a little baby. He lived a perfect, sinless life.

He healed, he loved, he forgave, he taught, he rebuked hypocrisy, he taught God's heart and showed us who God is. And he died in our place, purchasing our redemption, paying for our sins, covering it over so that there is no condemnation left for us.

And now he is exalted and glorified and crowned with glory. That's the God that we worship. That's the one that we need to be pursuing.

Today, are you worshiping that Jesus? Are you listening to him? Are you obeying his gospel?

Are you following the way that he has set out for you to live? That's all we got time for today. But hope that looking that Jesus is better than the angels was an encouragement to you.

The fact that we can have a certainty in who we worship, that he is far and away better than anyone else that we could ever compare him to. Thanks for tuning in. See you next episode where we learn that Jesus is our brother.