HEBREWS: THE INFINITE SUPREMACY AND SUFFICIENCY OF JESUS CHRIST

II. Christ's Infinite Superiority To The Angels, Hebrews 1:4-2:18

A. Christ's Infinite Superiority To The Angels In His Divine Person

(Hebrews 1:4-14)

I. Introduction

A. We live in an era of great need for an encouraging word amid man's discouraging spiritual failure, so a word from God on the infinite supremacy and sufficiency of His Son Jesus Christ is both desirable and fitting.

B. Hebrews provides it, and we view Hebrews 1:4-14 on Christ's superiority to the angels in His divine Person:

II. Christ's Infinite Superiority To The Angels In His Divine Person, Hebrews 1:4-14.

A. The emphasis in Hebrews 1:4-2:18 on Christ's superiority to angels suggests that the readers were tempted to enter a Hebrew sect that had a "highly developed angelology." (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 779, 781)

B. Such an excessive emphasis on angels marks two major cults today, that of Islam and Mormonism:

1. Islam began with Muhammad's alleged revelations from the Angel Gabriel, and "(t)he Qur'an," Islam's holy book, was allegedly "delivered piecemeal through Gabriel to Muhammad during his twenty-three-year prophetic career." (Robert Spencer, The Truth About Muhammad, 2006, p. 20) [However, there are serious credibility problems with this work, for "the Qur'an incorporates Jewish and Christian sources" along with "decidedly heterodox sources -- the sorts of sources Muhammad would likely encounter in Arabia, where heretical Christians predominated." (Ibid., p. 53)]

2. Mormonism's founder Joseph Smith claimed that the angel Moroni gave him gold plates allegedly written in Egyptian hieroglyphics and two stones called the Urim and Thummim for translating the gold plates into what became the Mormon faith's Book of Mormon. (Salem Kirban, Mormonism, 1971, p. 18-21) [However, there are serious credibility problems with this work, for "(t)he Book of Mormon quotes 21 complete chapters of the Old Testament Book of Isaiah and parts of others," Ibid., p. 21]

C. However, the appearing of God's Son, Jesus Christ, has presented us a Person who is infinitely greater than the angels, so we must be preoccupied with Him and not angels, Heb. 1:1-2, 4-14 (Ibid., B. K. C., N. T., p. 781):

1. God has revealed His own Son, Jesus Christ, Who has spoken to us on the earth, Hebrews 1:1-2.

2. This Person is infinitely superior to angels, having inherited a more excellent name than they have (Hebrews 1:4), so we must be preoccupied with Him instead of angels, Hebrews 1:4-14:

a. Though good and evil angels are called "sons of God" in a general sense in Job 1:6, in Hebrews 1:5a that cites Psalm 2:7, God "'adopts' the Davidic King as His 'Son'" that "was understood by the author of Hebrews to refer to Messiah's sitting at the right hand of God (cf. v. 3)" in Psalm 110:1, Ibid. Also, Hebrews 1:5b cites either 2 Samuel 7:14 or 1 Chronicles 17:13 referring to the same adoption of the king.

b. Furthermore, referring to the Second Coming of Christ, the Firstborn, into the world, Psalm 97:7 reveals that the Son of God will be recognized by open worship from the angels, Hebrews 1:6; Ibid.

c. Though Psalm 104:4 (with Hebrews 1:7) teaches that angels often present themselves as winds or fire in performing God's assignments, Psalm 45:6-7 "describes the final triumph of God's messianic king." (Ibid.) The Son is called "God" in Psalm 45:6 (and Hebrews 1:8) while He is distinguished from God in Psalm 45:7 (and Hebrews 1:9) to refer to the Incarnate God in Christ, but in David's era, the first use of "God" referred to a human official who acts as God's representative (as in Exodus 21:6), B. K. C., O. T., p. 827.

d. Also, the author of Hebrews linked the quotation in Hebrews 1:8-9 to Psalm 102:25-27 to show in Hebrews 1:10-12 how God the Son "is the Creator of all things and the One who, in the midst of change, is unchanging," Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Hebrews 1:10-12.

e. In Hebrews 1:13, the author of Hebrews cited Psalm 110:1 where God the Father addressed God the Son, telling Him to sit at His right hand until the Father made Christ's enemies a footstool for His feet only to contrast the Son with the subservient ministry of the angels in Hebrews 1:14 who are sent forth by God to minister to believers who will be heirs of their deliverance from all their enemies in the eternal state, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 782.

Lesson: God's Son, the Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, has appeared and spoken to us, and He is infinitely superior to all angels, be they good or evil spirits, so we must be preoccupied with Him and not the angels.

Application: May we realize the infinite superiority of Jesus Christ over all angelic beings, both good and evil, and thus preoccupy ourselves with Him and not the angels.