ABOVE ANGELS
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS
CHAPTER 1
Welcome back to Daily Bread, and the last of fourteen letters written by
Paul that are included in the New Testament of the Bible. This epistle from
Paul to the Hebrews is a little different than the others that Paul wrote
because as you know, Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles, and the Hebrews
of course were Jewish people.
What makes this
letter different from the others? Well, mostly, the recipients. The Hebrews
were a people that for more than 1500 years had been passionately devoted to
the Old Testament. It’s one thing to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, whose
religion consisted of worshipping graven images and no real moral principles
at all, but it’s quite another matter to convince the people of the living
God that His old Covenant was replaced with a new Covenant, and that Jesus
from Nazareth was the Messiah that they had long been waiting for.
This letter is
directed to those Jewish believers who became Christians. As you can well
imagine, there would be controversy from their fellow Israelites who
persecuted and crucified Jesus, and Paul, being an Hebrew, formerly
passionately dedicated to Judaism understood better than anyone, the kind of
support the Jewish Christians needed in the test of their expanding Faith.
Paul begins his
letter with an explanation that God’s ultimate prophecy of the Messiah had
been delivered in the person of Jesus Christ, and tells of his authority and
holiness as compared to the angels.
God, who at various times and in different ways,
spoke in times past to our ancestors through the prophets,
has in these recent days spoken to us by His Son,
whom He has appointed heir of all things,
with whom also He made the worlds;
I’d like to interrupt here for just a moment. How can that be?
Jesus
wasn’t even born until 4000 years after Adam, so how could he have helped
God create the world? The answer is this; God, Jesus, and the
Holy Spirit
are one, so Jesus is part of God. God is infinite, He always was and always
will be, therefore, Jesus always was, and always will be. Also, God is a
spirit, therefore Jesus also is a spirit, but He became man. Did you ever
notice that several times in the Gospel, Jesus says that God “sent” Him to
us? The point is, being a spirit and one with God, He existed before He was
“born” in the flesh, and therefore, He was ‘with’ God when He made the
worlds.
There are many scriptures that
prove the TRUTH of the Trinity. Here are just a couple that prove beyond the
shadow of a doubt that there is a Trinity.
(John
10:30) (1
John 5:7)
Check THIS out ...
As He indicated in
Isaiah 48:16
... "Come ye near unto ME hear this; "I" have not spoken in secret from the
beginning; from the time that it was there am "I" ... and now the LORD and
His Spirit hath sent ME" ... Awesome huh? NOT only does Jesus reveal
the TRUTH of the Christian HOLY TRINITY by saying The Lord and His Spirit
sent ME but shares with us that He has been from the beginning, just as the
Apostle John revealed and that it is HE that speaks to us as HE is the WORD
of God (John 1:1 and 1:14).
Back to Paul's teachings
...
Jesus, being the brightness of God’s glory,
and the express (exact, precise, specific, explicit) image
of His person,
and upholding (supporting, obeying) all things by the Word
of His power,
when He had by Himself purged (cleansed, erased) our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Let’s share a little Daily Bread Crumb here. What is the
significance of the right hand of God?
Psalms 48:10 Thy right hand is full of righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10 I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness.
Isaiah 41:13 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right
hand,
saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them,
He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand
of God.
Luke 22:69 Hereafter shall the Son of man sit
on the right hand of the power of God.
Most people are right handed, meaning that
is the dominant hand and that’s the hand that has the most power
in it, so the right hand of God signifies His strength and power.
Being made so much better than the angels,
as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they.
Angels are spiritual beings too, but they weren’t always here. There are also different rankings of angels. You can read
about this at Angels
Among Us ... So, angels are spiritual beings, and Jesus is
a spiritual being, who was made flesh, but as
part of God. He is
superior to all angels.
Now Paul talks about the prophecy that he talked of in the first sentence
of this letter. This prophecy was given through king David.
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
You are my Son, this day have I begotten you?
Psalms 2:7
And again,
I will be to Him a Father,
and He shall be to me a Son?
2 Samuel 7:14
And again, when He brings in the first begotten into the world, He said,
And let all the angels of God worship Him.
Psalms 97:7
And of the angels He said,
Who makes His angels spirits,
and His ministers a flame of fire.
Psalms 104:4
Paul goes on quoting still more prophecy about the holiness of Christ
comparing his majesty to that of the angels.
But to the Son He said,
Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever:
a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
Psalms 45:6-7
You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
therefore God has anointed you with the oil of gladness
above your fellows.
Isaiah 61:1, 3
Next, as you’ve seen many times before, and is very characteristic of
Paul, he can’t help but glorify God in his writing, any chance he gets:
And you, Lord, in the beginning
have laid the foundation of the earth;
and the heavens are the works of your hands:
They shall perish; but you remain;
and they all shall become old as does a garment;
Isaiah 50:9
Isaiah 51:6
And as a vesture shall you fold them up,
and they shall be changed:
Revelation 6:14
but you remain the same,
and your years shall not fail.
Then he gets back to what his point was. And what was his point?
It was
that Jesus is above the angels in authority and holiness.
But to which of the angels did God ever say,
Sit on my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool?
Psalms 110:1
Aren’t they all ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation?
Look at that last verse once again. The angels are serving spirits, sent
out to take care of those who will be the heirs of salvation. Who are the
heirs of salvation . . . Christians! Ever heard of a guardian angel? Paul
just told us, they’re for real!
Very interesting first chapter, wouldn’t you say? Hurry back and we’ll
dig deeper into this letter from Paul to the Hebrews and see what else we
can learn together, right here at Daily Bread.
