What are angels? What does God’s Word tell us? Angels are mentioned over 100 times in the Old Testament and more than 160 times in the New Testament. They exist in vast numbers. On one occasion they are described as assembling in great numbers (see Rev. 5:11). In most cases they are invisible, as was the experience of Balaam when the Lord had to open his eyes so he could see the angel blocking his way (Num. 22:31). Or consider Elisha’s servant who had his eyes opened so he could see that he was protected by encircling chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17). Ordinarily when angels are visible, they have a human-like appearance and are often mistaken for men (see Gen. 18:2; 19:1-2; Mark 16:5). Sometimes they have shined with glorious light (Matt. 28:3; Luke 2:9). Other times they have appeared as fabulous winged creatures – seraphim and cherubim (Exodus 25:20; Isaiah 6:2). The Hebrew word for angel is malak and the Greek angelos. Both mean “messenger,” designating their essential functions as divine message-bearers. As God’s messengers they can wield immense power – for example, staying entire armies (2 Kings 19:35) or delivering captives (Acts 12:7-11).

Regarding angels’ specific function, there are at least four: First, angels continuously worship and praise the God they serve. Second, angels communicate God’s message to man. Third, angels minister to believers. Fourth angels will be God’s agents in the final earthly judgments and Second Coming. But despite all their cosmic excellencies, their significance dwindles in the presence of Christ. Thus, we come to the grand theme of Hebrews 1:4-14, Christ’s superiority to angels. Why does the writer expound it here? Because some of the Jewish believers to whom he was writing were in danger of compromising Jesus’ superiority and lapsing into Judaism. They were tempted to compromise. If they would simply agree that Jesus was an angel, perhaps even the greatest of angels, but not God, they would be accepted into the synagogue and escape the awful pressure. It takes only a little thought to identify with this temptation, because the supremacy of Christ brings tension in everyday life. But the writer of Hebrews is determined that his friends not fall to this.

Christ’s superiority is first adduced because He has a superior name (vv. 4-5). Jesus had the name “Son” from all eternity, and it is the name He will always keep, as the perfect tense of the phrase “the name He has inherited” indicates. No angel ever had the title “Son”.

The next point in the author’s argument for Christ’s superiority over angels is that He is worshiped by angels (v. 6). Here he turns to the final lines of the Song of Moses (Deut. 32:43). The Jews considered these final lines to be messianic. Its obvious application is to the angelic worship that had its first occurrence on earth at the incarnation when all God’s angels worshiped Christ in Luke 2:13-14a).

Next the writer demonstrates the superiority of Christ to angels by contrasting their status: the angels are servants, but the Son is sovereign. Psalm 104:4 is quoted regarding the angels’ being servants: “Of the angels he says, ‘He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame if fire’” (v. 7).

For the fourth proof of Christ’s superiority, the writer quotes Psalm 102:25-27, which contains a broken man’s rising awareness and celebration of God’s transcending existence (which of course, describes Christ’s existence by virtue of His creatorship: “through whom also He created the world,” 1:2). Psalm 102 reads as it is recorded here in verses 10-12 of our text.

The clinching argument for Christ’s superiority over angels is vocation: Christ rules; angels serve. That Christ rules supreme is proven by a passage quoted more often in the New Testament than any other (14 times). Jesus even quoted it Himself and applied it to Himself at His trial (Mark 12:36). It is Psalm 110:1 which is quoted here in verse 13. Christ’s absolute rulership is dramatically seen here in that it was the custom for a defeated king to prostrate himself and kiss his conqueror’s feet and for the victor to put his feet on the captive’s neck so that the captive became his footstool. One day every knee will bow before Christ, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. And all the angels will be in that number, both good and evil, for the Son is infinitely their superior. In contrast to Christ’s superior ruling vocation, the angels’ vocation is that of serving (v. 14). This does not mean their serving is a disgraceful vocation. Far from it! It is a sublime privilege. The point here is, however, that it is inferior to the Son’s vocation of ruling the universe.

But there is something more here for the harried church – a double encouragement. First, this supreme Son is their God. Christ’s cosmic superiority, prophetic superiority, priestly superiority, and angelic superiority were all at the believers’ service in a world that was falling apart. Second, in respect to Christ’s angelic superiority, all angels had been sent by Him as “ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” The force of the original Greek is that the angels are perpetually being sent out to help God’s people – one after another!

The message to the harried, trembling church of the writer’s day, and to the Church universal, is this: Our superior Christ has assigned His angels to minister to us. And if He wills, He can deliver us anytime and anywhere He wishes. Christ is superior to everything. He is adequate in our hour of need. We must believe it and trust Him with all we are and have.

Hebrews 1:4-14 Reflection Questions:

Have you ever had a personal encounter with an angel?

Have you ever been tempted to compromise on your faith in Jesus?

What part of this study has encouraged you the most?

The central message of the Book of Hebrews is “Consider Christ.” In the first half of Hebrews 1:2, consider why He came. That is, He is God’s final word. Then, in the second half of verse 2 and into verse 3, we see who He is through seven characteristics of the incomparable Christ. So as we take up our study of Hebrews 1:2-3 we joyfully affirm that the best thing we can do is to preach Jesus Christ! This great text will allow nothing else. The grand theme of these verses is the supremacy of Christ as God’s final word. Christ is held up like a great jewel to the sunlight of God’s revelation, and as the light courses through it, seven facets flash with gleaming brilliance. We have given these facets names so they can be easily followed and assimilated. Christ is: Inheritor, Creator, Sustainer, Radiator, Representor, Purifier, and Ruler.

Inheritor: It is natural for the writer to first emphasize that Christ the Son is the Inheritor because sons are naturally heirs. Thus the text naturally flows from sonship to heirship (v. 2a). The writer, in stating here that Jesus is “the heir of all things,” is also consciously identifying him with the Lord’s “Anointed” and “Son” in Psalm 2. Thus Jesus is specifically said to be heir to Planet Earth and its peoples. But the promise also embraces the universe and the world to come. The immense scope of Christ’s inheritance comes from His dual functions as Creator and Redeemer. As Creator of the universe, He is its natural heir. Scripture is clear: everything in the physical universe is for Him and to Him and will consummate in Him as heir of a new creation. But in addition to His natural inheritance as Creator, as Redeemer He has also earned a vast inheritance of souls renewed through His atoning work of reconciliation on the cross. We are His inheritance! This is a mind-boggling truth, to say the least.

Creator: Having introduced the Son’s superiority as Inheritor of all things, the thought naturally moves to His supremacy as the Creator of all (v. 2b). The stupendous creative power of Christ created every speck of dust in the hundred thousand million galaxies of what we know of the ever expanding universe. Jesus was the agent in whom and through whom the entire universe of space and time was created. Everything was created by Him – everything corporeal, all things incorporeal, everything substantial, all things insubstantial.

Sustainer: But not only is He Creator, He is also Sustainer (v.3c). He is not passively upholding the universe, He is actively holding up all things. He does this by His spoken word. Just as the universe was called into existence with a spoken word, so it is sustained by the utterance of the Son. We cannot create the tiniest speck of dust; much less a mayfly, but He created the universe. He can do what we can never do, materially and spiritually. He can create in us clean hearts (Ps. 51:10). In fact, He can make us into new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). He can do it out of nothing. He can take whatever you are – your nothingness – and create a new person. There is nothing in your soul that is beyond the creative power of God. You are not an exception to His creativity, no matter how unique you may imagine yourself or your problem to be. But He is also our Sustainer. He can sustain the universe; He can sustain the struggling, harried church. Jesus is adequate for everything.

Radiator: The fourth facet of the Son’s superiority brilliantly sets forth His relation to the Father (v. 3a). The ESV translation “radiance” here is proper, as against some others that use “reflection.” Jesus does not simply reflect God’s glory; He is part of it! This is shown on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:3). It is His own essential glory, but it was also the Father’s. This is what blinded Paul on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:3).

Representor: The following phrase balances out His identity by emphasizing that He is also the Representor of God: “and the exact imprint of His nature” (v. 3b). The word translated “exact imprint” refers to the image on a coin that perfectly corresponds to the image on the die. Jesus is therefore completely the same in being as the Father. However, there is still an important distinction – both exist separately, as do the die and its image. Jesus is a superior revelation of God. When we see Him, we know just what the God of the universe is like. We know how He thinks. We know how He talks. We know how He relates to people. God has spoken in His Son. It is His ultimate communication, His final word, His consummate eloquence. Oh, the superiority of the Son!

Purifier: We have been all over the universe with the cosmic Son, and then suddenly He is introduced as the priestly Purifier who paid for our sins with His own blood. The thought almost sounds an aside – “After making purification for sins” (v. 3d). Ceaseless cosmic activity and then boom, His once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins! Actually this a cosmic achievement because Jesus did something no man or priest could ever do: offer alone the sacrifice that paid for all sins. That had to be the work of a cosmic being!

Ruler: The immensity of His cosmic achievement is given perspective by the phrase that follows: “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (v. 3e). He is Ruler. The overarching significance here is that priests never sat down. Levitical priests always were standing, because no sacrifice was complete. But Jesus, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, sat down (Heb. 10:11-12). From the cross Jesus shouted, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and then, reassured, took His seat forever. Jesus’ colossal work underlines the utter blasphemy of the thought that we can pay for our own sins with works of righteousness. There is only one way to purity, and that is the blood of Christ. The only way to justification is by faith in His blood (Rom. 3:25; 5:9). Lastly, there is the ultimate significance of Jesus’ sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven – and that is His ruling exaltation! It is here, in this supreme exaltation at God’s right hand, that Christ intercedes for us (see Rom. 8:34). The thought is utterly sublime but true – this glorious cosmic being at the apex of is splendor is praying for you and me! Can it really be? Yes! God’s Word says it is so.

Hebrews 1:2-3 Reflection questions:

How are you preaching Christ daily?

Do you see why we can do no better than to preach Jesus Christ?

Do you know this Son? Has His eloquence spoken to you? He is God’s final word. There is no other!

The Book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians whose world was falling apart. Scholars tentatively propose that the letter was written to a small house-church of beleaguered Jewish Christians living in Rome in the mid-sixties before the destruction of the Jewish Temple. Fifteen years after Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome a new persecution looms; the Neronian persecution that would come with the great fire of Rome in AD 64. No one has been killed yet but verse 4 of chapter 12 raises the possibility that martyrdom may come soon. The writer of Hebrews was writing to admonish and encourage his friends, a small group of Jewish Christians who were scared stiff! Some had begun to avoid contact with outsiders. Some had even withdrawn from the worshiping community altogether (10:25). The author feared there might be those who, if arrested, would succumb to the conditions of release – a public denial of Christ (6:6, 10:29). The tiny house-church was asking some hard questions: Did God know what was going on? If so, how could this be happening to them? Did He care? Only God could protect them, but where was He? Why did He not answer? Why the silence of God? The letter arrived and the word was sent out for the congregation to gather. The reader began what has been called the most impressive piece of Greek in the New Testament; verses 1-2a. Through these magnificent words the beleaguered church was brought face to face with the God who speaks – the eloquence of God. God spoke in the past, and He speaks in the present in His Son. And this eloquence, the ultimate eloquence of the final word in God’s Son, would bring them comfort in the midst of life’s troubles.

Even before the prophets of old, the cosmos was filled with God’s eloquence. The vastness and precision of our cosmos declares the necessity of a magnificent God! Noting the order and design of our universe, Kepler – the founder of modern astronomy, discoverer of the “Three Planetary Laws of Motion,” and originator of the term satellite – said, “The undevout astronomer is mad.” The cosmic eloquence of God is deafening, but many will not hear it. And even those who hear, hear partially. As Job said, “Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26:14). The eloquence of God is always there for the believer willing to hear it. So often those who have heard it best have heard it when life was darkest – perhaps while persecuted or in prison.

God’s people have always had more than the eloquence of the heavens, for they have had the prophets (v. 1).The emphasis here is on the grand diversity of God’s speech in the Old Testament. God utilized great devices to instruct His prophets. God spoke to Moses at Sinai in thunder and lightning and with the voice of a trumpet. He whispered to Elijah at Horeb in “a still small voice.” Ezekiel was informed by visions and Daniel through dreams. God appeared to Abram in human form and to Jacob as an angel. God declared Himself by Law, by warning, by exhortation, by type, by parable. And when God’s seers prophesied, they utilized nearly every method to communicate their message. The significance of this immensely creative variegated communication is that it dramatically demonstrated God’s loving desire to communicate with His people. Through God’s cosmic and prophetic eloquence men and women rose to live life on the highest plane. But in all of this (its adequacy, its progressiveness, its continuity, its power), God’s eloquence was never complete. As grand as it was, it was nevertheless fragmentary and lacking.

But no more! For in Christ came an astonishing eloquence, the ultimate speech of God (v. 2a).Jesus is the ultimate medium of communication. God has spoken to us in His Son! This amazing eloquence of God is substantially the same as that described in the chain of thought in John 1, which begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Jesus here, of course, is “the Word,” and though much more can be said about this term because of its rich history in Greek literature, its main significance here is that Christ has always sought to reveal Himself. Through the Incarnation God wrote Himself into life – “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He put skin on, so to speak. He made it possible for us to know Him as we never before could. God in the flesh was the height of communication. What was the result of all this eloquence? We meet God the Father! “No one has ever seen God,” says John, but “the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). Jesus interpreted God. That is some communication! The astounding eloquence of God!

Hebrews 1:1-2a Reflection Questions:

Have you ever asked yourself the same questions as the tiny house-church did?

Have you discovered the eloquence of God to answer those questions?

How does God speak to you personally? How often do you hear Him?