“Greater Than Angels: Jesus the King”
[Hebrews
1:6-9]
January 29, 2012 Second Reformed Church
We continue looking at the author of
Hebrews’ argument that Jesus is greater than the angels. We will remember that there were those in the
first century church who had begun to wonder if angels might be greater than
Jesus. Because Jesus, the God-Man, is
fully human, some saw Him then – as some see Him today – as being less than the
angels. There were even some, as Paul
records, that were worshipping the angles:
“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of
angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his
sensuous mind,” (Colossians 2:18, ESV).
Let us begin by looking at verse six
again: “And again, when he [God] brings
the firstborn [Jesus the Son] into the world,”
Let us remember that we saw that the
term “firstborn” does not always mean “the first to be born” – it certainly
doesn’t mean that here. God was never
born. And neither Jesus in His Humanity
or in His Divinity was the first born of God on earth. No, the term “firstborn” also means – and it
means in this text – “preeminent.” God
is saying that He brought the Preeminent One into the world – the Incarnation
was of the Preeminent One. The Greatest,
the Most Superior, the Highest in Rank – that is what God is – God came to
earth in the Person of Jesus.
“he
[God] says, “’Let all God's angels worship him.’”
The
angels were commanded by God to worship His Son, Jesus, the Incarnate Son of
God. Now, God would only command beings
to worship Someone Who is greater than they are, right? God would never command us to worship each
other, because we are equal in our humanity – no one of us is essentially
greater than another.
David
wrote, “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you
care for him? Yet you have made him a
little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of
your hands; you have put all things under his feet, (Psalm 8:4-6, ESV).
We,
humans, were created “a little lower” than the heavenly beings – including the
angels. So, we understand that the
angels are “a little greater” than we are.
So, we might be tempted – as we see in the Scripture – to worship angels
– but God has forbidden that. We are
commanded not to worship any created thing (cf.
Exodus 20:4-6).
Based
on this, we might be tempted to say the angels are greater than Jesus, because
Jesus is completely human, and humans are a “little lower” than the
angels. However, the Son of God – the
Second Person of the Trinity – is said to have preeminence – to be greater –
than everything that God created – including humans and angels – and Jesus is
God – the Second Person of the Trinity.
Now,
we saw last week that Jesus – in His Humanity – was – for a time – in His
sinless, but finite and unglorified body – less than the angels – we see in verse
four that He became superior to the angels.
However, we must understand that He became superior to the angels
insofar as His Humanity is concerned. In
His Divinity – in the fact that He the Son is God – before, during, and after
the Incarnation – Jesus, the Son of God, the God-Man, was and is superior to
the angels.
So,
we can understand that though Jesus, the God-Man, was – for a time, unglorified
in His Body – He was still God, Himself.
So, even though Jesus is now still completely human – and glorified – He
is, as He always was, completely God, so He is greater than the angels and
worthy of worship.
God
would sin if He commanded the angels to worship another creature. But since God commanded the angels to worship
God – even in human flesh – we can understand that Jesus, the Son, is greater
than the angels as evidenced by their worship of Him.
The author of Hebrews continues by pointing
out a Scripture about the angels, themselves:
“Of the angels he says, ‘He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a
flame of fire.’”
The angels were made by God, and
here we see that the angels are servants of God. God makes the angles to be what they
are. And what are they? They are like wind and fire. They are quick, agile, powerful beings that
do the work God has given them. They are
ministers – they carry out God’s Will – they affect the works of Providence. But they are merely servants.
The rest of our text is a quotation
from one of the Psalms of the sons of Korah in which they praise God for His
Sovereign Kingship. We read: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of
uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with
the oil of gladness beyond your companions;” (Psalm 45:6-7, ESV).
“But of the Son he says, ‘Your
throne, O God, is forever and ever,’”
Let us notice first, here, that God
calls the Son, God. “But of the Son
[God] says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.’” The author of Hebrews continues to emphasize
that Jesus is not merely a real human being, but He is the Son of God – God,
Himself, in the Second Person – Incarnate as the Person of Jesus of
Nazareth. The Incarnate God is still
God. The Son of God is God, and the Son
of God taking on flesh – a real human Person – did not make Him any less God.
Notice, then, that God, the Son, is
enthroned, and His Reign is eternal. God
the Son is the Eternal Sovereign King over all.
And if the Son is God the King, then the Incarnate Son, Jesus, is God
the King, because God does not become less than God by taking on flesh.
We recognize this in texts that we
read often during the Christmas season, such as: “Of the increase
of his government and of peace there
will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it
and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and
forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of
hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:7, ESV).
So, it is not strange to us to think
of Jesus as being God, the Eternal King.
Now, a king is greater than his
servants. So if Jesus is God, the King,
then Jesus is greater than the angels, because the angels are servants of God. Jesus, the King, is greater than angels.
What kind of King is Jesus? If He is not a holy and perfect king,
wouldn’t the holy angels be greater than Jesus, then? It would, but it is not so.
The author of Hebrews, quoting the
Psalmist, continues, “the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your
kingdom.”
The scepter is the symbol of the
administration of rule. And we see here
that His Rule is Righteous – Holy and Perfect in every way. That makes Him the final authority on all
matters, and so, God’s Word is the final authority in all matters.
Since our God and Savior reigns in
this way, we are compelled to live in a way that follows after His
Righteousness. Paul writes, “For the
grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to
renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age,” (Titus 2:11-12, ESV).
We who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation
have been saved by His Grace Alone – as a free gift to us, and in so doing, we
recognize we are under the Sovereign Righteous Rule of Jesus, and we receive
training from Him. Jesus teaches us
through His Word and through God’s discipline of us to renounce ungodliness and
worldly passions – all of the sins we so joyfully have participated in in the
past – we now cast them away for the joy that we have received through salvation
and now in living under His Reign. And
now we strive to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives – we strive to live
according to all the commands of God in holiness – understanding that we will
not be perfected in this life, yet not using that as an excuse but fighting
with everything we have to live holy lives like Jesus – by the Work of God the
Holy Spirit in us – because any good we do is done by God working through us.
We see this perfectly portrayed in Jesus: “You have loved righteousness and hated
wickedness;” The reason that Jesus reigns in righteousness is because He is God
and God loves righteousness and hates wickedness.
God is delighted and rejoices when
we do good and live righteously by Him Who lives and works in and through
us. God loves to see Himself portrayed
in us and our actions. But God hates –
yes, hates – wickedness. God is furious,
livid, enraged when one of His creatures – including us – does something contrary
to His Will.
Do we understand that when we sin,
we are committing cosmic treason? Do we
understand that when we sin, we are trying to overthrow the government of
Jesus? Do we understand that when we sin
we are telling our Holy God Jesus, Lover of Righteousness, Giver of Joy and
Salvation, “I know better how to live my life than You!”
“How dare we!”
That’s why God came down to earth in
the Person of Jesus. We had become a
plague of evil in God’s presence, but God, in His Mercy, chose to make some
right with Him by Himself. And here we
have the Gospel: God came to earth –
incarnated – in the Person of Jesus, lived, died for the sins of all those who
would believe, physically rose from the dead, and ascended back to His throne,
where He reigns in Glory.
Jesus is King, and we are
saved. Jesus is greater than angels.
Our text ends: “therefore God, your God, has anointed you with
the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (Hebrews 1:6-9, ESV).
Therefore: Since Jesus the Son is God. Since Jesus is eternally seated on His Throne
– Eternal King of Kings, ruling over all of Creation. Since Jesus administers His Rule in righteousness.
Since the administration of His Rule
proceed from a love of righteousness – holiness – and a hatred of all
wickedness.
Therefore – the consequences of Jesus’
Holy, Righteous Rule over all of Creation is that God anoints Jesus.
What does that mean?
It means that God rejoices to have
His Son rule. God is glorified through
the Righteous Rule of Jesus over the Creation, and God takes pleasure in being
glorified, in working as Trinity to accomplish all things according to His
Plan.
It means that the Father enables the
Son to do His Work. And we wonder how
that can be, if the Father and the Son are the same One God. And the only answer we can give is to say
that there is a priority of action in the Godhead. Which doesn’t really answer the question does
it? But that is what we see in the
Scripture, and that is as far as we can go with that point.
It means that Jesus is symbolically
marked as triumphant and exultant. The
Son accomplished His Purpose in the Incarnation and now reigns as King of Kings
and Lord of Lords.
So, we can see that Jesus is greater
than angels.
What does this mean for us – to know
that Jesus is King of the created order?
It means we have a duty and a joy to
rejoice in the Kingship of Jesus. Is it
not wonderful news to know that the One True God Who came to earth to save
everyone who will believe – you and me – is the Same One God Who rules over
everything and every moment of history – everything is in His Hands and occurs
according to His Will? Ought we not obey
and rejoice in such a great God as this God, Jesus, the Son?
And it also means that we may have
comfort and security in Jesus’ Kingship.
If the Same God Who died and rose for us is the King of everything, and
all things work together according to His Will, don’t we have every reason in
the world to trust Him and to take comfort in Him and to know that if He did
this for us – Paul writes, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up
for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans
8:32, ESV).
John wrote, “For this is the love of
God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1
John 5:3, ESV).
As Jesus said, “For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30, ESV).
Beloved, take comfort and rejoice –
obey all the commandments of our Savior and King – the Sovereign of all. For He has done all the work. He has returned to the Thorne of the
Son. And though He came to us in human
form – that He could be our Substitute – He is not a creature – He is the Only
God, the King, and greater than angels.
Let us pray:
Almighty God and King, we bow before
You as Your humble subjects. We come
before Your Throne as children before their Father. We give thanks for the Son Incarnating for
our salvation. Help us to understand
that He is not just a human being – He is the Almighty God, the King – and to
Him Alone belongs all glory and praise.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment