“Greater Than Angels: Jesus the Creator”
[Hebrews 1:10-13]
February 5, 2012 Second Reformed Church
What makes angels not worthy of
worship? Although angels are powerful
and greater than we are, angels are creatures, just as we are. The author of Hebrews begins his letter by
arguing – largely from the Psalms – that angels are not worthy of worship
because Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, is greater than angels.
We have seen that Jesus, the
Incarnate Son of God, is God Himself.
Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of the Father. He is the Firstborn – that is, the Preeminent
One. He is the Ruler over all Creation,
Who rules in righteousness, loving righteousness and hating wickedness. And we saw that God, on more than one
occasion, identifies the Son as God.
We look at another section of Scripture,
this morning, texts from Psalm 102 and Psalm 110, which the author of Hebrews
uses to show that the Son is greater than angels:
“And, ‘ “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the
beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;’”
Notice, again, God is speaking to
the Son, and God calls the Son, His Lord.
The Only Person Who could be Lord to God is God Himself, since God is
greater than everything that is.
God says that it was the Son Who laid
the foundation for the earth and created the heavens. The Son created the stuff of which everything
is made – the entire material Creation was created by the Son – and He set its
boundaries and fixed it and shaped it as we have received it. Everything in the physical realm and the
spiritual realm was created by the Son as the Son desired to create it.
What does that tell us?
It
tells us that the Son existed before anything was created. Before space and time and material stuff
began, the Son is. This is what John
tells us: “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made” (John 1:1-3, ESV).
The Word is the Son, so we could read this: “In the beginning was the [Son], and the [Son]
was with God, and the [Son] was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was
made.”
Paul
confirms this as he writes, “For by him [Jesus, the Son] all things were
created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for
him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians
1:16-17, ESV).
The Son always was. Everything that is was created by the Son for
the Son. And the Son holds everything
together. If the Son was not holding
everything together – right now – everything would break apart, spin out of
control, disintegrate, etc.
So, we see that Jesus is greater
than angels, because He, the Son, has always existed. Jesus is greater than angels, because He
created everything – including them.
The Creator is greater than the things He creates. Jesus is greater than angles because He
preserves and sustains all things.
“they will perish, but you remain; they
will all wear out like a garment,”
Every created thing wears out. Every created thing can break or suffer or
die. Our bodies break down; we
eventually die. Computers break. Phones break.
Furnaces break. Clothes wear
out. Shoes wear out. Tires wear out. Carpet wears out. Light bulbs blow out. Careers end.
Marriages break up. Friendships
break down. Candles melt away. Food gets eaten up.
But Jesus, the Son, remains. Jesus is imperishable. From before the beginning, it is impossible
that the Son should perish, because He is God.
David wrote: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from
everlasting to everlasting! Amen and
Amen” (Psalm 41:13, ESV).
And
Isaiah wrote: “Have you not known? Have
you not heard? The LORD is the
everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his
understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28, ESV).
Due
to the Fall – due to Adam and Eve’s sin – the whole Creation is running down
and wearing out. But Jesus is the Eternal
God Who will never be one whit less than Who He is and has ever been. God existed before anything existed, He
exists now, and He will always be.
Jesus
is greater than angels because everything in the Created order can die or wear
out or suffer, except for God.
“like
a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed.”
At
some point, known only to God, the end of the fallen Creation – the end of the
sin-effected, broken Creation – will come.
The Son will roll the Creation up like a robe – the future of the
Creation is in the Hands of Jesus – and then?
Our
text – and all of Scripture tells us that Jesus will change the Creation. He will not destroy it or throw it away, but
He will change it – He will restore it to the state it was in in the Beginning
– when Adam and Eve were in the Garden.
As
Paul writes, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but
because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set
free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the
children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together
in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we
ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:20-23,
ESV).
The
Creation suffers because of our sin. The
Creation wears out as punishment for our sin.
But the day will come when Jesus free us and all of the Creation from
our bondage to corruption. We will be
restored and made like Jesus – glorified – and the Creation will be perfected,
brought into the same glory that we are brought into – a glory, which for us –
among other things – means that our bodies will be healthy and whole and
incorruptible, just like Jesus’. For the
Creation, it means that all material things will now be incorruptible. This is the restoration that we all long for
and hope for as the new heavens and the new earth.
Jesus is greater than angels because
the Son can and will restore the Creation, whereas the Creation cannot help
itself.
“But you are the same, and your
years will have no end.”
The Son is not affected by our sin –
it does not wear Him out or make Him suffer.
In fact, the Son is always the same.
He never changes. He is
immutable. Even in becoming human, the
Son did not change from being the Son; He was the same One God before the Incarnation,
after the incarnation, and forevermore.
James writes, “Every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with
whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17, ESV).
There is no variation, no change,
with God. John Owen wrote, “In him we
have stability and unchangeableness; for what he is in himself, he is unto us
and for us. All our concernments are
wrapped up and secured in him. He is
ours: and though we in our own persons
change, yet he changeth not, nor our interest in him, -- which is our life, our
all. Though we die, yet he dieth not;
and because he liveth, we shall live also.
Though all other things perish and pass away that we here make use of,
yet he abideth a blessed and satisfying portion unto a believing soul; for as
we are his, so all his is ours; only laid up in him and kept for us in
him. So that under all disconsolations
that may befall us from our own frailty and misery, and the perishing condition
of outward thing, we have sweet relief tendered us in this, that we have all
good things treasured up for us in him” (John Owen, Hebrews, vol. 3, 216).
Knowing that God never changes in
any way is a comfort and a security to us.
We know that His Promise to us of life in the Kingdom is one that He
will keep and bring to pass. We know
that He will not allow us to be utterly lost; for He chose us to be His and He
will not lose us. We can take confidence
that those He loved, He will always love.
As Paul writes, “What then shall we
say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who
died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,
or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day
long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39, ESV).
Jesus is greater than angels because
He is the unchangeable God. He has saved
us for Himself, and He can never lose us – He will always love us and make us
His. He can be trusted and relied on,
and we never have any reason to doubt Him or His Promises.
“And to which of the angels has he
ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until
I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’”?
The author of Hebrews sets up this
quote rhetorically asking if God had ever told an angel that God would give the
angel all of His Power and Authority.
The answer, of course, if “no”!
It’s a ridiculous question.
Angels are creatures with limited minds and abilities. They could not govern all Creation in the way
that the Sovereign Son of God governs.
An angel could not govern as God governs, because angels are
finite: they do not have the knowledge
or ability to carry out all of God’s Plans.
Only Jesus can do that, because He is God.
When Jesus returned to the Throne of
the Son, after the Resurrection, He assumed all power and all authority over
everything that is and was and will be. He rules with all the authority of God, even
with a glorified human nature, because He is fully God.
As we saw last week: Jesus rules with righteousness, loving
righteousness – holiness, and hating wickedness. The angles are servants, they do not rule. And God promises that all the enemies of the
Son will be conquered. God’s Wrath will
be poured out against all those Who oppose Jesus, the Son. The angels are made no such promise.
And so we see that Jesus the Son is
greater than angels, because He is the Creator of everything that is. He sustains everything that is. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and
the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his
power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV). He
never changes. As the author of Hebrews
writes later: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, ESV).
Jesus, the Son, the Creator has also
been with us and will be with us now and forever. God chose us to be His from before the
foundation of the world, and God gave us to His Son, that Jesus would save us
for Himself. Jesus gave us the Lord’s
Supper to help us remember the Sacrifice He gave – the cost of our salvation. But not only that, He gave us the Sacrament
as a means by which He gives us grace.
As we receive the bread and the cup, Jesus meets with us spiritually,
and He give us, through God the Holy Spirit, the ability to do all those things
He has planned for us to do.
As we receive the bread and the cup,
we meet spiritually with the Creator, the God Who never changes, the God Who
Incarnate for our salvation, the God Who sustains and enables us today, the God
Who will return to earth and purge all of Creation from the effects of sin,
restoring us. And He will bring all of
His people – all those who believe in Jesus Alone, and all of the Creation,
into the glory of the children of God that we might live and worship before Him
in His Kingdom forever and ever.
Jesus is greater than angels,
because He is the Creator.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for
letting us know that You are One God, the God Who created everything, Who never
changes. We thank You for the gift of
salvation through Your Mighty Son, and for the hope that we with the Creation
will be brought, glorified, into Your Kingdom.
Commune with us now in the Lord’s Supper. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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