Supreme Commander

Hebrews 1:4-14
 

Hebrews 1:4-14 says,
 
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father”[a]?
Or again,
“I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son”[b]?
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”[c]
In speaking of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels spirits,
    and his servants flames of fire.”[d]
But about the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
    by anointing you with the oil of joy.”[e]
He also says,
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”[f]
To which of the angels did God ever say,
“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet”[g]?
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? – Hebrews 1:5-14
 
Why are angels so important?  Why would he compare Jesus to angels, as opposed to something or someone else?  In order to answer that question you have to look at the history of the Jewish people.  They had knowledge and experience with angels.  Some of their knowledge came through the scriptures but some of it came through man-made rabbinical teachings.  These man-made ideas were often full of error.  They came up with ideas of what they thought angels were doing in the piritual realm. But the Bible does speak to the role of angels.
 
The scriptures teach that Angels were involved in the giving and maintaining of the Law (Galatians 3:19).  Do you remember what was contained in the Ark of the Covenant?  The 10 Commandments were in there.  Do you remember what statues were over the top of the Ark?  They were statues of angels.  Angels also were instruments of doing God’s will (Psalm 103:21).  They  were involved in executing the judgment of God (2 Samuel 24:16).  Angels were in the direct presence of God (Isaiah 6:1-3).  So, angels were highly respected by many of the Jewish people.
 
If you were writing something to the Jewish people to convince them that there was something new that they needed to embrace, how would you do it?  The Jews had about 1,400 years of going by the Old Covenant.  It wasn’t going to be easy to convince them of embracing Jesus and the New Covenant, or new scripture for that matter.  I’ve heard stories of baseball players that made it to the professional level.  The coaches would help them get over obstacles that had been hindering their improvement.  The player’s muscles and mind have been in the same routine for many years.  Muscles have memory.  This develops as they have been in a repeated pattern for a long period of time.  It’s not easy to retrain your muscles, or your mind for that matter.  The Jews had religious memory.  They had been doing the same pattern for so long that it was difficult for some people to change. 
 
The author began his argument for Jesus and the New Covenant by going back to the scriptures the Jews were familiar with.  He used seven different Old Testament passages to show that Jesus was who they needed to embrace.  They embraced Abraham and Moses, but someone greater than either one had appeared to the Jews.
 
In Hebrews 1:5 he explains that Jesus was called by God the Father as “His son”.  In Matthew 4, after Jesus was baptized, do you remember what God the Father spoke from heaven in the hearing of many witnesses?”  He said, “‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:17).
 
So, proof was supplied that Jesus is the Son of God by the very words of God the Father.  Jews knew that angels worship only God.  The scripture that’s quoted in Psalm 97:7 wouldn’t be about an angel being worshiped.  It must have been someone else who was worshiped.  Since the only one to be worshiped is God, then we know that Jesus, the Son of God, is to be worshiped.
 
Hebrews 1:7 makes a reference to Psalm 104:4 about someone, who is in possession of the angels, makes his angels like wind and fire.  The Jews, from their understanding of the Old Testament, would know that angels don’t create anything.  The only one to create is God.  Jesus, the one proven to be the son of God, was in possession of the angels.  The one created can’t be greater than the creator. 
 
Hebrews 1:8 is a reference to Psalm 45:6.  God will live forever and his throne will be forever and ever.  In the gospels, we see that people witnessed the Son of God refer to himself as God.  In John 10:33 we see the Pharisees say, “33 ‘We are not stoning you for any of these,’ replied the Jews, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’”  His followers and his enemies saw him declare that he was God.  The Jews knew that only God has an eternal nature.
 
Hebrews 1:9 is in reference to Psalm 45:7.  It states a messianic prophecy that there will be one who will love “righteousness” and hate “wickedness”.  Jesus’ life, as testified by many reliable witnesses, showed that he was unlike anyone else they had ever seen.  He showed that he loved righteousness and hated wickedness.  He was like a bright light during the darkest midnight.  “In him was life and that life was the light of men. (John 1:4)
 
Hebrews 1:10 was a reference to Psalm 102:25 about being the one who is the creator.  The Jews knew, according to the scripture and according to some of their own man-made beliefs, that only God was the creator.  As witnessed by many, John records Jesus as saying, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56)  Abraham lived probably a couple thousand years earlier and Jesus was saying that he existed before Abraham?  That would mean that Jesus was claiming something that only the creator God could claim. 
Hebrews 1:11-12 is a reference to Psalm 102:26-27.  Through many witnesses it was proved that Jesus rose from the dead.  He never perished.  3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time… (1 Co 15:3–6).
 
Hebrews 1:13 is a reference to Psalm 110:1 stating that someone would sit at the right hand of God.  The only one to prove that they are worthy to sit at the right hand of God is the only one  that couldn’t be proved guilty of any sin.  Not even Jesus’ enemies could prove him guilty of any sin, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” (John 8:46)
 
What does the author mean when he talks about Jesus “Having become much better than the angels…”?  The questions arise, “Isn’t Jesus God? Didn’t he create angels?  Wasn’t he always better than the angels?”  The author is actually referring to Jesus’ state after he rose from the dead.  Before angels or anything else was created Jesus was better than anything that was created.  He was more glorious, more majestic, more immense, more potent, more knowleadgeable.  But, when he came down to Earth he humbled himself.  Paul, speaking of Jesus’ incarnation said, “6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7  but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:6-7)
 
The glorious God became an undistinguished man.  To be glorious means to have majesty and beauty.  It is something that is attractive and awesome.  In reference to the future Messiah, we read in Isaiah, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him…” (Isaiah 53:2).
 
The righteous lawgiver submitted himself to a corrupt government.  As he was talking to his disciples about paying taxes Luke records, “He said to them, ‘Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Luke 20:25)
 
The God who is pure and holy allowed himself to be touched by sinners.  Luke tells a story of a woman who was a notorious sinner, “38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” (Luke 7:38)
 
The creator and king of the universe, who deserves to be served, came to serve and give up his life, “28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)
 
Angels were created as majestic, mesmerizing, and glorious creatures.  Even though they are created to be servants of mankind, they do this without departing from those attributes.  But Jesus laid down certain rights as God without his nature changing.
 
So, yes, Jesus laid aside his rights as God and became a man.  For a brief moment in time he became less than the angels.  He never became any less God.  He never renounced his part in the Godhead as the Son.  He never stopped being righteous, holy or pure.
 
Kenneth Wuest, a New Testament Greek scholar, stated, “The word “made” is the translation of ginomai (γινομαι), a word the meaning of which is in contrast to that of poieo (ποιεο) which means “to make.” The latter means “to construct or fashion something out of existing materials.” The former is the word used of the universe coming into existence. It means “to become.” The Son became better than the angels, inferring that at one time He was lower than the angels. The writer does not deny that He was, and is, essentially and eternally better than the angels. He is speaking here of His glorification which was conditioned upon His fulfilment of the requirements of His human state, which He emphasizes. After He had passed through the experience described in Philippians 2:6–8, He sat down on the right hand of the divine Majesty as Messianic sovereign, and thus became and was proved to be that which in reality He always was, superior to the angels. The superiority here is not that of moral excellence, but of dignity and power. He became superior to the angels when He resumed His preincarnate dignity at His resurrection. The writer tells us in 2:7 & 9, that for a little time, i.e., during His incarnation previous to His glorification, He was made lower than the angels.
 
Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (Vol. 10, pp. 42–43). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
 
We know the timeframe in which Jesus was a “little lower than the angels” because of the preceding verse.  The author says, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3)  He died on the cross, providing purification for sins.  He rose from the dead, thus conquering death and sin.  Later, he ascended to heaven where he remains to this day.  He is now glorified just as he was before he came to Earth.
 
Jesus wasn’t just a man.  He is God.  He is the supreme commander.  If God came to you right now and told you to do something, would you do it?  Well, he did over 2,000 years ago.  He gave us many clear statements as to what we are to do.  Do you know what he commands you to do?  If not, then make sure that you’ve scheduled at least 10-15 minutes a day when you can learn what he wants.  When we stand before God we can’t say, “Oops, I didn’t realize that was what you wanted!”  We won’t be able to blame our sophisticated email system that threw his important messages into our promotions box!  He’ll be able to see right through that one.
 
Not only was his sacrifice a worthy offering as described in Hebrews, he is also worthy to be obeyed.
 
Imagine you’re a sailor on a old ship.  Your captain sees another ship in distress.  He calls out, “Every man on deck! To your positions!  Pull up the anchor!  Turn the sail Eastward!  Move the rudder to 45 degrees!  Get the lifeboats ready!  Get the ropes ready so we can board the ship.”  One of the sailors stops what he’s doing and says, “Did you hear the captain?  Oh, praise the captain!  What a wonderful captain we have!  His appearance is glorious and his words are eloquent!  Let’s sit down and study the words of the captain.  Let’s sing a song to the captain!”  But, all the while, the captain’s commands are not obeyed.  He wanted them to rescue those poor, distraught souls on the boat leading to death. 
 
Jesus is worthy.  His sacrifice is worthy.  The New Covenant he brought is worthy.  May we be the ones who do what our worthy captain commands.  Amen