Let us turn in our Bibles to
Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. God, who at
sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by,
or in his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also
he made the worlds, being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the
word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. being made so
much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the sun, he saith, thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall
perish, but thou remainest, and they also wax old as doth a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same. and thy
years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? We have looked at the first three
verses and tonight we will continue with the remainder of the chapter.
In verses 4 through 14, the writer declares how that Christ, the
Son in whom he has spoken to us, is above or superior to the
angels. And he shows this, he does this,
as we will see, by quoting a number of verses, a number of texts,
which are found in the Old Testament, verses of scripture, by which
he spoke unto the fathers in times past by the prophets."
He will take those verses, those words which were spoken by the
prophets in times past unto the fathers, and use them to show
us how that Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom he has spoken
unto us in these last days, is superior to the angels, is above
the angels. We might first ask, why? Why
was this necessary? Well, we know the writer was
inspired by God, the Holy Spirit, and he wrote as he did. But we
also know of the ministry of the angels in the Old Testament
to the nation of Israel. The ministry of angels was well
known to the Hebrews, and he is writing now to Hebrews But
Hebrews who had confessed Christ, who had turned to Christ, looked
to Christ, but now, and they had actually suffered much persecution,
these to whom he's writing this letter, as we read later in chapter
10. But they're being tempted to
turn back, to go back. And no doubt much of the pressure
that was being brought upon them to turn back or to look back
was brought upon them by their kinfolks, that is, the Hebrews,
the Jews, who continued to worship under that Old Testament economy,
who continued to practice the Old Testament economy. Now, because
they were so familiar with the ministry of angels, and they
were powerful, they manifested themselves to the Israelites
many times is very powerful. You remember that one time that
angel, the scripture tells us that he slew in one night 185
or 186,000 men. So they knew that angels were
powerful. Could it be that this Jesus,
this Jesus that these Christians were trusting in and looking
to now, they heard the gospel that he is the Savior, the Messiah,
the Christ who had been promised. Could it be that he was only
an angel? So the writer goes to great lengths
now to show us how that Christ is above the angels. First, and
I have three points here, first, Christ is above the angels and
is shown by his more excellent name. Christ is above the angels,
and this is shown by His, that is, by Christ's more excellent
name. And we see that in verses four
and five. Being made so much better than
the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee and again I will be to him a father and he shall be to me
a son. Now the apostle is quoting from
Psalm 2 verse 7 and there we read, I will declare the decree
The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Now, the name, or the title,
angel, we know it means messenger. And they have been greatly used
as God's messengers, both in the Old Testament and in the
New Testament. The New Testament opens up, actually,
with a message from an angel. that angel named Gabriel. First, he appeared to Zacharias,
the father of John the Baptist, and gave him that message that
his wife, who was barren, Elizabeth, and they were older people, that
she was going to have a son. And remember, Zacharias, at first,
he didn't believe. And so he was struck dumb. He
couldn't speak. over this nine-month period that
she was carrying John the Baptist. And it's amazing, isn't it, that
when he was born, all of the kinfolk said, let's call him
Zacharias. He said no, they gave him a tablet
to write with, and he said his name is John. That's the name
the angel gave him. And you know the name John, do
you know what it means? It means grace. That's what it
means. His name is Jace, is John. Looked at Jace and said John.
Or looked at Jace and said Jace. His name was John. But then,
six months later, this same angel, remember, another message, and
this is even a greater message, isn't it? When he appeared to
Mary and told her that she was going to have a son. And she
was going to have a son, though she had not known a man. And
this son would be called the son of the highest. Well, they
were familiar with angels as messengers. That was their name.
They were messengers. But his name is son. This is my only begotten son. Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee. Now, the apostle, the writer
says, to which of the angels did he ever say this to? And
you know, the answer, of course, is he didn't. He never said this
to any of the angels. But the name son, as God's only
begotten son, was never given to an angel. Now there are places
in the scriptures where angels are called sons, as well as men
are called sons. But angels are only sons by creation. Men are only sons by creation,
and then God's elect are sons by adoption. But that's not the
way he is a son. His name is more excellent because
he is begotten of God. As the scripture said there in
that text that he quotes, I will declare the decree the Lord has
said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. The word begotten is most important. It's very important. It's all
important. As one writer pointed out, that
when this word is used in relation to Christ and the New Testament,
it has three meanings. It has three meanings. First,
Christ the eternal son. This day have I begotten thee,
and that day is an eternal day. In other words, when Christ is
revealed to us as God's eternal Son, He said, No man has seen
God at any time, or John did, the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. Now, when
we think about being in the bosom, we think about our bosoms. He's always been in the bosom
of the Father. That is, He is of the same essence. He is one with the Father. As
the Father, every attribute that is true of God the Father is
true of Him as God the Son. This day that He was begotten
is an eternal day. He has always been. He has no
beginning. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. So when we read His only begotten
Son, first of all, He is His eternal Son. Now, angels, they
were not eternal. We know there was a day, a day
of creation when God created all the angels. The second way
this word begotten is used concerning Christ in the New Testament,
Christ the incarnate son. He is the firstborn brought into
the world. If you notice that in verse six
here, it says, and again, when he bringeth in the first begotten
into the world. When did he come into the world?
When the word was made flesh, now over 2,000 years ago. He
is God's first begotten. The angels were all created at
once, and they were never made flesh as He. And the third way,
this is used in the New Testament, Christ is the firstborn from
the dead. That is, after He gave His life
on Calvary and was buried, He's the first begotten from the dead. We find that in 1 Corinthians
15, and also look over here in Revelation chapter 1. In Revelation chapter 1 and verse
5, the scripture says, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead, the first one, who
was raised with a glorified body from the dead, the first begotten. And do you know when we think
of him as the first begotten from the dead, that means that
he is the forerunner. Just as he's the first, there's
many to follow. Just as he is already in heaven,
there are many who will follow Him, being raised from the dead
in the day of the resurrection. So in this text, it is Christ
the Eternal Son who is given the name Son, which is above
every name. The angels cannot be compared
to Him, to Jesus Christ our Lord. Why? Because He has a more excellent
name than they. His name is God's only begotten
son. And there's no other son like
Him. We are sons of God. The scripture
says by faith we are sons of God. To as many as received Him,
John says, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. But
we are sons by adoption. He is son by what they call eternal
generation. He is always been, always existed
in the bosom of the Father. You say, well, that's deep. When
we talk about the Trinity, it is above our ability to comprehend. But remember this, He is infinite,
and we are finite. And as my friend, Brother Shanks,
used to say, we have a peanut brain, most of us. How in the
world could we think we're going to understand and comprehend
everything about God? But he's revealed in the scripture
as one. There's one God, that's so emphatic,
taught all the way through the word of God. And yet, the Son,
He who was made flesh, He is God. The Father, He is God. And the Holy Spirit, He is God.
Not three gods, one God, one essence, but three persons in
the blessed Trinity. All right, here's the second
thing that the writer says. Christ is above angels. and is shown by God's commanding
them to worship him and his incarnation. We see this in verses six and
seven. And again, when he bringeth in
the first begotten into the world, he saith, let all the angels
of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith,
who make us his angels, spirits and his ministers, a flame of
fire. Now we're all familiar with the
night the Lord Jesus Christ was born. We read about this in Luke
chapter 2. And he was born in Bethlehem
of the Virgin Mary. And there were those shepherds
out tending their sheep at night. And the scripture says one angel,
one angel announced to them his birth. He announced to them his
birth, and then the scripture says, suddenly, suddenly, there
was with the angel a great multitude of heavenly hosts praising God. And here, we learn just how great
that multitude was, because the scripture says, when he came
into the world. When he bringeth in the first
begotten into the world, he saith, And let all, not half of them,
not most of them, not part of them, but let all the angels
of God worship him. A great multitude of the heavenly
host praising God. And again we see that the writer
here, he quotes from the Old Testament. In Psalm 97, in verse
7, the scripture says, worship him, all you gods, that is, angels. In another Psalm, Psalm 104,
in verse 4, the psalmist said, who maketh his angel spirits,
his ministers, a flaming fire. And I want you to look back,
keep your places here, but look back with me to another place
in the Old Testament, in the book of Psalms, Psalms 103, at what we are told here in Psalm
103 and verses 20 and 21. Psalm 103, verse 20 and 21. Bless the Lord, you His angels
that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening
unto the voice of His Word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye host,
ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure. Angels are his
servants. And we see in the last verse
here in Hebrews chapter one, that they are God's ministers
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Now the ministry of angels is
real and yet it is usually hidden. I have no doubt that you and
I, those of us tonight who are saved, that we have experienced
the ministry of angels. The ministry of angels is usually
hidden and seldom recognized by the eyes of men. And this
is necessary. This is necessary. You say, why
is it necessary? It's necessary to keep us from
worshiping angels. That's why. Even the Apostle
John, the beloved Apostle John, in the book of Revelation, you
remember twice in that book, he fell down to worship an angel. Now, if he would worship an angel,
you know, if we were to say one, we would be tempted to worship
angels. And Paul speaks about that in
Colossians about the worshiping of angels. That was practiced
early on. People wanted to worship angels.
But it's interesting there in Revelation 19 and verse 10, when
John, the scripture says, And I fell at his feet to worship
him, and he said to me, See thou doest it not. And in the Greek,
I'm told it's much more emphatic. See. Do not do it. You know, every once in a while,
we do hear people talking about angels, don't we? And giving
glory to angels in the sense of praising them for some service
that they feel like an angel has done for them. So men are
prone, we are prone by nature to worship everything other than
God. You know, man's just prone to
that, to idolatry. That's the reason the scripture
says thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image of anything,
any likeness of God. We don't have any pictures of
the Lord Jesus. And someone said, well, that
picture that is the best known, and I'm sure everyone here, you're
thinking in your mind of a picture that's supposed to be Jesus.
Someone said, and I think rightly, so you can be sure he doesn't
look like that. He doesn't look like that picture. And we're not to worship Him.
We're not to make an image of Him. We're to worship Him in
spirit and in truth, not through some image, through some pictures,
through some statue or anything like that. You know, demons,
listen, demons are in the scriptures connected very much with idolatry,
where you see a lot of idolatry, you can be sure demons are close
by. Our services are so simple, aren't
they? And that's the way God intended,
because God is spirit, we cannot see him. And we have the five
senses, and all of us are prone to be moved by our senses. to worship God in spirit is to
hear the word of God, to believe the word of God, and to trust
the Lord God. And our services are very simple. Years ago, when we began taking
the Lord's Table here, You know, I've been in churches, and that's
between them and the Lord, but they have the musicians playing
softly, and I just feel like we should just be very, very
simple. Not be moved by, and music does
move us, doesn't it? Where most of us are very emotional.
I know, I love good music, but Our worship of God is to be sincere
from the heart and simple. And so the ministry of angels
is real. We do not doubt that because
the word of God declares it, but it's usually hidden. And
the reason being that we do not be given or fall into the trap
of worship, worshiping an angel. Now here's the third. Christ
is above angels and is shown by Him seated on the throne of
God. Verses 8 through 13. Now He has a more excellent name
than the angels. We know that. And second, when
He came into the world, God commanded all the angels to worship Him.
He's greater than the angels. He is greater than the angels,
and this is manifested or shown by him seated on the throne of
God. But unto the Son he saith, Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall
perish, but thou remainest, and they all shall wax old as death
of garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy
years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, said on my right hand, until I make thine enemies,
thy footstool." These verses, if you notice, complete the threefold
offices of Christ as the mediator in this chapter. In verse 2,
we see He is the prophet, that God by Him has spoken. He is
the prophet. In verse 3, He is the priest. who purged us from our sins,
who offered that one sacrifice, that one offering forever for
them that are sanctified. And now in these verses, we see,
especially verse eight, he is king. He is enthroned. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. Verse 8, as Arthur Pink said,
and I quote, supplies us with one of the most emphatic and
unequivocal proofs of the deity of Christ to be found in the
scriptures. It certainly does, doesn't it?
Thy throne, O God. Who is he calling God? His son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. God came into this world as a
man, and men nailed Him to a cross, showing man's hatred, the natural
hatred, the natural disdain that men have for God. God came into
this world as a man, and men nailed Him to the cross. God
raised Him from the dead and raised Him to His throne. showing
God's love and His esteem for His Son. If you look with me
over in Revelation 22, 1, the scripture says, Revelation 22,
in verse 1, And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. It is the throne of God and now
of the Lamb. He is in the midst of the throne
as he is presented to us in the book of Revelation, the Lamb
of God. Now, this time the quotation
here is from Psalm 45. I'll turn back here and read
it. You can if you would like to.
Psalm 45 and verses 6 and 7. Verses 6 and 7 of Psalm 45. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore, thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Turn back
with me to Hebrews 1 again. And I want us to notice three
things that we read about Christ upon His throne, and I'll be
very brief. Three things we read here about
Christ upon His throne. First of all, His reign is forever
and ever. He's not a temporary king, and
no one will ever take His place. In other words, His reign, Him
upon the throne, is forever and ever. And I will ask you to look
back to Luke chapter 1 to enforce this truth that his
throne is forever and ever. Luke chapter 1, and these are
the words of the angel to Mary when he announced to her that
she would bring forth the Messiah. Luke chapter 1 in verse 26, it
says, And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from
God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse
to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the
virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her
and said, Hail thou that art highly favored, greatly graced. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be. And the angel said unto her,
fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Jesus, Jehovah Savior. He shall be great,
and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David, now notice,
and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his
kingdom there shall be no end. The first thing that we see about
Christ enthroned upon the throne, reigning is that his reign is
forever. There shall be no end to his
kingdom. The second thing we're told,
his scepter. You know, that scepter that they
hold in their hand, it's a symbol of power. His scepter is one
of righteousness. And here, this is something we
must always keep in mind, keep in our hearts as we go through
this world. We experience things, we see
things, and we may be tempted sometimes to think the devil
is in control. That somehow the Lord Jesus Christ
is not upon the throne reigning. We must not be tempted to think
with thoughts so unbecoming of God. Let's remember always that
his reign is a kingdom, a reign of righteousness. The king's
loving righteousness King's loving righteousness and hating iniquity,
that what he does is right. We may not understand it, and
probably won't, many things that we experience in this world,
but this is a solid foundation for all of us to lay hold on
and to remember that his kingdom, his scepter, is a scepter of
righteousness, and the God of all the earth must do right. We'll understand it one day if
we need to. And the third, the last thing,
His power, the third thing about Christ upon the throne, His power
will usher in a new heaven and a new earth. He's the one who
created all things in the beginning. The scripture here says He laid
the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of His
fingers. So at His appointed time, Just
like a man, just like you and me, as we go home tonight and
take off our clothes and hang them up or fold them up, just
that easily, just that easily is the Lord Jesus Christ going
to bring forth a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. We sing a hymn sometimes, and
one of the lines lines in the hymn is, all things may change,
but Jesus never. And later in this letter of Hebrews,
he'll tell us again, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and
forever. The world may grow old and is
growing old. And one day he'll usher in a
new heaven and new earth and do it just as easily as we fold
up a garment, take off a garment and fold it up. He has all power. both in heaven and in earth.
May the Lord bless this word to each one of us here tonight.