Hebrews 1:4-14
If you opened your copy of the
newspaper today, you read of various events for the upcoming
holiday. You know that holiday, Halloween.
There are corn mazes and these places where they have haunted
houses and all sorts of scare events. And it reminded me of
a family tradition we have with our children. We like to go to
the corn mazes. We like to go to these farm fields
where the farmer has cut out a maze in his corn. Now, none
of the scary stuff, none of the chainsaws and all that business.
But we like to go and see if we can find our way through the
maze. Now, what a silly thing it is
to do that. The corn is seven or eight feet
tall and at the most I’m six foot, maybe one, and it’s hard
to see your way through. It’s a guessing game. Well, let
me tell you, if we walk through this passage today without a
map or without care, It’ll be to us like one of those corn
mazes, wandering and wandering and wandering, and beginning,
we’ll begin to, all we see is corn, and we’ll begin to curse
the corn and wonder why in the world we entered into this passage.
This is a difficult passage, one of the most troubling passages
for those who attempt to interpret the New Testament. But let me
tell you this, it is one of the most glorious and wonderful passages. And when you get through to the
end, you see the pattern, you see the picture, you see what
the maker of this revelation meant for us. You know, you enter
these corn mazes and all you see is a trail and corn and dead
ends. But if you were to rise above
it, you’ll see that there is a picture, there is a path and
a plan. This passage of scripture, we
bump into seven wonderful Old Testament quotes where God says
to Jesus, this is you, son. This is all that you are. And
so we look at this glorious piece of scripture today. But let us
not be lost in the language. Let us look and consider the
glory of Jesus Christ, the son of God, Messiah. Now, in this
passage, there is a word that appears here for the first time
in Hebrews. It’s going to pop up about 13 more times. In our
language, it’s the word better. So if somebody asks you, what
are you learning about in church? Well, we’re learning about the
word better. We’re learning that Jesus is better. And here today,
Jesus is better than angels. We may interpret it another way.
He’s more superior, more excellent. Or some of you young children
who say it this way, he’s he’s more better. But Christ, brothers
and sisters, deserves our allegiance. He deserves our allegiance because
He is superior to the angels. Now, if you noticed in verses
1 through 4 of chapter 2, you caught a glimpse of why Jesus
is proclaimed as more excellent. Because there’s a message for
Christians. And it doesn’t come from angels. It doesn’t come
from the prophets of old. It comes straight from the voice
of Jesus. And so our writer in these last
few weeks as we’ve made our way through Hebrews is telling us
why we should listen to Jesus. He’s better. Our passage today
gives us four reasons He’s better. The first is that He has a superior
name. Christ deserves our allegiance
because He has a superior name. Look, if you will, at verses
4 and 5. Jesus has become much superior
to angels, as the name he has inherited is more excellent than
theirs. For to which of the angels did
God ever say, You are my son, and today I have begotten you?
Or again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. Brothers and sisters of the Lord
Jesus, our Savior has a designation, a name that no other has. This is why we should listen
to him. He has a name that is superior to all the names on
this earth. He has a name superior to the
angels. King Jesus, the son of God who
became man, is David’s greater son. And there is no one like
him. No one that can match Him. No
one that can come near or compare to Him. He is the Messiah crowned
King. He is the Messiah who sits on
David’s throne. Now, in this little section of
Hebrews, the writer quotes two wonderful Old Testament passages.
First, he quotes Psalm 2. And then he refers to 2 Samuel
7. And in both these passages in
the Old Testament, God says to the King, the king in the line
of David, the human king, you will rule on the throne. You
will have a king on the seat of Israel forever. Now we come
to this passage and we know from the life and the majestic work
of our Savior that these passages speak to us not about David or
Solomon or any of those kings listed in the Old Testament.
They ultimately speak of Jesus, the great Messiah, the king of
the world. And he sits on David’s throne.
He is the eternal king, the one promised from long ago. Now,
remember when David became king in the Old Testament. God promised
that one of your offspring will build a house for me. Well, we’ll
come to a passage in Hebrews in just a few weeks where it
says, Jesus is that Davidic king, and he has built a house. And
it is not a temple made with human hands. It is not in Jerusalem.
It is not on some holy mount in the Middle East. It is a house
not built with human hands, but built by the redemptive work
of the cross. where Jesus builds a temple,
a people, a people for himself who will worship God. You see,
Jesus has a superior name. It’s more superior to the angels,
but it’s more superior than King David. Now, also remember in
the life of King David and other men, they had their failures.
They loved other women. They loved foreign gods. They
loved increasing their borders, but not Jesus. Jesus obeyed God
perfectly. No failures. And he came and
accomplished all that God sent him to this earth to accomplish. The work of Jesus has been fully
done and accomplished. And notice how this passage says
he inherits a name. This is kingly language. When
Jesus enters heaven at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
He inherits the throne. He inherits the kingship. He
inherits the name that is above all other names. Son of God,
Messiah, Eternal God, One who is full of glory and greatness. The risen King Jesus. Risen and
exalted to the right hand of God the Father Almighty where
He rules and reigns. We say it week after week, don’t
we? in our confessions of faith. He rules over all, including
the angels. He rules over all the earth.
The angels are great, yes. They worship God. They communicate
to the saints. They minister to God’s children. And they’ll be a major part of
the second coming when Jesus comes to take us home. But friends,
see this very clearly. Jesus has a superior name and
He is part of an eternal dynasty. We sing often in our hymn book,
Jesus, the name that charms our fears and bids our sorrows cease. Can you imagine what the audience
who first heard this long sermon, this 13-chapter sermon from the
writer of Hebrews, they were afraid of Nero. These Christians
were losing life and limb and livelihood because they professed
faith in Jesus. And he’s saying to them, brothers
and sisters, it’s worth it for Jesus has a superior name. It’s the name that charms our
fears and it bids our sorrows cease. And so we take comfort
in the name of Jesus. The second thing we see is we
understand that Christ deserves our allegiance. He has a superior
name. Yes. but he also has a superior
dignity. And verse 6 shows us that very
well. It says, when he brings the firstborn
into the world, let all God’s angels worship him. Now, we could
argue for a little while about what this means, when this happened
in human history, but we’ll take my viewpoint for argument’s sake,
right? Okay, the exalted Son arrives in heaven. The exalted
Son arrives in heaven after having made satisfaction for sins. He’s
paid the penalty. He’s died the death of deaths.
He’s conquered sin and death. He’s got Satan on the run. He’s
crushing the serpent’s head and the victorious Son enters heaven. He enters the throne room of
the heavenly places and the angels cheer for him. They roar, they’re
loud, they’re exuberant as they worship the one who has just
returned from the earthly mission. Remember the angels have longed
to look into redemption. And they knew the pre-incarnate
Jesus. They knew the pre-existent Jesus
in heaven. They watched him leave. They watched him go to the stable.
to be born. They watched His earthly life
and now they see Him come. And can you imagine what an event
this must be? Now we can go to other places
in Scripture and we can read what took place in the heavenly
court when the angels worshiped God. Do you remember Isaiah when
he was summoned to serve God and to preach the gospel? He
saw in heaven and the angels there worshipped God and they
cried out, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And what
took place? The threshold shook. The place trembled. And Isaiah
was undone. He saw his sin and his insufficiency
to serve God. And God took care of him through
a mediator. The angels touched his lips with
hot coals and cleansed him. But can you imagine what was
taking place there? His eyes seeing God worshipped.
Or in Revelation 5 we read of myriads and myriads and thousands
upon thousands of angels worshipping God and the Lamb. And they sing over and over again,
worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy is He to take up the scroll
and to open it. To Him who sits upon the throne
and to the Lamb be all glory and honor and majesty and power
and praise. Friends, this is Jesus Christ.
This is the second Adam. And yes, He has a superior name
because He has inherited it as the Son who did the work of redemption
on earth. But this is also Jesus who is
to be worshipped. He has a superior dignity. He
is the second Adam. who obeyed God perfectly. He
is the greater son. He is the Messiah, not a little
earthly king, not a king on a hill in Palestine. No, this is the
king of the universe. Returning from his earthly mission,
he has kept the faith. He is the greatest king of all,
and now he will faithfully rule over all creation. Friends, who
is worthy of your worship? Who is worthy of your attention?
Who is worthy of your allegiance? There is no one greater than
Jesus. No creature, no object, no thing,
no bank account, no thing in heaven or on earth. greater than
Jesus and deserving of our worship. Now we ought to think for a moment
about missions and outreach. We have a little cookout coming
this week. We support missionaries. We pray for them. We send them
a little money. We have pictures of them down
our hallway. Why do we do these things? Why
do we reach out to our neighbors and loved ones? Why do we send
missionaries to the ends of the earth? It’s because More and
more people need to know King Jesus and recognize His rule
and submit to His reign and rest in Him alone for salvation. From
time to time, we sing the wonderful chorus, lift high the cross,
lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim. What’s the
goal? Till all the world adore His
sacred name. Jesus has a superior name. He
has superior dignity. And third, he has superior status. Now, a couple of weeks ago, you
may have gone to the little fireworks show downtown. It was postponed
from July 4th. And, you know, these fireworks
shows start with a puff here and a boom there. But somewhere
towards the middle, they just let loose. And there’s the boom,
boom, boom, and just this big explosion. And your eyes can’t
keep up with where these fireworks are appearing in the sky. Well,
that’s what these next few verses are for us. Verses 7 through
12 tell us of Jesus’ superior status, and it would be very
easy to miss the glory and the splendor of who Jesus is. But look at verse 7, if you will.
It says that angels serve Jesus. Of the angels, he says, he makes
his angels winds, and his ministers are a flame of fire. But of the
sun, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Do you see
the difference between Jesus and angels? One is a servant
and the other is the King who is served. The angels serve King
Jesus. They work for Him. They’re His
helpers. They’re His ministers. They serve
the King of kings who is no other than Jesus. He is superior in
His status and they serve Him. Look at verse 8. Your throne,
O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is
the scepter of your kingdom. He is the king and the ruler
of the universe. But I want you to look at that
verse one more time and see what is taking place. God is saying,
God the Father is saying to God the Son, you are God. Now don’t miss that. We think
of Jesus often as Jesus meek and mild, the little chubby kid
born in a manger, the cute little boy who grew up and pleased his
parents. And yes, he did go to the cross
and baptize some people and did those things. But friends, Jesus
is way more than that. And we understand from Hebrews,
He is God. He is God Almighty. And God the Father says to Him,
You have an eternal throne. You’ve been anointed the king.
When you return from your earthly mission, the oil of gladness
was poured upon you and you are now king of the universe. And we move on to verse nine
where it says Jesus was anointed. He was crowned king. You have
loved righteousness. You have hated wickedness. Therefore,
God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond
your companions. Do you see the earthly mission
and work of Jesus in those few verses? He speaks of one who
hates what is wicked and holds fast to what is good, who lives
out Psalm 1. Blessed is the one who lives
according to the law of God, who does not follow the wicked.
This is the one who is righteous, and perfectly so. Unlike Adam,
who in the garden, when tempted, instead of falling into sin and
leading his wife into the same thing, should have slayed the
serpent, should have put the serpent to death. But he didn’t. This is Jesus who is greater
than David. Greater than David who would
only rule over little kingdoms. Earthly kingdoms. But this is
Jesus who has been anointed and crowned king. And he has loved
righteousness. Friends, He has loved the unrighteous.
And He gives you freely, if you receive it by faith, His righteousness,
His perfection. God looks at you through Jesus
and sees you as if you have never sinned and as if you have always
obeyed. And that is one of the glories
of the gospel. Verse 9 says, You have loved
righteousness, you’ve hated wickedness. Therefore, God your God has anointed
you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Why the
oil of gladness? because he has conquered sin
and death and he has purchased a people for himself that he
might love them and serve them and give them the riches of heaven
for eternity. And then, as if Jesus doesn’t
have a superior enough status, He moves on to greater things.
And in verses 10, 11, 12, He says, you’re Yahweh, your Creator. It is you who made the heavens
and the earth. Look at what He says in verse
10. You laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning. I
mean, how much of a greater thing could you say to someone? You
are maker of heaven and earth. You laid the foundations. The
heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but
you will remain. They will wear out like a garment,
and like a robe you will roll them up, and like a garment they
will be changed. But you are the same, and your
years have no end.” What is he saying here? He’s comparing the
greater to the lesser. Jesus is infinite. The angels
are finite. Jesus is forever. But the angels
are created. Jesus is the same and he has
no end. The heavens and the earth and
all that is created, it will wear out. It will rust out. It will fade. It will fall apart. It will have to be replaced.
But we see here Jesus, who is the creator and the Lord of heaven.
He’s the Lord of creation. He is over all, almighty. And there is a glimpse of things
to come. He is going to make all things new. Yes, the earth
will be rolled up like a garment. It will fade. It will pass. But
Jesus as the new man, as the second Adam, as the greater David,
as Lord over creation, and we see a glimpse of He will make
all things new. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that
all the creation groans with aches and pains awaiting for
the adoption of the sons and daughters of God. And here is
Jesus, the creator. He’s waiting for the the word
from God. Go and take a people to yourself. and make again all things new. We sing at Christmas of beneath
life’s crushing load, our forms are bending low. We sing of joy
to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her king, make
room in your hearts for him. He comes to make his blessings
known as far as the curse is found. And friends, this Jesus
This eternal son of God who came to the earth and lived and died
and accomplished his mission, who loved righteousness, who
hated evil. It is he who will make all things
new and he gives you freely his righteousness. If you will, by
faith, receive it. One of the things that will take
place in the life of the Hebrews audience, and I’m sure it takes
place in your life often, is this earth will shake, and it
will quake, and it will crack, and it will fall apart, and it
will seem to you as if all is lost. Maybe it’s with your health,
or your finances, or your relationships, or your children, or grandchildren.
There are things that trouble you. And what is God saying to
us here? Well, He echoes the words of
Psalm 46. or 45 wonderful words to the
king. Be still and know that I am God. And friends, what a
comfort that is to see Jesus with a superior name, a greater
dignity, a better status. He rules heaven and earth. And
when we say, or when He says to us, be still and know that
I’m God, we see such a clear picture of it. He lays the foundations
of the earth. He upholds them by the word of
his power. And we take comfort in these things. There’s a fourth
thing to consider. He has a superior name. He has
greater dignity. His status is better than the
angels. But fourth, he has a superior function. Jesus has a superior
function. We read of it in verses 13 and
14. To which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right
hand until I make your enemies a footstool to your feet? Are they not all ministering
spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who inherit
salvation? Friends, King Jesus has purified
us. And what has this great high
priest done when he finished making purification for our sins?
He sat down. He’s done. The priest of Aaron
continued to stand and day after day they poured out offerings
on the altar to hold back God’s wrath, not Jesus. He is a priest
who has purified for our sins. And our priest king sits. And notice how God speaks of
the son, sit at my right hand, sit at the throne, sit at the
place of power. No angel and no other person,
not even the disciples whose mother asked, are able to sit
at the right hand of God Almighty. It is for Jesus alone. And friends, he has this superior
function. He is not a minister of fire.
He is not a minister to the saints of God in the same way the angels
are. He is the king priest who sits. And all his enemies are collecting
under his feet and his foot is upon their neck. His foot is
upon their neck as He subdues them and He rules over them and
He watches over us. Now, the angels are great. They’re
wonderful. If we were to look at a theology
of angels, we would find out they are wonderful, created beings
who serve the will of God for our good and for His glory. But
friends, Jesus is better. And sometimes we can be hung
up on the created and forget that there is a creator. But King Jesus rules. He’s been
put on the throne of heaven. He is at the throne of God. And
why is it that we need a king? Why do we need someone to rule
us and defend us and to speak to us and to summon us to glory? It’s because we’re weak and we’re
helpless. And friends, in a day and time
where authority is put aside and where everyone are equals
and we don’t want to listen to any voice but our own, Or maybe
a voice that tickles our ears. We need to see again that Jesus
sits upon the throne of God and it’s his voice and his voice
alone that we should hear. So what are we to take from this?
What are we to take from this glorious chapter one where we
see Jesus without a shadow of a doubt as the supreme God of
the universe, better than angels, better than the prophets of old?
Well, I could say it this way. If you were to go this week and
hear a speaker, maybe in your workplace or you wanna go to
a weekend conference, the speaker would be introduced or promoted
as having certain credentials. What are the reasons to listen
to this person? Why should I come? Why should
I hear? It’s because this person has
credibility. They have authority. They have
experience. They are proven. Or basically
this, there is no greater person then we could ask to come and
deliver a message to us. Friends, week after week, when
God speaks to you through His Word from the pulpit, when He
speaks to you as you open your Bibles in your homes and in your
family times, the voice of Jesus is a superior voice. And our
allegiance is tugged in all sorts of directions. The voices of
the world are coming at us. Our own flesh attempting to derail
our Christian life speaks to us. And Satan himself would love
to bend our ears. But let us listen to Jesus and
to his voice alone. Now, some of you may have lost
all of God. He may have saved you, but you
You’ve got that in your hip pocket. It’s like a bus ticket. I’m I’m
waiting for the train to come and take me to heaven. I’m waiting
for the chariot to to swing low. You’ve lost your all or you’ve
you’ve drifted from hearing his voice or something has eclipsed
him. And it’s in front of Jesus. And
you can’t see him, but you can see this other thing. Let me
encourage you to look to Jesus. Look no other place. He is superior. He is more excellent and he fulfills
and exceeds everything we can imagine. I hope that this passage
has encouraged you. But I hope it’s also blown your
mind to see the greatness and the glory of God, our savior,
the one in whom we trust. Pray with me, if you will.