Jesus: Better Than the Angels and Other Created Beings (Hebrews 1:5–14)
Jesus lived and ministered in a time when the people of Palestine had what can only be seen as an unhealthy and unbalanced view of angels. The believers of that time had some understanding of the role that angels played in bringing about the plans of God, and that was a good thing. But there were many people — especially in the Jewish community — whose ideas about angels had become superstitious or even idolatrous. They had come to believe that angels were mediators between God and man, the position Jesus held himself.
This gave the writer of Hebrews the opportunity to set the people straight about what angels really were. In doing that, he set Jesus apart as being far above any created thing — including the angels and the humans to whom angels would be subject.
The writer spells out that the relationship between God the Father and His Son was infinitely superior than the relationship between God and the angels simply because it was a father-son relationship and not a creator-created relationship: “For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.'; God also said, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.'; And when he brought his firstborn Son into the world, God said, ‘Let all of God';s angels worship him';” (Hebrews 1:5–6) Indeed, there were several examples in the Gospels of angels doing what they had been created to do: minister to Jesus and to those he loved.
In fact, it was an angel who first announced the coming birth of Christ (Luke 1:26–38) and an angel who announced his resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:1–7).
Who was the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews?
It is believed that the apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, but that is not certain. Other candidates are Barnabas (a leader in the early church), Luke (the writer of the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles), Apollos (a believer mentioned in Acts and in the epistles of Paul), and several others.
Angels are wonderful creations of God, the writer of Hebrews tells us, but they are just that — creations. And God doesn';t call us to worship what He has created, He has called us to and allowed us the privilege of worshiping Him by worshipping His Son.
Study Questions
What does Hebrews 1:5–14: tell us is the true place of angels in God';s kingdom?
According to Hebrews 2:9, what place did Jesus hold in comparison with the angels at his death on the cross?
