Jesus: Superior to Angels

I encourage all of you to read Hebrews 1:4-14. It's a tad long for a blog post, so I haven't included the passage up front. You can read it here.

Angels, as depicted in Scripture, are not like Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life - meek and wrinkly; rather, their physical appearance most often is consistent with their purpose. They are God's messengers, empowered by God to speak his words and to perform his acts. They are God's warriors and, at times, those who bring God's judgment upon the earth (e.g. Sodom). They are God's servants, acting according to his will.

"Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Thus, the appearance of an angel is often an occasion for fear. Just ask Zechariah, Mary, the shepherds in the field, or the women at the tomb. These are a different sort of beings - heavenly, powerful, even divine. They are exactly the sort of beings who, when they speak, we will believe unquestioningly because they are obviously otherworldly.

However, in addition to being his divine messengers, warriors, and servants, angels are related to God in a way we often forget: they are God's creations. Angels are creatures, just as we are. They live and move and have their being because God makes it so.

So here's the point: Encountering an angel is a fear-inspiring experience, and believing an angel goes without saying. If God speaks through angels and their words are taken seriously, HOW MUCH MORE should we listen to the Word, Jesus Christ!

Jesus had no earthly appearance like Gabriel that would cause us to be attracted to him, fear him, or revere him (Isaiah 53:2). Yet God never said any of these things to angels:

• "You are my son; today I have begotten you." (Hebrews 1:5)
• "Let all God's angels worship him." (1:6)
• "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever..." (1:8)
• "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning..." (1:10)
• "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." (1:13)

All of these statements are directed to Christ alone. In his humility, Christ brings God to us in a way that angels could never accomplish. In his suffering, Christ allows us to better understand the self-sacrificial love that pulses within God's heart for humanity. In his death and resurrection, Christ is the God who calls us righteous and invites us to live in his holy presence forever. For these reasons and many more, Christ is now exalted above heaven and earth, seated at God's right hand, wielding the full array of the Ancient of Days' power and authority (Daniel 7).

The Christ we encounter in the Gospels, the Christ of meekness and humility and loving-kindness, is the same Christ who is more fear-inspiring than any being in existence. Chapter 1 of Hebrews, and even the first few verses of chapter 2, remind us that we humans are fickle creatures. We would listen to divinely-appointed messengers, or even non-divinely-appointed messengers, more intently and fearfully than we listen to the Divine himself, Jesus Christ.

May we remember that Christ alone is God's pure and unadulterated Word, far superior to any messenger sent by God (or not sent by God). If we would listen to God's word to us through other means, including angels, how much more should we listen to the Word that is communicated to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Giving Christ priority over all of the voices that speak to us is the surest way to see God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Conversation(s): How do we give Christ priority? How do we listen to the Word? What does Christ communicate to us that we don't hear much from pastors behind pulpits or fellow believers at Bible studies?

Jesus: Six Statements to Ponder

Hebrews 1:3-4
(3) The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (4) So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

This could be my favorite passage in the Bible. Here we find some of the richest Christology in the Scriptures. In two verses, we encounter six facets of Jesus' identity that invite our attention and reflection:

1. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory
In Exodus 33, Moses asked God, "Show me your glory." Moses desired the impossible. He wanted to see that legendary brightness, the white-light emanation of God's perfect being that constitutes his "glory." God doesn't oblige Moses (at least not in the way Moses expects, but that's a blog post for another day). God doesn't allow Moses to see him. God actually shields Moses from the brunt of his glory as he passes by, for surely it would have killed him. 

What God refused to Moses, he now makes available to all through Christ. Jesus said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." If we wish to see God in all of his luminescence, we must adjust our eyes to the light of the world, Jesus. But here's the rub: The glory of God that Christ reveals is the glory... of the cross. The Gospel of John frequently refers to Jesus' crucifixion as his glorification. Jesus prays on the Mount of Olives, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you." The glory of God, and the glory of Jesus, is revealed at the cross. 

How? What happens there that is so glorious? At the cross, Jesus Christ reveals just how deep and wide and long and high the love of God is for humanity. Love and glory are inextricable, for they are forever sealed together at the cross. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory - he makes God's glory visible to all of us - because he has made God's infinite love visible, accessible, knowable, and receivable. God's glory is found in the fantastic reality that he loves his creation enough to die for it. In this way, Jesus is the radiance of God's glory.

2. Jesus is the exact representation of God's being
The Greek word for "exact representation" is charakter, from which English derives character. The character of God - his attributes, his tendencies, his emotions, his intentions - is embodied in Jesus and displayed by Jesus. If we want to know who God is as a personal being, a being with whom we can relate and converse, we must fix our eyes upon Christ.

**For my theologically-minded friends, the Greek word for God's "being" in this verse is hypostasis - the word used by the Church Fathers to describe the 3 persons of the Trinity: God is one essence and three persons (hypostases). Thus, this is one of the foundational passages for our Trinitarian doctrine.**

3. Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word
In verses 1-2, Jesus is revealed to us as the prophetic word of God, the incarnation of God's speech. In verse 3, now Jesus speaks. His ability to speak and sustain all things reveals that he is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, God. Only God can speak and sustain. Only God gives life via words. A professor friend of mine calls this God's ontological speech. He speaks, and it is. The same is true of Christ, who speaks, "Peace, be still!" to the storm, and it obeys his command. Not only is Christ the exact representation - the character - of God, but he is God himself. Not only do we see God in Christ, but we meet God in Christ.

4. Jesus provides purification for sins
This is a massive theme in Hebrews, particularly in chapters 5-10, so I'll leave the nuances for later. However, I can't resist making one observation now: The entire Old Testament system of priests and sacrifices points directly to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the High Priest who offers purification for our sins, and he is also the sacrifice offered for that purification. Jesus does it all. We kid ourselves if we think that our purification before God, our holiness and righteousness, has anything to do with us. Jesus makes the sacrifice. Jesus is the sacrifice. The only way we can be in the presence of a holy God is through Christ.

5. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God
The Old Testament figure who sits at God's right hand is named the Son of Man. He is given all authority and power by the Ancient of Days to bring about the purposes of God in the world (Daniel 7). If Jesus is seated at God's right hand, which is repeated several times in the book of Hebrews, then he is this Son of Man. This gives us two comforts:

First, the fact that Jesus is seated in heaven is proof that the work he needed to do on earth to bring about God's purposes is completed. His death and resurrection are indeed effective in bringing redemption to the world.

Second, Ephesians 1 tells us that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is now being employed by Christ on behalf of the church, and also through the church. We are empowered by Christ to carry out the redemptive mission of God that was inaugurated at the cross, and we know that this mission will triumph, because all authority and power belongs to Christ.

6. Jesus is superior to the angels

The superiority of Christ over all things is a major theme, perhaps the major theme, of Hebrews. In my next post, I'll look at the rest of chapter 1, where this claim of superiority over angels is founded upon a variety of fascinating OT citations. Two observations will suffice for now: 1) Christ is superior to angels because he is God, and 2) Christ is superior to angels because he is human.

Concluding Thoughts

Read these two verses again. And again. And again. Allow these many statements about Christ to sink into your mind, your heart, and your soul. Jesus is beautiful, powerful, triumphant, and divine. He is God's glory displayed, God's love enacted, God's character revealed, and God's being embodied. The Unknowable has made himself knowable in Jesus. This is an amazing thing.

Jesus: The Prophetic Word of God

Hebrews 1:1-2
(1) "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, (2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe."

In two verses, the author of Hebrews calls upon all of biblical history to establish God's Son, Jesus, as God's incarnated speech. John's Gospel begins the same way: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is the Word of God, the embodiment of God's speech. Whatever God says, Jesus is.

What is unique to Hebrews, though, is that Christ's identity as God's spoken word is set within the context of the Israelite prophetic tradition. "God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets... but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son." Jesus is the prophetic Word of God. Thus, following the Old Testament prophetic tradition,

• Jesus is the Word that God speaks against unrighteousness and injustice.
• Jesus is the Word that God speaks to his people to call them to repentance.
• Jesus is the Word that God speaks to his people to exhort them to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with him.
• Jesus is the Word that God speaks to remind his people that he is their God and they are his people.

A decade ago, when the WWJD fad was going strong, people obsessed over what Jesus would do when faced with a particular situation in hopes that they could imitate his actions. Would he freak out, pull out a whip, and go Indiana Jones on everyone? Or would he sit quietly and doodle in the sand with his finger? As those bracelets can attest, the greatest strength and weakness of Evangelicalism is that we are a culture of doers - people who constantly seek to do more stuff.

These two verses that begin Hebrews ask us, in a way, to lay aside our zeal to do things. They ask us to put "doing" in its proper place - after listening. Because Jesus is the prophetic Word that God speaks to us, the question "What would Jesus do?" should actually be rephrased into something far less catchy: "What does God say?" When Jesus is doing, God is speaking.

Example: Jesus enters the temple, where God's people gathered, and he angrily drives out those who have turned a place of worship into a marketplace. If we ask, "What would Jesus do?" then we have missed the entire idea that Jesus is a prophetic Word from God. The appropriate response on our part would be to go into the nearest mega-church that has a Starbucks within its walls and toss the tables. But if we ask, "What does God say?" then we invite God to speak to us through Jesus' life. In this story, perhaps God is saying, This is how I feel about those within my church who distract worshipers with consumerism.

This is one example among hundreds.

The point is that God speaks prophetically to us through Christ, just like he spoke prophetically to Israel through Isaiah, Micah, Amos, and Daniel. When we encounter Christ in the Gospels, let's adopt a zeal to listen first, and do after. Let's put the question, "What would Jesus do?" in its proper place - after the question, "What does God say?" God speaks to us every day through his Son. Will we listen?

A Journey through Hebrews

It has been a long time since I've written anything here. I chatted with Devin while I was in Chicago earlier this month, and we decided to start blogging again (and to keep each other going with our blogs as well). So...

For the next while, I will be blogging my way through the Book of Hebrews, which currently is my favorite book in the Bible. I hope this will be as edifying and uplifting to any who read it as it will be to me.

The entire message of Hebrews is expressed in the first four verses of chapter 1. My next blog entry will be on these verses, so I'll end this little post with a taste of what's to come:

Hebrews 1:1-4
(1) In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, (2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. (3) The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (4) So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

(FYI - all Scripture quotations from this point forward are taken from the TNIV unless otherwise specified.)

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Countdown to Half-Blood Prince