Hebrews
Lesson 20 July 28, 2005
NKJ Romans 8:28 And we know
that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
the called according to His purpose.
We’re in Hebrews 1:8. I will pick up
in a little review starting back in verse 4. This is our twentieth hour in
Hebrews. We’ve made it through 8 verses. At this point we will pick up the pace
a little bit. I told everyone when we got started that I was not going to spend
four hours in every verse because it isn’t necessary. You have to move forward
on the basis of knowledge. There
is so much loaded and packed into those first four verses that set the
foundation for what this writer is challenging his readers about in terms of
their spiritual lives. We need to make sure we understand these things. The sad
point about the church today and Christianity today is that everybody is afraid
to teach any solid doctrine. Everybody is afraid that if they use words of more
than two syllables they will scare people off and they will go to another
church where they sing two syllable songs and repeat the same stanzas over and
over again. They dumbed everything down. No one can
grow that way. I am a firm believer in an educational philosophy that you have
to teach about six inches over someone’s head so that they will stand on their
tiptoes and stretch. Then they
grow. If you shoot for their naval area they’ll never stretch and never grow
and never come to understand the great things that the Word of God has for them
and God has provided for them. Sometimes if things seem like you are walking
through quick sand, it is ok. The Holy Spirit will make it clear to you
eventually.
Hebrews 1:4 gives us the conclusion
or the driving point toward which the author has moved in the opening
prologue.
NKJ Hebrews 1:4 having become so much better than the angels, as He
has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Now what I want to make sure we’ve
got as we go through this this evening is that you do
not loose the forest through the trees. It is so easy when you stop and look at
all the details that you end up focusing so much on the details that you lose
what the author is trying to communicate.
I want to make sure that we have the overview as we move through this
verse. In terms of review, what we’ve seen in that verse is that the closing
line of the prologue states that Jesus Christ became better than the angels. That
indicates development in His humanity. In His deity Jesus Christ has always
been superior to the angels. But in His humanity He went through a process of
growth where He is tested in all points yet without sin. In that process of being
tested He grew spiritually. He advanced from spiritual infancy to spiritual
maturity the same way that you and I advance – through studying the Word
under the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit. That became the model or
the precedent for the spiritual life in this Church Age. He becomes better than
the angels based on His own spiritual growth and spiritual advance. The second
point from that verse is that the better in terms of being so much better than
the angels, the better is related to the inheritance of a more excellent name. He
inherits a more excellent name. By virtue of His advance spiritually He
receives an inheritance. The parallel and application for us is that the same
thing is true for us. On the basis of our advance in the spiritual life we
receive an inheritance at the Judgment Seat of Christ. There are certain
rewards and blessing that are contingent upon our advance in the spiritual life
today.
The third thing that we learn from
verse 4 is that name that He received is related to His identification as the
Son of David in relation to His fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant and with
reference to His Messianic credentials. As we have seen those Messianic
credentials not only relate to His substitutionary
work on the cross at the First Coming, but they also relate to His return as
the Messianic king at the Second Coming when He establishes the Messianic
Kingdom as the Son of David and establishes the New Covenant. The author moves
from that statement to a development of that.
He is more advanced than the angels.
In verses 5-13, the rest of the
chapter is going to establish the basis for saying that the Messiah is superior
to the angels. I get the strong suggestion from studying this that there must
have been a problem in the early church with false teachers who were promoting
a worship or emphasis on angelic beings. We’ve seen that all down through
history. We have seen it in the last 10 or 15 years with an emphasis on angels,
angels on TV and angel figurines. Everybody has gotten caught up with angels in
the New Age movement. We all know that Satan appears as an angel of light. We
have to recognize from this passage what the role and purpose of the angels
are. The point that he is going to make in verse 5-13 is very simple.
Is verses 5-6 he’s going to prove
that the king priest (that’s the Messiah) is greater than angels with respect
to His authority. That relates to His position. Authority without power is
meaningless. So it starts off establishing His authority.
Then in verses 7-14 he demonstrates
that the king priest is superior to angles with respect to His power. Power
without authority is meaningless. You have to have both. You have to have
authority and you have to have power. So verses 5-6 emphasize His position and
authority. Verses 7-14 emphasize
His power.
Now he sets this up through a series
of contrasts. He starts off in verse 5 with that first word for. It means that it is an explanation. Whenever
you see that word for, most of the time it is the Greek word gar. It explains the previous statement.
So verse 5 moves right into an explanation of why Jesus is superior to the
angels and has a name that is higher than the angels. It is a quote from Psalm
2:7 connected to a quote from II Sam 7:14 indicating that the inherited name relates
to the Davidic Covenant. So this position that He has, that He is elevated to
as the Son, is higher than that of the angels. He is adopted as it were. He is
an adopted king. But you also have the point that He is fully divine. Both of
these elements are here. The author shifts back and forth between emphasizing
one aspect over another to demonstrate the superiority of Jesus Christ.
In verses 5-6 you have these quotes
that indicate His superiority.
Verse 6 is a quote from Ps 97:7 indicating that angels are to worship
him. That shows that the angels are subordinate to the Son because they are to
worship Him. You have the Son as the focus in verse 5-6. Verse 6 is a
transition verse that the angels are to worship Him. Then in verse 7 it focuses
on the angels.
Verse 8 is another contrast. Vs 8-9
focus on the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of His deity. The emphasis is on the throne
being forever and ever. And then it shifts back to His humanity in verse 9.
Then in verse 10 the focus is on His
deity. He is eternal, everlasting,
and never changing.
Then in verse 13 there is another
“but”. That shifts it back to the
angels. So there it talks about the Son in contrast to angels back to the Son
and then back to the angels.
Then it concludes in verse 14.
NKJ Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to
minister for those who will inherit salvation?
That is a key verse to understand. It
not only sums everything from verse 8 down but it sets up the challenge or the
application that comes in Hebrews 2:1-4. Let me show you how it does that. Look back at verse 7.
NKJ Hebrews 1:7 And of the
angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of
fire."
This is a quote from Psalm
104:4.
NKJ Psalm 104:4 Who makes
His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
It calls the angels spirits. It is
interesting. There is a lot of debate whether pneuma ought to be translated
spirits or wind. Nobody made this observation. That is that the angels are made
spirits in that verse. They are said to be ministers. The Greek word for
ministers is leitourgos. The word there isn’t diakonos which is a word
for deacon or minister. It is a
different word. The Greek word leitourgos indicates a public servant or the minister. It’s
where you get the word liturgy. It
is specifically related to service with respect to God in the Scriptures.
NKJ Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to
minister for those who will inherit salvation?
Guess what two words are used there.
The same two words are used. The word for ministering is the adjectival form of
leitourgos
and the word for spirits is pneuma. When
you look at this, this whole section from verse 8 down to 14 is a development
out of verse 7. So we have to understand what is going on in terms of this
particular verse and in terms of the contrast.
NKJ Hebrews 1:7 And of the
angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of
fire."
What that emphasizes is their
creaturely nature. It says He made them. So they are creatures. That means they
are finite. They are temporal. In contrast to that we have the emphasis is on
the Son as being sovereign. He has a throne in verse 8. He has a righteous rule
that is over the angels in verses 8 and 9.
In verses 10-12 He is said to be the
Creator.
NKJ Hebrews 1:10 And:
"You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but
You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment;
12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But
You are the same, And Your years will not fail."
He is eternal. This is an attribute
of deity.
Then we see the Son as the sovereign
ruler in contrast to the angels in verse 8 and again in verse 14. This is the
flow that we have in these verses. Everything from 8 on develops out of that
quote in verse 7. That is why it is so significant.
This quote in Heb 1:7 is a quote
from Ps 104:4. This is a creation psalm. It is a meditation on the
creation.
NKJ Psalm 104:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great: You are clothed with
honor and majesty,
NKJ Psalm 104:2 Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the
heavens like a curtain.
That same imagery is going to be
picked up in verse 12. It talks about the heavens and the earth being like a
cloak that is folded up. You have this comparison throughout the Old Testament
of something that is spread out. It is a very dramatic physical demonstration
or picture. Then it wears out. It goes away. It is temporary.
NKJ Psalm 104:3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,
That refers to the initial
establishment of the earth.
NKJ Psalm 104:4 Who makes
His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
Somebody asked me a question if
there was an order here in Psalm 104 – an order for creation. I don’t
think so. This is simply a meditation on Genesis 1. It is impossible to draw a
chronological order here. Verses 3 and 4 are simultaneous. Job 38:4-7 indicates
that the angels united and sang for joy when God laid the foundation of the
earth. That indicates that the angels were created prior to the establishment
of the foundation of the earth.
We learn some important things about
angelology in these verses. I want to point out 5 of them.
So the contrast here is between the
angels’ role as servants and the Lord Jesus Christ’s authority over them.
NKJ Hebrews 1:8 But to the
Son He says: "Your throne, O
God, is forever and ever; A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of
Your Kingdom.
Verse 8 makes a dramatic shift back
to the Son. Verses 8 through 12 focus on the qualifications
of the Son and what sets Him apart as superior to the angels. God the Father addresses the Son.
NKJ Psalm 45:6 Your throne,
O God, is forever and ever; A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of
Your kingdom.
. Verse 9 will quote Ps 45:7.
It is interesting that an Aramaic
translation or paraphrase of this is known as the tar gum of Jonathan. It dates
from 5 centuries AD – five centuries after Christ. It gives a
paraphrase from Psalm 45:2
Your
beauty O King Messiah is greater than that of the sons of men.
It is clear from Jewish tar gum that
they understood Psalm 45 to be a messianic psalm and to be addressing the Messiah
and the rule of the Messiah. That immediately connects it back to the Davidic
Covenant. Who will come to rule over Israel and rule forever and ever? It is the Son of David.
Psalm 45 is a focus on a royal
wedding. We do not know the royal wedding. We don’t know whom it was
specifically written for. It portrays that future royal wedding between the
bride of Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ that takes place at the end of the
tribulation period. We are in heaven. We get purified at the Judgment Seat of
Christ. We receive our rewards and then there is the wedding feast. The church becomes the bride of Christ.
This reference to the eternal throne in Hebrews 1:8 tells us a couple of
things. First of all it indicates
that this is the Davidic throne. This
is not the throne of God. In Revelation 3 Jesus says that He is sitting on His
throne not the throne of the Father. Overcomers will
be able to sit on His throne but He is currently not sitting on that throne. He
is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. He does not take the throne until the Second Coming.
The second thing that we see here is
that the person on the throne must be an eternal person. It is an eternal throne. It’s a shift
to what it is emphasizing, not just His humanity but also the deity. This I pointed out as we went through
our study on the Davidic Covenant implies that the Son (the ultimate one to
fulfill the covenant) would be both human and divine. As I said, either you
have an eternal succession one generation after another on into eternity or the
succession ends in one who is eternal. Only God is eternal. That draws this
together. The throne is a Davidic throne that references the humanity of Jesus
Christ. That it is forever and ever indicates the deity
The next thing we learned is that
the verbiage, the words that are used here, fit other verses that relate and
describe the Davidic Covenant. For example, II Sam 7:16.
NKJ 2 Samuel 7:16 "And your house and your kingdom shall be
established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever."
' "
That’s right out of the passage on
the Davidic Covenant.
NKJ Psalm 89:3 "I have made a covenant with My
chosen, I have sworn to My servant David:
NKJ Psalm 89:20 I have found My
servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him,
We will see in verse 9 that God
anointed Him with oil. We see this
similarity of verbiage.
NKJ Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His
government and peace There will be no
end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish
it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of
the LORD of hosts will perform this.
So we see a parallel between that and
the emphasis in Hebrews 1:8. The characteristic of His kingdom is a righteous
rule. That is what the scepter of righteousness describes. He doesn’t have a
physical scepter that is righteous. It is a picture of His rule. He will have a
scepter that indicates His rule and His authority and His power. It is a
descriptive genitive. Is 11:4 picks up this same
terminology.
NKJ Isaiah 11:4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall
strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He
shall slay the wicked.
NKJ Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy
and truth go before Your face.
Mercy is the Hebrew word chesedh and
indicates the everlasting faithful loyal love of God. Again and again in the Psalms we see this connection between
righteousness and justice on one hand and loving kindness and truth on the
other hand. This forms the core of God’s essence- righteousness, justice, love
and truth. That is the core that I refer to as the integrity of God. It is the
basis of all His actions to human beings.
NKJ Hebrews 1:8 But to the
Son He says: "Your throne, O
God, is forever and ever; A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of
Your Kingdom.
That phrase “the scepter of
righteousness” means that His kingdom is going to be governed by perfect
righteousness. The government that is going to be established in the Millennial
Kingdom is going to be perfect - perfect execution, perfect administration, and
a perfect judicial system. There won’t be any flaws. No matter how good any
human system is, there are always flaws. There are failures. God knew that in
His omniscience. When He delegated judicial responsibility to the human race,
He knew in eternity past that people would make mistakes and execute innocent
people. There would be many other problems. Nevertheless He still delegated
that responsibility to man. So it is never fair to say that because we make
mistakes that we shouldn’t have capital punishment. We may need to go back and
evaluate our consistency and go back to make sure that capital punishment is
dealt with in an abbreviated time - six months to a year in my opinion. Maybe that
is too long in many cases. This idea that it stretches on and
on and year after year as it costs the taxpayer millions of dollars is absurd.
Righteousness during the Millennial Kingdom will see a quick execution of
justice.
NKJ Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than
Your companions."
This is another quote from Ps
45:7.
What’s he saying here? What’s the
significance of this quote? It’s tied to the previous verse indicating the
righteous rule of the Messiah. But
in this verse it’s reflecting not on His deity. Remember I said in verse 8 there is an emphasis on His deity.
But in verse 9 it focuses on the human qualifications.
This first phrase is quite
significant. Where do we find another passage like that in the Scripture? Jacob I love. Esau I hated. Is this
talking about love vs. hate? Or, is this a figure of speech? It’s an idiom. Whenever you have this
love – hate expression, it is talking acceptance and rejection. Here it is talking to the Son. “You”
refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The aorist tense verb indicates that
which took place in the past during His incarnation on the earth. During His time on the earth He loved
righteousness and rejected lawlessness.
We have three words to deal with in
this. In the LXX which is the
translation that the writer of Hebrews used, he uses the aorist active
indicative of agapao.
In the Masoretic text that is the Hebrew original, it
used the Hebrew word adav
in the qal perfect. It is used for attraction to
something as opposed to chesedh
that is used for faithful loyalty. So it emphasizes rapport. Then the Greek
text and the majority text use the Greek word agapao in Hebrews 1:9.
What does all of that mean? That
means that the emphasis of love has to do with attraction as opposed to
sentimentality, emotion, or something of that nature. It indicates the affinity
between the character of the humanity of Lord Jesus Christ and the integrity of
God the Father. He loves righteousness. In His humanity He was consistent with
the character of God the Father. In contrast He hated or rejected wickedness,
or lawlessness as it is translated in the Greek.
Wickedness back in Hebrew 1:8 is anomia. Anomia is the
alpha prefix plus the word nomos meaning law. It means literally without the law. Some
would translate it lawlessness in the sense of breaking the Mosaic Law. But
that is not the idea. The way the word is used is to indicate the transgressions
of God’s standards. It is the violation or transgression of a standard of law,
not the Mosaic Law. The law indicated by this word anomia is the transgression of
God’s character - not some human law code or the Mosaic Law. This is clearly
seen from I John 3:4.
NKJ 1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
This equates the word anomia with hamartia. It is a synonym for
sin. That is the conclusion of verse 4. Sin is lawlessness. It is a clear
statement of the meaning of anomia. When we read in verse 9 that “You have loved righteousness”, it is
the standard of God’s character. “You have hated lawlessness” could be
rendered “You have rejected sin.” That is in the process of the spiritual
growth in the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. He always took a stand for
righteousness when His volition was involved. He chose righteousness and rejected
sin. He never operated independently of the Father’s character. This is the
doctrine we call impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Impeccability is based on the Latin
root pecare
which means to sin. The “im” prefix is a negative so
it means without sin. Jesus Christ lived in His humanity without sin. He never
sinned. This qualified Him to go to the cross in fulfillment of the Old
Testament type. He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The
lamb there refers to the lamb that was chosen for the Passover meal and for the
sacrifices. There was to be a lamb that was without spot or blemish. There was
no sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore He was fully qualified to die on the
cross as a substitute for our sins.
NKJ Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than
Your companions."
The Greek for therefore is dia touto which means for this reason. For what
reason? For the reason that He was impeccable. On the basis of that reason. The reason is stated.
The word anointed is the aorist
active indicative of the Greek word chrio. It is the basis for the noun Christos that means to be anointed. There is another Greek word for
anointing called aleitho.
It describes the everyday things you would do – taking a shower or
putting oil on your skin. That was a non-religious or non-ritual use of
anointing. But this is a ritual relationship. God has anointed you. There is a spiritual significance to
the word chrio. It is only used where there is
spiritual significance. It is the basis for the Greek word Christos or the Hebrew word mashiyach. We
could translate it “the appointed one” because that is the significance of
being anointed. God had signified this person for a particular role. Priests
were appointed or anointed. Kings were appointed or anointed. Sometimes we use
the word anointed and we get this funny pious feeling. Let’s bring it down to
everyday significance. The way this was signified was the anointing oil. Here
it is not necessary literal. It is a figurative expression. He has anointed you
with the oil of gladness. It’s not literal oil. You
have been anointed with gladness. The adjectival genitive indicates the joy that the Lord Jesus Christ possessed that will and characterize
His rule and reign in the Millennial Kingdom. The phrase “oil of joy” didn’t
signify oil used when He was baptized in the Jordan River. It describes the
characteristic of His rule. It is a righteous rule. It is a rule characterized
by joy and happiness throughout the Millennial Kingdom.
There is one more important word in this verse. That
is the last word, companions. It emphasizes those who are with Him as
co-heirs.
Another verse that talks about the oil of gladness is
Isaiah 61:3.
NKJ Isaiah 61:3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them
beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The
planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."
The Greek word metachoi refers to those who are
companions or participants with the Lord Jesus Christ. The analogy
is those who were David’s companions in the wilderness.
When David was rejected by Saul, he went off into the
Judean wilderness. There, others who were being persecuted by Saul, joined him. They were David’s mighty band. They formed
a cadre of leaders while he was in the wilderness. When he finally became a
king after Saul died, it was that cadre of David’s might men that ruled and
administers the kingdom under Him. That is the Old Testament type of what is
happening today. We are like David’s mighty men. The Lord is gathering together
this group of companions who are being trained today to rule and reign with Him
in eternity. This is the significance of the phrase “being anointed with oil.” The
companions are not angels. They are the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ from
the Church Age.
Verse 8 and 9 emphasize the throne
as righteous and eternal. This is due the Lord Jesus Christ because He is
qualified in His humanity by His love for righteousness and His rejection of
the lawless sin. It is the same thing that is to characterize the believer who
is advancing in preparation to rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ. That
becomes our standard. Now we are not always going to meet that standard. We
each have an old sin nature. We are going to fail. Sometimes we are going to
fail miserably. That is why the Lord always meets us in forgiveness. That is
why we have I John 1:9 so that we can admit or acknowledge the sin in our
lives. The Lord forgives us. There is complete and total cleansing at that
point so that we can continue our spiritual advance.
I always caution folks to remember
that just because you are forgiven doesn’t mean that the consequences are
removed. Even though David was forgiven by the Lord for his sin of adultery,
murder, conspiracy, and cover up, he still had to go through four stages of
significant divine discipline that destroyed his family and brought misery into
his life for the next ten or fifteen years all because of the decision that he
made. He is forgiven by God. He is back in
fellowship. He can apply the Word
of God and Bible doctrine as he grows through that discipline so that cursing
is turned into blessing. But, the consequences aren’t removed just because
you’re forgiven. Too often we get the idea that somehow the consequences are
removed. We need to realize that many times He does not remove the consequences
so we can learn from those failures.
Hebrews talks about the metachoi in
several passages. In Heb 3:1 the writer addresses the audience as holy
brethren, partakers. That is metachoi of the heavenly calling. That is our destiny, to
rule and reign with Him. Now not every believer will reach that destiny. Some
of us will fail. We will enter
into heaven with smoke and with the loss of our rewards according to I Cor 13.
Nevertheless we do not lose our salvation.
NKJ Hebrews 3:14 For we have
become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
to the end,
That is we become metachoi. The
third class condition means maybe we will and maybe we won’t. Some of us won’t
make it because we failed to mature as believers. We take Bible class lightly. We
take the Word of God lightly. We become arrogant and think we can get away with
sin in our lives. We use I John 1:9 as a license to sin. So we don’t go
anywhere. Then we are failures in the Christian life. If we want to be partakers
we must hold firm until the end. In other words don’t find we are to hold fast
to the end. The spiritual life doesn’t end until the Lord takes you home. Don’t
reach a stage and then relax. This happens a lot. I’ve seen this a lot with
older people. They get to be 75 or so and feel that their spiritual life isn’t
as significant. But we are to hold fast to the end. Those who hold fast to the
end and reach spiritual maturity are those who will rule and reign with the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we come to our next set of
quotes.
NKJ Hebrews 1:10 And:
"You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
This is our 7th set of
quotations. The background is from Psalm 102:25- 28.
NKJ Psalm 102:25 Of old You
laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26 They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed. 27 But
You are the same, And
Your years will have no end. 28 The children of Your
servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before
You."
This is clearly seen in Col 1:16-17.
NKJ Colossians 1:16
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven
and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17
And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist
It is the Lord Jesus who is the
active creator in the creation process in Genesis 1. God the Father is the
architect of the plan. The Son was the project manager. He is the one who
oversaw the construction and did the actual creating of the six active days of
creation. The Lord Jesus Christ is seen here as the creator. Now remember if He
is the creator that is in contrast to the angels who are made in verse 7. If
the angels are creatures and the Lord Jesus Christ is the creator, then He is
superior to the angels.
This is something important. We
could stop and exegete our way through each word in Psalm 102 but that is not
the writers point. What I find interesting is that apparently in the medrashic technique of the Jews if they wanted to make a
point they would quote four verses just to make one point. That one point was a
clause in these verses. We see this in Peter’s Pentecostal sermon. On the day of Pentecost when he quotes
from Joel 2, he talks about the Lord’s return. Nowhere in Joel 2 does it
mention speaking in tongues. That is the only thing that happened on the day of
Pentecost. So why is He quoting Joel 2? He quotes three verses from Joel 2. He
quotes a whole passage and all he is doing is making a point that this is the
same kind of activity today. He quotes all these verses to make one simple point.
It is a standard approach. The writer of Hebrews does this again and again. He
quotes three verses and makes one simple point. That is that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the creator. Verse 11 says that the creation itself is temporary. It
will perish but you remain. They will change, but you don’t change.
This whole quotation is to emphasize
three points.
Then we come to verse 13. It is a contrast again.
NKJ Hebrews 1:13 But to
which of the angels has He ever said: "Sit at My right hand, Till I make
Your enemies Your footstool"?
We are going to go back and look at
the limitations of the angels. He
quotes Psalm 110:1.
NKJ Psalm 110:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."
Now we have studied this verse in
relation to the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. He ascended to heaven where
He sat at the right hand of the Father. According to Psalm 2:8 He was asking
God to give Him the nations as an inheritance. In that interim period between
His seating at the right hand of the Father and His return to earth to take the
inheritance, God the Father is working to build this band of companions who
will be the associate rulers with the Lord Jesus Christ in the future. So this
is the Lord’s position during the Church Age.
God never said this to any of the
angels. This is a special statement directed only to the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm
110:1 is also very important because it indicates at least a dual personage in the
trinity. Who is speaking? It is David who is the greatest king on the face of
the earth at that time. Who is David’s superior? There is none. When he said my
lord he can’t be referring to any human being because David wasn’t under the
authority of any human being. He can only be referring to God. At the time it
is fulfilled it is the risen Lord.
Hebrews 1:13 emphasizes that the
Lord Jesus Christ is over the angels in His session. According to Eph 1:17-19
He ascended over the angels, the principalities, and the powers. He is over
them and seated at the right hand of the Father. Then there is a conclusion. It
ties it together and picks up the terminology from verse 7.
NKJ Psalm 104:4 Who makes
His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
In Hebrews 1:14 he concludes.
NKJ Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to
minister for those who will inherit salvation?
The word for ministering is the
adjectival form of leiturgos.
It is the same word we saw back in verse 7 referring to the angels as
ministers. Spirits is the same word that we find back there, pneuma. What this verse tells us is that the
angels are ministering spirits sent forth by God the Father to minister. That
word is diakonia that indicates service.
Who are those who will inherit
salvation? Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
verse is an interesting verse because this is the only verse that people go to
for the concept of guardian angels. Who does this verse indicate that the
guardian angels are for? Unbelievers? Believers? Only for believers! Does this mean that God assigns the
watch over those not yet saved because He knows they will be saved? Every
believer has an angel that watches over him and serves in relation to his own
life in various ways carrying out the will of God. We don’t know all the ways
that are involved and certainly has to do with protection in the angelic conflict.
So these angels are ministering spirits that serve those who will inherit
salvation.
Now we get two interesting words. The
word for inherit is kleronomeo.
It is simply the verb to inherit. It is a present active infinite
indicating that we are inheritors of salvation. This connects back to the idea
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one in verse 4 who because of His spiritual
growth inherited a more excellent name than the angels. If we advance we also
have this inheritance.
That brings us to the last word that
is a word that is so important to understand. That is the Greek word soteria
translated salvation. The question that we have to address is this phrase
salvation or is this phase three glorification. That is the important concept
because in our culture what we have been taught to think that it is justification
salvation at phase one. But we are going to see in the next few verses is that
this concept is not talking about phase one justification but glorification,
reaching and achieving all the fullness of your salvation. What the verse
indicates is that these ministering spirits are set for those who will inherit
salvation. This is the potential for every single believer to be a joint heir
with the Lord Jesus Christ. This isn’t talking about getting saved, it is
talking about working out the consequences of your salvation in terms of
spiritual growth so that when we are raptured or face
to face with the Lord we will hear the words well done thou good and faithful
servant. That is the exciting challenge of the book of Hebrews for every one of
us. Are we going to be consistent? Are we going to keep at it until the Lord
comes back or the Lord takes us home? Or will we not fall by the wayside? Are
we going to press on until we reach spiritual maturity that we may be prepared
for our future destiny with Him?
We will come back and do some more
study on soteria
next time. The key verse in the next four verses is the well-known phrase in
verse 3.
NKJ Hebrews 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed
to us by those who heard Him,
As I am going to point out it is not talking about neglecting the justification. But if we neglect that future destiny that full phase three glorification that God has in store for every believer, how shall we escape the shame of the Judgment Seat of Christ?