God, Angels, and the Supremacy of the Son - Hebrews 1, David Fiorazo

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who 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 at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." (Heb. 1)

The book of Hebrews begins with God, then the Son, His authority, and a comparison of Jesus to angels regarding authority. Written to encourage Jewish converts that they could have confidence in Christ, their Messiah and High Priest, much is recorded with the assumption they understood the Levitical priesthood. In fact, the generation who received this letter had practiced sacrifices in the temple at Jerusalem according to Levitical law.

So there is an emphasis on the superiority of Christ’s ‘once and for all’ sacrifice over the practices of Judaism. God provided the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the people and Jesus is the perfect High Priest offering better provisions through the New Covenant; this is the central message of Hebrews.

"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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." COLOSSIANS 1:14-17

During a time of intensified persecution, some Jewish communities were tempted to avoid identification with Christ and may have considered claiming He was a mere angel. The Qumran Messianic Jews were doing this by dropping out of society and their brand of reformed Judaism included the worship of angels, even going so far as to claim Michael the archangel had a higher status than the Messiah.

Jesus called Himself the Son of Man and the Son of God. The first title emphasized His humanity; the second, His deity. He is the only person in history who was both God and man. Leaving heaven, He laid aside His divine glory and took upon Himself the robe of humanness.

SCRIPTURES IN ORDER OF MENTION:
Hebrews 1:1-14
Colossians 1:14-17
Hebrews 2:5-9
Psalm 110:1
John 10:30
Mark 14:61-63
Philippians 2:6-11
Hebrews 4:14-16
Hebrews 2:2

*Message presented at Freedom Fellowship in Kaukauna, WI on Sunday, November 19, 2017. Cometofreedom.com

Nov 20, 2017