Siblings may look a lot alike until they’re standing side-by-side. A forgery of a painting could fool many until it’s hung next to the original. A runner might consider themselves quite fast until they’re in the starting blocks next to an Olympian. Why? Because proximity can highlight dissimilarity.
The original recipients of the letter to the Hebrews seem to have been forgetting the unique beauty, power, and authority of Jesus. In their immaturity and vulnerability, these believers were struggling to see the difference between Christ’s priesthood and the old priesthood, between his sacrifice and the former sacrifices, between Jesus and Moses, between the Son and the angels. So, the author sets them next to each other, confident that proximity can highlight dissimilarity and, if his readers can only see Jesus and anything else standing side-by-side, the unmatched magnificence of the former will be caught and be convicting.
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SERMON MANUSCRIPT
Over the years I’ve come to realize that I’m mildly colour-blind. Just last week, when I was getting ready for church, I laid a pair of what I thought were black pants on my bed, went to my sock drawer, pulled out some black socks and tossed them on top of the pants only to notice they didn’t match. A closer inspection confirmed that the pants were blue. Sometimes proximity highlights dissimilarity.
Siblings may look a lot alike until they’re standing side-by-side. A forgery of a painting could fool many until it’s hung next to the original. A runner might consider themselves quite fast until they’re in the starting blocks next to an Olympian. Sometimes proximity highlights dissimilarity.
The original recipients of the letter to the Hebrews seem to have been forgetting the uniqueness of Jesus. In their immaturity and vulnerability, these believers were struggling to see the difference between Christ’s priesthood and the old priesthood, his sacrifice and the former sacrifices, between Jesus and Moses. From a distance, they look alike—they’re all good, helpful, and a bit interchangeable. These believers had some christological colour-blindness.
A COMPARISON
So what does the author do? He sets them next to each other, knowing that proximity highlights dissimilarity and that, if his readers can only see Jesus and anything else side-by-side, the unmatched magnificence of the Lord will be undeniable.
And in the passage before us we find one such comparison, a comparison of Jesus with the angels. Both are glorious, powerful, holy, and sent from God. How different could they be, right? Well, it turns out that they’re eternally and immeasurably different.
Using a string of Old Testament quotations, the author provides a dramatic comparison of Christ to the angels, showing the former to be far greater. Verse 5 highlights the unique position of the Son.
To show this, the author uses two texts, the second of which is 2 Samuel 7:14. [1:5b] This is the covenant in which God swore to David that one of his descendants will eventually reign on his throne forever. God will be a Father to this coming King, not in the sense of physical birth but in the sense of status and divine authority. In the Ancient Near East, when a nation’s god was said to coronate a king, that king was considered the “first-born” of that deity (Tanner, 72) and given all the rights, influence, and inheritance of the god they now represent. And Jesus is Yahweh’s king, his first-born, is representative.
Psalm 2:7 is the first passage quoted. [1:5a] In Psalm 2, David’s anticipating the future fulfillment of all those promises. Even though earthly kings rise up “against the Lord and against his [Anointed, his Messiah],” that Messiah will be the everlasting King and, as such, God, the one installing him, will call him “my Son.”
The point is, no angel has ever been given that title. As regal as they are, no angel has ever been promised an eternal throne. As heavenly as they are, no angel has ever had a familial relationship with God. No, Jesus holds that unique position because he’s greater than the angels.
But the author’s just getting started. In verse 6 the author highlights the future reception of the Son. [1:6a] Notice the anticipation of Christ’s return (Pentecost, 53). Initially, God brought him into the world to die. Eventually, he’ll bring him in to the world to reign. And, when he does, as Psalm 97 declares, [1:6b].
Angels may be impressive creatures but, when the Son returns to rule, their reception of him will be to fall on their faces in abject humility and worship. Why? Because Jesus is greater than the angels.
Next up in this comparison, the author shows the Son’s eternal dominion. He starts by quoting Psalm 104. [1:7] Winds, like chinooks and hurricanes, originate, grow, change directions, and fade. Flames, whether scented candles or forest fires, are ignited, burn, dance, spread, flicker, and are extinguished. They’re both transitory, fleeting, shifting, and temporary. And that’s what angels are like.
But not so with Jesus. Quoting Psalm 45, [1:8–9]. There is nothing transitory, fleeting, shifting, and temporary about the Son. His reign is forever, filled with unchanging righteousness and gladness, unfading as he sits on an eternal throne reserved for God because he is God.
The author then grabs Psalm 102 and starts really getting thrilled with the eternality of Jesus. [1:10–12]
We do a lot of laundry at our house. Active children dirty a lot of clothing. But, sometimes my wife and I catch our kids throwing their clothes into the hamper, not because they need washing but because it’s easier than folding them and putting them away. It’s easy to take them off, crumple them up, and toss them in the corner.
Compared to the Son of God, that’s what creation is like: a crumpled up pair of pants. He made it and he can roll it up. It can become soiled but he stays undefiled. It will be changed but he remains the same. Angels flicker like flames and shift like the breeze, but Jesus is eternal. That’s why he’s greater.
Finally, the author concludes by celebrating the Son’s victorious exaltation. Quoting Psalm 110, [1:13]. The right answer is none! No angel, as fearful as they may be, has ever been invited to that seat of unparalleled honour. No angel, as faithful as they may be, has ever been promised absolute victory over wickedness on their behalf.
Instead, [1:14]. “Salvation” here isn’t referring to Jesus’s work on the cross. It’s talking about the future God’s people all anticipate: the death of death, extermination of sin, and eternal rewards.
Hebrews 1 has emphasized the second coming of Christ and the future establishment of the promised kingdom, a reality that will bring with it our ultimate salvation, our total deliverance. And, in the meantime, while the Son sits in honour awaiting his big win, angels are sent out to help us while we wait with him. Jesus is greater than the angels.
At first glance it may seem that Jesus and the angels are similar enough to deserve similar allegiance and reverence. But proximity highlights dissimilarity and, when we put them side-by-side, we see they’re nothing alike. It’s the Son, not angels, that has a unique position and anticipates a glorious reception. It’s the Son, not angels, that’s given eternal dominion and enjoys victorious exaltation. Don’t confuse the two. Jesus is far greater than the angels.
He’s also greater than every politician, public intellectual, author, celebrity, mentor, and family member. He has more beauty, wisdom, authority, and power than all of them combined.
When we’re tempted to look first to people to solve our woes, doctors to heal our bodies, governments to restore our rights, teachers to shape our minds, pundits to wave our flags, actors to model morality, coalitions to save our planet, friends to give us meaning, or to ourselves to find truth and authority, we would be wise to mimic the author of Hebrews and hold them up and compare!
Root out that christological colour-blindness, put the socks on top of the pants and celebrate the difference. Jesus alone has the position, dominion, and exaltation. He’s the way, the truth, and the life. He’s the door. He’s the Saviour. He’s the judge, He’s the victor. He’s the boss. He’s the king. None compares to him.
A CAUTION
So, what are believers supposed to do with that reminder? Well, the author tells us as he moves from a comparison to a caution. He turns to his readers and says, “Since this is true, be careful!”
These believers must “pay much closer attention” then they have been. They’ve been negligent and foolish. They need to wake up and focus with intentionality.
And on what are they to focus? “To what we have heard.” This sends us back to the opening of the book when the author reminded them that [1:1–2a]. That’s “what we have heard.” It’s God’s climactic self-disclosure in his Son, “the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature.”
This revelation was “spoken through the Lord” himself (2:3b) and then “confirmed to us by those who heard.” Though the Son has ascended to the Father, what was revealed through him has been passed on. And when it was being passed on, God verified it’s accuracy “by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will” (2:4). In other words, we’ve got the real thing. God spoke in Jesus, revealing himself just the way he wants to be known to the people he he wants to know him.
Cling to it, the author says. Be careful and pay attention. Stay anchored to what we have heard from God in the Son—what he’s like and how he wants us to live—because, if you don’t, you will drift away like a canoe sitting in a fast-moving stream. You will be carried out of the safe harbour of intimacy with God and into the dangers of the open sea.
What kind of dangers? Well, consider old revelation first. [2:2a] This refers to the Old Testament law. [Acts 7:52–53] Former revelation, like the law, was binding on God’s people; it was unalterable.
[2:2b] Like a good parent, God promised discipline to his children who ignored his self-disclosure and broke his law. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 list curses for transgressors intended to motivate them to obedience, correct them for disobedience, and bring them back to fellowship through repentance.
Now, if that was all true of prior revelation, how much more is it true of his perfect revelation? If what came before was binding and unalterable, how much more with what came after? If what came before brought with it discipline for disobedience, apathy, and irreverence, how much more for what has been revealed in Christ? [2:2–3a]
This is the caution that the author is putting before God’s children. Hold on to what is true or else there are consequences. As he’ll later write in chapter 12: “For those whom the Lord loves he disciplines.”
If these believers, forgetting how much greater Jesus is than angels, leave him, his teaching, admonishments, and expectations; if they become apathetic to their Christian lives, to Christian doctrine, to maturity, to faithfulness, they will drift from him, he who is the anchor and safe harbour. The world, the flesh, and the devil will carry them out to sea. Now, it’s not eternal life they’re drifting away from any more than Joe Israelite stopped being an Israelite by breaking the law. But drifting brings discipline.
DON’T DRIFT FROM THE SON!
And for us, if we drift from Christ—the ultimate self-disclosure of God—ignoring what he’s like, what he offers, what he says is sin, who he says we are, and what he wants us to do, we’re inviting discipline from our Father in Heaven. The New Testament talks about consequences like the loss of joy, gratitude, peace, assurance, usefulness, health, and even earthly life. God loves us too much to not discipline us just as he did with the saints of old.
If we drift from Christ, brothers and sisters, if we neglect, dismiss, or downplay so great a salvation, if we do not hold fast God’s revelation in Jesus including our promised future deliverance and rewards—how can we expect to escape the consequences of our sinfulness and foolishness? How can we expect to go undisciplined? We can’t. It hasn’t been true of God’s people ever, and it isn’t for us either.
So, be careful. Don’t drift from the Son!Anywhere you drift, even something as great as angels, is far lesser. Don’t drift from the Son! Instead, take your walk with the Lord seriously. Be deliberate and intentional so as to grow and remain safe from discipline.
Most of us take something seriously in life. Our jobs, our parenting, our marriage, our hobbies, our bank accounts, our reputations. We think about them often, put time and energy into them. And these aren’t necessarily bad things but, let’s be honest: in the grand sweep of eternity, many of them don’t matter. Do we put that much effort, that much thought, that much care and intentionality into our rootedness in the Son of God, something that, by the way, makes all the other pursuits more meaningful?
Don’t drift form the Son! There’s nothing greater we can do with our time and energy and focus, there’s nothing more wonderful we can do with our lives, than to pay much closer attention to what we have heard, what has been spoken to us—Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It’s been said that most Christians today “worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.” May God help us avoid that joy-robbing blunder and, instead, recognize afresh how uniquely magnificent the Son is, drop anchor with him, and cling to him as though our lives depended on it.
