The Angels and the Son

As we’ve seen, the book of Hebrews opens with a contrast – in the past God spoke to us by the prophets; now he has spoken by his Son. The contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is the main theme of the book of Hebrews. It runs throughout and the superiority of the New Covenant is highlighted at every point. 

Today’s passage continues the contrast between the angels and the Son, which the author began in verse 4. Chapter 1 moves back and forth between Son and angels, showing how the Scriptures have always expressed the supremacy of the Son. 

So I want to begin by giving a brief overview of angels, because you can’t understand Christ’s supremacy without some biblical baseline. Then we’ll look at the Son and what Hebrews finds in the psalms about Christ. And then we’ll close with a few words of application. 

Brief Overview of Angels

Angels are personal spirits of great power and might. They are immortal and invisible (Luke 20:35-36; Colossians 1:16). They neither marry, nor multiply by procreation. They don’t have flesh and bone as men and beasts do, though they do manifest themselves in visible and bodily form at times. They are not omnipresent or omniscient. When the angel Michael appears to Daniel, he tells him that he was sent from God, but was held up along the way by the prince of Persia. And 1 Peter tells us that there are things into which angels long to look.

When angels appear in Scripture, the most common human response is awe and fear. Even the holiest men fall on their faces and are tempted to worship them. 

Angels are personal; they aren’t merely forces or powers. They communicate and act. They are moral beings; some spirits obey God, whereas others have rebelled against him. Evil spirits are at war with God and with men; they are able to influence and oppress people, both physically and psychologically. 

The Bible alludes to various kinds of spiritual beings that we typically classify under the category of “angels.” There are the cherubim, which are essentially throne guardians; they first appear in Genesis 3 and guard the way to the tree of life. Images of cherubim appear in the tabernacle and temple, and over the ark of the covenant. When prophets see visions of the heavenly throne room, the cherubim are represented as possessing characteristics of certain beasts: lion, eagle, leopard, and so forth. There are also the seraphim, the burning ones, who appear in Isaiah 6, winged spirits who surround God’s throne. Paul mentions spiritual powers and classifies them as “thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, principalities” and so forth (in Colossians 1 and Ephesians 6). Some Christian theologians have attempted to delineate the different orders and ranks of angels, and while there may be some truth to these, the details are speculative. At least two angels are named in Scripture – Michael and Gabriel.

The word “angel” itself simply means “one who is sent.” Throughout the Bible, we see these spiritual beings performing various tasks as God’s representative. We frequently see them worshiping God, as with the cherubim and seraphim pronouncing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty,” or the heavenly choir at Christ’s birth, or the angelic hosts in the book of Revelation. They often act as God’s messengers, bringing word to his prophets. The Bible speaks of essentially a heavenly council or court, in which angels (and at times the prophets) assemble to receive orders from God himself. Angels are agents of judgment, as at Passover, when the angel of death executes judgment on Egypt, or in the book of Revelation. Some of their titles (dominions, thrones, rulers) imply that they have some sort of governing authority in the cosmos, ruling and reigning over aspects of God’s creation (including men). They are frequently linked to the stars; the phrase “heavenly host” sometimes refers to the stars in the sky, or to the angelic armies of heaven.

But perhaps one of their most important functions, at least according to the New Testament authors, is that angels were the mediators of God’s law in the Old Testament. In Galatians, Paul says that God put the law in place “through angels.” In Hebrews 2, the law is described as “the message declared by angels.”

So to summarize, the Bible teaches us that the cosmos is inhabited by innumerable spiritual beings, some good, and some evil, who have great power and might and interact and influence history and human affairs. Faithful angels are God’s agents, gladly fulfilling his purposes; fallen angels, though in rebellion, are ultimately under God’s control and fulfill God’s purposes despite their hostility to God and man. In other words, there is an entire spiritual world operating behind the scenes of what we visibly see all the time. Think of Elisha’s words to his servant when the armies of Syria surrounded the city and the servant was dismayed. Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes, and he saw that the enemy army was itself surrounded by an angelic army, complete with horses and chariots. 

Just a Metaphor?

When we come to our passage in Hebrews, we hear the author quote Psalm 104:

“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”

God’s word about angels contrasts with his words about the Son (1:8-13). And the author is really keying in on a few words from this passage, which show up again in 1:14. The phrase “ministering spirits” is drawn from this quotation. “Minister” and “ministering” are obviously related. The other connection is difficult to see in English, because our translators translate the word “pneumata” as “winds” in v.7 and “spirits” in v.14. But it is the same word. God makes his angels to be spirits and ministers (ministering spirits) who are sent out to serve for our sake. 

But perhaps he’s doing more than this. In its original context, Psalm 104 is clearly talking about wind and fire; the previous verses note that God covers himself with light as with a garment, he makes the clouds his chariot, and he rides on the wings of the wind. And then he says,

“he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire.”

As modern people, our tendency at this point is to regard this as “just a metaphor.” Angels are like wind, because they are invisible, or because the wind is ephemeral; it comes and goes. And God’s ministers are like fire, in that fire burns up and then disappears. And this contrasts with the Son in the next verse whose throne is forever and ever. And I think there is something to that contrast.

But we ought to be slow to reduce things to being “just a metaphor.” That whole modern way of framing reality is inherently myopic and narrow. We live in an age of scientific reductionism, in which material, physical causes are regarded as the only real causes. 

The entire modern world reinforces this reduction. It constantly catechizes us into what some philosophers aptly call “nothing-buttery.” A star is “nothing but” a ball of flaming gas. You are “nothing but” a sack of protoplasm. Love is “nothing but” a chemical reaction in the brain. 

So I simply want to raise the question for you: What if this isn’t merely a metaphor? What if he really does “make his angels winds”? The book of Jonah says that God hurled a storm at Jonah when he fled from his mission. What if the storm had a name, like Gabriel or Michael? We name hurricanes. What if God does too? What if he really does make his angels winds?

“But Joe, we know how hurricanes are formed: warm ocean air rises into clouds, creating areas of low-pressure, which causes more air to rush in and then rise and cool, which leads to rain, which creates more warm ocean air and more low pressure, until the air really begins to rush in and swirl. It’s science, not angels.”

But why would those be mutually exclusive? You have a spirit, an invisible aspect to your being that makes use of the chemicals in your brain in its activities. The spiritual and the physical don’t cancel each other out. Might not winds, clouds, and fire have something similar underneath? What if the regularities that we observe in nature, are not owing to impersonal laws, but owing to the fact that holy angels are really, really obedient?

There’s more to be said about this modern tendency. On February 23, I’ll be giving a lecture at The North Church (formerly Bethlehem’s North Campus) as a part of Bethlehem College and Seminary’s Spring Lecture Series on Puddleglum’s Faith: Breaking the Dark Enchantments of the Modern World. We’ll include more information about that in the weekly email.

Of the Son

Back to Hebrews. The main contrast he’s drawing is between angels who are “made” and who “serve” and the Son who has an eternal throne, and who laid the foundation of the earth, and whose years have no end. Angels are creatures; they are made. The Son is not. 

To make this contrast, the author draws from Psalm 45 and Psalm 102 and claims that these passages are talking about the Son. How can he do that? How is he reading his Old Testament. Let’s look closely at Psalm 45.

Psalm 45 is clearly a royal psalm. “I address my verses to the king.”

"You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and majesty!
In your majesty ride out victoriously
for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you." (Ps. 45:2-5)

Later, the psalm celebrates the marriage of the king to the queen.

“At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.”

And then she is exhorted to leave her father’s house and fully be joined to the king who desires her beauty.

This is clearly a human king. But then, in the middle of the passage (v. 7-8), we have this oddity:

"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;"

So someone is addressed as “God,” and then that person is said to have a “God” “Therefore, God, your God” has anointed you. So this human king, most handsome of the sons of men, with a queen in her beauty, is said to be God and have a God, who anoints him with the oil of gladness.

Some might call this Messianic hyperbole. The Bible uses this exalted language to describe Israel’s king and to express Israel’s hopes for a future king who will restore the house of David. This is just hyperbole, nothing but hyperbole.

We see the same sort of thing in Isaiah 9, the famous Christmas passage. 

Isaiah 9:6–7,

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,”

Clearly, this is a human son, a child. In verse 7, we’re told that the zeal of the Lord of hosts will establish the throne of David. So this is a child in the Davidic line. And what will his name be called? 

“and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

Just Hyperbole? Nothing but messianic exaggeration? Perhaps. 

Until the hyperbole becomes reality. When Jesus arrives, we clearly see that passages like Psalm 45 and Isaiah 9 (and like Deuteronomy 32 which David Mathis explored last week) are not merely hyperbole. There is a human king, a son of man, born to a woman. And this son of Man is truly the eternal Son, the one who laid the foundations of the earth in the beginning, whose throne is forever and ever, and whose years will have no end. This is what the Old Testament has been saying all along, and why Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and scribes for not getting it. 

Or consider the final quotation from Psalm 110. 

“And to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?”

Jesus himself appealed to this passage to stump the Pharisees in Matthew 22.

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

Note the argument. David wrote the Psalm. And David says that “the Lord” (Yahweh) says to “my Lord” (Messiah) “Sit at my right hand.” The Messiah is both David’s son and David’s lord. He is David’s descendant, and David’s superior. 

Just as we must not reduce winds to physical causes, we must not reduce the Messiah to his human origins. The Old Testament promises, and the New Testament verifies and confirms, that the Messiah is a man, and more than a man, more even than an angel. The things that God says about the Messiah could not be said of any creature–human or angelic. Christ is supreme over the angels.

Application

Where do we go with this truth? Next week Pastor Kenny will unpack the conclusion that the author draws in 2:1 (note the word “therefore”). And then the following week, we’ll discuss the relationship between Christ and the angels in 2:5-9. And for that, let me just plant a little seed for your reflection. Last week Pastor David noted that the Bible gives us an order of being: God, angels, man, beasts. Humans reign over animals (Genesis 1, Psalm 8), and angels are over humans. Angels, it seems, reign over the nations of men and influence the course of human history. God gives the law through angels (Hebrews 2:2; Galatians 3). 

And this makes sense. Angels are beings of great power and might; they see the face of God, and act as his agents. Man is made “lower than the angels.”

But then we have 1:14, which says that angels are sent out to serve for our sake. So at one level, angels are above us; in another, they are below us. How do we make sense of both of those claims? Ponder that over the next few weeks.

For now, let me note a few ways that we can be encouraged by this chapter.

First, recognize the place of angels in God’s works. Modern people need reminders that there is more in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our reductionistic philosophies. Our earthly problems feel so big; reminding ourselves of the invisible supernatural realm, and the battles and praises taking place there, can help to recalibrate us. I don’t mean that you should become obsessed with angels (or demons). But I do mean that it is good and right for you to welcome and seek the service of God’s ministering spirits. When I put my kids to bed, I regularly pray that God would send his mighty angels in flames of fire to guard my house and my children. 

And you might say, “Joe, why don’t you just ask God to guard your house and your kids himself? Why bring angels into it?” Because I don’t want to be holier than God. I don’t want to be more spiritual than Jesus. The Bible tells us that God will command his angels concerning his people so that we don’t strike our foot against the stone. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and deliver them. The psalmist praises God for the activity of faithful angels and seek to praise God with the angels:

Psalm 103:20–21,

“Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!”

Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, as he prayed in agony, was strengthened by the appearance of an angel. Later in Hebrews, the author says that we should show hospitality, because some people have entertained angels unaware.

So recognizing and acknowledging the role of angels is a real part of the biblical vision of reality. And so we want to keep both truths in view: angels are real; Jesus is better. 

Second, let the loves and hates of Jesus shape your own. Of the Son he says, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.” There are things that Jesus loves, and things that Jesus hates. He has embedded knowledge of right and wrong in our consciences and then expressed them clearly in the Bible. 

And yet, we’re sinners, and we suppress the truth, and exchange the truth for a lie. Human beings know God’s decree and practice the opposite and celebrate our sin. And so it takes gracious effort to cultivate your loves and your hates. And I stress both, because the passage stresses both. We are pressed on every side to emphasize what God loves, and not what God hates. But there are things that Jesus hates.

Earlier this week at Bethlehem College and Seminary Chapel, we sang an arrangement of Psalm 125. 

Psalm 125:1–3,

“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds his people,
from this time forth and forevermore.
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts!”

Christ’s scepter is a scepter of righteousness (Hebrews 1:8). Here there is the scepter of wickedness. And one of the dangers of living beneath a wicked scepter, under wicked rulers is that ungodly law shapes even the righteous so that they stretch out their hands to do wrong. This is one of the reasons why law matters – it shapes our views of what is good and evil. And we live under wicked rulers. 

Just this week the Minnesota legislature is considering bills that will expand abortion access for any reason up until birth, remove waiting periods and parental consent, and deny medical care to children who survive abortions. 

They’ve also queued up bills that would enable the state to seize custody of children from parents should they deny “gender affirming care” to their minor son or daughter, that would outlaw efforts by counselors to help minors and vulnerable adults as they wrestle with their sexuality, and that would mandate that schools teach children about the “spectrum” of sexuality. 

These are wicked laws, established by the scepter of wickedness. But we live under Christ’s scepter of righteousness. We trust in the Lord, and seek to calibrate our loves and hates by the loves and hates of Christ. And from that faith and upright heart, we seek the face of God; we ask him to do good to us, and then through us to our city, state, and nation. We ask the Lord to act to establish justice for the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Third, and finally, because Christ perfectly and completely loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God anointed him with the oil of gladness beyond his companions. According to Acts 10, the oil of gladness here is the Holy Spirit, who descended upon Jesus and empowered him for his ministry. And then, Christ pours out that same oil of gladness upon us, anointing his people with his Spirit at Pentecost. In the face of the great evils we face – both in the culture and in our own midst and hearts – the joy of Jesus anchors us in his rule and reign.

The Table

This brings us to the table. Here, we marvel that Jesus doesn’t change. His throne is forever and ever. He laid the foundations of the earth in the beginning. He made the heavens, and he will outlast them. He will bring history and this creation to its close. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And he is seated now, as God brings everything into subjection to him. God makes his angels winds; he makes Christ’s enemies his footstool. We eat this meal because Christ is seated at the right hand of Majesty.