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Christ superior to the angels 
chapter 1 verse 4 all the way to chapter 2 verse 18 the whole 
argument takes up or the whole section takes up the supremacy 
of Jesus over the angels and why would the apostle have to 
address this last week I read two quotes from two old brothers 
or older brothers that speak to this issue John Calvin said 
it was a common notion It was a common notion among the Jews 
that the law was given by angels, which we'll see in chapter 2 
verse 1 this evening. They attentively considered the 
honorable things spoken of them everywhere in scripture. And 
as the world is strangely inclined to superstition, They obscured 
the glory of God by extolling angels too much. So they saw 
this role, this servanthood, this ministerial operation of 
the angels, but as Calvin says, the world is strangely inclined 
to superstition. They obscured the glory of God 
by extolling angels too much, looking to them as being perhaps 
higher and more powerful than even Jesus. Calvin said it was 
necessary, therefore, to reduce them to their own rank that they 
might not overshadow the brightness of Christ. And then A.W. Pink says, after commenting on 
the unique role of angels, he said, thus the Jews esteemed 
angels more highly than man. to be told that the Messiah himself, 
the God the Son incarnate, had become man, made him in their 
eyes inferior to the angels. So you got angels, you got man. They hear that Jesus is a man, 
well therefore they think that Jesus is under the angels. That's 
why he spends all of this time to show that Jesus is not under 
the angels, but Jesus is over the angels. As Pink says, therefore 
was it necessary to show them from their own scriptures that 
the mediator, God manifest in flesh, possessed a dignity and 
glory as far excelling that of the angels as the heavens are 
higher than the earth. so in verse four there is a statement 
of the truth having become so much better than the angels as 
he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they 
and then there is the confirmation of this truth in verses five 
to 14, which will take up this evening. We didn't exhaust all 
of those verses last week, but that is the confirmation of the 
truth. Basically, it takes seven texts 
from the Old Testament, from their own scriptures, those things 
that they would have been familiar with to show that Christ is indeed 
supreme over the angels. Now, if you look at chapter 2, 
verse 5, for he has not put the world to come of which we speak 
in subjection to angels. There he picks up again the argument 
that Christ is superior to the angels. What he does in chapter 
2 verses 1 to 4 is apply the truth, the application of this 
truth. Notice in chapter 2 verse 1. 
Let's just stop for a moment and apply this based on everything 
he said concerning the supremacy or superiority of Jesus over 
the angels. How then are we to live? What 
is the message that we need to apply? What are the things that 
we need to do in light of that? So that's how the text of the 
passage is outlined or laid out for us. And God willing, we're 
going to take up beginning in verse 8 this evening. So I'll 
just pick up reading in verse 5 to set the larger context. 
For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son, 
today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a 
father, and he shall be to me a son. But when he again brings 
the firstborn into the world, he says, Let all the angels of 
God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who 
makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 
But to the Son he says, your throne, O God, is forever and 
ever. A scepter of righteousness is 
the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness 
and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God, has 
anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. 
And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, 
and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, 
but you remain, and they will all grow old like a garment. 
Like a cloak you will fold them up, and they will be changed, 
but you are the same, and your years will not fail. But to which 
of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make 
your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering 
spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? 
Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we 
have heard, lest we drift away. For if the words spoken through 
angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience 
received a just reward, 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 was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 
God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various 
miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. Amen. So when we look here at 
verse 5, we see Jesus' relationship to the Father. Christ is superior 
to the angels because of the relationship that he sustains 
to his father. Notice in verse 5. To which of 
the angels did God ever say, you are my son today, I have 
begotten you. That's a quotation from what 
psalm? 2 Psalm 2 verse 7 you see the first 
element in the argument Jesus is supreme over the angels because 
the father has said to Jesus you are my son today I have begotten 
you now again angels in scripture at times are called the sons 
of God the people of God the elect are called sons of God 
there's only one begotten son there's only son of his love 
there is only one who is chief among 10,000 in 
the apple of the Father's eye, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
So Christ is supreme over the angels by virtue of his relationship 
to the Father. He highlights Psalm 2 and then 
in verse 5, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me 
a son. Where is that a quote from? very good second Samuel 714 the 
Davidic Covenant when God promised David that from his line there 
would arise a king whose kingdom would go forever and ever and 
of course that is the Lord Jesus Christ The second element or 
the second reason or line of evidence as to the supremacy 
of Christ over the angels is Christ's relationship to the 
angels. This is a bit of a reveal, we're 
going to get into the new material in just a second. But notice 
his relationship to the angels in verses 6 and 7. But when he 
again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the 
angels of God worship him. He's talking about Jesus. Of 
course, Jesus is supreme if angels are worshipping him. It's not 
the other way around. Jesus is not worshipping the 
angels. The angels are worshipping Jesus. So therefore, he is superior. 
He is supreme. And of the angels, he says, verse 
7, who makes his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of 
fire. They are servants serving the 
God of heaven and earth. So they are ministering spirits. They are not supreme. They are 
not objects of worship, but the Lord Jesus Christ is. So we've 
seen his relationship to the Father, his relationship to the 
angels. Now thirdly, his deity. And by 
deity we mean the fact that he is God. Of course he is supreme 
over the angels because he himself is God. So if anybody would entertain 
for a moment the idea that we're going to put angels over Jesus, 
the Apostle says you cannot do that. He is God Almighty. And where does he turn to prove 
this? From the Scriptures. Anyone? Verse 8. What's that a quotation 
from? No. What is it? Psalm 45, a messianic psalm. Remember last week we said that 
the psalms fall into various categories. Some of the psalms 
are just about praising God and worshiping and singing and delighting 
in the Lord. Other psalms have to do with 
lament. You know the psalmist is very 
candid, he's very open. He basically cries and he writes 
down all of the hard things that he is going through. There are 
psalms of celebration. There are psalms expressing our 
dependency upon the Lord. And then there are the royal 
psalms and the messianic psalms. Those were promises of the coming 
Redeemer. Those were psalms written concerning 
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Psalm 45 is one of those. 
Notice verse 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. It's a powerful statement, a 
powerful attribution of deity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now 
the Jehovah's Witnesses try to wrench this out of context. Some 
liberal commentators or translators have tried to mess with this. 
But it says what it says. This is a great translation of 
the passage. Your throne, O God, is forever 
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is 
the scepter of your kingdom. This is a clear application of 
God to Jesus. The Greek word for God is theos. 
Where do we get the word? Theology. Anytime you hear ology 
at the end of a word, ology simply means the study of or doctrine 
of. So theos is God, so theology 
is the study of God. What do you think Christology 
is? The study of Christ. Homarcheology? The study of sin. Deontology? Not the study of 
men named Deon, but ethics. study of the Holy Spirit, those 
are just conventions and here we have the application of the 
name God or the word Theos to the Lord Jesus Christ and this 
is not the only place in the New Testament where this happens. Sometimes you'll meet Jehovah's 
Witnesses. If you haven't met them, they 
have an axe to grind against the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it's good for us to have 
in mind those texts that apply the name God or the word God 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have your pen and you want 
to write these down? They are John 1, 1. John 1.18 
says only begotten son but the text there does seem to indicate 
that Jesus is theos. John 20.28 Acts 20.28 Romans 
9.5 Titus 2.13 2 Peter 1.1 and 1 John 5.20 along of course with 
Hebrews 1.8 This is the word theos, the name 
God, applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. C. H. Spurgeon, speaking 
on Psalm 45, from where this quote was taken, said, the psalmist 
cannot restrain his adoration. That's what Psalm 45 is all about. 
It's about a celebration. Marriage, supper of the Lamb. 
If you ever really want to look at Psalm 45, read it and then 
read Revelation 19. You'll just be praising God because 
of how good Jesus is. It's just that good. Revelation 
19. In my mind, the author John has 
Psalm 45 in his heart and in his mind as he's writing about 
Christ in Revelation 19. But Spurgeon said the psalmist 
cannot restrain his adoration. His enlightened eye sees in the 
royal husband of the church, God. God to be adored, God reigning, 
God reigning everlastingly. Blessed sight blind the eyes 
that cannot see God in Christ Jesus. That's the problem with 
Watchtower theology. their eyes are blind. That's 
the problem with Mormonism and the cults and anyone who denies 
the deity of Jesus Christ. They are blind. They are dead 
in their trespasses and sins. They have not had the veil removed 
so that they may behold the glory of God in Jesus Christ. That's the reason why. This verse 
also is a clear statement concerning Christ's royal reign. Look at 
what he says. A scepter of righteousness is 
the scepter of your kingdom. It is a description of the character 
of that reign. Notice in verse 9. You have loved 
righteousness and hated lawlessness. Isn't that beautiful? You read 
through the prophet Isaiah and those snapshots he gives of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Those times when he describes 
the Lord Jesus Christ. He uses the same type of language. 
He rules in righteousness. He's not like us. He doesn't 
just sort of, you know, hope everything works out. No, Christ 
reigns and rules in righteousness. We may not always see how things 
are going to work out, but He does. And He is orchestrating 
everything according to a plan to bring glory to the Father, 
to bring glory to the Son and the Spirit, and to bring good 
to His people. And this is the characteristic 
of Israel. A very familiar passage around 
this time of the year, actually in two months from now, is in 
Isaiah 9, verse 6, where the prophet describes the king, and 
then he describes the kingdom. Describing the king, he says, 
For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the 
government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, 
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Now 
the way he describes the kingdom, listen, he says, of the increase 
of his government and peace, there will be no end. Don't miss 
that. I know we think that Muslims 
are going to win, but they're not. We may think that the Buddhists 
and the Hindus and the whoever's are outnumbering us. But be assured 
of this, of the increase. That means the influence, the 
pervasive reality of his government and peace. There will be no end. It says, upon the throne of David 
and over his kingdom to order and establish it with judgment 
and justice. From that time forward, even 
forever, the zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will perform this. I 
mean, it's God's zeal to make sure that Christ's reign looks 
like this. And then one other place, Isaiah 
11. Notice Isaiah 11, verse 1. There shall come forth a rod 
from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of 
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, 
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight 
is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight 
of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. 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. Righteousness shall be the belt 
of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist." Beautiful 
description of our Redeemer. Beautiful description of the 
character of His reign. You have loved righteousness 
and hated lawlessness. Now, I don't know if you've ever 
had anybody say to you, how could you ever believe that there is 
a sovereign God in control of everything when the world looks 
like this? I don't know if you saw on the 
news the other day in California, a young girl, a young lady was 
gang raped for about two hours outside of a school. Several people saw, it took forever 
for anybody to even call the police. Someone will say to you, 
how in the world can you swear a good God was such evil in the 
world? Well, I may not be able to explain 
everything to the satisfaction of the God-hater, but this thing 
I do know. That if these people do not repent, 
they're going to meet something far worse than any earthly magistrate 
can ever meet out. The Lord Jesus reigns in righteousness, 
and He hates lawlessness. And He will ultimately judge 
all men for their deeds done in the body, whether good or 
bad. He may not do it right now. He may not do it in our time 
frame. But He is not on our time frame. We are on His. And we need to 
walk in faith and realize that He loves righteousness and He 
hates lawlessness. And then notice, not only is 
there the application of the word and the name God to Christ, 
but notice in verse 9, there is distinction made between the 
Father and the Son. Therefore, God, your God, has 
anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. Absolutely beautiful statement. Absolutely glorious. We don't 
have this mess of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in one strange 
thing. We have one God, in essence, 
three persons, a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
such that the Son can be called God, and nevertheless, as the 
Son of God, have God as His Father. This is, again, Trinitarianism. There is same in substance, but 
there is difference, there is distinction between the persons 
of the Godhead. One place in particular is John 
20. John 20, verse 17, when the Lord Jesus says, Do not cling 
to me for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren 
and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father 
and my God and your God. Or when Jesus on the cross, he 
cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Or Jesus 
says of his father in the upper room, I go to my father, my father 
is greater than I. That is not an indicator that 
there is some sort of subordination between the person. They are 
equal in power and glory. But in the economy of redemption, 
the son willingly submits himself to the father. That's how that 
passage is to be understood. And so we have unity, we have 
distinction in the Godhead. Any questions or comments up 
to this point? You can't say this about an angel, 
bottom line. When all is said and done, that's 
the argument of the apostle. This Christ is God. He is not less than the angels. Well, there's one substance, 
right? One essence, which is God. But 
there are three distinct persons. The Father, the Son, and the 
Spirit are three distinct persons. So you have a substance, you 
have persons. That's how we can have one and 
three. We have one substance, three 
persons. We don't have one substance and 
three substances. You get that? We don't have one 
person and three persons, unless you're Stevie T. We have one 
substance and we have three persons. That's why there is not a contradiction. We may not be able to wrap our 
minds around it and exhaust it, but the Bible teaches that there 
is one God. The Bible teaches us the Father 
is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God. Yet not three Gods, one 
God. And as long as we go with what the Bible says, we're safe. 
When we depart from that, when we go either way, we fall prey 
to heresy. Jesus said, if you do not believe 
that I am, you will die in your sins. It is something that is 
that important. We may disagree on what's going 
to happen when Jesus returns. More than likely, there would 
be about five different ideas in this room about what's going 
to happen when Jesus returns. And all of us, believing those 
different things can still go to happen, but we can't mess 
up on who Jesus is. You cannot be wrong on that. That's why when we get to these 
passages, I try to slow down and I try to give you texts with 
the hope that you're going to jot those texts down, write them 
on your hand, sometime read them for yourself so that you can 
I appreciate just who Jesus Christ really is, because that's the 
most important thing in this world. Not where are you going 
to go to school, what are you going to have for dinner, who 
are you going to marry, what are you going to do with your 
money. The most important thing is what do you think of Jesus 
Christ and what are you going to do with Him. I had a biblical 
witness come by last week and he gave me a Catholic, a very 
Catholic and they're denying the Holy Spirit. They read through 
it and went through all the text and everything. It's just unreal 
how they can believe that. They're brainwashed. Yeah, they deny the personhood 
of the Holy Spirit. They don't even say the Holy 
Spirit, they say Holy Spirit. And then they say God's active 
force. God's active force. It's called 
the New World Translation. And it's something to stay away 
from. It's really, it's not a good translation. It's sectarian. 
Isn't it funny how most folks, the things they say they don't 
believe in, they fight the hardest to try and disprove to others 
what they don't believe in. If you don't believe in it, why 
bother even taking the time to do it? Yeah, Walter Martin said 
that the two things Jehovah's Witnesses deny the most is the 
deity of Christ and the doctrine of hell. And he reckoned because 
deep down inside they knew that if Christ is God, they're going 
to go to hell for what it is they're perpetuating. So those were the two things 
that they had to fight the most against. So, with reference to 
his deity, the apostle cites Psalm 45, but he doesn't stop 
there. Notice verse 10, and he's still 
carrying on this particular theme. Verse 8, but to the sun he says, 
quotes from Psalm 45, verse 10, and now he goes to Psalm 102. And in Psalm, excuse me, 102, 
We read, You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, 
and the heavens are the work of Your hands. He's applying 
this to Jesus. you have to see this but to the 
sun he says Psalm 45 and Psalm 102 verse 11 they will perish 
but you remain and they will all grow old like a garment like 
a cloak you will fold them up and they will be changed but 
you are the same and your years will not fail so from this quotation 
from Psalm 102 we learn that Jesus is the creator of all things. We've already seen that in chapter 
1 verse 2. Whom he has appointed heir of 
all things, through whom also he made the world. So he's already 
said this in Hebrews chapter 1. He's reasserting it. this 
is repeated in John chapter 1 after it says in the beginning was 
the word and the word was with God and the word was God it says 
that he made all things Colossians 1 15 to 20 tells us the very 
same thing Jesus made all things the Old Testament tells us as 
well Genesis 1 to by his word he created, the Lord spoke and 
then these things were made. In Psalm 33 it says, by the word 
of the Lord he made the earth. So Jesus is the creator. Another 
theme picked up in Psalm 102. He is the sovereign administrator. Again, we've seen this before. 
How is he proving that Jesus is superior to the angels? In 
the same way he did over the prophets. I mean, when you order 
all things As a general rule, you're not subject to angels. 
When you're the governor, when you're in charge, when you're 
the king of kings, there's no one you answer to. You're it. The buck stops with Jesus. Notice, 
he says in verse 11 or verse 12, like a cloak you will fold 
them up. The idea is that when Jesus is 
ready to consummate the age, he folds up the universe. like 
we fold our shirts and put them away at night. And we fold our 
underwear. Jesus has that control over the 
universe. Now some of us have trouble doing 
that in our homes with our shirts. But like a cloak, he says, you 
will fold them up. He says that Jesus is immutable. And they will be changed, but 
you are the same. Immutable is a big word that 
means you don't change. That's what immutability means. 
When you hear that about God in theology, it means He doesn't 
change. God, the Lord, does not change. He says that in the prophet Malachi. This same book, in Hebrews chapter 
13, at verse 8, we learn this of Christ. It says, Jesus Christ 
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is immutable. This is only true of God. And then notice, He is eternal. Like the clothes, you will fold 
them up, verse 12, and they will be changed. But you are the same, 
and your years will not fail. Where else does the Bible teach 
that Jesus is eternal? That means He has no beginning 
and no end. John 1. That's speaking specifically 
of God. From everlasting to everlasting. 
No, Psalm 90 verse 2 I think she's referring to. But yeah, 
John 1 in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God 
and the Word was God. He was in the beginning. He became 
flesh according to John 1.14. The grammar there is very conspicuous. 
Jesus became flesh according to John 1.14. He always was the 
Word. That's the tense of the verb. 
It wasn't as if he came into being. No, he always was. And what did you say, Steve? Alpha and the Omega, absolutely. That's right, that shows his 
eternality as well. We read from Isaiah 9, 6 earlier. He is Everlasting Father. It's an amazing passage, again, 
going back to the Watchtower. They look at Isaiah 9 and it 
says Jesus is Mighty God. Well, He's Mighty God, but He's 
not Almighty God. He's Everlasting Father. How many everlasting fathers 
are there? And the Psalms do refer to Yahweh 
as mighty God as well. So it's kind of an interesting 
thing. Any other passages? The eternality of Christ. Micah 
5.2 which says that a ruler is coming to Israel whose origins 
are from old and everlasting. Absolutely. are from everlasting. So, Christ is Creator, He is 
Sovereign Administrator, He is Immutable, He is Eternal. A. W. Pink said this with reference 
to the eternality of Christ. He says, do we really grasp this? For 1,900 years since the cross, 
men have been born, have lived, and then died. Statesmen, emperors, 
kings have appeared on the scene and then passed away. But there 
is one glorious man who spans the centuries, who in his own 
humanity bridges those 1,900 years. He has not died, nor even 
grown old. He is the same yesterday and 
today and forever. He goes on and says, and what 
is the practical application of this wondrous passage for 
us today? Surely this first such a Savior 
who is none other than him who made heaven and earth is a mighty 
Redeemer able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
God by him. Second, such a one who is immutable 
and eternal may be safely and confidently trusted. None can 
pluck us out of his hand. Third, such a one who is Lord 
over all is to be held in holy awe and given the worship, submission, 
and service which are his due. Amen. That is beautiful. I love 
that last one. You know, when we talk about 
application, or let's apply the text. A lot of times we want, 
how can I be a better husband, or how can I be a better wife, 
or how can I be a better kid. You know what? A great application 
is bow before the majesty of God. That is always a wonderful 
application. Even before you go out and be 
a better kid, bow before the majesty of this Christ, who is 
described here in this manner. Any questions or comments? We'll 
look at the last piece of evidence on the superiority of Jesus over 
the angels. Okay, fourthly, verses 13 and 
14 is sovereignty. his sovereignty notice the sun 
rains in the angels serve verse 13 but to which of the angels 
has he ever said sit in my right hand till I make your enemies 
your footstool are they not all ministering spirits sent forth 
to minister for those who will inherit salvation So you see 
that? I mean, again, in a day and age 
that I think, maybe it's not as bad, or maybe I'm just not 
as aware of it anymore, but it seemed to me some years ago, 
everybody was into angels. TV shows about angels, angels 
on bumper stickers, angels on stickers, angels here. Everybody's 
consumed with angels. Well, if anybody ever comes and 
says, wow, I really am into the angels, take them to Hebrews 
1. There is sufficient information 
there to discredit the claim of any angel to anything of superiority 
over Jesus Christ. Christ is the one who reigns 
at the right hand of the majesty of God on high. Where does this 
verse come from? Sit at my right hand till I make 
your enemies your footstool. Which is it? 110.1. Sometime when you're reading 
through the New Testament, keep a pencil in your hand and write 
down every time that that verse is quoted or alluded to. And by an allusion, there are 
times when it may not be a direct quote, but you'll see that language 
in a particular passage. Now this is very important for 
us because in the Roman Empire they suffered greatly as Christians. Who are the two enemies of the 
church in the first century? They had two big enemies. Wasn't 
it the Muslims and the Hindus and the Buddhists then? Jews 
and Romans. Absolutely. When you look at 
the book of Acts, the first great persecutor of the church was 
unbelieving Israel. In fact, you don't even have 
to look at Acts. You can look to the Gospel accounts. Who were 
the chief opponents of our Lord Jesus Christ? It wasn't the Romans 
at that time. It was unbelieving Israel. and 
that carried over into the church after Jesus died rose again he 
ascended on high the disciples went out they preach the gospel 
they made disciples they planted churches and they received a 
lot of animosity from unbelieving Jews now as time progressed the 
Roman Empire became more increasingly hostile toward Christians they 
became more of a persecuting agency against Christians. So, 
the Christians had a tough time in this era. In fact, this book, 
as we have seen and already alluded to, if you look at chapter 10 
for just a moment, I'm sure we'll look at many times to ground 
ourselves in what was going on in the situation there. Notice 
in chapter 10 verse 32. Recall the former days in which 
after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with 
sufferings. partly while you were made a 
spectacle, both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly 
while you became companions of those who were so treated. For 
you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully accepted 
the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better 
and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven." So the 
point is this, they had great persecution, they had two massive 
opposing powers against them, and yet they never lost sight 
of the fact that Jesus was in charge. I fear that this is a 
problem today. We see persecution, we see trials, 
we see difficulties, we see Islam, we see Barack Obama, we see liberals, 
we see this, and we freak out and forget that Jesus really 
is on his throne. The battle cry of the early church 
was, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. 
The battle cry of our church is oftentimes, where is Jesus? And that shouldn't be the case. 
No matter what's going on in this lower world, Christ is sitting 
at the right hand of God Most High. He has the reins of the 
universe in His hands. He is guiding and controlling 
and ruling over everything. And believe it or not, His foot 
is progressively lowering upon all of his enemies. That's what 
the text says. Sit at my right hand till I make 
your enemies your footstool. What's the teaching there? God 
is making the enemies of Jesus his footstool. He does that one 
through the preaching of the gospel. That's how he made us 
enemies under submission to Christ. We're all enemies of Christ, 
but somebody gave us the gospel and the Spirit opened our hearts 
and our understanding to respond to Christ. Well, he deals with 
his enemies in that way. He may convert them. If he doesn't 
convert them, he will ultimately consign them to hell. Absolutely 
when you don't have the sort of the big picture and you don't 
understand God's dealings in the Old Covenant as well. Yeah, you can get lopsided. You 
can get discouraged. You can get afraid of the Ahab's. 
You can get afraid of the Sennacheribs. You can feel like everything 
is always bad, and it's always going to be bad, and we're going 
to just lose. And you know what? We may, but Jesus won't. You 
and I may lose our earthly battles, but Christ will never lose. He gets the glory. He will have 
dominion from sea to sea. And so the fourth evidence that 
Christ is supreme over the angels is His sovereignty. The sun reigns 
according to verse 13. For further study, you can look 
at 1 Corinthians 15 verses 20 to 28. and also, of course, Matthew 
28, 18 to 20, a passage that I hope is fresh in all of our 
minds. We call it, excuse me, the Great 
Commission, where Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on 
earth has been given to me. therefore make disciples of all 
the nations revelation chapter one you can turn there and see 
this one for yourself revelation chapter one again written in 
the context where there was great suffering upon the churches of 
Christ where there were trials where there was tribulation where 
there were political powers. Now probably all of us have a 
bit of a different understanding of who the beast in Revelation 
13 is. But for the most part we all 
agree that he is a persecuting power of some immensity, of some 
badness. The beast, I mean, you don't 
describe somebody who's good as a beast, right? God through 
John tells us that this persecuting power of Revelation 13 is in 
peace. So they've got bad things on 
their horizon. They've got issues. They've got 
battles and struggles and trials and political powers that are 
in charge that they don't always do things in a nice kind and 
good way. Listen what John says in Revelation 
1.4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace to you 
and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come a 
reference to the father and from the seven spirits who are before 
his throne a reference to the Holy Spirit, not that there are 
seven of them, but seven in the book of Revelation refers to 
completeness, the completeness of the Holy Spirit. And then 
notice in verse 5, and from Jesus Christ. Now it describes Jesus 
in the prophet, priest, and king role. The faithful witness prophet, 
the firstborn from the dead priest, and the ruler over the kings 
of the earth. King, right? It doesn't say he's 
going to be. It doesn't say after the beast 
is gone, after the beasts from the sea and the land are gone, 
after everything is gone, then Jesus will take his place on 
the throne. No. John says right now, writing 
in probably AD 64, 65, 66, somewhere around there, he is saying that 
Jesus now is the ruler over the kings of the earth. And that's 
precisely what Paul does here in Hebrews chapter 1. Christ 
is not subject to the angels, Christ is over them. And then 
he finishes in verse 14, he's highlighted the sun rains, and 
now he says in verse 14 that the angels serve, are they not 
all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who 
will inherit salvation. Though not a quotation, probably 
an allusion, to Psalm 103 verse 20, and as we saw last week, 
what a blessed statement. These ministering spirits are 
sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. Us. Right? Us. That's who inherits salvation, 
not just us, hopefully not just us, hopefully there's a whole 
lot more, but those who inherit salvation are ministered to by 
the angels. Beautiful! They have a subservient 
role. Christ is ruling and reigning 
at the Father's right hand, and He bids the angels to do His 
service. He sends them, He dispatches, 
He controls them, He gives them the marching orders. And they 
come, and I don't know how, and I know growing up as a Catholic, 
they were told, you know, you have a guardian angel and some 
of us would move over on our chair so that our little guardian 
angel could, I don't know if they do that in your little Catholic 
school, but that's how they rolled at mine, you know, your little 
guardian angels. I don't know about that, that's, 
whatever the Catholics say, it's gotta be wrong. But somehow, 
angels minister to those who inherit salvation. Angels carry 
a particular role and a function, they are not sovereign, they 
are not in authority, they are not deity, they are not in charge, 
only Christ is. So if you have any more questions 
as to the superiority of Jesus over the angels, I can't help 
you. I don't know how much clearer 
that the apostle could have been than setting forth his case here. Psalm 103 20. If you write that 
in your margin at verse 14. It's not a direct quotation but 
it's one of those like an allusion. Psalm 110 verse 1. Oh, oh, oh. 
1 Corinthians 15 20 to 28. Matthew 28 18 to 20. And Revelation 
1 verse 5. And you'll see that over and 
over again, as we've already seen in this chapter, as we just 
saw in Revelation 1. The Bible continually sets Christ 
forth in those offices. Prophet, priest, and king. You 
get that down, you're going to be a good theologian. You're 
going to have a good working idea of what the Bible's all 
about. Christ speaks to us as a prophet. 
He intercedes and makes sacrifice for us as a priest. And He rules 
and reigns over us as a king. We'll stop there, we'll pick 
up the application chapter 2 verses 1 to 4 next week and then look 
at the remainder, well as much of the remainder of the argument 
of Christ's superiority in chapter 2 verse 5 and following. Father, we thank you for this 
picture of our Lord Jesus. We thank you that he is God, 
that he is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, and he is 
our Savior. Father, we truly are humbled 
by your goodness to us, and we are amazed at just what a Savior 
we have in Christ. And I pray that you would help 
us to prize him to love Him, to walk in faith, and just to 
celebrate the fact that we get to call You our God and our Father. 
I pray that You would go with each one of us now. I pray that 
You would watch over us and protect us. And again, we just pray for 
the various needs that were voiced at the beginning of our time 
here this evening. God, we know that You are good 
and that You work all things for the good of Your people. 
And we just pray now that You would bless us and strengthen 
us and help us, God. And we pray in Jesus' most holy 
name, Amen.