Hebrews 1-2

The Voice

1 Long ago, at different times and in various ways, God’s voice came to our ancestors through the Hebrew prophets. ²But in these last days, it has come to us through His Son, the One who has been given dominion over all things and through whom all worlds were made.

³This is the One who—imprinted with God’s image, shimmering with His glory—sustains all that exists through the power of His word. He was seated at the right hand of God once He Himself had made the offering that purified us from all our sins. ⁴This Son of God is elevated as far above the heavenly messengers as His holy name is elevated above theirs.

Most images of angels are influenced by art and pop culture—and are far removed from the Bible. The word “angel” literally means “messenger,” and it can refer to either a human being or a heavenly being. The Hebrews author is writing about heavenly messengers.

In the Bible, heavenly messengers have several functions—executors of God’s judgment, guardians of God’s people, heralds of God’s plans. They appear at critical moments to chosen people who play important roles in God’s salvation, such as arriving to announce the birth and resurrection of Jesus and to transmit God’s law to Moses. They are no more than messengers, created beings, who serve the will of God and His Son. Recognizing their place, they bow before the Son in loving adoration.

⁵For no heavenly messengers have ever heard God address them with these words of the psalms:

You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father.^[a]

Or heard Him promise,

I will be to You a Father,
and You will be My Son.^[b]

⁶Now, when the Son, the firstborn of God, was brought into the world, God said,

Let all My heavenly messengers worship Him.^[c]

⁷Concerning them, God said,

I make My heavenly messengers like the winds,
and My servants like a flame.^[d]

⁸But to the Son He said,

God, Your throne is eternal;
    You will rule Your kingdom with the scepter of justice.
⁹You have loved what is right
    and hated what is evil;
That is why God, Your God, has anointed You
    with the oil of gladness and lifted You above Your companions.^[e]

¹⁰And God continues,

In the beginning, You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth
    and set the skies above us with Your own hands.
¹¹But while they will someday pass away,
You remain forever;
    when they wear out like old clothes,
¹²You will roll them up
    and change them into something new.
But You will never change;
    Your years will never come to an end.^[f]

¹³Did God ever say to any of the heavenly messengers,

Sit here, at My right hand, in the seat of honor;
and I’ll put all Your enemies under Your feet?^[g]

¹⁴No, of course not. The heavenly messengers are only spirits and servants, sent out to minister to those who will certainly inherit salvation.

2 That is why we ought to pay even closer attention to the voice that has been speaking so that we will never drift away from it. ²For if the words of instruction and inspiration brought by heaven’s messengers were valid, and if we live in a universe where sin and disobedience receive their just rewards, ³then how will we escape destruction if we ignore this great salvation? We heard it first from our Lord Jesus, then from those who passed on His teaching. ⁴God also testifies to this truth by signs and wonders and miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit lighting on those He chooses.

This letter is punctuated with passages that sound an alarm: danger, both imminent and eternal, is at hand. The real danger is the gentle erosion of rock-solid commitments.

How often it happens! A person makes a decision to follow Jesus. He practically explodes with joy. Then life happens and the invisible forces that shape culture in our world—the idols of consumerism, relativism, and materialism—begin their exacting work to shape us into an image that no longer reflects our Savior. Over and over again, the writer warns us to be careful. Don’t neglect this great salvation. Make sure the anchor holds.

⁵Now clearly God didn’t set up the heavenly messengers to bring the final word or to rule over the world that is coming. ⁶I have read something somewhere:

I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals
    or choose to love the son of man.
^7-8Though he was born below the heavenly messengers,
    You honored the son of man like royalty,
    crowning him with glory and honor,
Raising him above all earthly things,
    placing everything under his feet.^[h]

When God placed everything under the son of man, He didn’t leave out anything. Maybe we don’t see all that happening yet; ⁹but what we do see is Jesus, born a little lower than the heavenly messengers, who is now crowned with glory and honor because He willingly suffered and died. And He did that so that through God’s grace, He might taste death on behalf of everyone.

Here is God’s Son: Creator, Sustainer, Great High Priest. Jesus has to take on our feeble flesh and suffer a violent death. He suffers for what we need.

¹⁰It only makes sense that God, by whom and for whom everything exists, would choose to bring many of us to His side by using suffering to perfect Jesus, the founder of our faith, the pioneer of our salvation. ¹¹As I will show you, it’s important that the One who brings us to God and those who are brought to God become one, since we are all from one Father. This is why Jesus was not ashamed to call us His family, ¹²saying, in the words of the psalmist,

I will speak Your Name to My brothers and sisters
when I praise You in the midst of the community.^[i]

¹³And in the words of Isaiah,

I will wait for the Eternal One.^[j]

And again,

Look, here I am with the children God has given Me.^[k]

¹⁴Since we, the children, are all creatures of flesh and blood, Jesus took on flesh and blood, so that by dying He could destroy the one who held power over death—the devil— ¹⁵and destroy the fear of death that has always held people captive.

¹⁶So notice—His concern here is not for the welfare of the heavenly messengers, but for the children of Abraham. ¹⁷He had to become as human as His sisters and brothers so that when the time came, He could become a merciful and faithful high priest of God, called to reconcile a sinful people. ¹⁸Since He has also been tested by suffering, He can help us when we are tested.