In the opening chapter in the Book of Hebrews, the author wasted no time firing off on his agenda. He set out to begin to talk about angels right out of the gate. But he didn’t just begin to give a systematic theology on angels. His purpose was more specific than that. His main thesis was on how Christ is superior than the angels. Of the many directions he could have gone, it is remarkable to me the first thing he chose to write about was on angels. He could have opened the letter talking about how Christ is superior to Moses, superior to the covenant, superior to the faith institutions, or superior to the faith rituals. But he didn’t. He chose the angels as the leadoff batter. Does this surprise you? Have you ever thought why he felt he wanted to start by talking about angels?
By the end of the first chapter in the Book of Hebrews, we already get a sense that the audience to whom the author of Hebrews was writing had a very high view of angels. The angels were a big deal to the 1st century Hebrews. It would be a moot point for the author to say that Christ was superior to the angels if the Hebrews didn’t think very highly of angels.
So we know that the Hebrews had a very high view of angels, but just how high are we talking about? Would you believe me if I were to tell you some people in the days of Hebrews thought so highly of angels they actually worshipped them? I am not making this up. It says so in our Bibles.
Colossians 2.18–19
Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
In addition, in Revelation 19, we learned that there was a day the Apostle John had a conversation with an angel, and even he was tempted at one point to worship the angel. I know. The disciple whom Jesus loved on the verge of worshipping an angel. Hard to believe, isn’t it?
Revelation 19.9–10
Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
So, as you can see, many in the 1st century exalted angels to a very high place, and there was great temptation even to offer worship to them. If the author of Hebrews was saying what we think he was saying, the angels were really a big deal. Some Hebrews in the 1st century believed, for example, that God lived in heaven surrounded by angels. Many might have believed angels were the highest beings next to God. But why? How did it become this way? What might be the reason the Hebrews had such a high view of angels? That is a very hard question to answer. But if I had to guess, I think the biggest reason is because they believed that angels mediated the Old Covenant between God and Israel. God did not call on anyone else but he called on the angels to bring his word and to reveal the working of his will in the universe to men. The angels also delivered the Mosaic Law, as it says in Hebrews 2:2, “the word spoken through angels proved unalterable.”
Acts 7.51–53
“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
Galatians 3.19
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
To be absolutely sure, the 1st century Hebrews studied the biblical teachings closely, and knew them like the back of their hand. But over time, it appears some began to wander off into the rabbinical sentiments and ideas, and came to a distorted view of angels, a view that had become loosely based on Scripture. Within this backdrop of Talmudic and other writings, the author of Hebrews felt the urgency to do something to help bring them back to a biblical understanding of angels. The Hebrews were at risk of missing salvation. It would be a great loss if they were to miss it simply because they didn’t have enough faith to stomach the teaching that Christ were superior to the angels. Close but no cigar.
It is no small thing to the Hebrews the author proclaimed that Christ is superior to the angels. But the author does not stop there. Christ is not merely superior to the angels. Christ is the King. He reigns on his throne, a throne that lasts forever and ever. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the supreme mediator of our faith. He is the one who loves righteousness and hates wickedness, and he received the highest anointing from the Father, an anointing that surpasses all other anointing. No one can say any of these things about the angels.