Vital signs- Sunday, May 24th, 2020
Jesus- not - Angels
Have you ever noticed the overwhelming infatuation with angels? Just walk into any Christian bookstore, and you will find countless books dealing with angelic beings. Just turn on any TV network, and there will be numerous TV shows and movies centered around the supernatural. There is nothing wrong with wanting to learn more about angels, but we must be careful not to let our curiosity turn into the worship of them.
This is what happened to some of believers in the book of Hebrews. Some were falling away to angel worship because the strong role angels played in the Old Testament. They worshipped angels because of their role in bearing and revealing God’s Word. They thought that by worshipping angelic figures, they might draw on their power and protection and the angels might carry their requests directly to God. Yet, in doing so they mistakenly placed a messenger in a place of honor that should only be occupied by God Himself. Worshipping angels equates to idol worship, and it diminishes the message of Christ.
In Hebrews 1:4-14, the writer reminds us that Christ is superior to angels, and we should only worship Him. He points out that God never said to an angel, “You are My Son” because this name and title, God’s Son, only belongs to Jesus. Plus, the angels themselves are instructed to worship His Son. Not only that, but God also calls the Son “God.” The Son is also the everlasting Creator of the heavens who has been seated at God’s right hand with His enemies under His feet.
Since Jesus is the Son, we can conclude that Jesus is superior to angels in every way. Angels’ primary purpose and ministry is to assist human beings toward reaching their final deliverance over their spiritual enemies. This includes protecting and strengthening believers, as well as delivering messages from God. The writer of Hebrews is reminding us that the Person whom the message is coming from is always greater than the messenger!
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.”
Colossians 2:8-19 NKJV