Serving the Exalted King (Heb. 1:13-14)

This sermon was preached on 3/2/2013

The author of Hebrews has already given three reasons why Jesus is superior to the angels. First, he is superior because of his resurrection from the dead; second, he is superior because of his reign over the kingdom of God; third, he is superior because of his creatorial ability, whether as Creator of the original universe or as its re-creator in the future. The author gives a fourth reason in verse 13 when he says, ‘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”?’ Again he quotes from the Old Testament, this time from Psalm 110, to make his point. And his point is that Jesus Christ is going to triumph over all his enemies. 

The duty and delight of angels

Before we consider this aspect of the superiority of Jesus, I want to look at what the author says about the role of angels in verse 14: ‘Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?’ Obviously he is making a contrast between the role of Jesus and the activity of angels. He is to receive increasing glory, they will remain his servants. Yet although the angels are servants, their role is one that we should think about often.

First, the fact that angels are sent to take care of God’s people should help us understand how much God values them and loves them. He has given a charge to his strongest creatures, who are also holy creatures, to look after his weak, sinful people. Their power is used in the defence of his saints. At this moment, thousands of angels are engaged in this activity at God’s command, protecting and providing for believers in a wide variety of ways. Their work should cause believers to have an increasing sense of security even although we face powerful enemies.

Of course, this angelic role has benefits for the angels themselves. It enables them to fulfil their hearts’ desire, which is to serve the Saviour. They have served him in many ways throughout their existence, obeying his divine will. It may not be appropriate to say what various levels of delight angels have in serving God, but surely those of them that served Jesus in one way or another during his life on earth sensed they had been given a special privilege. The ones that ministered to him after his temptations would have done so in great humility and gladness. And they also have a special delight in serving the people of God.

John Owen, in his massive commentary on Hebrews, mentions several ways in which the angels serve the heirs of salvation. 

(1) They can be sent in an extraordinary manner to make revelations of the will of God. Obviously angels were sent in this way in the Bible, as at the giving of the law, giving a message to the women of the day of Jesus’ resurrection, and giving counsel to Paul regarding what to do in a shipwreck. Owen says that we have to weigh carefully any claim to such messages today because such claims could be delusions, but he states that to deny the possibility of such an angelic usage would be ‘unwarrantably to limit the Holy One of Israel’.

(2) The angels can be used to convey proper thoughts to our minds in a manner similar to how the devil and his agents can convey improper thoughts.

(3) The angels are used to preserve God’s people from many dangers, especially from sudden and violent attacks by Satan.

(4) They are ‘witnesses of the obedience, sufferings and worship of the disciples of Christ, that they may give testimony unto them before God, and in the great assembly of the last day.’

(5) They are used by God to avenge his elect of their enemies and persecutors. 

(6) They escort the spirits of dead believers to heaven.

(7) They will be involved in many activities on the Day of Judgement, which includes the resurrection of the dead and the gathering together of his people.

Another benefit that the angels receive from serving believers is that they develop an increased understanding of the grace of God. As they minister to believers, they observed a sinner being forgiven his sins, becoming a member of God’s family, progressing in holiness, joining with others in the church to serve Christ, and eventually becoming a perfected worshipper in heaven when they die. And the angels must be looking forward to observing God’s future action of glorification when believers are raised from the dead. Angels will be involved in gathering together the people of God into his presence on that day after they have been raised from the dead by Jesus.

Adolph Saphir summarised the outlook of angels in this way: ‘We know they love us; for they rejoice when a poor, fallen, degraded sinner turns from ungodliness and takes hold of salvation as it is in Jesus. They watch us in our dangers, in our difficulties. “God has given his angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways, lest we dash our foot against a stone.” They are astonished, and marvel when they see Lazarus in his poverty, in pain, in distress, despised and forgotten by man. Day by day they watch his patience, his faith, his trustful cleaving unto God, and eagerly they learn from him more and more of the mystery of suffering, and of man’s fellowship with Jesus; and lovingly they wait for the appointed hour, when, delivered from the body of pain and death, they carry him safely, and gently, and swiftly into Abraham’s bosom. And after having ministered unto God’s people to the end of this age, they shall rejoice when they hear his voice saying unto the children, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

The description of believers

The author refers to believers as ‘the heirs of salvation’. This title reveals several features of who they are and we can reflect on some of these aspects. First, they share the same inheritance. Here the term ‘salvation’ includes all that they are going to receive at the second coming of Jesus: they are going to receive resurrection from the dead, glorification into the likeness of Jesus, and possession of the new world that the Saviour will create.

Second, they are members of the same family. It is normal for heirs to be the children of the same parents, although sometimes a human parent has no children and has to name heirs who are not connected to him. In the case of God’s people, however, they are heirs because they were adopted into his family when they repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus. They have been given the same status in that each of them is a joint-heir with the heir of all things.

The dignity of Jesus

In quoting from Psalm 110, the author reminds his readers that Jesus has received an invitation to sit at the supreme place in the universe, at God’s right hand on the throne of God. The author also indicates that this exalted position will climax at a specific moment in the future when all the enemies of Christ will become his footstool. This verse in Hebrews 1 describes the exaltation from the Father’s perspective. In Hebrews 10:12, the author quotes this verse from Psalm 110 again, but in doing so looks at it from Christ’s perspective.  

Before we focus on what Jesus will do to his enemies, those who are going to become his footstall, we can think about all that is included in the invitation from the Father to Jesus to come and sit at the right hand of God. First, we can say that Jesus has been exalted to the highest place possible, to the throne of God. He is not sitting beside the throne, instead he is on the throne. Second, his exaltation is connected to the hopes that his followers have – in fact, we can say that all their hopes are connected to his exaltation. Yet since he has been given all power, their hopes will be realised provided they are legitimate.

One common method of trying to understand the roles performed by Jesus is to think of him as a prophet, as a priest, and as a king. Not surprisingly, his exaltation leads us to think about him as the ruling king. But what does that mean in practice? There is a general sense in which Jesus is king over everything and governs all events, even the actions of those who oppose him. Yet there is also a specific sense in which Jesus rules over his church, the church that confesses him as Lord.

As king of the church, we can think about what he does for each believer in order to understand the benefits of his rule. First, he sends out his servants with the offer of salvation to those who will repent and trust in him. Second, he brings those converts into a local church where his laws are implemented by those he has gifted for this task and where they can enjoy fellowship with others who willingly obey him. Third, he gives ongoing grace to each person who trusts in him, including upholding them in difficulties and correcting them for disobedience. Fourth, after guiding them through life, he will ensure that their souls reach heaven. Fifth, in the future he as king will raise from the dead and give to them places in his kingdom (rewards).

The exalted Jesus also functions as a priest, mainly in what the Bible calls intercession. We are not to imagine that Jesus pleads as a supplicant when he intercedes. His intercession occurs on the throne, not in front of it. On the throne he engages in communion with the Father and part of the communion is called intercession. He asks the Father to provide for all his people at different stages all the benefits promised to them in the covenant of redemption made between the persons of the Trinity before time commenced. This does not mean that Jesus continually utters different isolated petitions. Instead his presence as the Lamb who made the sacrifice for sin ensures that these promised blessings will come to them throughout their spiritual journey.

The third function, that of prophet, is performed by Jesus through his Word and Spirit. He teaches sinners about God’s salvation as they are enlightened by the Spirit. One of the roles he performed as prophet was to provide his church with the complete Scriptures. Now he uses those Scriptures to enlighten sinners about salvation and after they have believed in him he continues to enlighten them about life in his kingdom through what has been described in his Word. We are used to saying, What the Bible says, God says. We can adapt that to say, What the Bible says, the exalted Jesus says.

So we should be thankful that the exalted Jesus does all this for his people as their prophet, priest and king. But one day, perhaps not far away, he will destroy his enemies.   

The destruction of the enemies of Jesus

The quotation from Psalm 110 indicates that the enemies of Jesus are going to become his footstool. Who or what are his enemies? We can think of our own nation as an example. Our enemies are not only people, but also ideas such as communism. Similarly the enemies of Jesus are more than humans.

One enemy that is going to be destroyed is the devil and his kingdom. There has been a conflict taking place since before Adam fell, a conflict that began when one of the highest angels led a rebellion against God. Although he was cast out of God’s presence, the devil continued his opposition to God when he tempted Adam and Eve to disobey the Lord. Although he seemed to have triumphed, the devil discovered that he would not achieve a final victory because he was told by God in the Garden of Eden that one would come who would crush his head. The apostle John summarises the work of Jesus in this way: ‘The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil’ (1 John 1:3-8). The victory over the devil occurs in stages.

Stage one was his coming to earth. His arrival seemed not to have begun well in the sense that the devil attempted to have Jesus destroyed by Herod. 

In stage two, the conflict intensified after the baptism of Jesus. His first action was to march into the desert and defeat the devil by resisting his most powerful tool of temptation. This was followed by three years of conflict between Jesus and the kingdom of darkness as unprecedented numbers of demons took to the field against Jesus. But each one of them was defeated. 

In stage three, the conflict entered a deeper stage when the battle moved to another arena, the cross of Calvary. On the cross, Jesus endured a fiery conflict with the powers of darkness as they moved in to destroy him. Yet he resisted their attacks of temptation to cease trusting in God and to allow unloving thoughts of God to arise in his heart. On the cross, he removed another weapon of the devil, the ability to accuse God’s people of sin.   

Stage four is based around the current exaltation of Jesus. One of his magisterial activities as Lord of all is to increase his kingdom continually by overcoming in a gracious way sinners who belonged to the dark kingdom. Through the gospel, he brings them into his own kingdom where they are set free from oppression and destruction.

Stage five will take place on the Day of Judgement when the devil and the other fallen angels will be judged and condemned by Jesus who will send them ‘into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41). The devil and his followers will have become his footstool.

A second enemy that Jesus will destroy is death.  Death is the consequence of sin, and it affects every person. Jesus came to deal with death, as was predicted by the prophet Isaiah: ‘And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken’ (Isa. 25:7-8). Jesus gave signs of his intentions to destroy death when he raised individuals such as Lazarus from the grave. The clearest sign of his future victory over death was his own resurrection because it was obvious to all that he was more powerful than death itself. Although his own resurrection is conclusive evidence that death will be removed from the universe of God, its removal will not take place until he returns and raises his people from their graves. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, on that day, they will sing, ‘O grave, where is your victory?’

A third enemy that Jesus will deal with are those of the human race who oppose his rule. There have been many such since the day he was crowned. Yet he has not been removed from his place of power even for one second. Within his iron grip is held all the nations and peoples of the world. And he will have the victory over them on the day of judgement.