Hebrews 1:4-6
You Are My Son
Angelic beings were something of a curiosity in the ancient world. I understand that with the New Age movement in America, musings about angels have returned. Now let us be clear: Angels are wonderful beings who stand in the presence of God and fulfill the tasks which He assigns them. But they are His creations, not gods, and rebuked those who offered them worship whenever they appeared to God’s people in the Bible (Revelation 22:8-9). Indeed, the only angels who receive worship are those demonic beings lurking behind the idols men create.
With that introduction, it makes sense that the Preacher (if Hebrews is a sermon then the writer is a preacher) would now show the surpassing excellency of Christ over the angels. The first sign of the Son’s exceeding excellency is his name: “Son.” To prove this, the Preacher quotes Psalm 2:7: “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” This psalm speaks to the Son’s enthronement over the nations to rule. Added to this is 2 Samuel 7:14: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.” This passage was spoken to King David when God promised him that his throne would be established forever. Each of these passages was fulfilled in the seating of the Son at the Right Hand of Power—his session—which we spoke of yesterday. Seated at that place, the Son is also the King. And then the Preacher adds a third passage from a Greek variant of Deuteronomy 32:43 (which is actually the more primitive text according to NICNT, 105-108): “Let all God’s angels worship him,” which they did when he was born (Luke 2:14). All of this places the exclamation point on the argument for the Son’s exaltation over the angels.
But it is the title, “Son,” which the Preacher wishes to highlight. Yes, he is king, but he is far greater: He is the eternal Son of the Father who came “in the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4). When the psalmist says, “Today I have begotten you,” he simply means that today is His Son’s enthronement. But the Son has ever been the Son of the Father, for “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (John 3:16), pointing to the fact that His Son was with Him before the beginning of time (John 1:1-2), the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15), not that the Son was a creation of His Father but that God’s Son has always been, “who is and who was and who is to come” (Revelation 1:4). And this is why our Lord is called the Father’s Son, because he is the Father’s Son—God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made—and so much greater than any angel!