Hebrews 1:4-14 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.… The original Greek here expresses to separate aspects of that angelic service now going on in the Church. The angels are the ministers of God, giving to Him always their constant adoration and worship, add they are therefore sent forth by Him on behalf of those who are about to inherit salvation. In other words, because of the Incarnation which has made us one with God, and of our incorporation into the Body of Christ, they both worship with us and work for us. In the first place, then, their ministry in heaven, where stands the one Priest, presenting before the Father that sacrifice which was offered once for all on earth, their celebration with Him of the Eucharist on high, is one and the same with ours when we present to the same Lord and heavenly Father the memorial His Son hath commanded us to make. And so, though our souls are stained with sin, while they are spotless; though we are fallen and weak, while they have been kept upright and strong by the constant help of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless ours is the blessed though solemn privilege — an honour to which our adoption in Christ has raised us — of joining with them in their worship of Him who sitteth upon the throne. The angels have their work also. They are ever being "sent forth." Yes, into the ways, the dangerous ways, by which even the children of the kingdom must go, they are sent to minister in their behalf. No doubt they joy in ministering thus unto us, in guarding us amid dangers, and protecting even when we think we .re safe, but are not. And they joy most of all because we bear the likeness of Him to whom they came in His hours of temptation. (E. E. Johnson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. |
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