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the purging of our sins and so speaks of the resurrection.
Acts 13: 32, 33 gives the
identical Old Testament reference that is used in Hebrews,
"Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee",
and declares that this promise was fulfilled when He raised up Jesus again. Alford very
pointedly says of Christ, that:
"The Son of God, before His incarnation was Head OVER creation, but after His
work in the flesh He had become the Head OF Creation."
Colossians reveals that He Who was the Firstborn of every creature became the
Firstborn from the dead, because "in the body of His flesh through death" He had stooped
to conquer. This we shall see more clearly as our study opens up the Scriptures that are
related to Heb. 1: 4. To us Gentiles, the insistence upon angels which is so marked in
Heb. 1: and 2: may seem a trifle strange, but to a Hebrew it would be both understandable
and necessary.
The use of "angel" in Hebrews
In chapter 1: Christ in His exaltation to the right hand of the Majesty on high is said
to be made "so much better than the angels" (Heb. 1: 4).
"Unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son . . . . . ?" (1: 5).
"Let all the angels of God worship Him" (1: 6).
"Who maketh His angels spirits" (1: 7).
"To which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand?" (1: 13).
In chapter 2:, angels are associated with the giving of the law and we are told that the
age to come has not been put in subjection to angels. By the testimony of the prophetic
eighth Psalm, Adam and Christ are seen "for a little while" lower than the angels, and, at
the incarnation, Christ "took not on Him the nature of angels" (Heb. 2: 2, 5, 7, 9, 16). In
chapter 12: 22 the heavenly Jerusalem is associated with "an innumerable company of
angels" and in 13: 2 the believer is reminded that, in Old Testament times, the ministry
of angels was no uncommon experience. When writing to the Romans, Paul mentioned
angels, together with "principalities" (Rom. 8: 38) and asked the Corinthians, "Know
ye not that we shall judge angels?" (I Cor. 6: 3), but neither angelic ministry among men,
nor the presence of angels at the exaltation of Christ, is mentioned in Ephesians. There,
we read that when Christ was raised from the dead, He was set at the right hand of God
"in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come"
(Eph. 1: 20, 21). These "principalities" are mentioned again in Eph. 3: 10 and 6: 12,
each time in connection with "heavenly places", but the epistle to the Hebrews knows
nothing of them.
In Scripture, angels have special reference to the people of Israel, and they do not
figure definitely in the O.T until after the call of Abraham and the birth of Ishmael
(Gen. 16: 7). Angelic ministry is associated with the destruction of Sodom, the