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No.8.
Angels, their relation with the Divine Purpose
as indicated in Heb. 1: and 2:
pp. 67 - 69
In our last study together we did little more than to sort out the usage of the word
`angel', observing the different words that are so translated both in the A.V. and the
70: With the information thus gathered, we can now devote our time to those passages
which treat of the place that the angels have had in the past and may yet have in the
working out of the Divine purpose in the future, and how far man is intended under grace
to take the place, or `fill the gap' that the default of the angels occasioned in the
beginning. No book of the N.T. treats with this matter so thoroughly as does the epistle
to the Hebrews, and therefore to that epistle we now turn.
It is impossible to read Heb. 1: and 2: with any attention, and fail to be impressed by
the fact that the argument of these chapters is most intimately linked together by the
references to angels which abound in this part of the epistle. A brief analysis of this
section is as follows:
Hebrews 1: and 2:
A |
1: 1, 2. God once spoke by prophets. Now by His Son.
B
| 1: 2-14. The Son. His Glories. Better than angels.
A |
2: 1-4. God once spoke by angels. Now by the Lord.
B
| 2: 5-18. The Son. His Sufferings. Lower than angels.
The epistle in these two chapters compares and contrasts the ministry of the prophets
and of angels with the ministry of the Son, and uses the word `angel' ten times in this
brief compass. Not only so, the argument of chapter 1: is enforced by the quotation of
seven Psalms, which quotation is distributed in such a way as to compel the reader to
admit the presence of a plan and design.
The Seven Psalms of
Heb. 1:
A | 2: 7. The King on Zion. The decree.
Heb. i.6
B | 89: 26, 27. The King.
1: 5
C | 97: 7. Worship Him all ye gods.
1: 6
D | 104: 4. His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire. 1: 7
C | 45: 6, 7. Thy throne, O God is for ever and ever.
1: 8
B | 102: 25. The Creator.
1: 10, 11
A | 110: 1. The Priest on Zion. The oath.
1: 13
The argument of this chapter is further enforced by two questions:
"For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son?" (5).
"But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand?" (13),