“And when He again brings
the firstborn into the world, He says,
‘And let all the angels of God
worship Him’” (Hebrews 1:6).
I am thankful that all creation, from the highest to the lowest, is
called to worship the Father’s appointed King Who came into the world as one of
us.
I explained the idea of “firstborn”
yesterday in a footnote, but will mention it again. It’s worth marking in your
Bibles so you can find it next time someone tries to tell you there was a time
Jesus didn’t exist and was created (birthed) by God in time. Psalm 89:27
parallels “I shall make Him My firstborn”
with an appositional phrase, “the highest
of the kings of the earth.” The biblical concept of “firstborn,” when applied in the Davidic covenant, is enthronement
language, not generational language. Let the Bible teach you how to read the
Bible.
God sent His Son into the world as completion of His eternal plan, but
also the story line started in Genesis 1-3. Two verses give us a simple
overview:
- “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule…’” (Genesis 1:26).
- “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel’” (Genesis 3:14,16).
Man was created to reflect the image of the Triune God by ruling
(reflecting His sovereignty). Man broke God’s Law, making Him ineligible to
represent God’s reign (the lawless cannot represent the Law or the Law-Giver). The serpent-crushing Seed of the woman was promised to
come and bring an end to the works of the enemy who brought the temptation to
break God’s Law. “The Son of God appeared
for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
It’s the ninth day of Christmas. Incarnation is still an appropriate
and worthy meditation.
The Incarnation was warfare. The Incarnation was restoration of the
imaging of God’s absolute sovereignty in creation.
The baby in the manger is the ultimate irony. Understatement. Paradox.
Mystery.
In our discussion of Hebrews 1:4, we considered the biblical data on
the idolatrous worship of angels. Today we consider the right order: the angels
commanded to worship the Son.
An interesting and important (to me) question now arises: from where is the writer quoting in 1:6b? There's no clearly identifiable Old Testament passage that matches this phrase. Some of your Bibles with good footnotes may say that this is a quote
from the Dead Sea Scrolls. The H.C.S.B., for example, says in a footnote, “DSS
read Rejoice, you heavens, along
with Him, and let all the angels worship Him.” I earnestly appreciate the
thoroughness, but this English translation is not literal. 4QDeut32 echoes the
Masoretic text (the Hebrew text we use for our Old Testament translations): “…worship
Him, all you gods [אלהים].” The LXX (the Greek translation of the O.T.), however, does
have the phrase “let all the sons of God worship Him” (προσκυνησατωσσαν αυτω παντες
υιοι θεου). The phrase “sons of God” is used for both the covenant people of
God and angels in the Old Testament. However, a few lines later, we read “let
the angels of God strengthen themselves in Him” (ενισχυσατωσαν αυτω παντες αγγελοι
θεου). The best option is that the writer of Hebrews, under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, has taken the verb and direct object of one line and the object
of the second line and brought them together: “Worship Him…all angels of God” (προσκυνησατωσσαν
αυτω… παντες αγγελοι θεου).[1]
Regardless, God gave the command that His angels worship Him. They did
at the birth of the eternal Son of God as a human being once upon a time: “And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood
before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were
terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for
behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for
today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, Who is Christ the
Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in
cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased’” (Luke
2:9-14).
The angels did not stop worshiping Him: “And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the
elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth…then
I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living
creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of
myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and
might and honor and glory and blessing’” (Revelation 5:6,11,12).
And, along with these mighty and glorious beings, I worship Him, too.
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| Mexican golden poppies...a tiny glory hidden by a remote desert highway. |
[1] The early Church used the LXX (the Greek translation
of the Old Testament) often, since Greek was spoken throughout most of the
Roman Empire. As I always say, the Holy Spirit is free to paraphrase His own
material. We are not.
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