Lesson 2 – Compared with angels
Read Hebrews 1 - www.bible.com/bible/59/heb.1.esv
We looked at how Jesus could be the Son of God, now let’s look at an important thing in this chapter God also tells us about Jesus – He is better than the angels.

We read in these verses that Jesus is better than the angels because He has a better name than they do. God calls Jesus His Son. In this lesson, let’s follow the process through these first few verses that results in the statement in verse 4, “having become . . . superior to angels.” Let’s ask a couple of questions. If Jesus “became superior to angels,” when was He not superior to them? If Jesus is the “same yesterday, today, and forever,” as we will read in Hebrews 13:8, how could He become something less than angels so that He could again become superior to them?

Let’s begin with something we can understand a bit more easily. Angels and humans are created beings. There was a time when neither angels nor humans existed anywhere. God made us. Angels were created with a single choice of right and wrong, they had one chance to choose, and what they chose was theirs forever. God showed in them His righteous judgment over choosing the wrong way. Humans were created with a different purpose – God gives us many opportunities to choose for Him or against Him. In giving us these many opportunities, He is able to show His mercy and His grace.


But Jesus was not “made,” He was “begotten.” As we saw in the first lesson, God’s word – living and powerful from eternity past – was given the opportunity to become more than just spoken words. John 1:14 says God’s “word became flesh.” God had never been flesh. God as Spirit and being everywhere at the same time could not ever be confined into one place at one time. But God’s living, spoken word, tasked with doing things in time and space, could do exactly that. God’s word, which became flesh, was begotten of God the moment He spoke that word.

All things that are created are limited to time and space for now. Angels, being spirits, are not as limited as humans are, because they can move about in the spirit world while we are limited to the physical world. As the Word became flesh, He also became a little lower than angels. He did so for a very special purpose – as a human His physical body would be able to die, something a spirit-body cannot do. Then, when Jesus rose from the grave His resurrected body was a spirit-body that could still be touched and seen – but He had now become superior to angels. In this resurrected body He is able to work in time and space, but He is no longer limited to these rules.

 How had God begotten Jesus? He had spoken His own word – and that Word, being already living and powerful and sharper than any sword, became flesh that could be seen and touched and heard – Jesus. For a little while He was even lower than an angel, He was even lower than most men because He took the form of a servant. But when His mission was done, He became superior to the angels, and He sits today at the right hand of God Almighty.