Hebrews 1:10-14 KJV

Finding What was Lost!

10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
12  And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Reminder reference:

8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

As a reminder we are looking again at verses 8 and 9. What we need to remember is that verses 10 through 14 are a continuation of verses 8 and 9 which we covered in detail in the previous blog post. In verse 8 we see that God is here speaking to His Son (Jesus Christ) and these are quotations from the Old Testament.  

In verse 8 we see the continuation of Jesus and the angels being compared. We also see that Jesus is called "O God." We are about to take a look at Jesus being described, as The Creator is also described. 

10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

The foundation of the earth was laid by "Thou, Lord" who is the Son of God. This is so astounding as to be hard to comprehend but we do know also that another Hebrew name for the Messiah (or Christ) is "Immanuel" meaning "God With Us!"

Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
 

Mt 1:23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

From Strong's Concordance: (Immanuel is) the title applied to the Messiah, born of the virgin, because Jesus was God united with man, and showed that God was dwelling with man. Look again at the verse:

 10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

This concept of Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, being the Son of God, and very God, Himself, is also shown in this verse that we looked at last time, too:

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

This verse very clearly says that "the Word," meaning Jesus Christ, was God. That being the case we must begin to incorporate this into our understanding. As we look at how Jesus is being compared to the angels we see that he was "so much higher" than the angels because he was the Son of God. We've already seen Jesus being called the "Heir" of God the Father, and described as the Creator, too, in Heb 1:1-2:

1 ¶  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
 

 And now it goes on to say:

11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; 

which is speaking of eternity. We know that only God is Eternal with no beginning and no end.

and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

The "they" that shall perish and grow old like an old suit (garment) is the Earth and the heavens.

12  And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, 

The clothing metaphor for this planet we live on and the stars we see in the heavens now says that these things shall be folded up just like a vest.

and they shall be changed: 

What do we always do with the old clothes we take off? We put them away and put on new clothes which we call "changing our clothes." The heavens, the Earth, and everything in them shall be changed.

but thou art the same,

"But thou art the same" -- God does not change. He never grows old. That is why His mercies are new every morning, because His mercy never grows old. God is always as old and as young as He will ever be because He is beyond or outside the realm of "time." Time has no effect on him which means God is always NEW! Everything about the Ancient of Days is always NEW! He never changes or improves because He is already perfect and infinite. He is always complete and cannot be measured. Recall that this description is being used for the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

and thy years shall not fail.

I love to think of the word "fail" as being a synonym for the word "quit."  God's years shall not end. That is Eternity. Jesus Christ, the Son of God is Eternal. He is the One and the Same God. This is not a different God, this is the Same God as referred to in the name "Immanuel."  They are not separate. They are one. 

13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

This is a prime example of the way the Jewish mind works and teaches by using questions to make you think. The point that is being made is that Jesus Christ is not an angel which is a creation of God. No angels were ever told that they would sit on the right hand of God. No angels were ever told that God's enemies would be made to be under subjection to them. That is reserved only for God, who is the Messiah, Jesus.

14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 

Here we see that all angels are "ministering spirits." The word "minister" from Strong's is defined as: "service, ministering, esp. of those who execute the commands of others."  Also notice the word "spirits" meaning they do not have a body like the one Jesus Christ has. This is what Strong's says about the word "spirits":  a spirit, i.e. a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting

It is good also to remember that they are "a little above mankind" in the hierarchy of Heaven and Earth and that they live in the very Presence of God.

Lu 1:19  And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.

In this verse we see a wonderful angel named "Gabriel" who describes himself as standing "in the presence of God." Only a very holy being could do this. We also see that he was given a mission to speak to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. So he was ministering to Zacharias and us. Letting us know a portion of God's plan.

for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

This tells us who the angels minister to, being, the "heirs of salvation." Oh praise the Lord!!  We are the heirs of salvation. We are the ones the Savior came to save. Thank God!! How wonderful that the mission and purpose of the angels is to minister and to serve us. They are meant to help us to see and know God. 

And the purpose of God's Son who is also called the Son of man is: 

Luke 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

We are "the lost," until we are "found" by Jesus. 

Have you been found by Jesus? We often think of it as us finding Him... but we cannot come unto Him without the Father's bidding and approval. He finds us. That is so cool. We seek Him, but He finds us!  Praise the Lord!!

Here are our verses one more time:

Hebrews 1:10-14

10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
12  And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?