Name above all names

February 3, 2013 Evening:

Title: A More Excellent Savior

Old Testament Passage: Genesis 28:10-22 – Jacob's Ladder

Gospel Reading: John 1:43-51 – Stairway to heaven

Sermon Text: Hebrews 1:4 – Superior to angels (Part 1)

Sermon Point: Angels are great, but Jesus is far more excellent.

[4] having become as much superior to angels

There are myriads of angels in heaven. Because of the work of Jesus Christ, there are also large numbers of people. Who is superior to whom?

When Jesus came to earth to save people for heaven, he did not become an angel. He became a man. He did this saving work on our behalf. He has always been fully God the Creator and not a created being. But now the Word was made flesh. There is a Man who has become not only the sacrificial Lamb of God, but also the King of Glory.

The Son of God was always far superior to angels. He was also far superior to people. Yet it was the eternal plan of God that His Son would become, not an angel to rescue angels, but a Man to rescue people.

God created people in His own glorious image. The union of the divine and human natures in the one Person, Messiah Jesus, was the perfect and long-planned means that God appointed to achieve His own wonderful will according to the praise of His glorious grace.

as the name

The “name” of Jesus is not a magic word. It is to be respectfully united to the God-Man who bears the titles that Hebrews 1 will go on to explore. Jesus is a person who has accomplished certain works that only He could achieve.

All of who Jesus is and all that Jesus has done are inseparably connected with any Name that God has given to Him. At the Name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, because at the person and work of the Son of God, all of creation must worship.

This is what our hearts are longing for. The stairway to glory has come. Jesus leads us to Himself. He is the Rock that is higher than “I.”

he has inherited

Any “I” that is higher than God in our imaginations can be a very miserable enemy. But now the new Man, Jesus, has inherited a Name and a kingdom that is above every other Name and kingdom.

An inheritance comes through death. Through the death of Jesus, Jesus and His glorious body, his assembly of worshipers, have been exalted to the heights of heaven.

is more excellent than theirs.

Angels do not have the Name that Son of God owns. They are servants to the heirs of salvation. We are fellow-heirs with Christ. Behold the manner of love that God has given to us, that we should be called sons of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.