The king of angels (Hebrews 1)

The beginning of Hebrews focuses on the superiority of Jesus.  Hebrews 1 emphasizes the superiority of Jesus to the other angels, but also makes an inference that Jesus is superior to the prophets of the Old Testament.

About Jesus, this is what Paul says:

1.  He has spoken to us in these last days (1:2)
At this point, it has been several decades since the Resurrection of Christ, but Paul states that Jesus is still talking to "us".

Does "us" mean Paul is referring to the Apostles?  Possibly.  But Paul is usually alone among the Apostles.

The immediate "us", I.e., the letter writers.  Timothy is the only other person mention in the concluding remarks, but it is does not indicate he is a writer (13:23).

Does "us" mean the recipient to whom Paul is writing the epistle of the Hebrews?  I take this approach and this would mean that Jesus was talking to the church in general, but I also believe that Jesus talks to the church today.

2.  He is the heir of all things (1:2)
I do not have much to add about this, but it is interesting.

3.  Through whom, God made the universe (1:2)
This is reminiscent of John 1:1 where it states that Jesus was integral of the Creation week from Genesis 1.

4.  He is the radiance of God's glory (1:3)
There is a lot here in terms of God demonstrating his glory through Jesus.

5.  Exact representation of his being (1:3)
In other words, Jesus was God on earth.  The same God of the Old Testament walked among us and the reaction of many of the people of the day was to reject Jesus.

6.  He provided purification of sins (1:3)

7.  He sat down at the right hand of God and became superior to the angels (1:3-4)
Finally, here it is.  Jesus is superior to angels.  It is interesting that this comes immediately after the purification of the sins.  This seems to indicate that the purification of sins made Jesus superior to angels.  This reminds me Revelations 5:3-10, where the only one in heaven worthy enough to open the scrolls is the slain lamb.  The reason the slain lamb is found worthy is because the lamb was slain to purchase men for God.


Praises concerning Jesus and angels (1:5-13)

The rest of Hebrews 1 focuses on applying psalms to Jesus and angels.  They seem to indicate the relationship between them.  Paul provides a contextual narrative to lead us.

A couple things stand out to me.

Paul cites several Psalms to say that God calls Jesus "God" and "Lord" (vv. 8, 10).

In verse 7, Jesus makes the angels winds and his servants flames of fire.  I do not think this means that angels are turned into wind or the servants are turned into fire.  Rather, it seems to indicate that these are a supportive role.  In other words, Jesus helps the angels and servants by providing wind and fire.

At the end of the chapter, Paul asks if all angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.  The question seems rhetorical and we can probably believe it is a statement to mean that yes, angels serve the church.  For after all, Jesus is the king of angels and Jesus purchased the salvation of humanity.  Although asked as a question, we can infer the angels serve the church since they serve Jesus.