Hebrews 1 reveals Christ as the Son of God being much better than the angels, whereas chapter 2 reveals Christ as the Son of Man becoming better than the angels. Our wonderful Jesus has two natures, divine and human. He has divinity and humanity. He is God, and He is man. Since He is God, He is the Son of God. Since He is man, He is the Son of Man. According to biblical usage, man and Son of Man are interchangeable terms. This is proved by Psalm 8:4 which says, “What is mortal man, that You remember him, / And the son of man, that You visit him?” Hence, the Son of Man simply means “man.” In the same principle, the Son of God means “God.” According to John 5:17-18, for Jesus to be the Son of God means that He is God. When the Pharisees heard that the Lord Jesus called Himself the Son of God, they accused Him of blasphemy because, in their understanding, He made Himself equal with God. Thus, to say that Jesus is the Son of God means that He is God. Christ is both God and man. Hebrews 1 covers His divinity and chapter 2 covers His humanity. With respect to both His divinity and humanity, He is superior to the angels. Even as the Son of Man, He is superior to the angels.
Although it is easy to realize that God is absolutely superior to the angels, it is difficult for us to realize that man is also superior to them. According to 1:14, as the heirs of salvation, we are much superior to the angels, for the angels are our servants, and we are their masters. We are the partners of Christ, and the angels are the servants, ministering to the heirs of salvation. We are the house of God, in which the heavenly ladder joins us to God and brings God to us, while the angels are ministering spirits ascending and descending upon this ladder as they render their service to us. Hence, they are much inferior to us. Matthew 18:10 reveals that every one of us has an angel. Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of Jehovah encamps / Around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.” An angel appeared to Cornelius (Acts 10:3), telling him where to contact the one who preached the gospel. Moreover, Acts 12:7-11 tells us how an angel opened the door of the prison that Peter might escape.
Hebrews 2:5 says, “It was not to angels that He subjected the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak.” The “coming inhabited earth” will be this earth in the coming age with God’s kingdom. Psalm 2:8 says that God has given to Christ the nations to be His inheritance and the limits of the earth as His possession. Revelation 11:15 says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” The day is coming when the nations, the kingdoms, of the earth will become the kingdom of Christ.
This “coming inhabited earth” in the coming age is not subjected to angels. In other words, God never ordained the angels, but instead ordained man, to rule over the earth in the coming age. Based upon this fact, the writer of Hebrews shows us that man is superior to the angels.
In His economy, God intended from the beginning that man should rule over the earth. From eternity past, God determined to have man ruling over the earth. According to the Bible, at the time of creation God determined that man should exercise His authority over the earth. This is clearly mentioned in Genesis 1:26-28.
There are three chapters in the Bible that belong together—Genesis 1, Psalm 8, and Hebrews 2. All of these chapters share one main point—that God has ordained man to rule over His created earth. God has ordained man to rule over the earth because God needs a realm, a sphere, a dominion, in which He can exercise His authority. Without such a dominion in which He can exercise His authority, it would be difficult for God to express His glory. The expression of His glory needs a dominion. If God has no authority on earth, He cannot express His glory. We should consider the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory” (Matt. 6:13). Once there is the kingdom, there is the authority. Then God is able to express His glory. The kingdom is for the authority, and the authority is for the glory. If God has no kingdom, there can be no exercise of His authority and no expression of His glory. The Lord’s prayer was for the kingdom. In that kingdom there would be the exercise of authority and the expression of glory.
God’s purpose is constant and eternal. God’s purpose is from eternity to eternity. God has never changed His purpose of having man exercise His authority on earth that He might have a dominion as a sphere in which He can express His glory.
Hebrews 2 reveals that Christ as man is superior to the angels. The writer of Hebrews argues in this way: “It was not to angels that He subjected the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak” (v. 5). However, God did say in Psalm 8 that the time would come when He would subject all creation to man. This man is Jesus (vv. 6-9), the One who brought God into man to uplift man’s standard. By His incarnation, He brought the divine nature into man, and by His resurrection, ascension, and glorification, He brought the human nature into God. Therefore, this man is much more excellent than the angels. The angels are nothing more than servants who minister to all the members of this man, to all those who inherit salvation through this man, that is, who inherit this wonderful man as their salvation.
Christ Himself is God, the Son of God; He is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance. He is even called God Himself (1:8). In Him there is the reality of God. As such, He is much superior to the angels. He is also a glorified man with God’s divine nature, crowned with glory and honor. As such a man, He is superior to the angels. The angels are merely servants of those who inherit Christ as their salvation.