Chapter one, verses four through six: In verses 4 and 6 the Apostle Paul is telling the Hebrew Christians that their Messiah was made higher than the angels. The Jews held angels in high esteem, many going so far as to associate them with God. Paul made it clear that, as a human being, Jesus of Nazareth was made by God to be higher than the angels and to receive a superior inheritance than they. The angels would also worship Him. Note that Jesus was “made” by God.

Verse 5 has an important, often overlooked message that was introduced in John 4:1-4 where we are told that the Word–a God–existed “in the beginning” with the other God. Both existed in the beginning. In any situation in which two people exist one must be subservient to the other. This holds true even when they are equals. In this case one of the Gods (the Word) was subservient to the other God. This God volunteered to go to earth, live like a man and die a man’s death in order to free man from the clutches of the devil. The Word (God) Who became Jesus was not God’s Son until He was born of Mary. Prior to His human birth He was a God called “the Word” (Spokesman) and was co-equal with the other God (Phil. 2:6). Nine months from the moment God’s Holy Spirit brought about Mary’s conception, Jesus was born, making the other God His Father. In Psalms 2:7 and Second Samuel 7:14 we hear the Lord prophesying about His future Son: “You are My Son, this day I have begotten You,” and “I will be a Father to Him and He will be a Son to Me.”

Think about it. The Word–a God–voluntarily chose to strip Himself of His Godship, come to earth as a man, live as a man, be tempted as a man, suffer for man’s sins in a way that no man has ever suffered and died a most horrible of deaths BECAUSE HE WANTED TO. While alive He set the example for paradise- seeking man, the example that man must emulate in order to enter that paradise–the Kingdom of God. And to think that two billion people who believe that they will spend eternity in that paradise do in fact reject Him by refusing to believe His Words. In so doing they hold Him up to the world as a false god whom they do not have to obey. L.J.