Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1, God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by his Son. whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. But when he again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But to the son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. So when our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, He was not taken notice of by very many people on that night of His birth. Indeed, no one knew or understood except those to whom it was revealed there were on that night certain poor shepherds who were keeping their flocks. And then there was Mary and Joseph. It was the greatest event which the world had ever seen. The entrance of the Son of God into the world. God made manifest in the flesh and just a few people understood. But then you and I should understand that the greatest good events which the world has ever seen have often come with little notice from the majority of the people in the world. And this is because the greatest events that are done in this world are all done by God. So at this time, we want to think first of all about the more excellent name, which Jesus has, verses three and four. And then second, we wanna think about the Father's actually bringing again the firstborn into the world, verses five and six. It is my hope that as I relate these things, each of us will truly see the person and work of our Lord Jesus in a greater, more meaningful way as a result of this message. First of all, we want to think about the more excellent name which the Lord Jesus has. Jesus, the son of God, had the highest of positions before His incarnation. But in assuming our nature, except without sin, He became the firstborn of the new creation. He took the position of a servant. In doing so, He was already the firstborn in the sense that He was the only begotten of the Father. He was of the same essence with Him. The angels are sons of God, they are servants of God, but they are not sons in the same exalted way that the Logos, the eternal word of God, was before his incarnation. They were created. He was uncreated. He was brought forth. from the Father in eternity past in the Godhead, and he was united to human nature in Mary's womb in a special work of the creation of his human nature. The Lord Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate state was the firstborn of all creation, Colossians 1. Verses 15 and 16 say, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by him are all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. And when he came into the world, God said in verse six of our text, let all the angels of God worship him. When he was raised from the dead, it says in Colossians 1 verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. So I hope that you can see that the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the firstborn of all creation, He is also the firstborn from the dead, the firstborn of all the resurrected from the dead, in this preeminent sense of His resurrection from the dead, that we, as His redeemed people, find our glorious resurrection coming to us from Him in a day when He will return. So there's two different descriptions of Christ as the firstborn here in Colossians. And we will need to remember them when we come to our next point. But look now at Paul's application of this truth in relation to angels. Yes, Jesus Christ was made a little lower than the angels. Jesus Christ has the preeminence over angels because he humbled himself to take upon himself our human nature. nature to actually become for a little while lower than the angels, that he might redeem fallen sinful men to God his Father, and now he has the preeminence. over the angels, because he has by this means obtained a more excellent name than they. In the sight of God, angels are God's servants, but Christ became the ultimate servant. He is Lord of lords and King of kings and King of angels as well. But he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than the angels. This inheritance he has by the father's appointment to it. He was brought forth by the father as his only begotten from all eternity. And then it is his inheritance also by the right of redemption which he has in relation to his being the redeemer of all of God's elect people, all those for whom he came into the world to save, all those whom he suffered and died for, to bring them to eternal glory. Well, this leads us then second to think more about the Father's actual bringing again the firstborn into the world. Verses five and six, for to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son? Today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. But when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. So commentators differ widely over what this bringing the firstborn into the world relates to. Many think that it relates to the time of Christ's resurrection from the dead, or even His return in judgment at the end of the world. But I believe that we have every warrant for believing that it refers first and foremostly to the Father bringing Christ into the world in His incarnation. The real reason for the confusion over this verse is the use of the word again. by the apostle when he again brings the firstborn into the world. If this refers to Christ first coming into the world, then why does the apostle say that there was another time before that when the firstborn came into the world? I believe that the father's again bringing the firstborn into the world in verse six relates to all that we have already studied concerning verses one to five. So let's begin with the first three verses. God spoke the incarnation when he and the Holy Spirit placed the Son of God, fully God, fully man, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and then he became the Son of Man at that point. in His incarnation, but we've seen in our previous studies that He was brought forth or that He was begotten as God the Son long before that. Surely at His birth, the Lord Jesus was the brightness of the Father's glory as we studied last Sunday. I'm not sure that at this point in the analysis of the text, whether we remember that God the Son was begotten by the Father before time began. Even before his incarnation, he was the brightness of the father's glory. He was brought forth as the son from all eternity. He was even then the one through whom the worlds were made. The confusion is furthered by verse five, where it says, you are my son, today I have begotten you. This seems definitely to refer back to Christ having finished the work of our redemption at the cross and is having by himself purged our sins. He was then raised from the dead and ascended to heaven where he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He was declared at that time to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, it says in Romans 1, verse 4. So it might seem natural then to conclude that verse 6 refers to the resurrection of our Lord instead of his incarnation. Indeed, this seems to be confirmed also by Acts 13, verse 32, where the Apostle Paul is preaching to the people at Antioch, Pisidia. And he says there, and we declare to you glad tidings that the promise which was made to the fathers, God has indeed fulfilled this for us, their children, and that he has raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I have begotten you. So this to some appears to be decisive in how we should view verse six of our study this morning. There is here the linking of the word quoted by the apostle in our text in verse five with Christ's resurrection directly. But I am not convinced that this is the final word on the subject. We need to remember that Christ's resurrection was the culmination of all that God the Father intended to do through Christ in the matter of redemption, but it was not where it all began. It began at the incarnation And yes, even before that, in the transaction of the covenant of redemption, an eternity passed between the Father and the Son in relation to the eternal decrees of God. The Apostle Paul's whole point here in Hebrews 1 is to set before the Hebrew people the superiority of Christ to the angels. Their law, the law had been given to the Jews, been mediated to them by the agency of angels, which God employed. And Paul knew that they might be tempted to hold on to the law and not to go on to find Christ by faith or to hold on to him as their only Savior and Lord. They might be tempted to think that the eternal Son was only one of the greatest of the created angels. And so the Apostle in verses 1 to 4 speaks of how it was that the Father spoke the Incarnation and how the one who had been begotten of the Father in eternity past became flesh and purged our sins by the sacrifice of himself as a man. He shows them then that Christ was raised from the dead and he's now at the right hand of God. And so he established the superiority of Christ over the angels, not primarily from Christ's work in purging us from our sins and his resurrection from the dead, but from his nature and His person as God Himself. It's not as though the resurrection and session of Christ can ever be separated from all that we're speaking of here. It's another proof that the Apostle is using. But as we think about verses 4 and 5, we need to remember that it was not to the angels in heaven that God the Father assigned this work of redeeming His elect people to. It was to the only begotten Son who was begotten in eternity past. So verses 1 to 6 of Psalm 2 are intended to show everyone that this plotting and opposing of God's plans and purposes was a vain thing. In verse 4 of Psalm 2 it says, He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. And watch this now. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. So having read this to you, I hope you can see now the truth of the matter that Christ was declaring the decree, that declaration by the father which had been made in eternity past when God spoke and said to him, as God the Son, today I have begotten you, that was the day of eternity past. Moreover, the immediate references are to the events here mentioned. That is, to the crucifixion, to the resurrection, and God the Father's establishing his Christ on his holy hill of Zion, the church. So all of these things show us the outworking and the final result of God's having spoken this decree. And so Acts chapter 13 declares the outcome. of Christ being brought into the world in His incarnation. He finished the work which the Father had assigned Him to do, to fulfill the law and to accomplish the work of redeeming a people. He suffered, He bled, and He died. He was raised from the dead, and then having finished that work, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And he has seen the fulfillment of these words in Psalm 2 of his being able to ask his father for the nations as his inheritance. His asking this was indeed the culmination of all the father's plans which were made in eternity past before the foundation of the world. as regards Christ the Son himself. And the rest of the psalm then speaks of how Christ would rule over the nations, and how his rule would come to be established over the nations. Perhaps it is true then that the Father commanded at that time that all the angels of God in heaven would worship him. That is, when the Lord Jesus came into heaven to sit where he now sits at the right hand of the Father. The conclusion should not seem out of place to us at all. But let's think about this term, firstborn, when he says he brings the firstborn into the world. The firstborn is a title of privilege and dignity, which in this particular case only belongs to God's Son. He who was the only one begotten by the Father in eternity past, when the angels were created, God the Son was the one through whom they were created, and for whom they were created. In fact, in Job chapter 38, when the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, he said to Job in verse 4, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone? when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy." So here the angels are called morning stars and the sons of God, but they are none of them to be confused with the Son of God. They were there at the creation of the world When God the Father through his Son created this world and all things in it, the angels rejoiced at this first bringing of the firstborn into the world, the only begotten Son of God. He was their king even then. He was there for them to see and to worship and to adore in the spiritual realm where all the angels dwell on high. So Daniel Whedon, the commentator, says Christ was called the firstborn, the first begotten, because he was eternally begotten. He says, for even if God has been eternally engaged in creating, still the son is in order of nature first. When it says the son is called first begotten, it is implied that both his being begotten is prior in order and superior in nature for creation and formation are a lower sense. figured as generation, and it is as first begotten that he is by the divine primogeniture that is made by the Father, heir, not made creatively, but appointed heir, Hebrews chapter one. Verse two, so we need to see that our Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature. Colossians 1.18 and Revelation 1.5. And here the term stands alone and it alludes to the day, that day primordially in order from before the foundation of the world, it is said, today I have begotten you and as God manifests prior to and above all created things. Thus says Daniel Weedon, but you'll say to me, how is the pre-incarnate son brought into the world this time of the creation of the world? Well, I think that he was brought into the world both in relation to his work at the creation, as I have said, and also in relation to the first man Adam's sin and fall from his original Righteousness, it says in Genesis chapter 3 verse 8, And they, Adam and Eve, after they ate of the fruit and sinned, heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So this was a physical appearance of some sort because they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden. And this I believe was the father bringing him forth, that is the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ bringing him forth or sending him into the world in the form of a theophany. And in doing this, he would be introducing his son to mankind, introducing him to Adam and Eve because they were the parents of all mankind. And here in the second person of the divine Trinity, he temporarily assumed human form, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, coming to deal firmly, but gently with them over the sins which they had committed. And yes, he did come to render judgments, And he did render them, but he also came to give Adam and Eve the promise of his own incarnation. Genesis 3.15, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. So I think that we need to see that it was the Logos, the very word of God, who took this form at that time was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. He was actually the voice of the Lord God, our Lord Jesus in pre-incarnate form. He was the one who was speaking there. And this is what the word again relates to. Looking back as the apostle relates it in Hebrews 1.6, when he again brings the firstborn into the world, it relates to the father who brought or sent the firstborn into the world. He sent him into the garden in this pre-incarnate form to bring our first parents the promise of his future coming and his incarnation. In Micah chapter 5, verse 2, Micah speaks of his coming forth But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me, the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." And so this then was when the father actually did bring the firstborn into the world in the incarnation. He says, let all the angels of God worship him. Even then, And to conclude, this was exactly what did happen. Then on the night in which Jesus was born, Luke 2.13, and suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men. So God the Father, on the night in which the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, commanded that all the angels of God worship him. And it was commanded of them because they surely did not understand this, the greatest of mysteries, how God could take on human flesh and become a man. How could he grow up to redeem the fallen race of men? When Lucifer had rebelled and taken so many angels with him to oppose God and his purposes of salvation, God did not spare them Lucifer's fellow angels were cast down to hell and God delivered them to chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. Why should men be any different? The holy angels thought. The apostle Peter writes differently of the holy angels in 1 Peter 1, 10 to 12. He says, of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow to them it was revealed. that not to themselves, but to us. They were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. These are things which the angels long to look into." So God made his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. Their burning spirits are designed to burn for the glory of their great King, our Lord Jesus Christ. They do not seek after their own glory, but Christ. They are zealous to worship him and to do his bidding. And so we must ask ourselves this day if this is what we are zealous to do as well. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this passage. which shows us in such a glorious way the great things that you have done beginning in eternity past and then coming into the garden and speaking to our first parents, Adam and Eve, and then sending Christ into the world through Mary's womb, and Him growing up to fulfill your law, and to die on the cross for our sins, and to be raised from the dead, and to fulfill this very passage that we have been looking at here today in the greater, most glorious, and comprehensive sense that we can possibly think of. coming into the future from eternity past, the Lord Jesus doing these wondrous things. And Father, you're appointing him to that. And the Holy Spirit, you, O Holy Spirit, forming our Lord Jesus in the womb of Mary, we praise you this day for the greatest work that the world has ever seen of God coming into the world in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for this time around your word and pray you'd impress these truths upon our hearts that we might meditate upon them sweetly and be more devoted to you. We pray in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.