Christ Better Than Angels, Pt. 3

September 17th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 1:6 And when [God] again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”

The superiority of Jesus over everything and everyone means that He cannot be put on the same level as angels. Whereas angels are mere messengers of God, Jesus is the Son of God, superior to angels in His majesty, for He alone is to be worshiped. Using the LXX (Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew OT), in v. 6 the author cites loosely from both Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 97:7. The Hebrew text of Deuteronomy 32:43, considered by the Jews to be referring to the coming Messiah, says, “Rejoice O nations with [God’s] people.” But the Greek of the LXX says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” Why the LXX translators chose this rendering is unknown, but both translations anticipate the coming Christ who will be worshiped by all God’s creatures, both angelic and human.

Grammatically, the OT passage quoted by the author of Hebrews can either refer to Christ’s second advent: “and when He again brings His firstborn in to the world…”), or it could refer to His first advent: “and again, ‘when He brings His firstborn into the world.’ ” At Christ’s first advent, when Jesus was an infant, Luke’s Gospel says, “Suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest…’ ” (Luke 2:13-14). Also, at His second advent, angels will again worship Christ:

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne…and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 5:11-13).

So whether Christ’s first or second advent is in view, both His name and His majesty are superior to angels. Worship is for God alone, not angels. Certainly not humans (cf. Rev. 22:8-9).

Notably, Christ is called God’s “firstborn” in v. 6 (cf. Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15). The term is indeed used in the Bible to refer to time sequence in reference to firstborn children who received the rights of inheritance from their fathers. Theologically, however, “firstborn” is used in reference to prominence in position and title. Clearly Jesus was not the first to be born on God’s earth, but as God’s Son, He is entitled to all that belongs to God because He is God. Christ cannot be the first-begotten or the only begotten, for it is impossible that Christ be both the Creator and the created! So when Jesus as the “firstborn” came into the world, He came as One who had superiority over the world and all that it contained. He is preeminent. As such, He is the firstborn over all in honor and superior to all, even angels, in glory.

Food For Thought
Some folks worship angels, quite openly. But if we look closer at what angels do, we see that they were made to worship God, not be worshiped. The angels were worshipers, and Jesus is the One they worshiped. Angels worshiped at Christ’s first advent, and they will do so at His second advent. In fact, there are various orders of angels who sit continually around the throne of God worshiping (Isa. 6; Rev. 4-5). It is not only the full-time task of angels to worship God, it is our task as well (and privilege!). May we be found doing so when Christ returns.