14 Are they not all helping spirits, who are sent out as servants to those whose heritage will be salvation?
The angel of the Lord is ever watching over those who have fear of him, to keep them safe.
Give praise to the Lord, you his angels, who are great in strength, doing his orders, and waiting for his voice. Give praise to the Lord, all you his armies; and you his servants who do his pleasure.
But in the night an angel of the Lord, opening the doors of the prison, took them out and said,
And in time the poor man came to his end, and angels took him to Abraham's breast. And the man of wealth came to his end, and was put in the earth.
Then Daniel said to the king, O King, have life for ever.
Nebuchadnezzar made answer and said, Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent his angel and kept his servants safe who had faith in him, and who put the king's word on one side and gave up their bodies to the fire, so that they might not be servants or worshippers of any other god but their God.
And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; things which even angels have a desire to see.
And he said to me, O Daniel, you man dearly loved, take in the sense of the words I say to you and get up on to your feet: for to you I am now sent; and when he had said this to me I got on to my feet, shaking with fear. Then he said to me, Have no fear, Daniel; for from the first day when you gave your heart to getting wisdom and making yourself poor in spirit before your God, your words have come to his ears: and I have come because of your words.
Even while I was still in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at first when my weariness was great, put his hand on me about the time of the evening offering. And teaching me and talking to me he said, O Daniel, I have come now to give you wisdom. At the first word of your prayer a word went out, and I have come to give you knowledge; for you are a man dearly loved: so give thought to the word and let the vision be clear to you.
But when he was giving thought to these things, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, have no fear of taking Mary as your wife; because that which is in her body is of the Holy Spirit.
And when they had gone, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream, saying, Get up and take the young child and his mother, and go into Egypt, and do not go from there till I give you word; for Herod will be searching for the young child to put him to death.
Then will the King say to those on his right, Come, you who have the blessing of my Father, into the kingdom made ready for you before the world was:
And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.
And an angel of the Lord came to them, and the glory of the Lord was shining round about them: and fear came on them.
And suddenly there was with the angel a great band of spirits from heaven, giving praise to God, and saying,
He saw in a vision, clearly, at about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of the Lord coming to him and saying to him, Cornelius! And he, looking on him in fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your offerings have come up to God, and he has kept them in mind.
And a great light was seen shining in the room, and an angel of the Lord came to Peter and, touching him on his side so that he came out of his sleep, said, Get up quickly. And his chains came off his hands.
And straight away the angel of the Lord sent a disease on him, because he did not give the glory to God: and his flesh was wasted away by worms, and so he came to his end.
For this work of giving not only takes care of the needs of the saints, but is the cause of much praise to God;
And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with the angels of his power in flames of fire,
So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.
So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath;
A stream of fire was flowing and coming out from before him: a thousand thousands were his servants, and ten thousand times ten thousand were in their places before him: the judge was seated and the books were open.
Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight. And one said in a loud voice to another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of armies: all the earth is full of his glory.
For he will give you into the care of his angels to keep you wherever you go. In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone.
And there was a day when the sons of the gods came together before the Lord, and the Satan came with them.
And when morning came, the angels did all in their power to make Lot go, saying, Get up quickly and take your wife and your two daughters who are here, and go, for fear that you come to destruction in the punishment of the town. But while he was waiting, the men took him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, for the Lord had mercy on them, and put them outside the town.
So then those who are of faith have a part in the blessing of Abraham who was full of faith.
Be certain, then, that those who are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham.
Yes, it has been their good pleasure; and they are in their debt. For if the Gentiles have had a part in the things of the Spirit which were theirs, it is right for them, in the same way, to give them help in the things of the flesh.
And if we are children, we have a right to a part in the heritage; a part in the things of God, together with Christ; so that if we have a part in his pain, we will in the same way have a part in his glory.
And suddenly there was an earth-shock, so that the base of the prison was moved: and all the doors came open, and everyone's chains came off.
And news of them came to the ears of the church at Jerusalem: and they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch:
And he will send out his angels with a great sound of a horn, and they will get his saints together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.
Which is that the Gentiles have a part in the heritage, and in the same body, and in the same hope in Christ through the good news,
But it seemed to me necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, who has taken part with me in the work and in the fight, and your servant, sent by you for help in my need;
And when he had been made complete, he became the giver of eternal salvation to all those who are under his orders;
Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which he has said he will give to those who have love for him?
And a heritage fair, holy and for ever new, waiting in heaven for you,
The prophet Enoch, who was the seventh after Adam, said of these men, The Lord came with tens of thousands of his saints,
And I saw in the middle of the high seat and of the four beasts, and in the middle of the rulers, a Lamb in his place, which seemed as if it had been put to death, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 1
Commentary on Hebrews 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Epistle to the Hebrews
Chapter 1
In this chapter we have a twofold comparison stated:
Hbr 1:1-3
Here the apostle begins with a general declaration of the excellency of the gospel dispensation above that of the law, which he demonstrates from the different way and manner of God's communicating himself and his mind and will to men in the one and in the other: both these dispensations were of God, and both of them very good, but there is a great difference in the way of their coming from God. Observe,
Now it was by no less a person than this that God in these last days spoke to men; and, since the dignity of the messenger gives authority and excellency to the message, the dispensations of the gospel must therefore exceed, very far exceed, the dispensation of the law.
Hbr 1:4-14
The apostle, having proved the pre-eminence of the gospel above the law from the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ above the prophets, now proceeds to show that he is much superior not only to the prophets, but to the angels themselves. In this he obviates an objection that the Jewish zealots would be ready to make, that the law was not only delivered by men, but ordained by angels (Gal. 3:19), who attended at the giving forth of the law, the hosts of heaven being drawn forth to attend the Lord Jehovah on that awful occasion. Now the angels are very glorious beings, far more glorious and excellent than men; the scripture always represents them as the most excellent of all creatures, and we know of no being but God himself that is higher than the angels; and therefore that law that was ordained by angels ought to be held in great esteem. To take off the force of this argument, the penman of this epistle proceeds to state the comparison between Jesus Christ and the holy angels, both in nature and office, and to prove that Christ is vastly superior to the angels themselves: Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Here observe,