Jesus Was No Angel

by Dave Wilkinson

Hebrews 1, Psalm 2

November 29. 1998

You can sure get good stuff off the Internet. Here’s one I like titled "Jesus and the Elves."

"And Joseph went up from Galilee to Bethlehem with Mary, his espoused wife, who was great with child. And she brought forth a son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And the angel of the Lord spoke to the shepherds and said, ‘I bring you tidings of great joy. Unto you is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.’"

"There's a problem with the angel," said a Pharisee who happened to be strolling by. As he explained to Joseph, angels are widely regarded as religious symbols, and the stable was on public property where such symbols were not allowed to land or even hover. "And I have to tell you, this whole thing looks to me very much like a Nativity scene. That's a no-no, too."

Joseph had a bright idea. "What if I put a couple of reindeer over there near the ox and ass?" he said, eager to avoid sectarian strife. "That would definitely help," said the Pharisee, who knew as well as anyone that whenever a savior appeared, judges usually liked to be on the safe side and surround it with deer or woodland creatures. "Just to clinch it, throw in a candy cane and a couple of elves and snowmen, too," he said. "No court can resist that."

Mary asked, "What does my Son's birth have to do with snowmen?" "Snowpersons," cried a young woman, changing the subject before it veered dangerously toward religion.

Two women began to argue fiercely. One said she objected to Jesus' birth "because it privileged motherhood." The other scoffed at virgin births, but said that if they encouraged more attention to diversity in family forms and the rights of single mothers, well, then, she was all for them.

"I'm not a single mother," Mary started to say, but she was cut off by a third woman who insisted that swaddling clothes are a form of child abuse, since they restrict the natural movement of babies. Mary and Joseph were pushed to the edge of the crowd, where arguments were breaking out over how many reindeer (or what mix of reindeer and seasonal sprites) had to be installed to compensate for the infant's unfortunate religious character.

An older man bustled up, bowling over two merchants, who had been busy debating whether an elf is the same as a fairy and whether the elf/fairy should be shaking hands with Jesus in the crib or merely standing to the side -- or jumping around like a sports mascot.

"I'd hold off on the reindeer," the man said, explaining that the use of asses and oxen as picturesque backdrops for Nativity scenes carries the subliminal message of human dominance. He passed out two leaflets, one denouncing manger births as invasions of animal space, the other arguing that stables are "penned environments" where animals are incarcerated against their will. He had no opinion about elves or candy canes.

Signs declaring "Free the Bethlehem 2" began to appear, referring to the obviously exploited ass and ox. Someone said the halo on Jesus' head was elitist. Mary was exasperated. "And what about you, old mother?" she said sharply to an elderly woman. "Are you here to attack the shepherds as prison guards for excluded species, maybe to complain that singing in Latin identifies us with our Roman oppressors, or just to say that I should have skipped patriarchal religiosity and joined some dumb new-age goddess religion?"

"None of the above," said the woman, "I just wanted to tell you that the Magi are here." Sure enough, the three wise men rode up. The crowd gasped, "They're all male!" And Not very multi cultural!" "Balthasar here is black," said one of the Magi. "Yes, but how many of you are gay or disabled?"

A calm voice said, "Be of good cheer, Mary, you have done well and your son will change the world." At last, a sane person, Mary thought. She turned to see a radiant and confident female face. The woman spoke again: "There is one thing, though. Religious holidays are important, but can't we learn to celebrate them in ways that unite, not divide? For instance, instead of all this business about 'Glory to God in the Highest,' why not just 'Season's Greetings'?" Mary said, "You mean my Son has entered human history to deliver the message, 'Hello, it's winter'?"

It sometimes seems like everyone has an agenda. But the crucial question of Christmas is not our various agendas but God’s agenda. We find God’s agenda prophetically written out 1,000 years before the event in Psalm 2.

Psalm 2 was a famous Messianic Psalm. It was understood that it would be fulfilled in a future day by a descendant of David who would be crowned king. Its words were recalled at Jesus’ baptism when a voice from heaven announced, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11).

Now let me ask a question about the Psalm. Did David really intend to prophecy of Jesus Christ in Psalm 2? Or did Peter, Paul and the author of Hebrews only possess 20/20 hindsight as they read the psalm? Did they just say "Hey, that's like Jesus", and make the Psalm fit the event?

There are two answers to this important question.

The first is from the way Jesus treats the Psalms. We find that Jesus does not treat the Psalms simply as the words of people -- a collection of beautiful, pious poems, expressing religious hope. We find in His many quotations from the Psalms that Jesus views the Psalms as the word of God. He uses the Psalms to teach doctrine and quotes them as prophecy.

The second answer is in 2 Corinthians 3 where Paul writes of his beloved kinsmen, the Jews: "Having therefore such a hope we use great boldness in our speech, and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face that the Sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.'

It’s like putting together a complicated Christmas toy -- a Super two hundred piece Beanie Baby Playhouse for example -- when you can’t find the instructions, . You are working hard but with a darkened mind. But if you can find the instructions mingled in with the discarded wrappings you experience a great series of "ah hah" moments -- you discover what that strangely shaped piece is actually for.

Paul is says that to read the Psalms or any other part of the Old Testament without seeing Jesus Christ is to read with a veil over our hearts -- to read with darkened minds. The New Testament is what illumines the Old Testament.' That is why I cannot preach from the Old Testament without the light that comes from the New.

The early Christians knew this. They claimed Psalm 2. After Peter and John were released from prison, they quoted it: "Why did the gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ." In Acts 13 where Paul speaks of the death and resurrection of Jesus, he says: "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise in that he raised up Jesus as it is also written in the Second Psalm, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you."

And finally we hear from the author of Hebrews: "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in many times and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High; and having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten You?'

The Jewish Christians in Rome to whom the Letter to the Hebrews was written had a problem. They were under attack from their fellows Jews. They also face the threat of persecution by the Romans as Nero began his assault against the church.

But there was an out. Maybe if they would agree that Jesus was an angel, perhaps even the greatest of angels, but not God, then they would be accepted back into the synagogue and escape the awful pressure. This was tantalizing because it did not require an outright denial of Christ. It only required a different affirmation of Him and His greatness as an angel. And the prospect was also face-saving because it did not deny that they had had a real experience with an exalted being.

It’s not too hard to identify with this temptation, because the supremacy of Christ brings tension in everyday life today. The world bristles at "Jesus only:' --just like all the people with agendas around the manger in the opening story. But you don’t have to deny him outright to get along. Rather, we are encouraged to simply affirm that He was the very best of men to ever walk on this planet -- that His ethics were exalted -- that His life was heroic from beginning to end -- and that He is the supreme example for sacrifice. If you do this, the pressure will be off. What a temptation for the Hebrew Christian in a life-threatening situation. A simple change of emphasis on Christ from God in human flesh to angel and they would be spared suffering.

But the writer of Hebrews is determined that his friends not fall into this trap. He creates a mosaic of Old Testament texts that powerfully demonstrate the superiority of Christ over angels.

He asks: "You want an angel? Jesus was no angel. Would God say this to an angel? "You are my son. Today I have begotten you." Is that the protocol for addressing angels? Would you say this to an angel? "Let all God's angels worship him." Can you imagine saying this to an angel? "The heavens are the work of your hands." What about God saying to an angel: "Come and sit at my right hand?" Jesus was no angel!

Jesus is the One who had come from heaven's highest throne to become a human being like us. He had made the journey to share in our weaknesses, our trials, and our temptations. He came to take upon himself the deepest agonies of our human condition. But at the same time He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power."

Look at the marvelous truths we learn about Jesus Christ, and the meaning of Christmas, from the whole of Psalm 2.

The Psalm starts with an image of the nations of the earth in an uproar. The peoples are plotting and the kings conspire together. Their purpose is to rebel against God and His anointed one -- His Messiah or Christ. "Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us."

But God is not worried. He treats the fury of the nations, the peoples and the kings as we would the terror of the Taco Bell Chihuahua without his army. God laughs in decision. He scoffs. Then he warns. "As for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, My holy mountain." He Introduces us to His Son-- 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you."

The declaration in these verses reveals several important truths. If Jesus were only a "good man" or a "godly teacher," He could never be sharing the throne of God in heaven! This is what Peter declared at Pentecost.

You know, I'm always interested in people who insist that Jesus Christ was the greatest man who ever lived but deny that He was God, because they've got themselves argued into an awful corner. They have to answer an awful problem: Why would a man say he was God if he wasn't?

I think that there are only two reasons: he was crazy, or he was a liar. So the person who says that Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived, but wasn't the God that He claimed to be, is in the position of saying that the greatest man who ever lived was a liar, or the greatest man who ever lived was crazy, or the greatest man who ever lived was a crazy liar.

Some people say, "Jesus was just a great teacher." But the funny thing about His teaching was this -- He finished up with only eleven pupils. It hardly seems that He was the greatest teacher who ever lived if He finished up with only eleven pupils. His message or His teaching just didn't click. He finished up with eleven students, none of whom got the message and every one of whom flunked. He taught a very simple message: "I'm going to die and 'rise again." Only eleven people stuck with Him, and not one of them believed that He would rise again from the dead!

His disciples made no preparations for His resurrection. The only people who did make preparations for it were His enemies, who had a sneaking suspicion something funny was going to happen.

They say He was the greatest man who ever lived, but He was not God. If so, He was a liar or crazy. They say He was the greatest teacher who ever lived, yet He finished up with eleven students, all of whom flunked.

You must either accept what Jesus said about Himself -- that He was God who humbled Himself and became a man. Or you must say, "Forget the whole business. He was a phony."

The Psalm says that it is our Lord’s enthronement that gives the proof of His identity. "This day have I begotten you" God says. This is not a reference to Jesus' birth at Bethlehem -- for Jesus was "begotten" of God before the dawn of time. According to Paul in Acts 13, this verse is a reference to our Lord's resurrection. The empty tomb gave birth to the glorified Son of God! Jesus Christ was "begotten" into a new kind of life at his resurrection. And in Him, we are also born again to a new kind of life.

Third, Jesus Christ is the heir. The nations and the peoples are trying to seize control. But there is one destined to inherit what they are trying to take away."Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as Your possession."

Fourth, the Son is destined to judge: "You will break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware." God maintains his authority whether people accept it or not. Jesus isn’t Lord because we believe in Him. He is Lord because that is who He is. God speaks today in grace and forgiveness. But one day He will speak in judgment.

In Psalm 2, verse 10, God offers the great alternative. "Now therefore, 0 kings, show discernment; take warning, 0 judges of earth. Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son lest He become angry, and you perish in the way."

God appeals to our minds. "Be wise --be instructed." In other words, "Get smart!" Take an honest look at the choices you face.

If there is no God, then I am a law to myself and can do as I please. But of course, life then has no more meaning than I can give to it, and there is nothing beyond. But if there is a God, then I am made by him and He has some expectations. If I don’t measure up, I am the focus of his just displeasure.

Second, if there is a God, that God has either shown Himself or He has not. If He has not, I am back in the same place as if there was no God, for all practical purposes. On the other hand, if God has revealed Himself, then it is my duty to respond to that revelation.

Third, Jesus may be just another religious teacher. If so, His teachings can be used or not, as they prove helpful or unhelpful. But if He is more than a religious teacher, if He is God come in human flesh as He claimed, then His teachings demand more than just a casual glance. The demand belief and obedience.

It seems that everyone has an agenda for Christmas. Everyone wants to shape Christmas into something that it isn’t. The merchants do, the courts do, the special interest advocacy groups do, the irreligious do and the "all-religions are basically the same and all are just hunky dory" people do.

But only one agenda for Christmas counts. That is God’s agenda that he spelled out through the voice of His prophet King David 1,000 years before the event. The message isn’t "season’s greetings." The message is not, 'Hello, it's winter." The message isn’t "I’m okay, you’re okay." The message is this -- "that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life."

Last September the Roman Catholic Church declared a new saint. She was a Carmelite nun who was known among her sisters as Sister Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. The Nazis had gassed and killed this sister at Auschwitz in August, 1942.

She was born Edith Stein, a Jew. She was well schooled, and she developed into a brilliant young philosopher in Germany. Her mentors were the upper crust of academic life. She was also an avowed atheist -- that is, until one day she encountered Jesus Christ and fell passionately in love with him. She was then baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. Following baptism, she soon felt God's call to enter a Carmelite cloister, an initiation which meant she would never return to the "ordinary" world of affairs. Having felt the call, and having had it confirmed by a Carmelite community, she went home for a farewell weekend with her family. It was during the Feast of Tabernacles. She visited her synagogue for the last time. On the following morning at eight o'clock, she would travel by train to enter the cloister.

I want to highlight one of her farewell conversations: She walked home from the synagogue with the 84-year-old mother whom she was bidding goodbye. There was a painful silence until her mother finally said, haltingly, "Wasn't it a beautiful sermon that we heard this morning at the synagogue?"

"Yes, mother," Edith Stein replied.

"Isn't it possible to be a devout Jew also?"

"Yes, mother," Edith said again, "if one has not come to know anything else, it is possible to be a devout Jew."

Then, with desperation in her voice, the aged mother said, "Well, why did you have to come to know it? I don't want to say anything against Him. He may have been a very good man. But why did he have to make himself into God?"

Edith Stein had no way of explaining that she had not discovered someone who made Himself into God, but rather she had encountered the one who is God.