Going back to an earlier article, Hebrews 1 jumped right into who Jesus is: Jesus is the Son of God, and was instrumental in the creation of the world. After Jesus gave His life to pay for people’s sins, God the Father gave Him the ultimate seat of honor, with authority that puts Jesus even over angels. While our greater focus should be on the three persons of God, angels still have a significant role in the first couple chapters of Hebrews, though.
In that light, let’s read Hebrews 1:14 as a lead-in.
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Hebrews 1:14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.1.14.NIV
Angels are described as “ministering spirits”, who serve “those who will inherit salvation”. This tells me that they have a role in the lives of people who are following Jesus (i.e., who are on their way to an eternity with Him), and possibly also for those who have yet to make that decision.
Having spent some time on the message of salvation in the previous article, let’s go back to the message that angels delivered. Prior to the time of Jesus, angels are described as working (like the one that took the firstborn from homes that didn’t have the Passover lamb’s blood in Egypt), and angels also delivered messages to people. In fact, a quick search shows that the word “angel” appears more than 100 times in the Old Testament (at least, in the NIV).
I also wonder if God sometimes spoke to certain individual prophets in the Old Testament through angel(s), even if the angel’s role was not specifically mentioned. After all, angels don’t need to be given specific credit for serving God (since that is their role), just as we shouldn’t need credit for serving God, either. In a similar vein, Galatians 3:19 says that “…The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.”, suggesting that Moses received the law of God through angels. (Girdwood & Verkruyse, p. 62, also point out Stephen’s comments in Acts 7:53.)
And, there may be some correlation (in mission, not necessarily in form) between angelic beings who delivered God’s messages (since an “angel” is – by definition – a messenger), and human beings who delivered God’s message (like prophets), whether or not the latter received their messages from God through angelic beings.
So, if angels delivered messages that saved Lot, sent Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, stopped Balaam’s donkey, spurred Gideon to overcome the Midianites, and got Elijah to eat something, I think that we – like the original recipients of the book of Hebrews – would agree that not following the words of God’s messengers was a bad idea.
After all, when a message from God came through an angel in the Old Testament, there was no question of whether God’s promise would be fulfilled. The only question was whether the recipient did what they were told, or took other healthy action in response to that message. Those given direction from angels could follow God’s commands and reap the benefits, or they could disobey God’s instructions and experience the consequences.
Another way of looking at it [per Girdwood & Verkruyse, p.62] is that the consequences of breaking the Mosaic covenant were fair. The rules were clear and it was appropriate for those who broke the rules to experience the stated punishment, as well as for those who obeyed to receive the stated blessings [Ibid. p.69]. However, the message of salvation from Jesus was even more important.
- If those in the Old Testament had ignored warnings given by angels, they probably would have been killed, remained in oppression, or given up. In fact, some people in the Old Testament did ignore God’s messages and paid the price.
- If anyone ignores the message of salvation, though, the consequences are even more severe. This isn’t just a matter of our earthly condition, but rather our eternal condition.
- For this even-more-important message of salvation, even its delivery was not originally from angels. Rather, it was from Jesus Christ the Savior, Himself. Then, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help Christ-followers carry His message forward.
From 1 Peter 1:10-12 and what we can read in Hebrews, the prophets of old (whether or not they were given God’s messages from angels) didn’t know when or where Jesus would appear, but they had a role in leading up to what He would bring. When God did send Jesus into the world, Jesus brought God’s plan of salvation. Then, when Jesus left this earth after His resurrection, He sent the Holy Spirit, who enabled human beings to teach things that even angels wanted to know more about.
So, like the ancient prophets, I think that the angels were looking forward to learning more about the details of God’s plan for saving humankind from our sins. (In fact, passages like Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32 suggest that they are still waiting to learn when Jesus will return.) Only a messenger greater than the angels could deliver this greater message: that initial messenger was Jesus Christ, and then the Holy Spirit leading Christ-followers to carry His message forward.
Although covered in the previous article, please read Hebrews 2:1-4 one more time. There is no other message of salvation, besides the one that was delivered – and achieved – through Jesus Christ. Like the early readers of this book, we must remain focused upon it, no matter how much we tend to wander – or get pulled – off-course.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for January 11, 2026
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Hebrews, by Jim Girdwood and Peter Verkruyse. © 1997 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 