Worth More Than Angels

For it is clear that He does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham's offspring. - Hebrews 2:16 HCSB

Whenever we struggle with low self-worth, we need to meditate on the ramifications of this verse. The only begotten Son of God did not die for angels.

The angels, faced with Lucifer’s pitiful hubris,[1] made their decision to either remain loyal to their Sovereign or to join the rebel’s camp. Those who chose the side of sin were locked into their decision and their fate was sealed. A place called the Lake of Fire was prepared for them.[2] They know that their time is coming[3] and they are very afraid of it.[4] In spite of all their beauty, power and wisdom, the fallen angels were not found worthy of the Christ’s sacrifice. Their disloyalty was simply met with pragmatic discipline.

Yet when humanity fell, the Messiah was sent to take upon Himself our sins, to bear upon His sinless shoulders the burdens of our wickedness. It is at the cost of His stripes, the awful lashes inflicted by Roman soldiers with a cat o’ nine tails, that we are healed.[5]

Adam and Eve’s excuses were still reverberating through the air when Hashem predicted their salvation through the Messiah’s death.[6] Then He worked for thousands of years to prepare humanity for that glorious moment. He began teaching Abram what it meant to be His friend. He chose a particular tribe of people called the Jews and gave them His Law. This Law was meant to be a teacher;[7] its particular lesson being that humanity can in no way earn its way back into God’s good graces.[8] Atonement would require a blood sacrifice.[9] When that fateful day finally arrived, the Messiah not only died for us, He actually took upon Himself our curse![10]

Consider the power and beauty of angels that, in most encounters, engendered fear in humans.[11] They were even instrumental in bringing the Scriptures to humanity.[12] Yet Christ did not reach out for them. He did not die for them. He died for us and He is willing to lift us up to a position of authority over the angels.[13]

What was found in us that made us worth the death of God? I do not know. The Scriptures say that we were created in Hashem’s image.[14] Yahweh Boreh[15] took a little dust, formed a human and breathed into him the breath of life.[16] Whatever came with that breath is what gave us our worth. It is not emotions, intellect or will for the angels possess all these. If it is “spirit”, it is something different than what we usually understand it to be for the angels are themselves spirit beings.

Christ was willing to die in order to redeem this “image” found only in humanity. Whatever it was, it was revealed to the angels that they do not serve themselves but us – and they also long to look into this matter.[17]

[1] Isaiah 14:13-15
[2] Matthew 25:41
[3] Matthew 8:29
[4] James 2:19
[5] Isaiah 53:4-5
[6] Genesis 3:15
[7] Galatians 3:24-25; paidagogos (from whence pedagogy) – a tutor, guardian and guide
[8] James 2:10; Romans 3:20; 5:20
[9] Hebrews 9:22
[10] Galatians 3:13
[11] Daniel 8:17-18, 27; 10:5-11; Matthew 28:2-5; Luke 1:11
[12] Acts 7:30, 35, 38, 53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2
[13] 1 Corinthians 6:3
[14] Genesis 1:26-27
[15] God our Creator Isaiah 40:28
[16] Genesis 2:7
[17] 1 Peter 1:12