Weird Stuff in the Bible

Angels vs Humans: Who Ranks Higher in God’s Kingdom?
Hebrews 2, Psalm 8

Introduction
Who outranks who: angels or humans?
I mean, angels get to go to heaven and can turn invisible and beat up demons- and FLY- so it sounds like they’re better than people. Like angels are superior to humans.
And yet, Hebrews paints a different picture.
Chapter 1, verse 14 says
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Those who inherit salvation are us. So angels are ministering spirits who serve us. Wow. So maybe humans outrank angels. But it’s going to say in the very next chapter,
verses 6 and 7
What is man, that you are mindful of him,
    or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels…
Wait, so humans are lower than the angels? And that also speaks of Jesus- when Jesus was on earth, was He lower than the angels as well?
Make it make sense!
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to Hebrews 2, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

Lower than the Angels
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about where angels rank- and where humans rank- in the spiritual chain of command that God has set up.
And our text today will center around Hebrews 2 and Psalm 8. And this is also going to connect to what we’ve been studying the past few weeks about man and the dominion mandate that God gave us. If you remember last week, we looked at God’s assignment given to man.
Genesis 1:28
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
So man has been placed over the earth. I told you last week to think of dominion as stewardship. God owns the world. But God gave man dominion or stewardship over the earth. Man was to rule it and subdue it.
So where do angels fit in to this equation? What is their role?
Hebrews 2:5
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
Right here, the author of Hebrews is talking about Jesus, angels and humans. He is making the point that the world was not given to angels, but to humans. And in fact, when Jesus wanted to come and regain the dominion of planet earth that man lost to Satan, Jesus came as a human, not an angel.
Hebrews 2:6-9
6 It has been testified somewhere,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
    or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
    you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8     putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Right there, the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8. We’ll visit Psalm 8 in a few minutes.
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
So Jesus, it has said twice in these verses, was made a man, which made him lower than the angels.
Hebrews 1, which I quoted earlier, said the angels are ministering spirits; they exist to serve us. Which is still something that blows my mind. And it should blow our minds. So how do we reconcile this with the idea that man is lower than the angels?
The key thing to remember is: angels serve us; however, they do so right now from a higher vantage point. They don’t die. They don’t decay. They don’t have the weaknesses we have. They dwell in God’s presence up in heaven; we are stuck down here below. Again, the angels serve us, but they do so from a higher vantage point.
So in that sense, man is lower than the angels. I mean, if you want to think about this very crudely and bluntly: heaven is up. So if angels can pass between earth and heaven, then they’re up above us in a positional sense. Not even necessarily in status as much as in their literal position.
For Jesus, this was temporary, which is probably what the word “little” means in that verse above. Jesus was made “a little lower” or “for a little while lower” than the angels. Temporarily, Jesus left His glory of the second person of the Trinity and confined Himself to this human form, which made Him temporarily lower in a positional sense than the angels, even though Jesus was of course a being of a higher status than any angel.
Well, that is actually true for human beings as well. Humans are temporarily lower than the angels. However, someday, we Christians will be in glorified forms. We will have spiritual bodies and not just physical bodies. We’ll live forever with no weaknesses or decay. We will rule and reign with Christ, even over the angels.
Dr. Michael Heiser, in The Unseen Realm, says, “Even though angels are supernatural and humans are physical, it is humans- not angels- who are destined to rule in God’s stead.”
And as this passage in Hebrews 2 opened: For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come
The world is under the dominion of man. Or, at least, it was. Then Satan stole our dominion, and the Gospel is the means by which we’re taking it back. Jesus died for our sins and didn’t just purchase eternal life for us; He purchased all of Creation back for us. However, it’s incumbent upon us to get out there and take that dominion back.
So to recap: Humans outrank angels in status. Angels are not made in the image of God. Humans are. Both humans and angels have sinned, but Jesus didn’t die for the angels to redeem them.
This is very interesting to me. It might cause us to ask, why? Why didn’t God make a plan for angel redemption? Why are fallen angels doomed with no hope? And I don’t have answers to those questions, I’m just telling you what I do know. Humans have a higher priority in God’s chain of command than the angels do.

What is man?
And this is what caused David to write Psalm 8. “what is man that you are mindful of him?” David is like, “what is the big deal about human beings? Why do you care so much about us, God? I mean, let’s face it: we kinda suck. We are downright terrible. We blow it big time, on a daily basis. Why would God not just wash His hands of us? Why does God spend any time on us at all? What is man, O God, that you are mindful of him?” That’s the spirit of wonder that the psalmist here is writing with.
That’s the wonder I have as I read Hebrews 1 and 2. Angels are pretty awesome. They are capable of some pretty amazing things as I read the scriptures. And then God goes and tells us that their purpose is to minister to us. That’s hard for me to wrap my mind around.
Like, if I have a guardian angel out there, I cringe at some of the things he’s had to watch me do before. Like, I imagine he’s probably filled out the paperwork before to get a transfer to another human.
For example, a few weeks ago a gigantic fly got loose in our house. This thing was massive. It was almost a horsefly. I grew up on a farm. I’ve seen horseflies. I live in town now. This was the hugest fly I’ve ever seen living in town. My wife called it Beelzebub.
Well, I trapped this fly in our bathroom. I had a flyswatter. I smacked this thing when it finally landed. It’s body falls off the mirror and lands on the floor. I go down to pick it up with the flyswatter so I can get rid of its Godzilla body. When I touch it, it hops back up on its feet and flies off again. Not even kidding.
Then it lands in the tub. I smack it again. This time it really looks dead. So I pick it up with the flyswatter out of the tub. I consider flushing it down the toilet, and then I think: no, that’s unnecessary, I’ll just drop it in the trash can. Maybe my wife will see it the next day and be like, woah, you brought down a behemoth hon. So I drop it in the trash hoping my wife might notice it later. I am walking out of the bathroom when I start to hear the rustling of the trash bag. I turn around and Beelzebub comes zipping out of the trash can. I am not exaggerating an ounce of this story.
And now he’s mad. He is on a tear. He is flying around my bathroom at like 90 miles an hour. He’s not even landing on anything anymore. I’m swinging my flyswatter around the room just trying to knock him down. He’s not even landing on anything for me to hit him now. And I swear this is true: he flies right at my head, and I swing at him, and I smack myself with the flyswatter right in the face. For real guys.
And it’s at this point, my guardian angel probably needed a vacation or something. I imagine my angel is going before God and just begging for reassignment. He must have been like, “God, I can’t even with this human anymore. I can’t do anything for him. You gave him the dominion mandate God and he can’t even handle a fly. I’m done, God. I’m out.” That’s the conversation I imagine is going on in heaven as I’m battling zombie fly.
So for those who need to know, I eventually knock it down on the ground. And it’s still crawling around, but this time I pick it up and put it in the toilet and flush it away. It was literally swimming around in the water as it swirled the drain. This thing did not want to die. I still don’t think it is dead. I’m waiting for the day it crawls back up out of that toilet and returns to haunt me.
This is how subduing creation is going for me right now. I’m smacking myself in the face with a flyswatter and I’m wondering, “Who is man that you are mindful of him?” Let’s read Psalm 8.
Psalm 8:1-3
O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, and the indestructible invulnerable monster flies, which you have set in place,
I might’ve added a little bit to it there.
Let’s keep going from verse 4
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
Hey hold up a second- remember what I told you a few weeks back about spiritual vocabulary. There it is right there: the beasts of the field. This is a phrase that the Bible uses sometimes that can mean physical beasts of the field like cows and horses. But it can also be used to refer to spiritual beings.
This verse is still true even if you apply it to spiritual beings or physical animals. Man has been given dominion in this world over what was given to the spiritual beings.
Let’s keep going with verse 8.
the birds of the heavens,
Well what do you know, that’s another one that we looked at. The birds of the air. That’s a biblical code-word for demonic beings.
Guess what: at the great commission, Jesus said He has authority on heaven and on earth, and He gives that authority to His followers. We can take spiritual authority and cast out demons. We can bind the enemy. Some try to say that this was only a spiritual gift given to the first century church. You will not find a single verse in the New Testament that limits spiritual authority over demons to the first century church. Not a single verse.
I’m sure that’s what the devil would like you to think. I’m sure he’d like you to think the Gifts of the Spirit and the authority over the spiritual realm were limited to 2,000 years ago. Idk about you but I’m not gonna put an expiration date on God’s Word.
Let’s finish the psalm.
…the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 and the Elohim
In the spirit of clear vocabulary, I just want to make one note about this psalm before we wrap up, because Hebrews 2 quotes this psalm and applies it to Jesus. It said in Hebrews 2:7, “You made him for a little while lower than the angels.” The word for “angels” right there in the Greek is “aggelos” (pronounced ong-gel-loss- with gel with a hard g). It means: a messenger, envoy, one who is sent, an angel, a messenger from God.
It’s a very broad word. Obviously, it’s where we get the English word “angel” but in the Greek, it’s such a broad definition that it encompasses all the spiritual beings. It even includes fallen angels. It even includes humans sometimes when they’re acting as a messenger. So the word “aggelos” is not a specific word at all. It’s a very broad word with a wide range of meanings.
Hebrew is much more specific in talking about spiritual beings. In the Hebrew, you have the Sons of God, you have Cherubim, you have Seraphim, you have the ones who work for Charlie, you have the everyday blue collar angels which are called “malak” in the Hebrew (pronounced mall-akh- when it’s Hebrew, you gotta get the phlegm in there when you say it).
Everyday angels are just called malak. They’re just described as looking like humans. Most angels in the Bible are just the malak angels. So in Old Testament, since it was written in Hebrew, it’s much clearer what type of angels its talking about when it uses the word angel. In Greek, the word “angel” could mean just about any type of spiritual being. Even bad ones.
But if we look at how this is quoted in the original Psalm 8, we can get much more clarity at what kind of angel it’s talking about. So what word is the Hebrew using when it says God made man a little lower than the angels?
In the Hebrew, it says “you have made him a little lower than the elohim.”
Now that puts an even more mind-blowing spin on it. This is talking about the Divine Council- something I spent three episodes discussing back in March. There is a group of beings called the Divine Council. But these beings are also referred to in the Bible as “the gods.” This is a little controversial because some Christians get uncomfortable with saying there are other gods besides God the Father, but the Bible says what it says. We dealt with that weirdness back in episodes 68 through 70.
The Divine Council are an elite group of spiritual beings that God uses to manage the affairs of earth. They are the elohim. The lowercase-g gods. Man was made a little lower than the elohim. Temporarily lower than the elohim.
But earth was not created to be subject to the elohim. The earth was not created for the divine council. The earth was created for us. For human beings. You and me.
So Hebrews 2 tells us how to take this. Hebrews interprets this Christologically. “the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower (temporarily) than the elohim and crowned him with glory and honor.”
That is true for Jesus. And looking at it in its original context, someday it will be true for us mere humans as well. We will be given crowns and will rule and reign with Christ over this world.
Look at the parable of the Talents, which we reviewed last week. Our life right now is earning rewards for the afterlife, when we will rule and reign with him. Show yourself to be a good and faithful servant. Some will be put over 10 cities, some will be put over 5. Dominion of this world will be given back to us. We will have a function in the New Heavens and New Earth similar to what the Divine Council does right now.
Hebrews 2 is so exciting once you realize this. Go read Hebrews 2 with the understanding that Jesus purchased us so that we could stand unashamed, made glorified like Christ, before His Divine Council someday, he will not be ashamed to call us brothers, and in verse 13, Jesus will say of us “Behold, I and the children God gave me.”
Look at these words He uses to describe us. Brothers. His children. Wow. Jesus thinks of us like family. You might be ashamed of your family, but Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers in verse 11.
Wow. Who is man that you are mindful of him? My mind is blown. In fact, I just gotta read this:
Hebrews 2:14-16
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
We talked about it last week- when we sinned in the Garden, and when we sin today, we transfer our authority to the one we obey, the devil. But Jesus overcame sin, death, hell and the devil to purchase our salvation.
Verse 16
16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Back in April, I received this email from a listener named Walter in the UK: if there are gods managing the affairs of the world/man how does that 'jive' with God having given "dominion" to man at the time of creation? Who is in charge of what?
So Walter sent that in response to that miniseries I was doing on the lowercase-g gods.
Walter, I’d say there are two types of competing dominions here. There are the bad elohim or bad gods, and just like the devil, those bad “gods” are trying to steal our dominion. They are seeking legal rights in the spirit realm to have authority over planet earth.
The good “gods”- if there are any on the divine council, and I have no idea how many are good and how many are bad and how many there even are- the good ones, though, would be trying to minister to us in our dominion. They want to assist us in trying to take our dominion back and managing it properly.
So it’s easy to answer that for the good spiritual beings. The good angelic beings- whether elohim, archangels, malak, whatever- exist to serve God and serve mankind. They aren’t wrestling for control of earth with us.
But the bad spiritual beings- those are competing with us for dominion of planet earth.
And we’ll talk more about our relationship with spiritual beings over the next three episodes- including the fact that someday we are to judge them, according to I Corinthians 6:3. All that is coming.
Walter, I didn’t have a full answer to your question back then, but I feel that I do now. It’s just gonna take a few episodes to cover it all.

Next Time & Closing Thoughts
So for Walter, and anyone listening today, make sure you’re subscribed because we’ll be talking about our relationship with the forces of wickedness in the world.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
If you haven’t checked out the website yet or signed up for our newsletter, what are you waiting for? Go sign up on WeirdStuffInTheBIble.com

In closing: For hundreds of years, astrologists have been trying to figure out how big the universe is. They measure it in light-years. A lightyear is how far light travels in a year.
Light travels from the sun to the earth in about 8 minutes, right? It’s about 3 minutes to Mercury. It takes 5.3 hours to get to Pluto. That’s how fast light travels.
So if it takes 5.3 hours just for light to make it more than 3 billion miles, imagine how far light can go in a year. It’s actually about 6 trillion miles.
One trillion is a number bigger than the human mind can understand. Especially the minds of all those people voting on our budget in Congress. A trillion is more than we can comprehend. Light can buzz through 6 trillion miles in a year. A lightyear is truly to infinity and beyond.
Our universe is not just one lightyear, but 93 billion lightyears.
Not 93 lightyears. 93 billion lightyears. 93 billion segments of 6 trillion.
And that’s actually just the observable universe; that’s just what we can see of the universe. The actual universe- with everything we can’t see- is estimated to be about 250 times bigger than that.
And God knows every star and every rock in this universe.
Which are all millions of miles away and way bigger in size and scope than any of us.
And yet the Bible says God’s most important creation is you.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
We are specks of dust in this universe. If the universe were the size of this world, we would be way way way smaller than a germ in comparison. And yet God thinks about you.
This podcast is all about weird stuff in the Bible. But reading about how much God cares for us- that’s one of the strangest, most bizarre, most mind-blowing things I’ve ever studied on this show. I just…I sit here in awe today.
Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.