In Acts 7:53, Stephen was winding up the sermon that would get him killed when he said that those listeners had “received the law by the direction of angels and had not kept it.” Such a passage makes one wonder how angels were involved in delivering the Old Law. The passage is not alone. Galatians 3:19 asks, “What purpose then does the law serve?” and then answers, “It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” Such passages whet the appetite of the curious. The curious, however, may never know the details; those may be relegated to the secret things that belong to God (Deuteronomy 29:29).
There are some interesting passages in the Old Testament that may apply. Deuteronomy 33:2 has Moses poetically speaking of the Lord coming from Sinai and bringing a “fiery law” for the people “with ten thousands of His saints.” Likewise, Psalm 68:17 is intriguing; “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, Even thousands of thousands; The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place.” Recall, please, that Elisha’s servant, when finally seeing visually the help God was providing, saw it in the form of a mountain being “full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). Also, in Daniel 7:10, the vision of the Ancient of Days has a “fiery stream” issuing forth from Him and “a thousand thousands” ministering to Him. It is a type of language that indicates a heavenly being. How exactly angels were involved in delivering the Law is beyond this author, but it can be accepted as fact based upon the above Scriptures. The important point is the application of it made by the Scriptures, which comes powerfully in Hebrews 2:1-3.
There, Jewish Christians in danger of sliding back into Judaism are quite forcefully admonished, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him…” Indeed, the “word spoken through angels” was steadfast. Penalties were prescribed for all kinds of offenses. All from the adulterous to the rebellious son were to suffer the death penalty (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 21:18-21). Punishment for disobedience was harsh.
The inspired author argues from the lesser to the greater. If those punishments were harsh, how much more harsh will be the punishment upon those who neglect the salvation spoken by the Lord! In some ways, the New Law of Christ seems more lenient. No longer do we stone rebellious sons or kill the adulterous. That is not part of the Law of Christ. Nevertheless, there will come a judgment with an eternal consequence (2 Corinthians 5:10; John 5:28-29). The thrust of Hebrews 1-2 is to prove the Divinity of Christ by proving His exaltation above angels. In that vein, God has now “spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:2). That word supersedes any word spoken by angels.
Christ is superior; so is His Word. The application is clear. “Give the more earnest heed” to Christ’s Word. Slipping from it carries a terrible penalty. Modern audiences may not be tempted to fall back into Judaism, but falling back into any lifestyle other than that in Christ is tragic and awaits a terrible penalty (2 Peter 2:20-22). God is loving and just, but He penalizes the stubbornly rebellious (Hebrews 10:26). The “word spoken through angels” should have taught us that.
