Tommy Mann

  The unknown author of Hebrews went to great lengths to tell us that Jesus is better. Using the word better 13 times in 13 chapters, the author shows that Jesus is better than Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Melchizedek; He gave a better promise, made a better sacrifice, mediated and better covenant, serves from a better temple, and is a better priest.    In the opening chapter Jesus is shown to be better than the angels, which the Jews held in very high regard. Alluding to Deuteronomy 32:43, the author reminds his audience that the angels worship Jesus, not the other way around: “And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him (Hebrews 1:6).’”   The Jews’ obsession with the angels bordered on the line of worshipping them. I realize you probably don’t struggle with the temptation to worship angels, but maybe you feel the pull to do something “religious.” The Hebrew Christians were battling the thought that Jesus was not e...

This book is not at all what I expected, and that is not a bad thing. The subtitle of the books is “The Presence and Power of our Heavenly Guides and Guardians,” which led me to believe that the book would use the Bible to teach on angels. Going in, I thought I would be reading a handbook on the occurrences of angels in the Bible. Instead, Joel Miller admits that the Bible gives us little insight in regards to angels. The author does use some Bible verses, but his primary sources are early church writings and iconographers. If a person is looking for a good, thorough manual about what the church fathers thought about angels, than this is a good book. Drawing from the iconographers, Miller also includes several pictures, or “icons,” of angels carrying on their work. It is important to point out that when we are dealing with people, there is always room for error (compared to when we use Scripture alone). So some of the duties of angels as laid out by the...