Paul proceeds from the traditional understanding of angelic spirits that was characteristic of the Judaism of his era. In Judaism, angels are only lower created spirits, and specifically ministering and serving spirits who carry out entirely concrete assignments from God. They are close to God, but God did not set before them the broad tasks He set before humanity.

The world has been given into the authority of humanity, not of angels. And not least because, unlike an angel, a human being's spiritual life has a dynamism determined by his relationship with God. Angels, in their present state, possess the entire fullness of life available to them; they do not require spiritual formation - at least this is how the author of the epistle sees them. A human being, however, is constantly in the process of becoming, and precisely for this reason he can in the end become the ruler of the universe, the ruler appointed by God into whose authority the world is given.

But in the fallen state, the human being does not correspond to God's design for him, and the only one who is truly able to subject the world to Himself is the Messiah, for He alone can be called Man in the fullness of human nature. The world submits to the Messiah not only by virtue of His divinity, but also by virtue of His humanity, and even first of all by virtue of His humanity. The fullness of God revealed to the world within human nature is exactly what is needed for the full existence before God's face of both the world as a whole and the human being himself.

And the world's becoming before God is inseparable from humanity's becoming before God and in God - and that means it is inseparable from the person of the Messiah Himself. The being of the universe is connected with the existence of humanity, and the existence of humanity in turn is connected with the existence of the Messiah. This connection is dynamic; it presupposes the becoming of the world and of humanity in Christ and around Christ. Angels, however, play a purely ministering role in this process. They have no need of becoming; they are full in themselves from the beginning, and therefore they surpass the human being in his present state, for fallen humanity has been deprived of the fullness of life. But a human being who has reached the fullness of his life surpasses the fullness of the angel's life - this is one of the main ideas of the author of the epistle.

While affirming the superiority of humanity over the angels, the author of the epistle nevertheless does not forget that, in the present state both of the world and of humanity itself, this superiority still turns out to be more of a spiritual and metahistorical prospect than a present reality. He understands the words of Holy Scripture that a human being is, in God's eyes, a little lower than the angels as referring more to the future than to the present (vv. 5-8). And, of course, the future in question is not the future of our world, which is being transformed but is not yet transfigured, but the fullness of the Kingdom that will be revealed to the world with the Savior's return. It is no accident that the author of the epistle speaks specifically of Jesus as the One in whom the words of the psalm that he mentions, about a human being in no way inferior to the angels, have been fulfilled (v. 9). For Jesus from the very beginning, from the moment of His conception on earth, already bore in Himself that fullness of the Kingdom which will be revealed to us only at the end of time. In a certain sense one could say that He Himself is the Kingdom, and the whole Church, as the community of people living in this Kingdom, is His continuation in the world that the Church is to transform.

Jesus, in the fullness of His transfigured human nature, reveals in Himself that image of humanity which stands above the angels. And it is He who points the way into the Kingdom for those who seek. Of course, God's revelations can be given to people through angels as well; that is why they are "ministering spirits." But no angel has ever contained the whole fullness of the Kingdom, and no angel has ever become fully part of our human world. Angels are spirits, though created spirits, and human nature is alien to them, as is any nature at all. They can be God's messengers in our world ("angel" properly means "messenger"), but by definition they cannot enter it, always remaining beings from another world in relation to it. The Messiah, however, entered the world as a Man and, despite all His uniqueness, never ceased to be precisely a Man. That is why the revelation of the Kingdom brought by Him into the world is greater than the revelation proclaimed by angels (vv. 1-4): for angels, though also sharing in the Kingdom, still could not become the living embodiment of the Kingdom opened to people. That embodiment is what the Savior became for those seeking the way.

"And: In the beginning, Lord, You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment, and like a cloak You will roll them up..."

In today's text the apostle refers to the text of the prophet Isaiah: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will grow old" (Isa 51:6). But this is, of course, far from the only place in the book of the prophet Isaiah where the end of days is mentioned. It is part of every prophetic ministry to remind people about the end of the days of "earth and heaven," about the end of the existence of the physical universe. "And all the host of heaven will decay; the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll; and all their host will fall, as a leaf falls from the vine, and as a withered leaf from the fig tree" (Isa 34:4).

Sergei Averintsev wrote this: "The last light brightens the firmament, / White walls like peaceful death, / all times curl up like a scroll, / minutes linger and the cup is full." Peaceful death is something very important for us today, because pictures of the end can frighten us and therefore inevitably cast us into depression. And Averintsev's words are not some late interpretation whose comfort we may distrust because it is too modern, too young, and untested by time. No: the prophet himself says immediately after this, "say to those who are fearful of heart: do not fear; behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you" (Isa 35:4). We need only enter God's peace, now, while still on earth, and then say with the apostle in joy: "You are the same, and Your years will not end."

Our own fate after death is not what matters to us; we love the Lord so much that we dissolve our selfhood in Him. The main thing is that "You are the same, and Your years will not end"; the main thing is that You, beloved God, will not die the death of decay. And in You are all who have entered Your peace, and all whom we love so much.