Hebrews 2
Notes
Transcript
Hebrews 2
Hebrews 2
Good morning Church! Open you Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 2. Quick reminder of where we have been in this study so far, and we won’t do that every week, but this week we must as if you take a glance at chapter two, verse one, it begins with the word Therefore...
AND every bible student should hear this at least once, but when you come across a therefore, you should look to see what it’s there for. So, the book is written to the Hebrew Christians who were struggling. No doubt like many of you. When they first recognized their need for a Savior, when they understood that whosoever will...included them. Maybe they couldn’t completely wrap their heads around the love that it took for Jesus to come and carry the weight of their sin, but by faith they believed it was true, and gratitude demanded that they follow Him.
Suddenly, the law and the prophets became clear that it was all pointing to Him all along. But then things started to get hard. Turning to Jesus didn’t solve all their problems, in fact, it seemed like life was harder because of it. There was public scorn and mockery. As if that wasn’t bad enough, their families and friends from the Temple treated them as traders and outcasts.
The road back began to look better than the road ahead. It was what they knew. It was how they were raised. The rules were black and white, the feasts, the holy days, the animal sacrifices, it was their religion and had been their way of life. Jesus was their Savior, but this was just hard.
So this letter was written to them. And in our first chapter we learned as we will continue to see throughout the whole book, that Jesus is Better. He is to be exalted above all and by all. He is the fulfillment of the law, He is better than man, better than the best of men, the prophets. He is better than the angels. So therefore, in light of all of that....we consider Hebrews chapter 2.
Let me read the first four verses, and then we’ll break them down a little bit and go through them. So, verse 1. Hebrews 2:1-4
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Let’s pray...
I was talking with another pastor and his wife yesterday. This gentleman is approaching retirement, and only has a few more weeks in the pulpit and he will be stepping down from that ministry. We had a nice visit, and they’re both looking forward to what the Lord has next for them. When we were saying goodbye, I asked him where he was teaching out of this morning and he said I’m starting the book of Malachi, and then asked me where I was this morning. When I answered Hebrews chapter 2, they both said, oh boy, that’s a hard one. It’s such a rich book, there is so much here, but it can be a little bit hard.
So before we dig right into it this morning, I want to talk to you a little bit about my mother-in-law. Is that OK? I know, you’re probably thinking this is not wise. He probably thinks this is funny, but it’s just not smart. That might be what you’re thinking...
I’m actually thinking if the elders here really love me like they say they do, they should probably be trying to stop me, since of all Sunday’s my mother-in-law is here this morning. I’m going to keep talking, but you all should probably be praying the Lord gives me wisdom and discernment. Here it goes…If you’ve ever seen my mother-in-law in a bathing suit...
Now hold on, if you’ve ever seen her in a bathing suit, it was probably out to their camp. And one of the things that she likes to do the most on one of the four or five super hot, sunny, days we have each summer is float on a raft, in a tube, maybe one of those little inflatable boats. But what she does is she paddles out about 30 feet from the end of their dock, and gets to the float that is out there and then takes a small rope and ties herself off to the float. And then, she can just rest with assurance, because she is anchored to something that is immoveable.
I say that because the rest of the family will follow here lead, blow up the stuff, paddle out there, but they only follow her lead so far. They don’t anchor themselves…and slowly, over time, they drift. See the camp is located near a bluff, and the winds generally blow in one direction. It creates an almost imperceivable current. So, unless you’re anchored, you will drift away.
Our chapter begins with this verse, Heb 2:1
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
I know I’m running with a little bit of a tangent here, but I think it’s worth considering. See when you look at the original language here, I’m not going to impress you with the Greek, because at least one of us in the room doesn’t know Greek, but I can look the words up and see what they mean. What is translated here in our NKJV bibles as heed, or give heed, the more earnest heed, your translation might say, pay attention, can be translated that way and is here. And then the word at the end which is translated as drift away, can be translated as slip past, or slip off, like a ring falling off your finger…or
They can also be translated as nautical terms…the first one, rather than pay attention or take heed, can also mean to moor a ship, or to anchor a boat and the latter can be used to describe a ship carelessly slipping past a harbour, or a place of safety, because the captain didn’t account for the winds, or the current, or the changing tide. So William Barclay suggests that this verse could also be translated as, “ ‘Therefore, we must the more eagerly anchor our lives to the things that we have been taught in case the ship of life should drift past the harbour and be wrecked.’ It is a vivid picture of a ship drifting to destruction because the pilot is asleep.
William Barclay, The Letter to the Hebrews, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 25.
There are stories of boaters in the Niagara river failing to pay attention, or failing to take precautions, and they have motor issues, or carelessly run out of fuel, and the current begins to pull them, the waters get faster and fast, they enter the rapids, and then what do they have to do to go over the falls? Nothing! See, this isn’t really about my mother-in-law in her bathing suit…it’s about all of us.
Some bible verses you are very familiar with in this church....John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Question for you. What do I have to do to perish? If I don’t want the everlasting life part, if I want to perish what must I do? Nothing! Don’t do it, don’t believe.
The Philippian Jailer, I won’t make you suffer the whole story, it’s Acts chapter 16 you can read it later, but he asks Paul and Silas a question. Acts 16:30-31
30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
What do I have to do to not be saved? Nothing! Don’t believe and you won’t be saved. Lets see what else…Romans 10:9
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Confess and believe and you will be saved. What do I have to do if I don’t want to be saved? Nothing...
Again, Heb 2:1
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
Salvation is for the asking…or in light of the verses I read for the believing…but to not drift away, it says we must do something. This is one of several exhortations or warnings that we will come across in this book. Most of us in this room know how easy it is to drift in our walk with Christ. I mean, none of us ever thinks it will happen to us. At least not at first.
It is just so incredible, when we first get saved. So incredible to be free. To be forgiven, clean in the eyes of God. No longer ashamed. He calls us son, daughter. Totally undeserved, but gratefully accepted. And then the hunger and amazement as we begin to learn about the depths of His love. How He suffered and died, and that it pleased the Father to do so because He loved us so.
But then, like with the Hebrews our friends aren’t into it. They don’t understand that you want to go to church, or a bible study, or a growth group. They don’t understand how you could let this Jesus thing take over your life.
Or maybe…it’s not all that. But what used to be your love, reading and discovering more about God, has become a chore, or dry, or maybe you just stopped. Prayer doesn’t seem to be the lifeline that it once was to the one that loves you unconditionally, so you stop…and you drift. To not drift seems hard.
We must five the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard. We can’t the noise around us, the drama consume us, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, that Jesus is better than everyone and everything…or we will drift. We have to do nothing to drift. Just loosen our hold on what, or who is solid. Abide in Me and bear fruit, don’t abide, you can do nothing and will be cast aside.
Verse 2, Heb 2:2
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
This is a reference to the 10 commandments as it was believed to be delivered into the hands of Moses by angels. It was to be taken seriously, violations were to be dealt with swiftly…verse 3....another question for us…Heb 2:3
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? This has been posed by some as the one question that even God can’t answer. If we neglect salvation through Jesus how can we escape. It is not unanswerable, the answer is simply we can’t, there isn’t salvation in any other. Do you know how I know that? Jesus tells us and the Father tells us. Jesus told us when he said. John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
No one comes to the Father unless it is by way of Jesus. The Father tells us when Jesus is in the garden before His crucifixion, sweating blood. Praying to the Father He says, Matt 26:39
39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
If it is possible, if there is any other way to save them, don’t make Me drink this cup…but if there isn’t any other way, verse 42 in the same chapter says, Matt 26:42
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
And He went to the cross, the Father confirming there was no other way. The world wants to think there are all kinds of different ways to Heaven, but a million ways does you no good if only one of them is true. So again, Heb 2:3
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
This is actually one of the verses that makes me think that Paul didn’t write Hebrews, as the author talks about this salvation, not through the law, but through Jesus and He says is was spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him - That is just so contrary to how Paul refers to himself. In 1 Cor 15 he specifically talks about receiving the gospel directly from Jesus. Not from the apostles as is mentioned here. Verse 4, Heb 2:4
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Now I know by breaking that up we loose the flow of it. But if we neglect the great salvation through Jesus how will we escape? The great salvation which was spoken of and taught by Jesus, was confirmed in the lives of the Apostles, and through the signs and wonders that were done by Jesus and then continued, and still continue along with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by the will of God, continue to testify of Him.
OK, verses 5-9 can be a bit confusing, because of the phrase or the title of son of man. It was Jesus’ favorite title for Himself, but it is also used throughout the old testament to refer to human men. God calls the prophet Ezekiel, son of man, over 80 different times in that book. So when we read this, lots of Bible teachers get confused.
So, it is important to keep things in context and that helps alot. The author of Hebrews is going to quote Psalm 8 here. What is important for us to know about that is that when King David wrote Psalm 8, he was not writing about Jesus, is was not a Messianic psalm. So when he writes about man, or son of man, he is talking about mankind, not Jesus. Let’s just look at it, verse 5 begins, Heb 2:5-6
5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.
6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him?
Speaking of the world to come, God never put the world under the authority of angels, in the Millennial Kingdom, they won’t be ruling then, Jesus will be. Heb 2:7-8
7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
This is actually really cool. We talked about this last week, that God made us a little lower than the angels right? We see it again here as it is quoting Psalm 8 and again, talking about man, it says you have made him a little lower than the angels…and that is a correct translation from the Greek into English…but, and I never realized this, in Psalm 8, where this is quoted from…it says…Psalm 8:5
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
In my bible it is translated angels…but In the original Hebrew, it says that they are made a little lower than the Elohim; and Elohim is the regular word for God. Not only is it the regular word for God, but it is in the plural form. The singular is El. Like in El Shaddai - God Almighty
That is pretty amazing that we were made a little lower or a little less that God, that explains the rest of the verse...
William Barclay, The Letter to the Hebrews, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 28.
7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.
That we have been crowned with glory and honor. AND this applies to other things such as being made in the image of God, that is never said of the angels. And we were set over the works of His, hands. verse 8, Heb 2:8
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
All things in subjection under us, and nothing that is not put under us. Does that seem true? I mean if four hippos burst into this room right now through the side doors, and an elephant came through the front and the back. And our security team was all distracted by salt water crocodiles, scorpions, and venomous snakes…could we just tell them to chill and let us finish the bible study? More realistic, you’re driving home and you see a deer running right out in front of you, is he going to care if you say, no don’t?
But it was true…I mean when I read about the garden of eden, it certainly was true then. So what happened? Sin. The fall of man. That is why the end of this says…but now, we don’t see all things put under him, God did it, but we don’t currently see it. Because things are broke, we’re broke. Verse 9 explains it. Heb 2:9
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
Wait, when was Jesus made a little lower than the angels? In the incarnation. When He added humanity to His deity. When God became man. When did He taste death. When He drank that cup, because there was no other way. Do you guys remember from Isiah chapter 51 it said, “you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and drained it out.
Jesus didn’t just sip it when He tasted it, He drank the cup of wrath for you and for me. He drank it for everyone it says, that doesn’t mean that everyone is saved, but it does mean that He atoned for all sin, there is no limited atonement. But to receive salvation you must believe. Verse 10…Nicole is in nursery today, but don’t worry I set the clock in there back 15 minutes...
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Jesus made perfect through suffering. Another question, does that mean Jesus wasn’t perfect before He suffered? No, but it does mean that it was His sufferings that made Him the perfect, the only One who could be our perfect propitiation, substitutionary sacrifice. It was through His suffering that He can identify with us. That He can sympathize with us, that He can get us. Had He not suffered, been tempted in all ways like us, had he not hurt, and grieved He wouldn’t have been our perfect Savior. Heb 2:11
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
The author is quoting both Psalm 22 and Isaiah 8 here, But Jesus who is holy and sanctified is the very One who can and is sanctifying us, if we aren’t just drifting, and it says He is not ashamed to call us brothers, sisters. Heb 2:12
12 saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”
Jesus directing praise singing to the Father…now this is what He has done and accomplished as our Brother…Heb 2:13-15
13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.
17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
The word propitiation carries the basic idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him.