Hebrews - Lesson 2

Hebrews 2:5-3:19

Writer’s intent is to show how great Jesus is and why people therefore should not forsake Him to return to the Old Testament.

Summary from Lesson 1

Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition Part Two: The Pilgrimage Picture (Hebrews 2:5–4:13)

God’s word spoken to us through His Son is much greater than God’s word spoken through angels at Mount Sinai. Because Christ is the Son, He has brought the final and complete revelation of God to us. In Hebrews 2:1–4, the preacher warned that this greater revelation implied greater responsibility.

Starting with today’s lesson, the writer continues to develop this idea of greater responsibility. He does so by comparing our response as Christians to Jesus with the response of God’s chosen people, the ancient Hebrews, who heard God’s Word on Mount Sinai through Moses.

How does the story of the Hebrews people in the Old Testament relate to the journey of Christians? Is there a connection?

Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (Part Two: The Pilgrimage Picture (Hebrews 2:5–4:13))

What were the Old Testament people of God to do after they heard God’s word at Sinai? In obedience to that word, they were to make a faithful pilgrimage into the land God had promised them. They were to trust God to care for them on their journey and bring them into that land where they would live in fellowship with Him.

How should Christians respond to God’s revelation in His Son? In obedience to this complete revelation of God, we are to make a faithful pilgrimage into the heavenly and eternal promised land, the very dwelling place of God. As our Pioneer and High Priest, the Son of God enables us to make this pilgrimage. In Part Two (which will take two sessions to cover - ending in 4:13) the preacher introduces the High Priesthood of the Son but focuses on the Son as the Pioneer who brings God’s people into the heavenly promised land.

Read Hebrews 2:5-9

Hebrews 2:5–9 ESV

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “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; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” 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. 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.

Verses 4-6 come from Psalm 8:4-6, which is a psalm attributed to David.

Who is verses 6-8 speaking of?

What appears to be the role of man in God’s creation?

What authority was man given in Gen 1:28?

How did man lose control of his authority and position? Who gained control? (John 14:30)

Who does the writer say this psalm is primarily speaking about? (v9)

This aligns with how Jesus himself saw the OT - as pointing to Him. See Luke 24:25-27

Luke 24:25–27 ESV

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:44–45 ESV

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

Describe the mission of Jesus according to verse 9?

Read Hebrews 2:10-18.

Man could not regain glory and honor on our own due to sin.

David Pratte (his study on Hebrews) says…

The solution would require Jesus to die. He had to taste of death – i.e., personally experience it. As God in heaven, He could not die. But to defeat the power of death, and in order to offer the sacrifice whereby all could be saved, Jesus had to be a man.

So He came to earth as a man and died. He tasted death for every man, then was crowned with glory and honor. See Philippians 2:5-10. Man was originally given glory and honor (verse 7). He lost this position by sin. Jesus lived without sin and died as our sacrifice. Then He was given glory and honor. Through what He did, we can again be glorified.

He was victorious over Satan and arose from the dead, then He went to the glories of heaven. We too can be victorious and arise from the dead, then we can go to the glories of heaven.

Jesus was already perfect in the sense of sinless. But He could not be perfected as the founder or “author” of our salvation without experiencing personally what it takes to live as a man. Then He had to die for us. This is what it took for God’s demands of justice and mercy to be met.

Verse 11 - What does it mean “to be sanctified”?

To be sanctified is to be set apart and made holy to God’s service. See 1 Peter 1:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, John 17:17.

1 Peter 1:15 ESV

but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 ESV

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 17:17 ESV

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

In order for Jesus to sanctify us, He had to be “one” with us. He had to share our nature.

We are one in nature with Jesus - we are his brothers and sisters. (v12-13)

In verse 12, he cites Ps. 22:22

Psalm 22:22 ESV

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

David had been given an amazing description of the suffering Messiah (Ps. 22:1-21) and then he proclaims “I will tell of your name to my brothers” and “I will praise you” - attributing deity to Jesus.

V.15 - How did the fear of death subject many to lifelong slavery?

When man sinned, death was the consequence (Genesis 2:16f; 3:19). Since that time till now, all men have died (except Enoch and Elijah). We are in bondage to death. This is why we do not have the earth completely subject to us. We live in fear of death: we fear its pain and suffering, we fear the end of our existence, we fear our destiny after death, etc.

Since Satan is the one who caused Adam and Eve to sin, and since he tempts all of us to sin, he is the one who has the power of death. Because of him, we are in bondage to death. He is the only one who profits by it. And as long as death remains, he appears to be the one in ultimate control of the destiny of man, since we all eventually die.

But when Jesus came to earth as a man, died, then rose again, He proved that He has the superior power over even Satan’s greatest weapon. He thereby defeated death, defeated Satan (1 John 3:8; John 12:31), and proved that even death need not be the great source of fear to us that it otherwise would be.

The lesson for the Hebrews was that they should realize their need for Jesus. He is the One who died to save them from sin, from Satan, from death, and from all the consequences of sin. No one else can save them. They therefore ought to maintain their service to Him, not fall away. They ought not to go back to the Old Testament, which offered them none of the blessings Jesus was offering.

v17 - Jesus became not just our sacrifice, but what else according to Hebrews 2:17?

High Priest - representative and intercessor on our behalf. By His suffering, He proved beyond doubt to us that He does understand our problems and can properly present our case to God. We ought, with joy, confidence, and gratitude, to allow Him to act as our representative priest to God, because we know He knows what we are going through. More on this subject will be covered next week.

Read Hebrews 3:1-6.

Jesus greater than Moses.

Now the writer goes further to exalt Jesus in the eyes of these Hebrews by comparing Jesus to Moses. No prophet would be greater in the eyes of these people than their beloved and respected lawgiver Moses. Yet the author shows Jesus is greater than Moses. So, they should surely not forsake Jesus’ words to go back to Moses’ teachings.

The reference to Moses being faithful in all of God’s house points back to Numbers 6:6-8…

Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition Chapter 5: Our Pioneer Is Faithful over God’s Household as a Son (Hebrews 3:1–6)

In Numbers 12:6–8, God rebukes Aaron and Miriam for not honoring Moses as the one through whom God had uniquely revealed himself. They should have deferred to Moses because he “had seen the glory of the Lord” (Num. 12:8). The Son of God is “worthy of more glory” than the one who saw the glory of God because He embodies that glory (see John 1:14). God is the One who endowed Moses with more honor than all the other Old Testament figures by revealing himself directly to and through Moses. Therefore He expected Aaron, Miriam, and the rest of His people to honor Moses by submitting to and obeying the word God revealed through Moses. But the preacher points out that this God has now revealed himself finally and completely in His Son. Thus it behooves us to give Him the greater honor that He deserves by an obedience more faithful and diligent than any ever shown to Moses.

Hebrews 3:3 ESV

For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.

v3 - How do you understand the compare/contrast of this verse?

Hebrews: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition Chapter 5: Our Pioneer Is Faithful over God’s Household as a Son (Hebrews 3:1–6)

Thus, this statement would imply that the Son is in some way the founder of God’s people while Moses is only one of those people. The Son is the One who establishes the people of God, because through His ministry as Pioneer and High Priest He enables them to be truly the people of God and enter into God’s presence.

“if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

He is concerned that they not lose their “confidence” in the power of God to enable them to live victoriously in the present. He will show them that through Christ they have been authorized to enter God’s presence so they can draw near to God with “confidence” (4:14) and receive His help. The preacher is also concerned that they hold onto the assured hope of living in God’s presence forever. God’s people are not ashamed of this future hope. On the contrary, they boast about it. It serves as the main focus of their lives.

Read Hebrews 3:7-19.

v.7-11 come from Psalm 95:7-11.

What is this passage referring to? (Exodus 17:2-7)

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 3:12–13

Each Christian brother, therefore, should be most careful to guard against a sinful, unbelieving heart which God’s flock in the wilderness displayed, the kind of heart that turns away from the living God. One preventative against such a tendency would be a spirit of mutual concern and admonition among the Christian brotherhood. Accordingly they were to encourage one another daily … so that none would be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (v. 13). This exhortation is still completely pertinent to any local congregation at the present time, where the hardening tendencies of sin can often be counteracted by truly concerned fellow Christians. The expression as long as it is called Today alludes to the “Today” in Psalm 95:7 and means something like “while you still have opportunity.”

v.12-13, What does it mean to exhort one another daily? Is that relevant for us today?

The Message of Hebrews 2. God’s Word in the Present: An Earnest Appeal (3:12–19)

How can these early Christian believers avoid a fate similar to that of the rebellious Hebrew pilgrims of bygone centuries? The author insists that, if we desire to bring our pilgrimage to that great rewarding conclusion which God has prepared for Christians, we must make our glad and obedient response to his word. We are required to hear, believe, obey and share the word of God

What is God’s rest?

NEXT WEEK: chapters 4-5