Johan Schep conducting a Bible study with a Jewish young man who recently found Jesus the Messiah.
Read Hebrews Chapter 2
When God expects a response from those who received the law through angels, how much more does the Lord expect a response from us all who have received such a great salvation in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Let us adore and kiss the Son as our Lord and Saviour.
Expressing the heart of God, is a theme running through the whole book of Hebrews. In these verses we read the first of the five warnings in this letter. Each warning also becomes more powerful the more you read this letter. It is not only important for the writer to exalt the Lord Jesus, it is also important to give an invitation with a heart full of compassion! There must be compassion for the people to respond to what is being preached and there must be a passion in every speaker to bring the people to a decision. The sinning of the believers is far worse than the sinning of the unbelievers! The people in the time of Moses rebelled ten times. Moses as their leader rebelled only once, and he was judged.
Lessons from this chapter
Verses 1-4.
The word ‘to drift’ is like a ship that sails without a destiny (Proverbs 4:20). The angels helped God to give the first five books of Moses (Acts 7:38, 53). The Lord also rebuked every man who did not keep the law (Deuteronomy 27:26; Hebrews 10:28). Now we go from the lesser to the greater. If we are punished for not keeping the law, how much more if we reject the Good News of God (Romans 1:1). To whom much is given, much is expected of them! The Lord confirms His message with signs (John 6:1-14, 25-29), and wonders (John 11:1-44). The purpose of those miracles was to prove the truth of the prophecies and the truth of the Gospel. We now have the whole word of God.
Verses 5-8.
We saw that the Lord Jesus is superior to the angels: as the Son of God. We also see that the Lord Jesus is more like the angels: as the Son of man (Daniel 10; Ephesians 6:10-18). The government of the world is in the hands of good and evil angels. The world that will end is not the world that will come! It was the purpose of man that he should reign on the earth (Psalm 8:4-9). Man was the King before the Fall. The expression “the son of man” means one who is born as a man. The Lord has a future for His people. Man is for a period of time lower than the angels, for angels cannot die (Daniel 7:18, 27; Luke 20:36). The saints will reign forever (Ephesians 1:20-21; Revelation 3:21). We will reign over angels in the future. When Adam sinned, he lost his sceptre and his crown (Genesis 3:14; 6:6-7). The earth rules man now. Man is constantly fighting the earth. Man always loses and he or she dies. Eventually this world dies as well (Romans 8:18-21), but the new world is yet to come.
Verses 9-10.
The Lord Jesus became our Substitute. For a little while He became less than the angels. He did something that angels cannot. That is to die (Luke 20:36). Death was a painful experience for Him (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21). He took the curse in our place and He drank the cup of God’s wrath and suffered for all our sins. He drank it empty. I never have to drink that cup anymore. The Lord Jesus chose it and He received the grace for it! Because Jesus humbled Himself so deeply, He is also exalted in this way (Philippians 2:1-11). This has changed me and this led me to hate sin. Jesus is not only the Creator, but also is the One who designed everything.
Verses 11-14.
We have been sanctified and declared righteous. He who sanctifies is Jesus, and those who are sanctified are all the believers. When God looks at me, He sees the perfect life of His Son (Hebrews 10:10, 14). Our position is that we are holy. We are of one Father, and He is God. We are called brothers because we share eternal life with Christ. He has every reason to be ashamed of us. His life dwells in us. Living in fear of death is the weapon Satan uses, because it is absolute. The Lord Jesus had to die as a Man to destroy the power of death. Death can no longer intimidate me during my life, and His death is also the glorious way to heavenly glory.
Verses 15-17.
He is our perfect Saviour, and He is also so kind. The angels need no help. We need His help as fallen men. He helps us in our temptations and abides with us (Hebrews 4:14-16; 2:18). He is our Saviour. He didn’t just come to die for us. He lives in us and He knows what we need and how to really help us. No one is like our Lord
Comments