Written ~ 11-12-2024
Read Hebrews Chapter Two
Hebrews 2
In our chapter today the first thing we are going to read about is a warning. And this warning applies to every single one of us. What we decide to do with the information we have learned about Christ Jesus will determine the state of your walk with Him. Are you a nonchalant believer? Do you only go to church on Easter and Christmas or not at all? Do you apply Scriptural truths to every area of your life? Do you serve Him with everything you have? Does your life mirror an attitude of Christ? Let’s see what the author of Hebrews warns us about…
Hebrews 2:1-4…
1 “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. 2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. 3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself and then delivered to us by those who heard Him speak? 4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever He chose.”
What I should point out here about the Hebrew believers and recipients of this letter, is they are what’s called second-generation believers. That means they did not see Jesus in person, they would not have had the opportunity to sit under His direct teaching, but they accepted Him as their Messiah from the message taught through word of mouth, letters and the written accounts that were being passed around. We can relate to these believers because we too have not seen Jesus in person, but we have chosen to believe what we have heard about Him and have accepted Him into our lives. Here lies the warning, after we have heard the wonderful life changing news of Jesus Christ, have we made a diligent effort to apply what we have learned to our daily lives?
The Life Application Study Bible footnotes say the following:
- The author challenged the original readers to pay attention to the truth they had heard so they wouldn’t drift away into false teachings. We are called to do the same. Paying careful attention requires hard work. It involves focusing our minds, bodies and senses. Listening to God means not just hearing His Words but also finding ways to put them into practice (see James 1:22-25). Listen to Him more carefully than you do news reports. Follow Him more consistently than you do your favorite media personalities. And be ready to carry out His instructions.
We learned in chapter one that God spoke to the prophets of old in various ways. Are you so in tuned with the voice of God that you hear Him and see Him in various ways as well? If not, as you read through the Book of Hebrews over the next couple of weeks, ask God to speak to you through His Word in ways you have never heard Him before. Let Him surprise you with the Words of His heart and see if they don’t touch your heart, mind and soul in a completely different way. Communication with the Lord is a two-way avenue. When we read our Bibles, He is communicating with us, when we pray or just talk with Him, we are communicating with Him. But do we really sit and listen to what He is saying to us? Do we quickly read through a chapter in our Bibles because it’s part of a yearly reading plan? Do we almost, without thought, rattle off our requests to our Father without waiting for a response? Or do we pause, take the extra time to sit at the feet of Jesus and really listen? Do we consciously wait for Him to reveal His heart?
Verse one in our chapter today says, “…we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it…” If we do not take the time to really listen and apply the things we are learning from Scripture, it can go in one ear and out the other and the world can very easily divert our attention. In verses two and three we are warned that disobedience will bring consequence and punishment, verse three says, “…what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation?” That’s a good question to ask yourself. If we are believers and followers of Jesus, truly, think about it, do our lives reflect that decision? Or if we haven’t yet chosen Jesus as Lord and Savior, there isn’t a limitless amount of time to make that decision. Disobedience to the Word of God and the refusal to accept Jesus will have consequences and punishment that you just don’t want to bring on yourself! If you are hearing the Word of God and still ignoring its plea, you are traveling along a road that leads nowhere except to devastation and an eternity of damnation and hell. Each individual has a choice to make… what’s your choice?
The next section of chapter two continues with the theme we read about in chapter one and that is the distinction between angels and Jesus. We will learn how important it was for Jesus to come to earth as a human, in order to die and break the power of death.
Hebrews 2:5-8…
5 “And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. 6 For in one place the Scriptures say,
“What are mere mortals that You should think about them,
or a son of man that you should care for him?
7 Yet for a little while You made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
8 You gave them authority over all things.”
Now when it says, “all things,” it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority.”
In this passage the author of Hebrews is quoting Psalm 8:4-6, when David wrote this psalm, he was looking at the grandeur of the heavens and the glory of creation and asked why the Lord cared for us mere mortals. But God made us an authority on earth, over everything. So, if you have ever felt unimportant or you think you have no purpose in life, you need to remember that God created you with authority on earth. We are made just “a little lower than the angels.”
In verse 8b, we are told that “…we have not yet seen all things put under our authority…” That means we have to wait until our eternity in Heaven before we will experience the fullness of our authority as we stand side by side with Jesus.
The next set of verses explain to us why Jesus had to come to earth as a human, He needed to lower His position just below the angels in order to experience death so He could provide the Salvation necessary for us to become Born-Again in Him.
Hebrews 2:9-10…
9 “What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because He suffered death for us, He is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. 10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that He should make Jesus, through His suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.”
If you need to, read those two verses a couple of times. I had to in order to really grasp what the Lord did for us. It has always been God’s Will that He would bring His creation, us, mere mortals, into His glory if we chose His Son and chose Salvation. Jesus lowered His position in Heaven in order to die. That’s mind blowing. He knew all along as He walked this earth, teaching, preaching, using various signs and wonders to prove His authority that He was going to die. But He did it so we could experience an eternity in Heaven with Him. “…Through His suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation…” And who is the “them” in this verse? All people who call on the name of the Lord and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. This main reason right there is why the next couple of verses are so exciting!
Hebrews 2:11-13…
11 “So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters. 12 For He said to God,
“I will proclaim Your name to My brothers and sisters.
I will praise You among Your assembled people.”
13 He also said,
“I will put My trust in Him,”
that is, “I and the children God has given Me.”
Let that sink in for a moment. When we step into Salvation, we have instantly become born into a new family! We are the brother or the sister of Jesus Christ Himself! Isn’t that exciting? Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. I think that’s pretty awesome!
Let’s go ahead and read over the last set of verses for our chapter today…
Hebrews 2:14-18…
14 “Because God’s children are human beings – made of flesh and blood – the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; He came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for Him to be made in every respect like us, His brothers and sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. 18 Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested.”
I found the explanation of verses 2:14-15 in the Life Application Study Bible worth repeating…
- It was a necessary part of God’s plan that Jesus become human to die and rise again in order to destroy the devil’s power over death (Romans 6:5-11). By doing this, Christ delivered us from eternal death and freed us to live with Him. When we belong to God, we need not fear death, because we know that death opens the doorway into eternal life (1 Corinthians 15). Jesus defeated death, so all who dread death can find the hope that Christ’s victory brings.
Do you have the hope found only in Jesus? Are you called brother or sister by the Son of God?
It says in verse 2:16 that Jesus didn’t come to help angels… no, He came specifically to help the human race, the descendants of Abraham. When He laid His life down as the final sacrifice, He presented Himself as the final High Priest with a sacrifice that would restore the relationship we have with the Almighty God.
If we read through the Old Testament, it is there, we learn that the high priest was the only person who was chosen and anointed to bring a sacrifice into the Holy of Holies. This sacrifice was presented to God to cleanse the people of their sins. This is one reason why the Jewish religious leaders were so upset with the claims that Jesus was the Messiah, that He was the sacrificial lamb and that their high priest no longer held the authority over the redemption of sin for the people. Now it was Jesus and only Jesus.
Jesus went through all this pain, all this suffering so He would be able to help us when we go through difficult seasons in our lives. He has experienced everything we experience. He died for us so we would have hope in Salvation. He is the perfect One to walk us through life’s difficulties. We just need to lean on Him. Keep in mind when you are going through something that tries to take your eyes off the Lord, “…Jesus Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested…”
As we continue our journey through the Book of Hebrews, we will see the unfolding of how Jesus is our help and why we should put our trust in Him alone.
~AMEN~