Book of Hebrews - Ch. 2, Vs. 1-18 (02/21/2021)

Hebrews. The first chapter of Hebrews proves Christ's superiority to the angels using seven

Old Testament quotations. The second chapter begins with a warning not to drift away and miss salvation.

He adds, Hebrews speaks of salvation as more than simply justification. We all think about being saved as the moment we walk down the aisle at the church and accept

Christ. That's justification. That actually happened when you were in your seat getting ready to go down to speak.

There's other aspects of that. There's being set apart, sanctification for doing

God's work. There's also confirmation coming into a state of being as much like Christ as you possibly can be.

And then there is the fourth state, the glorified state. When you have your glorified body and you are no longer to the earth.

So Hebrews is speaking of salvation as more than simply justification. The single moment when

God declares us righteous, placing us in a right standing before him.

This book, this letter emphasizes the future sense of our salvation, our glorification, and our reign with Christ.

Now that's the first four chapters, first four verses. The rest of chapter two proves

Christ's superiority to angels using theology. Because of sin, humanity is not ruling over the creation.

Dr. Chassett said, as God intended. Well, it's not as God intended. Everything is as God intended.

He knew what we were going to do. He knew that Adam was going to sin. He knew that he's going to have to send his son to live, die, and be risen again.

All of this was known from before time began. So it was not God's intention that humanity rule over the creation.

Humanity was given the opportunity to rule over creation. And just as God suspected and understood and knew,

Adam was disobedient. But Jesus, this is back to Chassett, the ideal human will bring creation into submission of himself.

He goes on to say, Jesus took hold of human nature to be a satisfactory payment for our sins.

So that is the Dallas Theological Seminary's position,

I suppose that's their official position, with regard to the book of Hebrews.

We're going to begin chapter two, verse one. I'm going to read the first four verses, and then we're going to pray.

Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, 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 unto us by them that heard him.

God also bearing witness, I left out the them, there is a word there, them,

God also bearing them witness, but that word is in italics, and that means that it was not in the original

Greek. It was added by the King James translators to make it more clear, and they did a good job with this one.

God also bearing them witness, who's the them? The them is both

Jesus and his apostles, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles, and gifts of the

Holy Ghost according to his own will. Let us pray.

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for giving us the technology where we might reach out and touch one another, even at a distance.

Thank you for giving us a break in this horrifically cold time.

Thank you for allowing it to be short, and bringing us through it. Bring us back to church next

Sunday. Let us meet in person. It's better when we're together face -to -face, but we're always face -to -face with you, and that's even better.

Bless us and keep us, go through both the services today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay. Therefore, we ought to give most earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip away.

Now John MacArthur said something that was surprising to me. Both of these phrases have a nautical connotation.

The first, more earnest heed, this one surprised me, refers to the mooring of a ship, the tying it to a dock.

The second, let them slip away, was often used of a ship that had been allowed to drift past its harbor.

The warning is to secure oneself to the truth of the gospel, to secure oneself to the truth of the gospel.

John MacArthur didn't say this, but I did. The truth of the gospel can only be found in the

Holy Spirit. I'm sorry, in the Holy Scriptures, and then only when read under the guidance of the

Holy Spirit. So if you want to know the truth of the gospel, you need to read the scripture, and you need to read it under the guidance of the

Holy Spirit. Being careful not to pass by the only harbor of salvation.

I'm going to read that all together. The warning is to secure oneself to the truth of the gospel, being careful not to pass by the only harbor of salvation.

The closest attention must be paid to these very serious matters of Christian faith.

Verse two. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense.

Well, I'm going to break that here. This is at, in fact, at the end of verse two, but there's a semicolon and it goes on.

The Greek term for if assumes a fulfilled condition. Here the idea is in view of the fact, fact.

So we could read it this way. In view of the fact that the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and in every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense reward.

We could read it that way, or we could read it this way. For since the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense reward, either way would be better than the word if.

Now, you might understand this.

The fact that angels, and notice the word angels, it's plural. It's not one, but it's many.

But the fact that angels were the conduit through which God's law was transmitted to Moses.

So how did God's law get to Moses? It was partially by angels.

Son, he got face to face when he spoke to Jesus in his pre -incarnate state, but most he got from angels.

Acts 7, 37 is where I'd like to go now. This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet shall the

Lord your God raise up to you of your brethren, like unto me him you shall hear.

This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him.

Now, spake to whom? Spake to Moses. Who spake? An angel. Who was with him?

This prophet, like unto me, him you shall hear.

It is he that was in the church in the

Mount Sinai with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give to us.

Now, there's another passage that refers to the angels being the conduit for God's message to his people.

Now, to Abraham and his seed were promises made. He saith not to seeds as of many, but as of one.

Now, he's speaking to Abraham now, not Moses. He's speaking to Abraham. Moses comes 400 years later.

And to thy seed, which is Christ, we have no doubt of who that is, the seed is

Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, so the earlier covenant, the old covenant, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that which should be made the promise of none effect.

For if the inheritance be of law, it is no more a promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Wherefore then serves the law? What value is the law if we have grace?

It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.

And it was ordained by angels in the hands of the mediator. So when

God gave Moses the law, it was to serve as a taskmaster.

It was to serve until the promise came. The promise that was to come was Jesus Christ.

Now, there was one seed, but there were many angels.

I'm gonna go back and read verse two again, and then pick up a couple more things out of that verse.

For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense reward.

Okay, what's a transgression, and what's disobedience, and what's the difference? Both are serious, both are willful, and both require judgment.

To transgress means to step across the line. That's active. That's an overt sin.

That's something that you do because you want to do. Disobedience carries the idea of shutting one's ears to God's command.

You don't hear his commands, you don't know what he wants you to do, therefore committing the sin of omission.

Both are serious, both are willful, and both require judgment.

And then one more time, if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Which is the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.

Now, the older covenant, the one that came closest to the law. If this disobedience to the older covenant of law brought swift judgment, how much more severe will be the judgment of disobedience to the new covenant gospel of salvation, which was mediated by the

Son? The Son is superior to the angels. The messenger and the message of the new covenant are greater than the message and messengers of the older covenant.

The idea is the greater the message, the greater the urgency to obey.

So there's a greater urgency to obey the new covenant than there is, than there was to obey the older one.

And one other thing, the greater the privilege. The new covenant, which was mediated by the

Son himself, and transmitted from the

Son, and then through the apostles, were greater than the message mediated through the angels.

So the greater the privilege, the greater the punishment for disobedience or neglect.

Now, finally, verse 4. God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles and gifts of the

Holy Ghost, according to his will. Now, in that passage, in that verse, them also is in italics, meaning it doesn't identify them.

It doesn't, the original text doesn't have them in it. So it probably should be read,

God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles and gifts of the

Holy Ghost, according to his own will. The supernatural powers that Jesus had, that were demonstrated by Jesus in the presence of his apostles, and the supernatural powers demonstrated by his apostles, were the

Father's divine confirmation of Jesus Christ as his Son, as well as to authenticate the apostles and the gospel message.

I probably need to add this. Now that the Holy Scripture is complete, now that the entire canon has been written, there is no longer any need for these supernatural powers to be demonstrated in order to authenticate new apostles, because there are no new apostles.

Jesus has been revealed. We no longer need these supernatural powers, so we should be skeptical with regard to anybody that claims to possess them.

Verse 5. Verse 5 was a hard verse for me to read and understand.

I'm going to read it, and then I'm going to change the order of a word to make it more clear, at least to me.

If I just read it straight out, I would say, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjugation the world to come whereof we speak.

If I read it with a little better timing, I can get it to sound like this. For unto the angels hath he not put in subjugation the world to come whereof we speak.

That's still not too good, at least for me. So what I did then is point out that this is a statement, not a question.

It's not asking, well, did he put the angels into subjugation?

The order of the words in the King James Version lends itself to some confusion, at least it did to me.

It might be more clear to our ears if it had read this way, and I'm going to change the word order.

For unto the angels hath he not put into subjugation the world to come whereof we speak.

So did he put the world in subjugation to the angels? The answer to that is no, he did not.

He put it into subjugation to his son and to us.

And originally, he put it in subjugation to Adam. But he's not speaking of that world.

He's speaking of the world to come. He's not speaking of the world that is, the world that is to come.

Now, what is the world that is to come? That's the millennial kingdom.

That's the kingdom where Jesus will reign for a thousand years, and the redeemed saints will reign with him, but not the angels.

The angels will continue to be ministering spirits, just like they are now, ministering to God, ministering to Jesus, ministering to the saints in heaven, and ministering to the saints on the earth.

I now went to Psalms 2, verse 7. I will declare the decree the

Lord saith unto me, thou art my son, this day have

I begotten thee. This is Jesus talking about the

God, God the Father saying to Jesus, God the

Father has said unto me, Jesus, thou art my son. This day I have begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt bash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Now, from God's point of view, that's done. Jesus is in total control of everything, but is

Jesus actually on the earth reigning with a rule of iron over the Gentile nations as well as the

Jewish nation? Is he doing that yet? And of course, the answer to that is no, he's not, but he will.

He will at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. Now, I've got two more verses.

These come out of Revelation, and these two will refer to the saints and the reign of the redeemed saints under the authority of Christ.

So here we are, chapter 2, verse 26 of Revelation.

And he that overcometh and keepeth my works to the end, to him will

I give power, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken into shivers, even as I received of my father.

So who is he that overcometh, keepeth the work to the end, who has power over nations, and who is to rule them with the rod of iron?

That would be the redeemed saints. The saints that are ruling with Christ under his authority.

So now let's go to Revelation 5, verse 9. And they sang a new song, saying thou, now the thou that was

Christ, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, and has made us unto our

God kings and priests. And we shall reign on earth as kings and as priests, rulers under the authority of God, of Christ.

Verse 6. But one in a certain place testified, saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visiteth him?

Now John MacArthur makes this point, I think it's important, that the place is not identified is not an indication that the writer was ignorant of the source of the quotation that follows.

The location of the quotation is not as significant as its divine authorship.

What's not important is where it's found. What's important is who wrote it, and who wrote it? The Holy Spirit.

Perhaps it's also significant that the author of Hebrews is not identified either. The writer may have desired that his readers understand that the

Holy Spirit is the real author of all the scriptures, including Hebrews and this passage that we just read.

Now we have another passage. All scripture, this is Timothy, 2nd

Timothy 3 16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, that is

God breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

But the holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now we might speculate about the author's motives for not identifying himself, nor for the location of this quotation, but this we know for certain.

This passage, the one quoted, asks the question, why would

God even bother with man? What is man that God is mindful of?

The answer is found in the incarnation of Christ. The greatest proof of God's love and regard for mankind is this,

God was sent in the form of a man. He was not sent in the form of an angel.

That he was sent in the form of a man is a hint of how much love he has for us. He came into the world as a man to suffer, to die, and to rise from the dead, to make it possible that he might save his chosen.

Verse 7, Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of the hands.

Made a little lower than the angels, but just for a brief period of time.

For how much time was Jesus a little lower than the angels?

I wish we had this so I could get interactions, but I'll just tell you, from his birth to his resurrection, that's about 35 years.

We talked about this last week. Jesus was always God. From eternity past, through the creation, up until he was born,

Jesus was a spiritual being.

He couldn't stay a spiritual being and come to the earth and suffer and die for us.

He had to come as a man to suffer and die for us.

Now, man is a little lower than the angels. Angels live forever. Angels can flit around from place to place.

Angels are powerful. One angel slay one day, one night, of the entire

Assyrian army. Angels are powerful beings, not as powerful as God, not as powerful as Jesus, but more powerful than we are.

So Jesus had to come to a state a little lower than the angels, but he was always

God. At his birth, he came into time and space in the form of a man.

And while he was on the earth, in time, in space, in the form of a man, he had to conform to and rely on God the

Father for his substance. If you remember when he was tempted in the wilderness,

Satan asked him, well, if you're hungry, just change the stones into bread. Could he have done that?

He could have, but he didn't. And the reason he didn't was he had to remain like and not just like, but he had to remain really a man for all the time that he was here in time and space.

That he was the Messiah was confirmed by his resurrection. We get that from Romans 1, 4, and declared to be the

Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

But understand this, Jesus did not revert to his pre -incarnate state at the time of resurrection.

He didn't go back into the heavenlies. Oh, he's sitting at the right hand of God now, but he is also able to come in and go out of time and space.

He still exists in time and space. He remains in time and space and in the form of a man, albeit a glorified man.

When we die and we go to heaven, we will be similar to what Jesus is at this present time.

And he will remain in the form of a man until maybe, perhaps what is spoken of in 1

Corinthians 15, 28. When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the

Son himself be subject unto him all things that were put under him. Then also shall the

Son himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

So when everything is subdued, when he has fulfilled his mission, when everything is done,

God will put himself back under submission to God so that God may be all in all.

I think that's what that means. Verse 8, for thou hast put all things in subjugation under his feet.

For in that he put all in subjugation under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.

There's nothing that's not under subjugation to Jesus. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

And I kind of touched on this a minute ago, but from the perspective of God, the

Father, outside the bounds of time and space, this has already happened. But to us, and in fact to Jesus, who exists in time and space, this has not yet been accomplished.

But it will. It will be at the beginning of the millennial kingdom, and then

Christ will rule with a rod of iron, and we will rule with him. Verse 9, and we see

Jesus, who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with honor and glory.

So Jesus is made a little lower, and because of the suffering and the death and the resurrection, he is crowned with honor and glory.

Philippians 2 .8, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and has given him a name which is above every name.

So at this point, he is no longer a little lower than the angels, but he is infinitely higher than they are.

Because Jesus became obedient to the point of death, God also has highly exalted him.

By his redemptive work, Christ has fulfilled all that is required as the supreme representative of mankind.

By his incarnation, substitutionary sacrifice, and victory over sin and death.

Romans 6 .23 says this, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord. We no longer have to fear death. John, 1

John 4 .1 says, hearing his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Jesus succeeded where the first Adam failed. Yes, he was for a short time lower than the angels, but now he has glory and honor, and all things, including angels, are subject to him.

And to finish that verse in Hebrews out, we see Jesus 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, should taste death for every man.

Now, I added something. It reads a little funny. Not every man, only those who believe.

For it became him, for whom all things, and by whom all things, in bringing many sons into glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

First thing to note is this. All can sometimes mean many.

Brother David says this many times when he talks about, in John 3 .16,

for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should have eternal life.

He's not talking about everybody. He's talking about those who believe. All can mean many, all kinds of, some of every kind of, but many can never mean all.

So you keep that in mind. All can sometimes mean many, but many can never be all.

If you say many, it is understood that it's not all.

Now, we're going to look at the meaning of perfect. First of all, Jesus was always the perfect man.

Had he not been the perfect man, he would not have had sufficient merit to completely satisfy the father's need to be just.

We talked about that last week too. Without a perfectly obedient son that perfectly met the requirements and lived the perfect life, his merit would not have been high enough to completely satisfy the father.

But here, the meaning is not that at all. Here, the meaning is to be made complete or to be finished.

Verse 11, for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.

Now, who is he not ashamed to call brethren? Those who are chosen and adopted into the family of God as brothers and joint heirs with Christ.

Verse 12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church.

I will sing praises unto thee. Now, it's interesting, Jesus never directly referred to his disciples by the title of brethren until after his resurrection.

We have a couple of instances here that I quoted. Matthew 28, 10, that's after the resurrection.

Then Jesus said unto them, be not afraid. Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there they shall see me.

And then I've got another passage quoted from John 20, 17. This is also after the resurrection.

This is Jesus talking to Mary Magdalene. And Jesus said unto her, touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren.

This is between his ascension to the father and his resurrection.

He has already died. He has been raised from the dead and he's referring to his disciples as his brethren.

And say to them, I ascend unto my father and your father and my

God and your God. Now, my brother asked me last night when we were going over this, what difference does this make?

And I quoted Dr. McArthur. It was not until he had paid for their salvation that they truly became his spiritual brothers and sisters.

Before he died and was raised from the dead, they were not adopted into the family of God, but afterwards they were.

The use of this term demonstrates his full identification with mankind to provide complete redemption.

Philippians 2, 7. I read part of this while ago. But made himself of no reputation and took on him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man.

And being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death of the cross.

Wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

Verse 13. And again, I will put my trust in him.

And again, behold, I and the children which God has given me. Christ fully identifies himself with mankind by taking human nature.

He demonstrated that reality of his human nature by his reliance upon God during his earthly sojourn.

When he was living on the earth as a man, he depended upon God for all of his necessities of life, including in the wilderness.

When he could have made the stones turn into red and taken care of himself, he didn't.

He depended upon God just like we have to depend upon God for our sustenance.

For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is the devil.

Let's read that again. For as much then as children are partakers of flesh and blood, we are all flesh and blood,

Jesus also himself took part of the same. Jesus took on the naked nature of flesh and blood so that he, like them, would be flesh and blood, and that he could die, and through his death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.

John MacArthur said this, the Greek word for partakers means fellowship or communion, partnership.

Shared means to take hold of something that is not related to his own kind. The Son of God was not by nature flesh and blood, but took upon himself that nature for the sake of providing redemption for mankind.

And death and the power of death, this is the ultimate purpose for Jesus' coming to the earth in the first place.

Jesus came to the earth to die. By dying, he was able to conquer death in his resurrection.

By conquering death, he rendered Satan powerless against all who are saved. Satan, using the power of death, is subject to God's will.

So Satan can only use the fear of death. He really has no control over death.

He really has no control over where we go when we are dead. Jesus has control over it all.

There's an example of this in Job chapter 2, beginning at verse 3, where Job has already suffered great hardship, and he has not blasphemed the

Lord, and so Satan comes back. And the Lord said unto

Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth

God and escheweth evil, and still holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him, to destroy him without cause?

And Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, all that man hath he will give for his life, but put forth thine hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand.

Do what you want to do to him, but save his life. There was a constraint on Satan.

Satan could only do as much as Jesus, God, would let him do.

And that's all he can do now. He can only do as much as Jesus will allow him to do. And then verse 15,

And deliver them who through fear of death were all of their lifetimes subject to bondage.

It was not death that put them in bondage. It was the fear of death that put them in bondage.

Verse 16, For verily, this is Jesus, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

Christ is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. Galatians 3 16.

Now to Abraham and his seeds were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is

Christ. Verse 17, Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be merciful, a merciful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

John MacArthur said this, Christ's work of propitiation is related to his high priestly ministry.

By partaking of human nature, Christ demonstrated his mercy to mankind and his faithfulness to God by satisfying

God's requirement for sin. So he demonstrates mercy to man and faithfulness to God, thus obtaining for his people full forgiveness.

For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.

And John MacArthur also said the genuineness of Christ's humanity is demonstrated by the fact that he was subject to temptation.

By experiencing temptation, Jesus became fully capable of understanding and sympathizing with his human brethren.

He felt the full force of temptation. Though we often yield to temptation before we feel its full force,

Jesus never yielded and therefore he always felt the full force of its temptation.

Jesus resisted temptation even when the greatest enticement for yielding had become evident.

And for that he can serve as our great high priest who once and for all made a sacrifice and never has to make a sacrifice again.

Okay, a quick prayer. Most gracious heavenly father, thank you for this time and this place that you have given us to come together and study your holy word.

Come together even though we are miles apart in some cases. Bless us and keep us. Go through the rest of the service today.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now brother Dave, back to you.