Hebrews 2

[HKHaugan]

Hebrews 2

2:1 tells us “We must pay MORE careful attention THEREFORE…” The ‘more’ and ‘therefore’ is Chapter 1’s emphasis on the superiority of Jesus. This is why Chapter 2 leads out with such a strict calling. But what does that specifically mean for each of us? Three things to consider here:

First, we are created in the image of God to be like Jesus. What is an image of God? Jesus is the exact representation of God. He had a mind, a heart and a spirit. He thought like His Father, He trusted like His Father and He had faith like His Father. Jesus believed, trusted and had faith in His Father. In Him we find mind, heart and spirit in perfect balance. Those three are the basic equipment with which we are born. However due to sin we are not in balance. Who else historically is able to right the balance in fallen humanity?

Second, we are spiritual beings having a human experience, not the other way around. This is what Jesus showed in His taking on a human body. He was first spiritual and secondly human. We were created to think spiritually, trust personally and act faithfully ahead of everything else. “Not my will but Thine be done” as Jesus said. Jesus is the living will of God, the will of God being perfectly lived out in the perfect humanity of Jesus.

Third, we are motivated 100% by what we can’t see. We live in a fallen world where, as Genesis 6:5 tells us “…every inclination of a man’s heart is only evil all the time” and the prince of this world is working overtime to derail believers in Jesus (1Peter 5:8). His methodology is temptation. He wants to keep us absorbed in thinking we can control what we can’t see, desiring what we can see and locking our hearts into the worldly trends of the moment. This is life in the secular world where our every next moment is wrapped in the coils of trial-and-error choice and decision, an invisible process. So the question for each of us is, “Who do we trust when we are alone sinners being squeezed in the moments of choice and decision that are 100% invisible?”

The overall purpose of the letter is to keep us more and more attentive, thinking spiritually, personally and interpersonally as Jesus did. This is why the main theme of priesthood, Jesus being the One High Priest for our humanity (the ‘go-between’ for the Father and us), is the central theme for believers. The writer, obviously a trained but messianic Hebrew academic, is reminding us that we are all priests (Ex.19:5, 1Peter 2:9, Rev.5:10) following the example of the One High Priest so that we understand the elevated position we hold as priestly images of the High Priest, the Lord Jesus. We are His priests of every choice and decision we make. Our choice at every next moment is to be either a priest of Jesus or a priest of the devil. Jesus is the only Priest who has successfully navigated the invisible world of sin and evil exposing our real enemy, the devil. He made perfect choices and decisions based on the will of His Father that took Him to death on a Cross but finally justified by His Resurrection from the dead. He is the living example of what it means to be justified by grace through faith.

Therefore, the writer wants us to identify where we are, that is, what we believe, who we really trust and how we act (mind, heart, spirit). He has made this great case for the superiority of Jesus and the great salvation that has come through Him. Hebrews is like a great sounding board we can bounce our lives off of so we can assess where we are and then act accordingly.
Hebrews 2:1-4
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Three things emerge immediately as we open chapter 2, our focus, our salvation and our memory.

First, our focus.

It is easy to lose our focus. Chapter 2 begins with the word ‘therefore’ which means we need to know what the ‘therefore’ is there for. The first chapter makes clear that in both the spiritual and material dimension Jesus is superior to angels and any spiritual being not of God. The ‘therefore’ is the superiority of Jesus upon which the writer builds the rest of his letter. Jesus is the ‘therefore’ because He is God the Son. He is our focus. He is always present with us (I am with you always, even to the end of the age). While He is our Lord and Savior He is also our elder brother, our friend, our master, redeemer and our advocate. He functions as such in every moment of our life. He is our mind focus, our heart focus and our spirit focus. This was the view of all the Apostles.

Second, our salvation.

Therefore, is the warning not to ‘drift’ (pararuomen) away. For the Hebrews it was economic, social, religious and political pressure piling up against them. In their situation those issues could derail them. For us since Jesus is our salvation it is important we don’t ‘drift away’ from Him (John 3:16, so we don’t perish, synonym- apolatai-fritter away). We too are just as broken in mind, heart and spirit as the Hebrews were and need to keep Jesus central in us. Salvation is Jesus healing us, bringing our minds, our hearts and our spirits into balance. He has saved us and is continuing to save us from sin, the devil and the power of evil; all in the spiritual realm. “We live by faith, not by sight (2Cor.5:7).”

What does drifting mean to us? Drifting can be caused by apathy, excuse, blame, doubt, loss of courage, fear, peer pressure, nostalgia, politics, personal problems, relocation and losing personal contact with brothers and sisters in the Body. When we’re older it could come because we may believe we’ve done our share, we’re slower, we don’t want to get into the ‘coulda-woulda-shouldas’ of remorse and regret, feel spiritually inadequate in a changing society, perhaps even threatened. Of course there are always those church issues that divide people over doctrine, personalities and conflict. It’s easier to drop out than stand in. Bottom line? It’s all spiritual. The Lord Jesus is our salvation and keeping Him in the forefront keeps us alive, growing and productive.

Third, our memory.

Therefore we need to remember God’s testimony to His Son by signs (semeion), wonders (terasin), various miracles (dunamesin) and gifts (merismois---distributions) of the Holy Spirit. Consider the life of Jesus from birth to death and His resurrection. Consider the first blush of our conversion when we received Him as Savior and Lord. Consider the effects of His grace and love that moved above us and through us in spite of our sin and its self-centeredness, self-indulgent rebellion and obstinacy. What were the signs, wonder, miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit we continue to experience?

It’s so easy to be influenced by the issues of the moment and forget what God has done. We live in a culture that is always asking a football coach, “What have you done for me today coach?” We are living in a “what have you done for me now?” atmosphere. Memory is a gift if it is looked at spiritually. Memory keeps us honest as we look repentantly at our past and thankful in the present for His forgiveness and the promises of the Cross, Resurrection and Presence of Jesus.

Now we can go on and look at the rest of the Epistle.

[Karen McMahon]

This is really so wonderfully clear, Whitey.  I recognize this reality that originally brought me to commit my life to Jesus and what now even more keeps me awake, alert, and honest about what I need to keep growing and being "at home" spiritually.   I am glad you point out the gift of memory.  As I age I value this more and more.  I can remember all of the things God has done...for me...for those I love...and for the whole world.   I can remember that He always loves me, even if I have forgotten about Him at times.  The awareness of the truth that I NEED to be saved from myself/my sinful and self-centered nature is the only thing that gives me peace, and Jesus is the one who shows me this in his life and death on the cross and resurrection.  Nothing I can pull out from myself...from my heart, on my own, or from my mind on my own, or from my spirit on my own, can do any of this.  Only Jesus' love can give me what I truly need. I know I will never be perfect, and sometimes I have come around to His way clawing, kicking, and screaming, but I do this less and less.  The reason is that I have come to know that He is always there to correct me and to forgive me, if I only ask, and it is His love I must have, above all.