Hebrews Chapter Two, Marveling At Creation

 

This world to come is placed in subjection to mankind, not the race of angels. In Genesis 1:28 we read what God related to our first parents, “fill the earth and subdue it.” The command of subduing the earth is a strong one. The language suggests bondage, subjugation, or conquest. Man was meant to harness the natural world, being distinctively different from the plant and animal kingdoms that surrounded him, gifted with an intellectual and spiritual awareness unique to our race. This command is the foundation of true science, and men of science prior to (and after) the advent of Darwinism answered that command.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Justified, Sanctified, Glorified

 

Hebrews 2:5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.

 

God has put, “the world to come” in subjection to mankind, not angels, we are told. As Adam was steward to God’s kingship on Earth, so too does a glorious future and destiny await the sons of the King. Jumping back to verse 2, we read again, “so great a salvation.” Sometimes, or perhaps especially, mundane words need to be expounded upon to dig out their value. The word “great” is defined as, “of ability, quality, or eminence considerably above the normal or average.” We have forms of salvation involved in the amazing work Jesus accomplished on our behalf.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Bestowing Gifts To Men

 

The writer, briefly pausing to confirm the transmission of the gospel, affirms that the Lord Himself began to preach it, and was conducted by those who heard Him firsthand. Many believe Paul to be Hebrews’ author, but I respectfully disagree. Though I offer only an opinion, I do not believe Paul wrote Hebrews. The writer tells us that he received the gospel and further teaching by those who heard the Lord firsthand, implying that he was not such a one. “[It] was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” 

Hebrews Chapter Two, Making Light Of Sin

 

Twice in this chapter, the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel issues a stern warning about the consequences sin brings into our lives. “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” “For I have no pleasure in the death of the one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” Ezekiel 18:23, 32. 

Hebrews Chapter Two, The Angel Of The Covenant

 

Hebrews 2:2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, [3] 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 to us by those who heard Him, [4] God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will?

 

The deacon and martyr Stephen, when addressing the Sanhedrin in his greatest and final sermon, accused them of this at the last: “[you] have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it,” Acts 7:53.  So the “word” of Hebrews 2:2 is the “law” of Acts 7:53. This, of course, relates to the Mosaic Law given at Sinai.

Hebrews Chapter Two, Drifting

 

Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

 

The writer arrests our attention with the adverb, therefore. Because of these things, he says, give the more earnest heed to what we have been taught. The typical date given for Hebrews having been written seems to hover around 68 A.D., two years before the destruction of the temple at the hands of the Roman general Titus. Angels, while playing a large role in the Old Testament, could become an inappropriate object of fascination, as is demonstrated in the Book of Enoch, an Apocryphal text, typically excluded from Protestant Bibles. More than this, however, one must consider the advent of Gnostic teaching and its emphasis on angels, including ones Gnostics term aeons.

Spiritual Lethargy in America

 

The Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines lethargy as, “a lack of energy and enthusiasm.” It hails from the Greek, “lethargos,” which means, “forgetful.” I believe this term does an adequate job defining much of modern Christianity, or as the term is coined, Churchianity.

Hebrews Chapter One, Sealed By The Holy Spirit

Herein let us pause a brief moment to reflect on the profound difference between the Old Testament’s filling of the Holy Spirit and the New Testament’s sealing of the Holy Spirit. In numerous instances through the Old Testament we read of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit in readiness for ministry of various types. But we also read David’s very real fear, expressed in Psalm 51:11, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” Can a believer be cast away? On the surface this verse appears to suggest that. But it is extremely unwise to build doctrine off of a single verse of Scripture. 

Hebrews Chapter One, Angels, Prophets, And Apostles

 

The chastening by the hands of the apostles has since passed with the deaths of the apostles. The criteria for becoming an apostle seems to be this: “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection,” Acts 1:21, 22. The apostleship was finished, and perhaps no longer needed by the time of John’s passing and the completion of the New Testament. Peter alludes to this notion, likening the OT prophets to the NT apostles in compiling the doctrinal body we now refer to as the Bible, 2 Peter 3:2. Paul had doggedly taught that each local church was to have elders and deacons to govern the body. Note, he never mentions pastors, though pastoral duties would be a part of the eldership. 

Hebrews Chapter One, Virtue And Vice

 

Hebrews 1:13 But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? [14] Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

 

Hebrews’ author continues to explore the Old Testament as he contrasts the nature and position of angels with that of the Son. It is painfully clear at this point that the race of angels with their respective titles (powers, principalities, thrones, etc.)  are not qualitatively the same as the Son. To continue impressing this point, the writer quotes Psalm 110:1. The whole of this Psalm (entitled “The Psalm of the King-Priest in my NKJV) details God foreswearing to Christ about His eternal priesthood, and how the Son would sit at the right hand of the Father until His (the Son’s) enemies were made His footstool. Verse 2 exclaims, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies!”

Hebrews Chapter One, Unfailing

 

The 2^nd law of thermodynamics, the law of increasing entropy, relates that energy goes on from a highly useful to an increasingly useless state in a closed system. The universe is running down. The very idea that this law exists is a testimony that there was a beginning in which all matter or energy functioned at full capacity, so to speak. Then degradation began. The law of increasing entropy is a corollary to the law of sin and death. Eventually this sin-cursed earth will be done away with, Revelation 20:11. “They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment.” This is the crux of verse 11: “For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal,” 2 Corinthians 4:18. Joshua and David understood this principle, as should we as Christians. Our kingdom is not of this place; we are sojourners or pilgrims, pitching tents in a land we’re passing through. Like Israel wandering the wilderness while God provides for them, we wait to be housed in our eternal dwelling, made by God.

Hebrews Chapter One, The Witness Of Nature

 

Hebrews 1:10 And: You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. [11] They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; [12] Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and Your years will not fail.

 

To preface this quote from the Old Testament we begin at verse 8, where we read, “But to the Son He says…” The second passage quoted as the author continues to build upon the message of who God the Son is comes from Psalm 102:25-27. This deific attribution describes the Son of God. Moving from His reign as King, taken from Psalm 45, we now find the mantle of Creator placed on His shoulders. Christ, described as Lord, laid the earth’s foundations and made the heavens; they are the work of His hands. We read in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Later, God reminded Moses and the Israelites, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day,” Exodus 20:11.

Hebrews Chapter One, A Scepter Of Righteousness

 

Note that the scepter is a scepter of righteousness. While Oxford simply defines “righteousness” as “morally right or justifiable,” the Hebrew word, which has a male and female form, are, “tsedeq (male) and tsedaqah (female).” Though this word apparently holds a little notoriety for the proper application of its translation and resultant definition, it seems to be a two-fold term that holds both a relational and legal aspect. A relationship in which parties faithfully uphold expectations is considered righteous by strict definition. The word can also denote righteousness in the form of justice in conformity with the reigning authority: be it God, His word, or a representative king. Since God is the source of justice He is innately and perfectly righteous. Being a triune God in perfect harmony between the persons, God is the fountainhead and definer of righteousness from both the relational and legal aspects. Whether referring to its relational or its judicial definitions, both aspects possess a moral quality, and it is by this moral quality that righteousness is defined.