In our study of Hebrews, we have come to realize that the circumstances surrounding why this letter was written was the pressure on the Jewish believers in Jesus in the 1st century.
Pressures from the leadership of Israel as well as from Nero, the Roman emperor who sought to divert attention from himself for the burning of Rome and found Believers as an easy scapegoat.
For this reason, many Jewish believers were coming up with rationalizations why they should syncretize or abandon their faith in Yeshua as the promised Messiah.
Chapter 1 established the credentials of the Messiah. Citing the Torah as well as referring to the rabbinical teachings which now are a part of the Talmud.
The writer in chapter 1 of Hebrews established the credentials of Yeshua. That He is God. Chapter one asserts that Yeshua is:
Heir of all things, Creator of the universe, The Shekinah glory,
The same substance as God, the sustainer of the Universe; the One who makes possible atonement.
The One who sits on the Throne of God. Who is King over His Kingdom, is without sin, unchangeable and Lord over the Angels.
He is all these things by virtue of who He is but also because He has earned this through His work as the promised and prophesied Servant of the Lord.
Is it any wonder then that the next chapter opens with this admonition: Read vv. 1-3
(Heb 2:1-3) For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. {2} For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, {3} how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard …
There are two key words in this passage. “Therefore” and “We”. He is addressing believers and classifying himself with them, saying “Therefore we ought to give heed to what we have heard, lest wedrift away from it.”
And the writer adds “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? In the light of Chapter 1, and who our Messiah is, and all that He’s done for us, we need to understand that He has a claim on us.
A claim of devotion and obedience, therefore because of this “We need to pay closer attention…lest we drift.
Make no mistake about this; the writer is not talking about losing our salvation. Neither is he speaking to Jewish people who have not come to believe that Yeshua is the promised Messiah.
The writer would not admonish unbelievers to pay closer attention, so they don’t slip from something that they don’t have. He’s speaking to believers regarding service and rewards.
This is made clear by the admonition in v. 3 “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. This is so important – most people take this verse out of context and try to apply it to an unbeliever.
The text does not say How shall we escape if we reject so great a salvation. These Jewish believers had not rejected the promised New Covenant, they had received it with great joy.
But because of the pressure placed on them they were neglecting the gift, and not bearing the fruit that is naturally produced by being placed in the vine.
As believers we must do something with our new position because we are redeemed, and not neglect the gift that has been granted us.
Coming to faith is not the end, rather the beginning. We are called to be holy as the Lord is. It was the call to Israel as well as to those grafted into Israel through the new covenant.
Just as when Israel was delivered from slavery and bondage in Egypt and called to begin their journey to the promised land by obeying and following the Lord, so too are we.
Paul writing to the believers at Philippi in 2:12 writes “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
This was written to believers and has to do with their obedience to God. They were not told to work for their salvation but to work out their salvation.
Our new life is a free gift, but it carries with it responsibilities. We can allow God to produce fruit in us, or we can neglect what God wants to do in our lives.
You might be given the gift of a farm but what comes from it depends on how much you invest in it.
If you don’t work your farm you won’t lose it, you’ll just not reap a harvest from it. The same is true with our life in Messiah. We won’t lose eternal life if we don’t labor in it, we’ll just lose the blessings that are potentially ours to reap.
Make no mistake about it; we’re only here for a twinkling of an eye in the span of eternity. The time is coming soon when we will be judged by the works that we’ve have done with the life we’ve been given.
2 Cor. 5:10 makes this quite clear: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
The reward at the Judgment seat will be for those whose record is good, and those who have neglected their great salvation “will suffer loss.
This is what is meant by Heb. 2:3 “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.” Escape what? Not eternal separation from God, for escaping that is by grace, not our works.
It is escaping God’s disapproval at the judgment seat of the Messiah, listen to what the Scriptures say on this in 1 Cor 3:13-15:
“…each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.”
These are sobering words. Our being reconciled to God doesn’t mean we can live as we please and do as we wish. This gift of salvation is not a license to sin or an excuse for carelessness.
We’re all going to stand before the judgment seat of our Messiah to answer for the things that we’ve done since we came to faith. Considering this we can appreciate the warning in Hebrews:
“For this reason, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it…how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.”
We need to learn the lesson that our new life is only the first step in a process that is only completed when we are perfectly and totally conformed to the image of our Messiah Jesus.
God will not stop dealing with us until were brought to the maturity and growth in the grace and knowledge of our Messiah and Lord.
Until we realize that God expects us to bring forth the maximum of fruit, by complete obedience to His will, and surrender of our lives to His leadership we will remain infants in the faith.
What about it, have we neglected the great salvation that is ours? How much progress have we made? Are there things that are in the way of our serving completely?
If so, we need to come before the Lord and confess to Him that we’re not walking as He desires us to. Listen to the admonition in 1 John 2:28:
“And now little children, abide in Him, so that if He should appear, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming”
How do we go about this? Heb. 2:1-2 gives us an answer. Read.
(Heb 2:1-2) For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. {2} For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
- We need to discern what sins in our lives are weighing us down. Then, Confessing and forsaking them and receiving God’s forgiveness.
- Fixing our eyes on Yeshua. Taking our eyes off others and focusing our attention on Him. Not just thinking of the here and now but also the goal set before us.
- Keeping in mind that the trials or the problems we experience are for a reason.
Heb. 2:1-4, was an abrupt change in the flow of this letter, with the warning concerning our neglecting our great salvation, there are in fact 5 such warnings in this letter.
The writer of the book of Hebrews is his desire to share his concern that believers must not drift, but continually grow in their walk with the Messiah. This theme continues in v. 5.
Verses 5-8 teach us the significance of man’s role in God’s plan the world and the one to come. “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking”.
The word subject in the original language carries the idea of a system of administration. God will not turn over the administration of the world to come to angels.
Temporarily angels are superior to men but in the world to come it will not be so. This is a reference to the restored kingdom when the Lord will be ruling from Zion. The prophets speak about this. The earth and its inhabitants will be different.
What will be the difference between this world and the world to come? This world, and world system is currently ruled by fallen angels. The chief fallen angel is Satan, who is described as “prince” this world.
John 12:31 “Now judgment is on this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.” John 14:30 “…I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me…”
We also know from Ephesians that this world is under heavy influence from forces opposed to God. Not only does Satan and his fallen angels have some rule in this world, but even the holy angels have a significant role in overseeing this world.
Daniel 10 tells of Michael and another angel fighting against powerful fallen angels who were influencing the rulers of Persia and Greece. So the rule of this earth is now in the hands of both fallen and holy angels. This joint rule involves extreme conflict.
Man, however, was created as overseer of the earth, and in the end man will one day assume the role he was created for. Man, then is lower than the angels only for a little while.
He will one day again be above angels and even judge the angels who have fallen “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? 1 Cor. 6:3
VV. 2:6-8 is a quote from Psalm 8 and is reference to man not the Messiah. This describes God’s planned destiny for mankind in general. God made man to be rule. Read Gen. 1:26-28:
(Genesis 1:26) Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Man is not lower to angels in importance to God, or less loved than angels. Man is lower than angels only in that he is physical, and they are spiritual. But now and in the future man has key role in the redemption of the world.
Angels are spirit beings; man is made from the dust of the earth. After Satan rebelled, the faithful angels were secured in holiness forever; after Adam rebelled, all men were cursed along with him.
In Adam all died. At the time of creation, angels were perfect; man was only innocent. Even in his innocence, man had the ability to choose to sin.
God’s first words to Adam in the garden were, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”
Today and in the coming new earth, things will be much different. Daniel 7 speaks to this issue. Those who are part of God’s family will not only inherit a perfect kingdom but an eternal one.
We will be ruling and reigning with the Messiah in the age to come. Both the prophets of the O.T. and the new covenant bear witness to this reality. Man’s ultimate destiny is to regain the dominion that was lost because of sin.
II. Heb. 2:8 – Man’s fruitfulness is restricted now because of Sin. “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
When man was removed from the garden because of his sin the earth was cursed. Man’s role of cultivating the earth became a burden. Man lost his crown and his kingdom, the earth has been changed from a land of blessing to a place of trials and difficulty.
With all our modern technology we’re still faced with the reality that we can’t control this world; environmental forces rule us. We are constantly fighting against the earth to survive.
After Adam sinned there was murder within his own family and in a relatively short time death was everywhere culminating in God’s judgment with a worldwide flood.
Man certainly lost his crown. The prince of the earth, and world system now is Satan. In 1 John 5:19 “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one”
He rules the cursed earth, which in turn rules sinful man. When man lost his crown, he became separated from God, from his fellow man and even from himself.
Man also lost the relationship he had with the animal kingdom. Animals were ruled by man and responded in love, now animals serve out of fear. What is amazing is that the earth itself knows its condition since the fall of man.
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it.” Rom. 8:19-20
When the kingdom of Messiah begins, Rom 8:21-22 “the creation itself will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now”.
In that time the children of God, who have been made innocent, will reign. So, the Sin that ravaged this earth and sidetracked God’s will for man will soon be done away with and the promised world to come will be in place.
The Good News is that the first fruits of this age to come has begun by our rebirth through our faith and walk with our Messiah. We will consider this in more detail in our next study of Hebrews 2.
So to recap – we must pay much closer attention to what we‘ve heard, so that we dont drift away from it. If we don’t there are consequences.
Heb 2:2-3 For if the word spoken through angels (the Law given at Sinai) proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
We need to discern what sins are weighing us down. Confessing, forsaking and receiving God’s forgiveness.
We need to Fix our eyes on Yeshua. Taking our eyes off others and focusing on Him. Not merely thinking in terms of the here and now but also on the goal set before us.
Keeping in mind that the trials or the problems we experience are for a reason. Understanding that we have a role to play now and, in the age, to come and that rule is restored in Messiah by abiding in Him and His Word.
