יּקנרק'ד

Hebrews Chapter 2  Verses 1-4 

 :1 “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. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”

“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.”  Therefore, refers back to the previous chapter.  In that chapter Paul had set forth the superiority of Christ to the prophets and to the angels.  The Jews had great respect to the writings of the prophets and to the testimony of angels.  However, one far greater has now come and Paul is saying to them that though you have properly given much heed to the words of the prophets and angels that God has sent, you need to give even more earnest heed to the things that Christ has spoken.  They had listened to the prophets and angels concerning the law covenant and ordinances, now it is time to listen even more intently to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the very Son of God, who has set forth to us of this great salvation from sin by the grace of Christ and through his atoning blood. 

What Paul is telling these Hebrews to do is in sharp contrast to what many had done.  Many who had been readers of the Old Testament scriptures had also heard the testimony of Jesus Christ and were now turning back to the Old Testament practices and ordinances instead of believing the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. 

“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward…”  Paul is setting forth the truth that the word spoken by angels was stedfast.  That is, it could not be broken.  Moreover, the law given under the law covenant received a just recompense of reward for every transgression and disobedience.  Thus, the penalty for all sin must be executed.  There is no such thing under the law of anyone getting away with even a single sin.  As Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “the wages of sin is death…”  Since the law had a curse attached to it for transgression and disobedience, then no transgressor could be justified by the law, but only condemned by the law.  Keeping of the law, therefore, could not possibly be a tool for getting eternal life or escaping the wrath to come. 

 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him…”  The Lord taught and the apostles who heard the Lord taught that salvation from sin was by grace through the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Lord’s atoning sacrifice for the sins of the elect is a “great salvation” and the only way of being delivered from the penalty of sins.  To neglect this salvation and to turn back unto the law covenant by which we are condemned, only leaves the non-believers in the grace of Christ in their belief system without a way of escape from the wrathful judgment of God as a result of their sins.  There is simply no way of escape from the wrathful judgment of sin, except through the grace of Christ and his atoning sacrifice. 

“God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”  When God established the old law covenant with the nation of Israel, it was confirmed of God for a period of 40 years with signs, and wonders, and divers miracles.  Likewise, to confirm that these new covenant teachings taught by the Lord and by them who heard him was of God, He confirmed them with signs and wonders and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost for a period of 40 years.   

Verses 5-9 

:5 “For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 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 visitest him? 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

“For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak…”  The world to come is not under the authority of the angels or prophets.  The angels have no authority to decide who will or will not be a part of the world to come, nor do they have authority to set up the criteria for attaining the world to come. While the angels are higher in order than man, yet they are not given authority over man.

"But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him.  Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.”  This is a reference to Ps. 8:4-8 as follows: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” 

Please note that what God set man over just after the creation is limited as set forth in the reference above to Psalms 8.  His dominion is over the sheep, the oxen, the beast of the field, the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 

The question as to what is man is one that we all should consider.  We are the works of God’s creation.  Yet we have been placed in a position greater than the animals and plants that God created.  It is not that man is by nature something better than the animals and other creatures of God’s creation.  But by the grace of God we occupy a position better than all other creatures do on earth.  Even though we are of a lower order of creation than the angels, yet we have been given authority that the angels have not been given. 

Why God is mindful of us, is a mystery, except that it is His good pleasure to do so.  It is according to His sovereignty that he has chosen to do so.

There are questions that only God can answer.  Why God would visit us is also a mystery.  There is nothing in us that can merit God’s favor, then he continuously visits with us and comforts us and chastises us, etc. 

In creation, we have been made a little lower than the angels.  The angels are a higher order of creation than man.  Yet God in his good pleasure crowned man with glory and honor and set him over the works of his hand. 

“For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” 

The all that is under the subjection of man is set forth in the above reference of Ps. 8:8 “thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.”  However, not all things without exception are put under the feet of man.  God did not put the world to come under the subjection of man.  However, he did put it under the subjection of Jesus: Jesus was made a little lower than the angels.  Jesus did not come as a higher order of creation in order to redeem man from his sins.  He came as a man, a little lower than the angels, for the purpose of the suffering of death.  We do not read in the scriptures of angels dying.  Man however can and does die.  Jesus came as a perfect man who was made without sin and lived without sin that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.  Now this does not mean that he tasted death for every man without exception, but rather that he tasted death for all that the Father had given him, which included men out of every nation, race, kindred, people, and tongue.  That is every man without distinction. 

Now we see Jesus who had tasted death for all the elect, crowned with glory and honor.  It is to Jesus that we give all glory and honor for our great salvation from our sins.  In contrast, if we were to believe that through keeping of the law or by some other legalistic method, we help in our salvation from sin, then we would not be giving all glory and honor to Him, but would be sharing that glory and honor with him.  The scripture says that God will not give his glory to another: Is. 42:8 “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”  All glory for our salvation from sin belongs to God.