The salvation provided by Jesus Christ is so great a salvation that none can express nor conceive how great it is. It discovers a great Savior who has manifested God to be reconciled to our natures and reconcilable to our persons. He was made, for a time, lower than angels, that He might humble Himself unto death for our sakes. The fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him, His suffering could make satisfaction for sin and make salvation possible to all. To reject so great a salvation is thereby made the worst of crimes against God.
Hebrews 2
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 recompence 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?
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.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Hebrews 2 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:1-4 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:5 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:6 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:7-8 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:9-10 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:11-12 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:13-14 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:15-17 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:18 – J. Vernon McGee
Hebrews 2:1-9 – The Author of Our Salvation.
Let them slip (vs. 1-4). Unless we watch, the strong currents of the world will drift us away from God’s great harbor of Salvation; and sins against his offered love are even more to be dreaded than those under the ancient Law. To neglect is equivalent to reject. Notice in v. 4 how God co-operates with his messengers (John 15:27; Acts 5:32).
Jesus crowned (vs. 5-9). How can Jesus be greater than angels? He did for man what they could not do. It is through his death that humanity may be lifted to a supreme position in the universe of being. Man failed to realize his original magna charta in Genesis 1:26; but the divine purpose could not be frustrated, and there was a needs-be for the manger, the Cross and the Ascension mount. As we look around, Psalm 8 seems a mockery; as we look up, we discover in Jesus the psalmist’s dream more than realized. They who are one with him will share his glory and honor. (Meyer)
Hebrews 2:10-18 – ”Made Like unto His Brethren.”
Captain reminds us of Acts 3:15. The Church follows its Leader, Jesus Christ, in single file through this world, the cross and the grave, to the glory. But notice that God himself is engaged in bringing us through; and he cannot lose one (John 10:29). But he is not only our Captain, he is our Brother. We also are born of God. He is sanctifying us and we are being sanctified for a marvelous future (John 17:19). How great is his love, that he is not ashamed of us!
Our Elder Brother has encountered our foes, and won deliverance for all who believe. Death remains, but its teeth are drawn and its power is annulled. We need not fear what men call death; to us it is only as falling asleep. He has taken hold of us with a grasp that will never let us go again (v. 16). He has been tempted that he might be able to succor us in our temptations. He has suffered that he might tread our darkened paths at our side. He has made reconciliation for our sins, and as our merciful and faithful High Priest, pleads the cause of our souls. (Meyer)
Hebrews 2:14 – I like these words exceedingly; they present a desirable view of matters – the children at the top, Christ in the middle, and the devil at the bottom. (Moody)
Hebrews 2:17—A merciful and faithful High Priest.
The priesthood of Jesus stretches like the sky from the horizon of the past to that of the eternal future. It covers all we know of Him.
In the days that preceded his incarnation. — We are told that the priesthood of Melchizedek was made like that of the Son of God (Hebrews 7:3), from which it is clear that all the apparatus of priesthood within and without the Jewish system was some faint imagining forth of the priestly mediation and intercession of the Savior. The eternal temple was reared, the incense of intercession ascended, the sacrifice of the Lamb was slain, before the first thin spiral of smoke rose from Moriah’s summit.
In the days of his earthly ministry. — At the Passover, when the High Priest had finished the sacred rites, he came forth to the people, and said “Now ye are clean.” In John 15:3 Jesus addressed his disciples in the same words. His authority to forgive sins; his quick sympathy, and likeness to his brethren; his frequent prayers; his intercessions for sinners, as when He pleaded for his crucifiers; his intercessions for the tempted, as when He prayed for Peter; his intercessions for his own, as in the matchless John 17; his reference to the shedding of blood; the whole circumstances of his death — show his priestly attitude, which culminated in his passing within the vail.
In the days of the present dispensatism. — The divine apostle tells us that he saw Christ clothed in a vesture to the foot, and employs this specific word for high-priestly dress. He saw Him engaged in priestly ministry; and in a subsequent vision tells us that he saw Him mingle much incense with the prayer of saints, and present them before God. (Meyer)
DARE TO BE A DANIEL!
The resolute faith that enabled Daniel to face the den of lions is at the command of any child of God today, and nothing else will avail as an armor and defense when the ravenous beasts of passion, appetite, covetousness and revenge attack us in temptation’s hour. The source of strength in such emergencies is a childlike faith in God and the fount of that faith is His Holy Word. In the security which faith inspires, the den of torture and trial becomes luminous as the Mount of Transfiguration to those who resist evil and dare to stand true.
Hebrews 2:18
Hebrews 2:18
I see the unclean spirit rising like a winged dragon, circling in the air, and seeking for a resting-place. Casting his fiery glances toward a certain neighborhood, he spies a young man in the bloom of life, and rejoicing in his strength, seated on the front of his cart, going for lime. “There he is!” said the old dragon: “his veins are full of blood, and his bones of marrow; I will throw into his bosom sparks from hell; I will set all his passions on fire; I will lead him from bad to worse, until he shall perpetrate every sin; I will make him a murderer, and his soul shall sink, never again to rise, in the lake of fire.” By this time, I see it descend, with a fell swoop, toward the earth; but, nearing the youth, the dragon heard him sing,
“Guide me, O thou great Jehovah!
Pilgrim through this barren land:
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my strength and shield.”
“A dry, dry place, this,” says the dragon; and away he goes.
But I see him again hovering about in the air, and casting about for a suitable resting-place. Beneath his eye there is a flowery meadow, watered by a crystal stream; and he descries among the kine a maiden, about 18 years of age, picking up here and there a beautiful flower. “There she is!” says Apollyon, intent upon her soul: “I will poison her thought; she shall stray from the paths of virtue; she shall think evil thoughts, and become impure; she shall become a lost creature in the great city, and, at last, I will cast her down from the precipice into everlasting burnings.” Again he took his downward flight; but he no sooner came near the maiden, then he heard her sing the following words, with a voice that might have melted the rocks:
“Other refuge have I none;
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee:
Leave, ah! leave me not alone;
Still support and comfort me.”
“This place is too dry for me,” says the dragon; and off he flies.
Now he ascends from the meadow, like some great balloon, but very much enraged, and breathing forth “smoke and fire,” and threatening ruin and damnation to all created things. “I will have a place to dwell in,” he says, “in spite of decree, covenant, or grace.” As he was thus speaking, he beheld a woman, “stricken in years,” busy with her spinning-wheel at her cottage-door. “Ah, I see!” says the dragon: “she is ripe for destruction; she shall know the bitterness of the wail which ascends from the burning marl of hell!” He forthwith alights on the roof of her cot; when he hears the old woman repeat with trembling voice, but with heavenly feeling, the words, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee” (Isaiah 54:10). “This place is too dry for me,” says the dragon; and away he goes again.
“In yonder cottage lies old William, slowly wasting away. He has borne the heat and the burden, and altogether has had a hard life of it. He has very little reason to be thankful for the mercies he has received, and has not found serving God a very profitable business: I know I can get him to ‘curse God and die.'” Thus musing, away he flew to the sick man’s bedside; but, as he listened, he heard the words, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). Mortified and enraged, the dragon took his flight, saying, “I wll return to the place from whence I came.” (Evans)