Hebrews 2:1
Since we know and understand who Jesus is, we are called to 'give more earnest heed'. This is a call to give something due attention. These phrases have nautical implications. To give 'earnest heed' was to make sure your boat is anchored well, it is tied up in the right port. To drift away, was to miss the port, to be adrift with no direction, going where the wind blows.
Now initially, this is one of those phrases we hear and might think, that's not for me. We tend to look at ourselves and feel we understand all we need to know. My ship is anchored. Maybe some of those Hebrew Christians thought their ship was anchored also until the persecution started. I think many times in lessons like this we begin to think of others who need to anchor their ship. We can always think of someone else who needs to give more earnest heed to the tenets of our faith. Maybe that's our own insecurities finding comfort in bad company. Misery loves company. Do we think it's okay to drift away as long as we can find lots of other drifting with us? That is our mindset at times when challenged about things of our faith. We say, "I can't be wrong because so many are living the same way I am." We used that same defense as kids talking to our parents. "Everybody is doing this why can't I?" Our parents said, "You need to think for yourself and be you. If everyone else walked off a cliff would you walk off to?"
This is a call to give earnest heed, lest you walk off a spiritual cliff following the lost souls of the world. There are entire denominations drifting away and no one seems to be giving earnest heed! Millions of people give no thought to what they've anchored their life to. We plan retirements that we may never live to see. We plan vacations we may never get to take. We plan our lives as if we can control every aspect of it. Yet many fail completely to give earnest heed to spiritual matters, to think of eternal things. When the storms of this life come, they will reveal what every life is anchored to. We may fool ourselves for a time, some for a lifetime, but when this life ends, no one will fool the Lord. What about you? This is speaking to each of you. We are each called to give more earnest heed.
To be anchored strong in the faith means to hear carefully and understand completely so that you may respond by doing. If we are listening carefully; if we are teachable; we grow stronger in our faith. The Holy Spirit will teach us and grow us. When we hear the gospel of grace and come to salvation by faith it's like dipping your toe in an ocean of grace. As we mature; as we give earnest heed, we continue to wade in deeper and deeper, never looking back.
We did nothing to receive our salvation of grace and nothing is required to retain it. Yet, if you have received such an amazing gift and you truly embrace it, why wouldn't you want to wade in? How can you not wade in? What reason could we give for holding back? And all the while we hold back the world is pulling you back. The evil winds blow in our life and try to set us adrift once again.
As an unbeliever, the Holy Spirit beckoned to you. The Holy Spirit gave you the faith to believe. That invitation to come to Christ is an invitation to die to your self. The bible says, you deserve the wrath of God. But that's what Jesus took for you. As he was beaten, spit on; as he was mocked and the crown of thorns pressed into His head, the wrath of God was coming on him. As he was nailed to the cross and suffered, He was taking what you deserve. The wrath of God culminated in the brutal and lonely death of the innocent God man, Jesus Christ nailed to a cross.
The invitation given to us is, come die with me. Die to yourself. Your way, you being lord over you will not work. You being lord of your life will end in you getting what you deserve. But denying yourself, dying to yourself and being born again in Jesus Christ will start a new life in Him.
The unsaved may hear this and say, I don't want a new life. I like my old life. And even after we are saved, in our spiritual immaturity, we say, I'm afraid of a new life in Christ. What if He sends me to Africa as a missionary? I don't want to go to any of those hard places. I want the soft and cushy and faith.
In your new life, God gives you new desires and a new heart. If He is sending you to Africa, He will give you a heart for those people. He will light a fire in you to move and minister to them. The reality is there is no greater reward than for us to die to our self, to wade fully into our faith, to embrace and seek all that Christ has for us. If we do that, we will soon find that we are doing that for which we were made. We will find we are doing that for which we are called. Even if that means persecution and suffering, we will be walking in obedience and faith fully in Christ. If we do that, our life will be anchored deep in the Lord, there won't be any drifting, regardless of what happens in this world.
The sad thing is we can deny those things in our life. We can ignore the call to a deeper relationship. We can allow fear of failure, fear of stepping out, fear of change to keep us from the passion God has grown in us. We can allow our self to drift away, simply by not giving earnest heed to our faith; by not giving it proper attention and priority in our life.
David Guzik tells the story or an ungodly farmer that died. They discovered in his will that he had left his farm to the Devil. In the court, they didn't quite know what to do -- how do you give a farm to the Devil? Finally, the judge decided: "The best way to carry out the wishes of the deceased is to allow the farm to grow weeds, the soil to erode, and the house and barn to rot. The decision was, the best way to leave something to the Devil is to do nothing.
Do nothing and the devil wins. We are called to a high view of Jesus Christ. And because we understand that high view, we are called to really take in the message of the cross, to allow the gospel to change us from the inside out. Doing nothing results in a victory for the devil. When Christian men and women do nothing, they drift away. They go wherever the currents and tides of the world take them. Satan wins. Another Christian lives life without the power of the cross.
Hebrews 2:2-4
This verse is an answer to the anticipated response of the Hebrew Christians. They heard all these things and responded by saying, "Yea but........!" The writer shows the superiority of Christ and says we need to give heed to those things and not just drift away. And the response he anticipated from the Hebrews was, Yea, but....we had the law. The angels brought it to Moses. It must be good; it must be sufficient. It must be superior. They were leaning on tradition and religion and not paying attention.
The "word spoken through the angels" is a reference to the law. The law was serious, it called for a payment for every transgression and disobedience. It came from God to men to show the high standard of holiness from the Living God. If these believers truly understood the law and believed it as it was given by the angels then how much more serious should they take the word that comes from the Son of God who is higher than the angels? The law had a great purpose. It was given by the holy ones. But this salvation that comes from Christ is a greater promise, it comes from a higher One and it can't be neglected. How do you escape that fact? How will you escape the judgment of the law if you reject the grace offered by the fulfillment of the law? What will your defense be?
These Hebrew Christians may have said, "yea, but..." and given their excuse and reason but it held no water. Mankind in our day is very good at responding in a similar way. We hear of the superiority of Christ and the call to give heed to those things and not just drift away. And we say......Yea but. Yea but, I'm busy; long hours and family and then I do all the stuff I want to do to please me. There's just no time for God. Yea but, I'm young, this Jesus stuff is for old people who are closer to dying. I'll heed the call when I'm older. Yea but I have real problems in my life, I just don't see how Christ will make a difference. Our 'yea, buts' go on an on.
Jesus said, come die with me. And when you die, I'll give you new life. You can't halfway die. It's all or nothing. You can come here every time the doors open and soak up coffee and eat donuts but if you never heed the call it won't make any difference. Trusting in attendance is nothing. Fellowshipping with Christians won't save you. Someone once said, coming to church won't make you a Christian any more than hanging out in a donut shop will make you a cop. There is one way. You die to yourself and anchor your soul to Jesus Christ. You can't die half way.
This writer of Hebrews said that the word first began by the Lord. Those who saw Christ heard these words, they confirmed what He taught and who He was. Then it was confirmed to others as they taught the next generation. That next generation included the writer of Hebrews. He heard it from those who heard it from Jesus.
So great a salvation was confirmed through 2 or more witnesses and then confirmed again by many signs and wonders and miracles. Gifts of the Holy Spirit were given according to the will of God. Proof was piled on proof, confirmation on confirmation. How could they drift away as if they weren't sure? Did the fact that they were being persecuted change what had been confirmed over the ages? No, this is doubting in the dark what you know to be true in the light.
What is the power behind the ability to deny what they heard and knew to be true? For us, in our time, we have the complete New Testament before us. We have the writings of amazing men of God throughout the centuries explaining what all this means. We have incredible technology to help us. We can think bad of the Hebrews for drifting away but how much more responsibility do we have to hear this and respond? How can we drift away? Are we not without excuse?
This call to embrace so great a salvation is talking to believers. The writer includes himself when he said "how shall we escape" in verse 3. This is talking about the neglect of the believers. It's not talking about the rejection of unbelievers. It's talking about the saints of God drifting away due to neglect.
What starts as neglect of God's word, prayer, worship or fellowship with God's people quickly turns into drifting away. This is a call to all believers to truly understand what an amazing thing that has been done for you and to respond accordingly.
Hebrews 2:5-9
The world to come is the coming millennial kingdom. Zechariah 14:9 says:
9 And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
" The LORD is one,"
And His name one.
The angels won't rule anything in the millennial kingdom.
Verse 6 is a quote from Psalm 8. That Psalm proclaims how excellent is His name in all the earth. It says God took the simple things and powerless things of the world and he ordained strength that He may silence the enemy and the avenger.
God came to earth as a man, born of poor, scared, young woman. He was God but entered time as a little baby. He seemed to be powerless to affect any change on the world. What is man that God is even mindful of us? Why does he care about us? We are even lower than the angels. Yet, He gave mankind dominion over all this creation. God put all things in subjection under the feet of man. He did say All Things. But there was a problem. Men failed at it. Mankind fell to sin and failed in this. Mankind's fall to sin was rebellion of the Lords plan and embracing their own way. This empowered Satan, but even that was allowed by a sovereign God. So how can the bible say He gave mankind dominion over all this creation? We don't see all of creation subject to man. So how can this be true? How can all things be subject to man? Because Jesus Christ is a man, Jesus is fully God and fully man. This is important because He had to be a man to take our place........to pay our sin debt.
Jesus came as a man, flesh and blood. He was made a little lower than the angels. He suffered and died for all men. Then was crowned with glory and honor because He bore the sin of the world, felt the wrath of God, died as a man and overcame that death in resurrection.
Hebrews 2:10-13
That quote is from Psalm 22:22. Jesus declares His name to His brothers and sisters. Jesus calls us His brethren.
These quotes come from and Isaiah 8:17 and 18 respectively. And again, we see the willingness of Jesus to be associated with mere men. All these quotes speak of Jesus wanting a relationship with us. This is God the Son, seeking out mere men to save them from the sin they committed against Him.
Hebrews 2:14-15
There is a God in Heaven who is a man. He knows what it is like to walk in his body. He knows our every sorrow and affliction. He knows our temptations and fears. Jesus shares our humanity. Our greatest fear was the fear of death. Satan once held power over death but that power was destroyed. We may fear dying or the process of dying. But, if we are in Christ, we don't have to fear death.
See John 8:44; Rev 12:9; Acts 10:38.
Hebrews 2:16
This term 'give aid' means to 'rescue' or 'take hold of'. Jesus didn't come to rescue angels. The Messiah came to take hold of mankind, to rescue them, to snatch them from the grasp of spiritual death. That's why he had to become a man.
Hebrews 2:17-18
Jesus became like us to save us. He became a man so that He could be our high priest. He became a man so that he might bring salvation to mankind. In the role as our High Priest He made propitiation for the sins of the people. Propitiation means to satisfy or conciliate. Jesus satisfied the just requirements of the law. He stepped in and took our punishment so we didn't have to. He did what we couldn't do for our self. He did what no angel could do for you. Without Jesus, we are without hope, destined to death and eternal separation from God. We need to have the right understanding of Jesus so that we know our salvation is sure and our hope is secure. We need to give earnest heed to this. We each need to make sure we have our lives anchored firmly in Jesus Christ.
Imagine sailing your ship across a great ocean. There are many ports. Many look inviting, they look secure and safe. Each port offers many things to entice you; each one beckoning to you trying to get you to tie your ship to their dock. Imagine choosing a dock, sailing your ship in and tying to it. You are willing to bet the ship this is the right one. It will offer all you need. Then the storm clouds come, the waves and winds. Now you're not so sure. You begin to wonder, are you secure? Did you give earnest heed when you needed to? Will your ship break free and drift away?
There are many false Jesus's out there. In the days this letter was written there were many. They created a false Jesus that was the Archangel Michael. They created a false Jesus that was just a man. The Gnostics believed all matter was ultimately evil so they said Jesus wasn't a man at all, He was only God. Today we have all the same false messiahs plus maybe a few variations of our own. Our world added Jesus the model life and Jesus the moral example; Jesus the idea. Everyone of these false messiah's is heretical. They are false ideas that lead people to hell. That's why the writer of Hebrews has driven home these points. Jesus is fully God and fully man at the same time.
As God, He is creator, sustainer, savior, judge, holy, righteous and eternal. Then He came to the earth as a man. He was fully God and fully man at the same time. He was living, breathing, thinking and He was beat, nailed and bled out on a Roman cross. Any man could be nailed to a cross and bled out but Jesus was sinless. He was the perfect sacrifice, sinless, spotless. The sacrifice of the lamb of God took away the sins of the world. And He didn't just die. He was buried and rose again to overcome death. We can find that same hope in Him.
Give earnest heed to these things, lest you drift away. Remember what the judge decided, the best way to leave something to the Devil is to do nothing.
©2011 Doug Ford
Updated and revised 2019
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