Hebrews 2:1-18

OK, so Chapter 2. I posted to my cousin's site who did a great job summarizing this chapter, but I wanted to say a little more now that I continue to think about it and then I'm moving on to Chapter 3.

I spent most of my time reflecting on the warnings given about spiritual drift, and wouldn't you know that the more I reflected, the more I drifted!! Isn't that exactly what the enemy wants us to do? Here's an excerpt from one of my favorite authors, AW Tozer, in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy. I thought it went along well with the beginning of this chapter in Hebrews.

"Until we have seen ourselves as God sees us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us as long as they do not get so far out of hand as to threaten our comfortable way of life. We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as a natural and expected thing."

As I was reflecting on Chapter 2, and on Tozer's words, I realized that spiritual drift does not occur as a result of blatant disobedience or rebellion, but it is brought on by nothing more than neglect and spiritual indifference. I take the author of Hebrews' warnings to heart because I am apt to fall in this category, and it's not a place I want to be. I have had to ask God to forgive me for my spiritual indifference this past week (or two). May I never become complacent with the unholiness around me.

Hebrews 1:1-14

Jesus Christ -- superior to the prophets and the angels. As noted in my previous post, the author of Hebrews was writing to people who were taking their eyes off of Christ and looking to other gods, maybe even looking to the prophets of the Old Testament and to the angels as gods or mediators to God. There are many verses in the Bible that tell us differently. One verse that comes to my mind is 1 Timothy 2:5-6, which states, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men..." Jesus Christ is Lord... not the angels, not the prophets, not the apostles, but Jesus Only!

I remember when I was a teen, the interest of angels really grew in society and it seemed like angels were popping up everywhere in the secular world, as well as the Christian world. I was slightly intrigued and I remember my mom talking to me about it and warning me about not putting angels at a level in which I worship them or fix my eyes on them. After reading Chapter 1 in Hebrews, I understand her warnings. Angels do have a place in God's work. If you look up the word angel, it's true meaning is "messenger" or specifically "messenger of God". The angels have a specific job from God to be His messenger. But we must be careful... an angel is NOT God... no angel has ever been asked to sit at the right hand of God. No angel has been called "Son". In fact, Hebrews reminds us that God said, "Let all God's angels worship him (Jesus)." Jesus Christ is superior to all the angels! There is none greater than He.

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men..." (1 Timothy 2:5-6)... "...and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11) AMEN!

Where is Christ in your life? Is He Lord of your life?

Introduction

It has been debated for years who the author of Hebrews may be. Some say Paul, others say Barnabas, while others, namely Martin Luther, was convinced it was Apollos. This is the conclusion I have come to (remember, I'm no theologian)... we may never know who the author of Hebrews is, but I am convinced that it is God-breathed and will be used for my teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)!

Moving on, the author wrote the letter of Hebrews to Jewish Christians who had started out strong in their faith, but for whatever reason, had shown a tendency to become lazy in their journey, if not decline spriritually altogether. This jumped out to me since the reason I decided to study Hebrews was because I felt I was becoming lazy in my spiritual life and felt burdened to delve into scripture. I honestly didn't know that was the purpose of Hebrews when I picked it to study. Coincidence? I don't think so. The letter of Hebrews served as a reminder to the Jewish Christians that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah, the Great High Priest, superior to the angels and prophets. Jesus Christ is supreme.

I am excited to study this book. While I believe in the absolute, supremacy of Jesus Christ, I know that I also sometimes struggle with verbalizing that Truth to those who do not believe the same. I work in the midst of people who believe in many different gods than Jesus Christ. I live in a world that tells me it's OK to believe in different gods... every god leads to heaven. I find these messages ludicrous and I do not believe them, nor am I tempted to do so. However, I think that satan has effectively used these messages to intimidate Christians and to silence them in their faith. In doing so, Christians have become content living a shallow Christian life, where they have a private faith, and are afraid to share the Truth. I know this has been true of me at times, so I assume I cannot be the only one out there who has this same struggle. The following scripture woke me up one day when I was enjoying my "private faith"... "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:23-26) OUCH! Hebrews picks up on this theme, and encourages its readers to GO DEEPER in one's spiritual life. As one understands the supremacy of Jesus Christ, I dare say that one will not be able to avoid going deeper without denying Christ altogether.