Hebrews Chapter 2

The Purpose, Tragedy & Triumph Expositional Commentary of all History

We are going to discover two marvelous Truths  about Jesus in the Epistle to the Hebrews:  1.  Jesus REVEALS God to man; and 2. Jesus REPRESENTS man before God.   Are we really comprehending the implications of this Truth?   We can only understand God because Jesus has revealed Him to us.   And, Jesus paid the ultimate sacrificial price so that man can be represented to God.  So, how do we respond to this Truth?      With apathy, carelessness, disobedience?    Is that how we show our love and appreciation for our Savior?

The Purpose of All History:

Math. 23:37a: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murdering the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother hen gathers her brood under her wings,…”  Jesus wanted to bring all Israel into a saving relationship with God the Father.

The Tragedy of All History:

Math. 23: 37b, 38  ”…and you refused!  Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate, abandoned and left destitute of God’s help.” (1Kings 9:7; Jer. 22:5) Yet, Israel, as a Nation, rejected their own Messiah and Savior!  So, the result was that the Nation of Israel would be left to be forsaken and abandoned. 

The Triumph of All History: 

Math 23: 39 “For I declare to you, you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed, magnified in worship, adored and exalted is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Psalm 118:26)  

Hosea 5:15: “I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”  The entire Nation of Israel will one day confess and repent of their sin of rejecting their Messiah and will desperately seek Yeshua as their Lord, God and Savior; then, and only then, will Jesus come the Second Time to redeem all of Israel!

The readers of this book, that includes us, are exhorted and warned at least five times to stir themselves up and not “drift away” through complacency, apathy, neglect or disobedience.  Do we hear this warning for ourselves?  Are we taking this seriously?  Our Eternal inheritance is at stake!  We dare not ignore these powerful Words given to us through God’s Word in the Book of Hebrews; or we, too, are in danger of losing our inheritance!  You and I must strive earnestly to be Overcomers!

2:1

“Therefore”,  Now, since we know all this is True … Note the powerful tone of exhortation the writer gives us.  So what should our response be?  He gives it to us: We ought, meaning absolutely MUST, pay much closer attention than ever before to the Truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past them and slip away from the Truth.  If we do not diligently apply God’s Word to our very lives, right now, we will let God’s Words drift by us, and God’s Words will slip away from us, actually be lost from our memory, and we will lose our opportunity to obey Jesus and follow in His Footsteps.  We must pick up our cross, repent of our sins, and strive diligently to obey and follow our Lord, God and Savior!  Our inheritance for all Eternity is at stake.  Our identity as His chosen Bride is at stake.  Our Rewards and character traits, our Eternal Glory, ALL ARE AT STAKE!! This is an urgent message to us!  Do you hear God tugging at your heart?  Are you listening to the Holy Spirit plead with you for obedience?  Are you committing yourself to reading, searching and applying God’s Word EVERY SINGLE DAY?!  Or, are you in a state of apathy and disobedience, ignoring the sacrifices, sufferings and death of your Savior?  Only you can know the Truth about your own heart attitude.

2:2

We know with a certainty that the words spoken by the angels; that is, the law; was True and sound.  We also know that every transgression and disobedience received its just deserts; this means those who disobeyed God’s Word, His law, were punished and/or destroyed! (Deut 3:32; Ps 68:17: Acts 7:53: Gal. 3:19, etc.)  People often foolishly think “I got away with it!”  Really?  Does God allow anyone to get away with anything?  Absolutely Never!  Eventually everyone will pay for all sin.  Either we confess our sins, turn away and repent of sin, and accept Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for our sin; or we pay for our sin ourselves; now and forever!  Remember, even though Jesus has forgiven us for our sins, that doesn’t mean we may not have to suffer the consequences of our sin.

2:3

Jesus Himself declared to us that He has given His very Life for us; for our Salvation: Justification, Sanctification and Glorification. He has clearly told us that we MUST OBEY HIM IF WE TRULY LOVE HIM!   All His Apostles, those who knew and followed Him; all have testified to His work of Salvation.  Now, knowing this Truth, how do we expect to escape God’s condemnation and judgement?  Simple, we can’t, it’s impossible!  We doom ourselves by our disobedience. (Math 7:24-27)

2:4

Besides all this overwhelming powerful evidence, God Himself has clearly shown His approval of Jesus by the miracles, signs, wonders, and many other manifestations of His Power.  God has also poured out the Holy Spirit onto the Believers according to His own will.  You and I are recipients of the Holy Spirit.  He lives within every True Believer.  How can we ignore His call on our lives for even a moment?  When we neglect or ignore God’s call to us through His Holy Spirit we are quenching the very Holy Spirit He has so graciously given us!  Do we understand what we are doing?  Do we see our sin of disobedience and neglect?  Do we even care?  May we today, commit ourselves with a new intense and strong Faith and Belief that we can, and will, obey God’s call on our lives.  We pray for one another, that each of us here would strive to truly obey and follow Jesus; moment by moment, day by day, week after week; until we meet Jesus, face to face.

2:5

This language is a bit difficult.  God did not put the angels in charge of the earth.  Nor will He put them in charge of the world to come, that is, the Millennial Kingdom. (This refers to the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on Earth).  Nor will the angels be ruling with Jesus on the New Earth that Jesus promised would someday come.  So who will be ruling with Jesus?  Only those who are judged by Jesus to be the Faithful and True Overcomers.  Those whose works are found to yield righteous fruit.  Anything else is burned up, and the person suffers loss. See: Col 3:23-25, 1 Pet 4;17: Heb. 12:30, Col 3. Etc.  God’s Rewards are based on our faithfulness to what God has called us to do.  Those who ignore God’s calling on their life will lose their rewards!  You WILL NOT LOSE YOUR SALVATION, ONLY YOUR REWARDS! This Truth regarding Rewards is the principal warning of this book of Hebrews, so make every effort to grasp and understand this important Truth!  There are dozens of scriptures that tell us clearly that Jesus WILL Judge our works to see IF we are worthy to rule with Him.  “Well done, good and Faithful servant, now enter into and share the joy and delight of your Lord.  You have been faithful with little, now I will give you much!” Math 25:14-30. Once you begin this study on your own, the Holy Spirit will clearly show you where you are and what you need to do to be obedient and fruitful.  I encourage all of you to review these scriptures and those related to God’s rewards for His Faithful followers.  We all want to be in the category of the True and Faithful Servant!   At least you should be!

2:6

This quotation is from Psalm 8:4-6.  The reference to man, or the son of man, would be to Jesus, who referred to Himself as “the son of man”.  God certainly took care of and provided His Will for His Son.  Paul used the title of “the last Adam” for Jesus.  The ‘first Adam’ lost our dominion over the Earth through sin. As the “last Adam”, Jesus regained dominion over all the Earth, all the angels, all the Universe, everything!

2:7

God made Him, Jesus, a little lower than the angels.  Jesus willingly gave up His position and subjected Himself to a human body, thus making Himself “lower than angels”.   Angels do not experience human pain, suffering and death, Jesus did.  However, at no time did He ever give up His Deity.  Jesus always remained God.  Psalm 8:4-6; Jesus has been crowned with glory and honor and is ruler over everything.

2:8

Although the Earth was to be ruled by man, because of sin, we do not see that rule in a perfect sense.  Yet, ALL, EVERYTHING, IS ruled and controlled by Jesus.  Eventually, when Jesus returns, the rule and control will be perfect; and man will be ruling with Jesus.   Think for just a moment how wonderful things on Earth COULD BE IF we had a perfect ruler!  We would all love being ruled by the King of Kings!  God gives us a glimpse into the future in 1 John 3:2-3: “Beloved, we are now God’s children; it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is.  Everyone who has this hope resting on Him cleanses and purifies himself just as He is pure, undefiled and guiltless.”  Notice our responsibility, as His children, in 1 John 3:3?  Remember, ONLY those who are ‘born again’ and faithfully follow Jesus, are CHILDREN OF THE FATHER!

2:9

Now we are told clearly that Jesus was made lower than the angels by the suffering of death, yet was crowned with glory and honor. By the very Grace of God, Jesus tasted death, that is He fully experienced every painful terrifying aspect of death, all for the Salvation of every man.  So we see that Jesus did die for every man, yet we know every man has not accepted His death for their sins. 

2:10

Only God could, or would, be able to sacrifice Himself through death, to redeem mankind.  Jesus is uniquely qualified because He IS both God and man.  Here we are told that this act is worthy of God, and fitting, because of His divine nature.  Satan was the cause of man’s sin in the first place, and as a usurper, he claims that all sinners must die!  Because of this, all men, because we are sinners, fear death.  We know we must die.  Yet BECAUSE Jesus has now paid our sin penalty of death, we no longer must face eternal death.  We, as true believers, saved by Christ Jesus; are now guaranteed to be brought into glory with God!  Jesus suffered as the “lamb of God” the perfect sacrifice; yet He is also our High Priest.  Jesus came to earth, took on our humanity, suffered our death, and overcame death for all eternity.  Satan no longer has any hold on us.  Oh, he lies and tries to deceive us into thinking he has a hold on us, but we are now free in Christ.  We must apply God’s grace and forgiveness to our lives.

2:11-12

Now, the writer tells us we are brought into an even more privileged position.  As true Believers, we are being sanctified by our Lord and Savior.  For Jesus is the One Who sanctifies us, making us holy.  Yes, we are being sanctified as we obey Him, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are told we have one Father, God.  For this very reason, Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers!  We are ‘one’ with Jesus through the sanctification that He alone has provided for us.  Do we seek to become one with Jesus?  Are we seeking His face, through studying His Word; determined to be like Him, obeying Him in all areas of our lives?  As we obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit and yield our hearts and minds to Jesus, we will experience a closeness, a oneness, with our Lord, God and Savior.  The more we become like Him, the less we seek our own selfish ways.  We seek and want God’s Will to become our will.  We receive the desires of our heart when those desires are God’s will for us.  (12.)  Jesus alone has bridged the gap between God and man.  He, tells us He will declare God’s name to His brothers.  That’s you and I; as true Believers, Jesus calls us His brothers!  In the very lives of the church, (that’s us as Believers, not a building), He will sing hymns of praise to the Father. He is quoting from Psalm 22.  Jesus lived the perfect life; He gave us His very life as a perfect example of how we ARE to live our lives so that we would bring praise and honor to God, our Father.  See Psalm 22:22, 23, 25-31.

2:13

“And again, and again” Each time the writer is quoting from various scriptures, telling us that these are ALL attributed to Jesus, prophetically being fulfilled by Him during their time and in the future.  (Isaiah 8:17, 18) Jesus always trusted His Father in heaven.  Jesus walked the perfect walk of faith, that is exactly what He wants us to do: Walk the walk of faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are the children God gave to Jesus.  All the prophets spoke of the Lord Jesus.  We are told in the New Testament that the entire Bible speaks of Jesus!  Note that the writer clearly tells us that the Holy Spirit, through God’s Word, has revealed God’s Truth to us.  Maybe this is one of the reasons the author deliberately did not identify himself.  He wanted to make certain that the Hebrew Believers, and those of us who read these truths, would not attribute anything to him, but would attribute all Truth to the Holy Spirit.  That is how we should think of God’s Word: Revealed Truth from the Holy Spirit.

2:14

“Therefore,” or Pay attention to this important Truth: Since the children (Believers) also share the same flesh and blood, the same physical nature; that by His (Jesus’) sharing in the same physical nature, and going through death, He has now destroyed any power or effect of Satan over death.  Jesus nullified, or rendered ineffective, any power that Satan had of death over mankind.  This Truth alone should cause all Believers to celebrate with Thanksgiving and Praise!

2:15

Now Jesus has delivered mankind from death; He has completely set free all those, who through the fear of death, were held in bondage throughout their entire lives.   Jesus has freed us from death!  Those who do not accept God’s free gift of salvation are still in the fear and grip of death; they are captives, in bondage to Satan!  Not where any of us want to be.  Why on earth would anyone want to be in the grip and fear of eternal death and suffering?  See Ezekiel 18:4, Rom 6:23, etc.

2:16

Listen to this amazing Truth: Jesus chose not to take on the nature of angels, to save them; but instead took on Himself the nature of man.  That is, the Seed of Abraham.  The Messiah, Yeshua, became man so that He could save and sanctify man and call them brothers.  Through His death he rendered Satan’s power null and void as far as Believers are concerned.  The fear of death always enslaves us.  Now death is not to be feared, it is a means to enter into eternal life.  The work of the Messiah was to benefit man, not fallen angels.  The angels cannot be saved by Christ’s death.

2:17

Now we logically must assume that it is very evident, or proved, that Jesus had to be made like His brothers, mankind, in every respect of life, so that He could become the merciful, sympathetic and faithful High Priest in all things relating to and pertaining to God and His relationship to man.  Every area of life had to be dealt with and addressed successfully by Jesus or His mission to save mankind would not have been successful.  We can not even begin to understand all the ramifications; physically, emotionally and spiritually that are involved in Christ’s mission to save us.  There are so many aspects of salvation that we are just beginning to understand just a small portion of the incredible sacrifice Jesus made to redeem us from an impossible situation.   The more we search God’s Word and learn of Jesus’ sacrifices for us, the more we love and appreciate our Savior.

2:18

Jesus suffered greatly by being tempted; that is severely tested.  We seldom think of being tempted as suffering, but, in truth, that is what it is.  We are tempted, we are “tested”, and we desperately need assistance in resisting the temptation.  How often do we fail “the test”?  If we give in to temptation, we fail the testing.   Why do you think Jesus tells us we must take up our cross and follow Him?  Those temptations that we struggle to overcome are part of the “cross”.  Could Jesus have given in to temptation?  If He had, it would have proved that He was NOT the Messiah.  That is one of the reasons those who hate Christians claim that Jesus “sinned”.  That lie, if true, would negate His being the Messiah; our Lord, God and Savior.

What powerful, incredible Truths are revealed to us in this Chapter.  Review, and pray about each area of Truth.  These reflections should increase your love and appreciation for your Savior, AND at the same time, encourage and strengthen you to resist the devil, and all his lies and temptations.  Having trouble with a particular temptation?  Read aloud this Chapter, praying that the Holy Spirit will give you His power and strength to turn away from evil.