Hebrews 2

Hebrews 2 I. Paul had just explained that Christ is greater in power and station than the angels. HEB 1:4-8. II. Because Christ is superior to the angels, His words merit greater attention. HEB 2:1-4. A. The Old Covenant came via the ministry of angels. ACT 7:53; GAL 3:19. B. Angels are more powerful than any earthly dignitary whom men might fear (2PE 2:11), yet Christ is greater than them. C. Paul is showing these Hebrews the superiority of the New Covenant of which Christ is the Mediator. D. A superior covenant argues for superior responsibility. HEB 10:28-29. E. Believers are warned against letting what they have heard SLIP. 1. If the truth we have heard slips, we lose the benefit of it. 1CO 15:1-2. 2. More earnest heed is needed to avoid this slippage. a. earnest: Intensely serious, gravely impassioned, in any purpose, feeling, conviction, or action; sincerely zealous. b. Earnest heed involves more than simply hearing the word. JAM 1:22-25. F. The Hebrews (and we) are warned against neglecting so great salvation. 1. The word that Christ and the apostles spoke was a word of salvation. ACT 13:26; EPH 1:13. 2. Disobedience is a neglecting of salvation since salvation is meant to produce obedience. EPH 2:10; TIT 2:14. 3. If a child of God does not obey the Lord, he has received the grace of God in vain. 2CO 6:1-2 c/w 1CO 15:10. 4. A disobedient child of God will NOT escape judgement. HEB 10:26-27. III. Paul proceeds to deal with the dilemma of how Christ could be superior to the angels if He had been made lower than they and had died. HEB 2:5-18. A. PSA 8:4-6 is quoted to prove that the world to come is subject to Jesus Christ rather than to angels. 1. This Psalm teaches that all things are put under the feet of man who is made a little lower than the angels. 2. The ONLY man who has all things under His feet is Christ. 1CO 15:27. 3. Jesus Christ fulfills PSA 8. God had to become a man to fulfill it. 4. Since all things are in subjection under Christ, the world to come is subject to Him. B. Jesus Christ became man, made a little lower than the angels, so that He could taste death. v. 9. 1. Since angels do not die (LUK 20:36), Christ had to become a man to die. 2. Christ tasted this death for sinners by the grace of God. No sinner merited what Christ did for Him! 3. The “every man” for whom Christ tasted death is defined in the context as “many sons,” “they who are sanctified,” “the brethren,” “the children which God hath given me” and “the people.” C. Jesus is NOW crowned with glory and honour in fulfillment of PSA 8 and is therefore Lord over all things. v. 9. 1. This verse refutes the notion that the suffering and glory of Messiah are separated by the present church age. 2. Christ's glory followed His sufferings. 1PE 1:9-11. 3. Christ has been exalted and has received His regal glory. LUK 24:25-26; 1PE 1:21; JOH 7:39. 4. From God's right hand, Christ IS reigning until His enemies be made His footstool. 1CO 15:25; HEB 10:12-13. 5. The coronation ceremony of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in REV 5. a. REV 5:11-13 show glory and honour being ascribed unto the Lamb. b. In REV 6, HE opens the seals that unleashes the forces affecting history. D. Christ's sufferings qualified Him as the captain of salvation. v. 10; HEB 5:8-9. 1. By means of His suffering many sons are BROUGHT to glory. 1PE 3:18; JOH 10:16. 2. Thus his humiliation does not lessen His glory. He received glory BECAUSE of His sufferings. PHIL 2:8-9. 3. As captain of salvation Christ commands salvation! JOH 5:21. E. Christ, Who sanctifies, identifies with those whom He sanctifies. Thus, they are considered as one. vs. 11-17. 1. Paul cites three O.T. texts showing Christ identifying with those whom He sanctifies. PSA 22:22; 18:2; ISA 8:18. 2. Christ, as His brethren, sings in the church and trusts in God, thus identifying with them. MAT 26:30. 3. Christ assumed the nature of those with Whom He is one so that He might die to destroy the devil. vs. 14-15. a. The devil had the power of death. b. Those under sin's dominion and Satan are in the hold of death. EPH 2:1-3. c. By destroying the sins of His children, Christ delivered His children from Satan's power of death. 1JO 3:8. d. Satan now has no claim upon Christ's children. ROM 8:1-3, 33-34. 4. Christ took on human nature and not angelic nature because He came to save men, not angels. This shows forth God's qualified and discretionary love for fallen creatures. 5. He took on Him the seed of Abraham, which are the elect of God of any nation. GAL 3:28-29. 6. Christ was made like His brethren so that He might be their priest to God. HEB 5:1; 7:26. 7. Christ was made like His brethren that He might represent them and make reconciliation for their sins in their nature. COL 1:21-22. F. Christ “...SUFFERED being tempted...” (v. 18). Compare “suffered” with MAT 19:8. 1. Christ was tempted WITHOUT sin. HEB 4:15. 2. Satan had nothing in Christ. JOH 14:30; JAM 1:13-14. 3. Thus, the temptation offered no pleasure to Christ; He SUFFERED it. 4. In a Christian the flesh relishes the temptation, but the spirit SUFFERS it. ROM 7:15, 21-23; MAT 26:41. 5. Having been tempted Himself, Christ is able to succour (help) His brethren. IV. In summation, Christ was made a little lower than the angels that He might fulfill PSA 8, that He might suffer and die for those He came to save, and that He might be made like His brethren in all things.