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Hebrews 2Hebrews 2:1-18(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.

I. More earnest heed: In Chapter 1, Paul went to great lengths proving from the scriptures the superiority of Jesus Christ as far as God’s revelation of Himself to man is concerned. Having beforetime spoken to the fathers in diverse ways and manners sometimes utilizing angels, Paul says now in these last days, God has spoken to us by His Son. Because He is superior, we ought to take what He says more earnestly.

a. Grace and law:

John 1:17(17) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

If you are in need of grace, there is no place to go but to Jesus. If you want to know the truth of God, there is no alternative but Jesus. Thus, Jesus would tell us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me and you will find rest for your souls; for my burden is easy and my yoke is light.” (Matthew ?????) In comparison to every other revelation of God, Jesus is the final Word. Thus, we should give more earnest heed to His Word, lest at any time we should become discouraged and slide back into a performance-based relationship with God, seeking to be justified by the keeping of laws or regulations as was the case for some of these Hebrew believers, which is the purpose of Paul’s epistle, admonishing them not to do so because there is no other place to go but Jesus.

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1. Side note: Your joy in the Lord will be in direct proportion to your obedience to it. While we must always be cautious to not turn the New Testament, and I mean every jot and tittle, into a new book of laws, it is imperative that we realize that if we are to find true meaning, purpose, and joy in this life, it can only be achieved by giving heed to the instruction therein.

(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;

II. Returning to the law is futile: Paul points out the futility of trying to return to the law. Even though it had been delivered by angels, who are an inferior medium of revelation, their word was steadfast, and under the law, every transgression and disobedience was met with a just recompence. In other words, under the law, you got what you deserved. In Hebrews 10:28, Paul tells us this:

Hebrews 10:28(28) He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

Therefore, returning to any aspect of the law in search of acceptance or justification is futile. Why? Because you are still in this physical body, and you still have a sin nature. Thus, you could never on your best day perfectly fulfill all 613 laws as Jesus did when He came as a man. Therefore, Paul is admonishing the Hebrews and us that if you do not cling to the doctrine of salvation by grace alone as taught to us by Jesus Christ, where are you going to go?

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If you go back to the law, you die; outside of Jesus Christ, you die. The salvation that Jesus brings is complete—able to save to the uttermost those that come to Him by faith. So, do not neglect so great a salvation, for there is no hope other than Jesus Christ.

(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?

III. First spoken by Jesus: Salvation by grace through faith was first spoken by Jesus Christ.

John 3:16-19(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.(18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.(19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

John 3:36(36) He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

a. It was confirmed: The message of Jesus Christ of salvation by grace through faith was confirmed by His disciples, who had heard Him. Then God confirmed their words with signs and wonders and miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit that were operated by those Apostles who were declaring the message that they had heard from Jesus and by those things, God was proving it to be true.

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b. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: I think it’s an interesting subpoint here that we are told that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are according to His will. I want to be clear about this: I am not a secessionist; I do not believe that any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased operation within the Body of Christ. I find no scriptural basis for this other than one verse taken from its context, which we will discuss when we get to the book of Corinthians. Suffice it to say, in I Corinthians 12 concerning the gifts of the Spirit, Paul says, “It is the Holy Spirit who divides to each man severally as He wills.” Thus, the gifts of the Spirit are operated only as God wills.

(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?

IV. Not angels: Angels will not be ruling the world to come. As we have discovered in the last chapter, they will be serving.

a. What is man? The one whom Paul is talking about here in verse 6 we know to be David, and the quote is from Psalms 8:4. Not only was David a man after God’s own heart, but he was a man who admired the creation of God. When David looked at the night sky, he would stand in awe of the creation of God. Thus, he would write in Psalms 8:3, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

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When you consider the greatness of God’s creation, especially if you’ve ever had the experience of being out in the desert with no light pollution on a moon-less night and looking up at the vastness of the Milky Way, it’s easy to understand why David would say, “Who am I that God would even take notice of me?” How precious you and I must be to God that He would come to us, as great as He is, that He would even be mindful of us, that He would desire fellowship with us and allow us to feel His presence. How precious we must be.

Speaking of man:(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:

V. Lower than the angels: Man was created a little lower than the angels. Now, while angels are ministering spirits, they can and sometimes do take on bodily form, but they are not confined to a physical body as we know them, and they certainly are not restricted to a physical body such as ours. So, what’s the difference?

a. A different molecular structure: As human beings, our bodies are made up of atoms, which have matter and are subject to the law of repelling forces of positive charges. What I mean by that is that if you were to try to run through a wall, you would discover the practicality of repelling forces because your molecules have positive charges, and the wall, made up of the same type of molecule, has positive charges. The two would repel each other in a most violent way.

Theoretically, it should be possible for a human body to pass through a wall without disturbing it because there is more space than there actually is mass. Let me explain.

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If you were to take the nucleus of an atom and enlarge it to the diameter of a basketball, the distance between the nucleus and the electron traveling around it would be 3,000 miles. That’s a lot of space. In reality, there is more space in an atom that there is matter, but because we are still in this physical realm, we are subject to the law of repelling forces. There is, however, another realm.

The other realm is the realm of the spirit. Thus, even when angels appear in a bodily form as a man, their molecular structure is not subject to the law of repelling forces. Jesus proved this Himself after His resurrection when the disciples were huddled in the upper room with the door locked. Jesus, in His resurrected body, appeared in their midst, though He was able to be touched, as He told Thomas, “Stretch forth your hand and touch my wounds, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see that I have.”

b. Heaven is not that far: So often when we look at the vastness of space, we often fanaticize that God exists somewhere far beyond the universe and that heaven lies beyond the vastness of space; but, in reality, this is not true. It is more likely that the spirit realm and the physical realm exist in the same place. Because of our limitations, we don’t see it. This is easily demonstrated in the story of Elisha and his servant.

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2 Kings 6:15-17(15) And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! How shall we do?(16) And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.(17) And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

This shows us that there are two worlds that co-exist, side by side, one passing through the other on our behalf. We are unconscious of the other’s existence because of our limitations, but it is real, nonetheless, as the servant of Elisha found out. However, they are not unconscious of ours. Thus, Paul told us, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation?” Once again, we are mostly unaware of their presence; yet, they are passing by and passing through, helping, strengthening, and ministering in order to give a helping hand. They’re conscious of our existence, but we are not of theirs.

Thus, I believe, along with many other Bible teachers, that heaven isn’t some faraway place. In reality, it is all around us, and the throne of God is really not that far away, only it is made up of a different molecular structure.

Paul would say this concerning God: “For in Him we live and we move and we have our being.” Thus, He is all around us. We are often unconscious of His existence, but He certainly is not of ours.

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c. Man a little lower than the angels: Although man was made a little lower than the angels, God has crowned him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of His hands as God said to Adam, “I give you dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and every moving and creeping thing you have dominion over them.” So, God placed man over the works of His 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.

VI. What do we see? We see Jesus, who became a man, who was made, Himself, a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.

He had to become a man in order to redeem man. Jesus had to become our next of kin that He might be our kinsman redeemer in order to redeem that which was forfeited by man to Satan, which is the world, itself. Now we see Jesus a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. As God, he could not die. He had to become a man and take on the same limitations that He might fulfill all things, which were written about Him.

a. We see Him now: We now see Jesus crowned with glory and honor that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. This is what redemption is all about. As we studied in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death.” For God laid upon Him, the iniquities of us all, and He tasted death for every man.

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b. Spiritual death: The death that Paul is talking about is a spiritual death. There is a difference between the earthly understanding of death and the spiritual definition of death. From an earthly standpoint, death is the separation of man’s consciousness from his body. When a person is in a terminal state in the hospital, doctors will often connect an EEG to his head, which monitors his brain waves. When they have a flat line, they will declare that there is no brain activity. They will monitor that flat line for 24 hours. If there still is no activity, then they will pull the plug and at that moment, that person is pronounced dead.

Sometimes, when they pull the plug, because of the lack of oxygen, if there is any spark of life, the brain will begin to look for that oxygen; thus, it will show up on the monitor. If that happens, they will immediately plug in the life support again because, obviously, there was some life there.

When the consciousness is separated from the body, you are declared dead. From a Biblical standpoint, when your consciousness is separated from God, you are dead. Therefore, a man who has no consciousness of God is spiritually dead.

c. Jesus tasted death: Jesus tasted death for every man. On the cross, Jesus cried, “My God, my God; why hast thou forsaken me?” At that point, when our sins were placed upon Him, Jesus suffered the consequences of our sin, being forsaken of God. Thus, He suffered death for us; so, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.

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d. Because He tasted death: Because Jesus tasted death vicariously for me, I will not taste of death. Jesus said, “If any man lives and believes in me, he will never die.” Thus, I can tell you clearly that I will never die. Of course, I’m talking in the Biblical sense. I will never be, nor could ever be, separated from God. Jesus took my sin upon Himself and tasted death for me so that I do not have to taste a spiritual death.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that one of these days I’m not going to move on. Unless the rapture happens first, I will move from this old tent and move into a new building made by God eternal in the heavens, but I won’t die because I will never be separated from God. Now, when that happens, you very well may read about it in the newspaper: “Doug Copen has died.” But it’s not true. I simply moved from one tent to another.

2 Corinthians 5:1(1) For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

So then, Jesus tasted death for every man, which means that you don’t have to taste of death, either. He was forsaken of God so that you won’t have to be forsaken of God. Because He took upon Himself your sins and the consequences of your sins—that separation from God—you can now live with confidence in Jesus Christ. Just to drive the point home:

Isaiah 59:1-2(1) Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:(2) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

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That is the effect of sin! But Jesus tasted of 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.

VII. All things are for Him: In Colossians 1, we are told all things were made by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him, all things are held together. Here in Hebrews 2:10, Paul makes the same declaration concerning Jesus. All things are by Him, and all things are for Him. Thus, Jesus is declared the creator, but, in reality, He is more than that. He is the very object of creation.

In the book of Revelation, we see the 24 elders announce the worthiness of God to receive the glory offered by the cherubim when they say, “For Thou hast created all things for Thy good pleasure. They are and were created.” All things were created by Him. This is true, and that includes you and me. More importantly, we were created for Him. You will never experience a life that is complete or satisfying until you start living for Him.

As long as you live for yourself, you will find that your life will be empty, meaningless, and frustrating, and joy will be hard to come by. The moment you start living for Him, your life will become rich and fulfilling. So, “it became Him for whom are all things and by whom are all things to bring many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation complete through sufferings.”

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a. The Work of God through the sufferings of Jesus: In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, he prophesies the sufferings of Jesus. “For it pleased the Father to bruise Him” and now here in our text, the captain of our salvation is made complete, and we will see this even better at the end of the chapter how He has become complete through His sufferings because it is through His sufferings that He can understand what it is to experience sufferings.

How can anyone really comfort you at the loss of a loved one if they’ve never lost a loved one? If they don’t know the grief of having lost a child, how can they comfort you in that death experience if they’ve never experienced it themselves? Those who have, know exactly what you are feeling. Thus, they are able to empathize with you and really minister to you in that situation because they have been there and know what it’s all about. They know what it’s like to have gut-wrenching grief. They know what it’s like to have overwhelming sorrow from that sense of loss.

Jesus, because He did suffer, was made complete as the captain of our salvation because now He is able to understand and thus, to help us, when we are in need.

(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,

VIII. We are one with Jesus Christ: Another way to word it is that we have come into fellowship with the Lord.

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a. He is not ashamed: If we can only get our fingers around all that Jesus has done for us. I mean, if we can really get the vicariousness of all that He has done—He lived for us, tasted of death for us, was resurrected for us, sits at the right hand of the Father for us, and now calls us brothers—we are truly one, together with Him.

(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.

IX. The children which God hath given me: Because of His vicarious life and the vicariousness of all that He has done, Jesus made a way for each of us to come into the presence of God, to become part of the kingdom of God, by tasting death for us, by bearing our sins and iniquities, by purging us Himself from our sin, and now presents us as brothers and joint heirs with Him unto the Father to share together with Him the glories of God’s eternal kingdom.

When I think of all that Jesus has done on my behalf, I have to admit that I am sometimes at a loss because I bring so little to the table. How do you show appreciation for so great a work? No amount of gratitude seems to be sufficient. It’s no wonder that David said, “What shall I render unto God for all His benefits unto me?” I feel the same way. I, literally, have nothing to offer. What does the Lord want in return for all that He has done for us? The answer is so apparent: He wants you, your fellowship, your love, your time. That means more to God than anything you could do for Him. All He is asking is for your fellowship. Sometimes, we even fail at that.

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(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;

X. We are flesh and blood: This body is flesh and blood; thus, it was made a little lower than the angels.

a. Jesus was flesh and blood: Jesus came in a body of flesh. He shed His blood for my sins. He took on the limitations of a body of flesh. He experienced the same pain of weariness that you experience in your body. He knew what it was like to be tired. He knew what pain felt like when He struck His finger with a hammer. He knew what it was to experience the restrictions, the limitations, and the pain and sufferings that we have in this body of flesh and blood because He partook of the same.

b. Jesus took Satan out of business: The word “destroyed” here in the Greek is the word “katargeo,” which literally means, “put out of business.” So, the one who had the power of death, the devil, the one who brought death to mankind by tempting Eve and Adam, no longer has a hold over me because of sin. I’ve been made righteous through Jesus Christ. Satan, therefore, has no more claim upon me as far as death is concerned because of my sin. Jesus has cleansed me of my unrighteousness and has made me righteous before God. So, through His death, He once and for all put out of business the one who had power of death—the claim of death upon me—the devil.

(15) And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

XI. Bondage: That is, bondage to the slavery of sin.

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(16) For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

XII. Jesus became as a man:

(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.

XIII. Our great high priest: I am so thankful that our great high priest, Jesus Christ, understands us. He understands us because He came in a body of flesh. He experienced the limitations of this body of flesh. He became like us in order that He might be merciful, and He does have mercy upon me. He knows what it is to go through the struggles of this life. He knows what it is to be hungry. He knows what it is to not have money. He knows what it is to be taxed unjustly by the government. He experienced, Himself, what we ourselves experience. Because of that, He is merciful.

Because He, Himself, suffered, He is able to minister and to help us when we are tempted. We are told in the scriptures that God knows our frame. He understands that we are but dust. This is something that we need to understand, ourselves. (As I showed you earlier with the illustration of the atom, if you were to remove all the space in your body, you would, literally, be a speck of dust.) So often, we can think as my old pastor used to say, “I’m a super duck Christian.” Sometimes, we can think way too highly of ourselves, and the Lord warns us about that kind of attitude: “Let a man take heed when he thinks he stands, lest he fall.” The only way that I stand today is by Him holding me up. When He holds me up, I can’t fail.