- Alright, here we are. Hebrews: The Glorious Jesus, that's the series that we're in. This is lesson three in that series and the title of this particular lesson is Jesus: Greater than the Angels. This is part two of
that particular lesson. We'll be looking at Hebrews
chapter one, verse four and just moving on to chapter two. Just as a way to review the material that we've been talking about, the Book of Hebrews are written to first century Christian Jews who were contemplating returning to Judaism, because of the persecution they were experiencing as Christians. And so the writer, the author writes to these Jewish Christians and encourages them to be faithful by demonstrating that
Jesus Christ was superior to every element of their
former Jewish religion. "Don't go back to Judaism,"
he says, "because Christianity "and the core of Christianity,
Jesus Christ Himself, "is greater than all
the elements of Judaism. "So don't go back to
that, stay with Christ." That's the that's the
core of his argument. And so he begins that
argument by showing how Jesus, for example, is superior in position and in nature to the prophets, which were very important
in the Jewish system. Then he goes on to demonstrate that, according to Old Testament prophecy, Jesus the Messiah was considered greater, not only greater than the prophets, but also greater than the angels. Now this was an important
point for the Jews, since angels, in their life, in their understanding,
in their experience, represented a significant part of their contact with supernatural beings and they may have been
tempted to consider Jesus as an angelic being,
rather than a divine being, as the Word taught, as Jesus
and the Apostles taught. So once the author describes Jesus' rightful place at the right hand of God, far above the position of the angels, he warns his readers concerning
the significance of this. And so he explains the reasons
why this exalted Jesus took, for a while at least, a
position lower than the angels, because this was another idea
difficult for Jews to accept. They could accept, "Okay, well Jesus is
greater than the angels, "He's above the angels,
okay, maybe I'll accept that. "But now why did He take a
position lower than the angels?" So the author is going to explain that idea in the following chapters. Now, before we we get into the text, I need to explain a little bit about how the Book of Hebrews is written, some of the devices that the author uses in introducing new ideas. So we need to understand
that the author uses several devices to introduce
material in his epistle. For example, in chapter one, verse four to chapter two, verse 18, the general idea that he's talking about is that Jesus is greater than the angels, but within this general theme,
he introduces another idea which he will not elaborate right away. He'll only elaborate on it
in a couple of chapters. Now, he usually does this
at the end of the chapter, so readers need to be ready
for it when we get there. Now I call this device a
hook word or billboarding. You know, you're driving down the highway, you see a sign, McDonald's next exit. That's billboarding. The McDonald's is not right there, it's telling you that pretty
soon you're going to arrive to a spot where you can take
an exit and go to McDonald's. Well, he does the very same thing here. He's in a certain chapter, a certain part, and he'll introduce a word or an idea that billboards what's coming in the not-too-distant future of his writing. So an example is in chapter one, verse 14, in talking about angels, he
mentions the idea of the angels serving those who will inherit salvation. Oh, so that word salvation. There's the hook word,
there's the billboard. He doesn't talk about
salvation right away, but he introduces the
word and the idea here and we'll discuss it and develop it a little bit further down the line. In chapter two, he'll
elaborate, not on angels, but he uses the introduction of the word to make a parenthetical
statement about salvation. Okay, so if we go to
verse one in chapter two, we'll see a kind of a warning there. Jesus is greater than the angels, therefore, okay, verse one, "For this reason," okay, Jesus is greater than
the angels, all right. "For this reason we must
pay much closer attention to "what we have heard, so that
we do not drift away from it." And so we must pay attention
to what we have heard and avoid the danger of
drifting away from it. It's like an arrow that slips
off the bow, if you wish, or a boat that slips past the safe harbor. The idea is that drifting
away from the truth, okay, verse two, he says, so here's,
the point he's making is, we've heard, all right, the
information about salvation and we have to be careful
not to drift away from that. So let's go to verse two. He says, "For if the word
spoken through angels "proved unalterable,
and every transgression "and disobedience
received a just penalty." So here's the reason why he says that they must pay closer attention and he brings in the idea of angels. He says, "What was spoken
through the angels," for example, to Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah and its destruction or the law that was given
through the angels, right? Paul talks about that in
Galatians chapter three, verse 19. The point that he's making is if these words were required to be obeyed and God punished without
exception those who disobeyed. See what I'm saying here? He's saying, "Look you
need to pay attention, "because the word that that came through "the agency of angels, if it
was disobeyed, was punished." Alright, so that he set that up. So let's go to verse three and four. He says, "How will we escape "if we neglect so great a salvation? "After it was at first
spoken through the Lord, "it was confirmed to
us by those who heard, "God also testifying with them, "both by signs and wonders
and by various miracles "and by gifts of the Holy Spirit
according to His own will." So he continues the thought. He says, "If the word
spoken through angels, "and ignored, was then punished, "how will they escape
who neglect the words "given by the Son of God who
is higher than the angels?" Not only spoken by the Son, but preached by the Apostles
and confirmed by miracles. In other words, if God punished those who disobeyed the word spoken by angels, imagine the result for those who neglect. Neglect means believers, believers
are the ones who neglect, unbelievers cannot neglect the
Word, they reject the Word. They don't believe it,
they simply reject it. But believers, we accept the
Word, but then we neglect it. We don't pay attention, okay? So the word of salvation, of course, which is superior to the law, because it gives forgiveness
and it gives life and it was spoken by the Son of God, who's superior to the angels and it was confirmed, he said,
by apostles and miracles. So the warning is that if even the angels did not escape punishment, those who neglect the Word spoken by Jesus will not escape either. It's a kind of a balance. It's a warning. Pay attention, be careful,
don't neglect the Word, because those who neglected the Word spoken through angels, they were punished. Even angels were punished
who neglected the Word. Imagine what's going to happen to those who neglect or reject the Word spoken by someone who's higher
than the angels, okay? Jesus Christ. Okay, so he's described Jesus'
position, above the angels, and now he's going to explain
why Jesus took, for a while, a position below the angels,
which is man's position. And he does this by first
explaining the position that man has according to God. So he's given the warning, alright, he's given the warning,
now he's going to move on and explain why did Jesus
take a position lower than the angels, the man's
position, and in doing so, he's going to explain
what man's position is. So he says, "For He did
not subject to angels "the world to come, concerning
which we are speaking." So in speaking of man, the
author alludes to the fact that in the future, man
will inherit with Christ a new world order, not the angels. It's not the angels that's
going to inherit the world, it's man that's going
to inherit the world. The new heavens and earth
where Christ is King and Lord will have His disciples
who will reign with Him, not the angels who will reign. It says, "For if we died with Him "we shall also live with Him, "if we endure we shall
also reign with Him." 2 Timothy chapter 2:11 and 12. And so the idea is, okay, so Jesus takes a position lower
than the angels for a time. That's man's position. Well, let me tell you man's position. Well, man's position is
lower than the angels now, but in the future, man will inherit the new heavens and the new earth. Man will be above the
angels, even if for a time man is below the angels now, okay? So let's read verse six to eight. It says, "But one has
testified somewhere saying, "What is man, that You remember him? "Or the son of man, that
You are concerned about him? "You've made him for a little
while lower than the angels; "You have crowned him
with glory and honor, "And have appointed him over
the works of Your hands; "You have put all things in
subjection under his feet." So, the vague introduction, where he says, "But one has testified," that's a kind of a vague introduction. This was a common literary device that emphasized divine origins. And, of course, the Hebrews,
the ones he's writing to, they were very familiar with
the psalm that he's talking to would be Psalm chapter
eight, verses four to six. A little bit like when we say, "Well, the Bible says for God
so loved the world," right? Do we quote John? Do we even say it's in the New Testament? Do we say John 3:16? No, we just say, "Well, the Bible says for
God so loved the world." Why? Because the people we may be talking to, they know that passage. Well, it's the same thing. The people he's talking to, they know the passage
that he's referring to. So the psalm, in its original context, referred to man and his
position in God's creation. So man's original position
is at the head of creation, below the angels, with
dominion over the earth. That's man's original position. Genesis chapter one, verses 26 to 30. Now, God isn't putting angels in charge of the world to come, he's putting man. Man, who originally was in
charge of creation, will, and a little below the angels, will ultimately be above the angels and at the right hand of God, in charge of the new
heavens and the new earth. All right, let's go to 8b. He says, "For in subjecting
all things to him, "He left nothing that
is not subject to him. "But now we do not yet see
all things subjected to him." So here he summarizes the idea that all things are subject to man. What isn't written, but understood, is that man fell from his
position because of sin and his dominion over all things is severely cut back, right? We read about that in Genesis
3:16 and verses 17 and 19. So the author says that we
don't see man as that ruler now, but he hints at man's returned to glory. Yes, man is a little
lower than the angels. He was put at the head of
creation, because of the fall he's lost a lot of what
he had at the beginning, but in the future he will be, once again, above the angels and he will
be at the right hand of God. So the author is describing Jesus' position below the angels for a time and he begins by
explaining man's situation and hope for future return to glory. Again, billboarding what's coming ahead. So now he's going to talk
about Jesus' position. In the following verses, the writer describes Jesus' position and the reasons why he
took such a low position. Now, in the original context, the psalm in verse six to
eight talked about man. Now, the author takes this
scripture and he shows how Jesus is the ultimate
fulfillment of these words. It's like, that passage, it's like a two-stage rocket, if you wish. The first stage blasts
off and gives the idea, the position of man, and then
the first stage falls off. The second rocket then ignites
and pushes it even further to give the meaning
concerning God's position, in a prophetic sense, speaking of Christ. And the author matches the facts of Jesus' life and death to give the passage, this passage in Psalms,
it's prophetic meaning. So at the beginning, he
uses the psalm to describe man's position from a
historical perspective and then he goes back and
shows how this passage also demonstrates Jesus' position from a prophetic standpoint, okay? Verse nine. Now we don't yet see man's glory, but we do see Jesus,
so let's look at this. He says, "But we do see Him who was made "for a little while lower than
the angels, namely, Jesus." So he's not talking about man anymore. He's not talking about man
who was head of creation and then fell and then has hope in the future to rise above that. Now he's going to talk about Jesus and then we go back to the passage. "Because of the suffering of death "crowned him with glory and honor, "so that by the grace of God "He might taste death for everyone." So we don't yet see man's glory, but what we do see is Jesus. Made for a while like a
man, lower than the angels. We also see His glory and
honor following His death. So His death, whoops,
there's another hook word that will be discussed in a moment. He's billboarding what his
next idea is going to be. So without mentioning it specifically, the author refers to the resurrection, which was the basis of preaching through which his readers came to faith. They don't see man's glory, right? Not yet. They don't see the man's
final glory where he'll be above the angels at the right hand of God over the new heaven and the new earth. They don't see that. "But," he says, "they do
see Jesus who, like a man, "dying and then being raised from the dead "to a position of glory and honor." In other words, you don't
see man's future glory, but you have witnessed Jesus' glory. So the author is going
to show how this will ultimately mean glory
and honor for man also, but first, he returns to deal
with the subject of death that he introduced earlier. A subject of death, it's like a sub-file. He talks about death and
then he pauses and says, "Well, okay, let's open a sub-file. "We need to talk about death here." Okay? That's me. Alright, so he says, "The
point that the author "is going to be making about Jesus' death "is that it was an honorable death. "A death that led to glory." In other words, Jesus' death was not a deserved death like man's death. Men suffered death as a result
of their own sins, right? The wage of sin is death. It's a dishonorable thing. Jesus' death, the author
is going to explain, was substitutionary. It was the sins of other
people that caused His death and so He suffered a personal
death for other people's sins and thus, was not a shameful death, because of His own personal sins. You see the idea? Now this is an important point, because the death of the Messiah was an obstacle to faith for Jews. That's why he, when he
talks about the fact that they're going to see
future glory after death and then he talks about
the death of Jesus. He has to stop there, open
a sub-file to explain, "Well, let me explain
about Jesus' death here," because he knows that this is a stumbling block for his readers. They stumbled over the fact
that Jesus was crucified as a common criminal by a foreign army. This was a very persuasive argument capable of shaking their faith. Their Jewish family and friends
would be saying to them, "Really, really? "You're placing your whole spiritual life, "your future life, your soul
in the hands of somebody "who was executed by a pagan
army in a shameful way? "This is your Messiah?" So it's one reason why
the author tells them to pay special attention to the Gospel. In other words, listen
carefully to the Gospel and what it means. This is why the author
mentions that His death was according to the will
and the purpose of God and it was substitutionary in purpose. In other words, yes, Jesus
died, but He didn't die for the reasons that
ordinary men die, okay? So in verses 10 to 15 the
author is going to explain the relationship between the
suffering and death of Jesus and the salvation of man. Remember, he talked about man's salvation? Well, man's salvation is
linked to the death of Jesus. So before he explains how
these two work together, he's going to have to do some explaining about the death of Christ and how this was not a
dishonorable thing, okay? So he does this to make the concept of a suffering Messiah acceptable to them And so he says three things
about the suffering of Jesus. So let's read verse 10. Come on. It says, there it is. So first of all he says, "The suffering was according
to God's will," in verse 10. It says, let's see, "For
it was fitting for Him, "for whom are all things, and
through whom are all things, "in bringing many sons to
glory, to perfect the author "of their salvation through sufferings." So the first thing he says is, "The suffering was
according to God's will." It was fitting, meaning according
to God's plan and nature, to equip Jesus completely
for the task of saving man. When it says bringing sons to glory, that's just another way of
saying bringing salvation to men. I've mentioned this to you
before, the Bible, many times, says the same thing in a variety of ways. So saving man, bringing sons to glory, it all means the same thing, saving man. And so in order to save man, the author says death was necessary and he's going to explain why later. God fully prepared His
Son for this suffering by equipping Him with a human
body and a human nature. Perfect means to equip completely. He wasn't just half a man, He wasn't only a spirit
appearing as a man, He was a real man, He was
a flesh-and-blood man, with a nature of man,
but He was also divine. That's when he says perfect,
means a perfect combination. The author is going to go on to say that in His humanity, Jesus was fully human, meaning that He was fully
capable of suffering. Jesus is higher and superior to angels, but when He became a
man, He also fully shared man's inferior position
beneath angels, okay? This was also according to
God's Will and God's Word. Alright, let's read verse 11. He says, "For both He who sanctifies "and those who are sanctified
are all from one Father; "for which reason He is not
ashamed to call them brethren." Okay. Sanctified means to set
aside for a special purpose. God's purpose for us is
that we become His children. Now, through the sanctification that we have obtained through
the suffering of Jesus, we have become God's children, we have become set
aside for God's purpose, as God's children. How? Through the suffering of Jesus. He comes down to take on
a humanity, a human form, and in doing so, He raises us up to take on His spirituality, okay? He comes down, we come up. In this way, we become
united, having the one Father. He is not ashamed of us. Now, the writer will
continue to support the idea that Jesus became fully human by quoting several Old Testament passages. So he does this in verse 12. "Saying, I will proclaim
Your name to My brethren, "In the midst of the congregation
I will sing Your praise." So that's from Psalm 22, verse 22. This was a psalm of deliverance, a prayer for help and praise for answer. So Jesus also prayed when suffering and now declares salvation
among His brethren, like a man. In other words, He suffered like a man. Next passage, in verse 13, "And again, I will put My trust in Him. "And again, Behold, I and the children "whom God has given Me." Hebrews 2:13, quoting Isaiah 8:17 and 18. The Old Testament context,
as I say, comes from Isaiah and the two sons that Isaiah had. And I have to know a little
bit about Isaiah's situation. He was distressed and rejected
by a disobedient people, the Prophet then expressed these words to affirm his faith in God and he looked to his own
two children as witnesses to the salvation that God would bring. He named them, he gave them special names and they had, their names
had a special meaning in regard to Israel and what
would take place in Israel. And so the author, he sees
both David and Isaiah's words as illustrations of higher truths. For example, the Messiah's
complete trust in God, as all men should have, and
the Messiah's willingness to associate with God's
sons as a human being. So the writer, he puts these
words into Jesus' mouth, so to speak, in order to demonstrate that He responded to God as a human being. He said, "Father, forgive them, "for they know not what they do." Well, He's talking to God
as a human at this point. This is done as a defense
against accusations that Jesus was merely a vision,
or perhaps an angelic being, that appeared here on earth and through these passages
in the Old Testament, the writer is demonstrating
that Jesus was fully man, He spoke to God the Father as a man would speak to God the Father. And so the author here
is echoing John's word. In John chapter one, verse 14, John said, "The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us." Well, this is the Hebrew writer's way of saying the same thing. He came below the angels for a time, He related to God as a
human would relate to God, He mingled among men, He was
not ashamed to be among men. And he adds, as I say, these
Old Testament scriptures to support the idea that this was all in line with what the prophets said. The prophets said that
the Messiah would be human and He would suffer all these things according to God's Will, okay? I know that's a lot, I know that's a lot. Well, let's stay with me. Okay, so now, remember he's talking about suffering in death, he's kind of opened a new window, and he says, "There's a relationship "between Jesus' suffering and death "and the salvation of mankind, "but before I explain that relationship, "I need to contain why did Jesus suffer "and how did He suffer "and what's the meaning
of His death, okay?" So now the next point he's
going to make about this issue is the results of his suffering, alright? The author has established the idea that the Incarnation was
according to God's plan and as man, Jesus was fully human. Now he goes on to explain
the accomplishment of Jesus' suffering in verse 14. Let's read that, shall we? It says, "Therefore, since the children "share in flesh and blood, "He Himself likewise
also partook of the same, "that through death He
might render powerless "him who had the power of
death, that is, the devil." So he repeats the idea of Jesus' need to become like those He wished to save. And he shows that death
as a human was necessary in order to destroy Satan's power, okay? So that's kind of a new idea here. In other words, Jesus had to be a human being in order to suffer. He couldn't suffer as an angel, He couldn't suffer as
simply as God the Son, He had to become human in
order to experience suffer and He had to suffer in order to destroy Satan's power, okay? This is what he's explaining here. So let me give you a
little background here. What the readers of this
epistle kind of understood by what he's saying here,
we need to understand. So I'm going to digress and talk about the power that Satan
has over death, alright? So Satan has power over
death in that he has control over the thing which
causes death, which is sin. In other words, Satan tempts man to sin and sin is then punishable by death. The law says, Romans 6:23 says,
"The wage of sin is death." That's a spiritual law. You sin, you die. Well, Satan has the power to
tempt, to seduce men into sin and therefore bringing them
into condemnation and death. See the problem is, Satan
is much more powerful than unregenerate man. Man without the Spirit of God, man without the Gospel of Christ has no power, no chance against Satan. So Jesus was sinless, right? 1 Peter chapter two, verse 22. Jesus was sinless and so His death is not
a deserved punishment, rather it becomes a payment
for the sins of other people. You see, we die with a debt outstanding, a moral debt outstanding for
the sins that we've committed, which then condemn us a judgment. But Jesus dies with no debt and so His death can pay for
the sins of other people. Now that there is a payment
for sin, several things happen. Number one, Satan has no power over death, because the thing he controls, sin, right, which brings death,
now has a neutralizer and the neutralizer is
the death of Christ. In other words, there is an
antidote to the poison of sin and that is the death of Christ. Satan continues to lie, of course, and seduce and deceive men into sin, but there is now something
that removes all sin and that's Jesus Christ and therefore, this destroys
Satan's ultimate power, this is what he's talking about here, the power of death, Jesus
destroys this power of death. Alright, so let's go to verse
15 in Hebrews chapter two. It says, "And might free those
who through fear of death "were subject to slavery
all of their lives." So men are free from slavery
caused by the fear of death, though the problem is I
sin, I know if I sin I die, I know if I die with sin I'm condemned, but I can't help sinning. That's the dilemma, that's the fear. "Men are free," the writer says, "finally, from slavery
caused by the fear of death." Before, there was no solution to sin and so death was inevitable. Through His death and its effect on sin, men no longer needed to be
afraid of death caused by sin. Why? Because there's a payment for sin now. So without death as their inevitable end, men are free to be sons of God and take their place with Christ at the right hand of God in future glory. In other words, there's a reason and a way that men are going to go
from being below the angels, condemned to die, condemned to punishment, they're going to go from there
to being above the angels, with Christ, at the right hand of glory. And the way to get there is through the suffering and death of Jesus. This is why he has to explain
all the components, okay? It's interesting to note that the Greeks were very concerned with death and they referred to their
burial grounds as Nicopolis. Nicopolis means the
city of the dead, right? That's how they refer to
their, to the burial places. But with the advent of Christianity, the term that began to
be used was cemetery, which means sleeping place. So you see the ideas began to change. Okay, the third thing that he now says, remember we open that box
about suffering and death, third thing that he says about it is, "The suffering Messiah is
the actual correct view "of the Jewish Messiah, okay?" Now, remember our original
point in all of this is to show that a suffering Messiah is honorable and legitimate, because this idea caused a
lot of doubt to the Jews. In the last verses, the
author goes on to show that far from being a shameful thing
for the Messiah to suffer, it was actually the ultimate fulfillment of every aspect of their
Jewish religious system and a perfect sign that the
Messiah can help them now as they suffer persecution. So let's read verse 16, shall we? It says, "For assuredly He
does not give help to angels, "but He gives help to the
descendants of Abraham." So the Jews understood
their position below angels and their need for a savior
as a sinful, as sinful men, and God's promise of salvation. They understood that part. In verse 16, the author
establishes that man, and for the readers, Jews in particular, that man and salvation and God offered this salvation to
them, but not to angels. So, yeah, you're below the angels, but He doesn't offer
salvation to the angels, He offers it to you, okay? And that Jesus' suffering
was for them, not for angels. So now in chapter two, verse
17, he says, "Therefore, "He had to be made like
His brethren in all things, "so that He might become
a merciful and faithful "high priest in things pertaining to God, "to make propitiation for
the sins of the people." So now he refers to what they know about how God dealt with sin, by offering of a sacrifice by a priest. What do they know about
offering a sacrifice for sin? Well, they know plenty. I mean, their whole religious history is filled with the offer
of animals by priests. Now, note another hook
word here has appeared that he's going to expand
a little bit later. He's going to talk about
the high priest, alright? He only mentions it now in context with suffering and sacrifice. So he says, "You people,
you know about sacrifice. "You know about the system. "You've you've seen this,
this is nothing new, "a sacrifice offered for
sin by the high priest." So the priest, in their
mind, in their religion, was a go-between or a mediator
between God and the people. His interface with the people was the fact that He was a human being and He understood their weaknesses. Much of what He wore was symbolic, that He carried the people
and He carried their cares and burdens and sins upon Himself. His interface with God,
while He was set aside for exclusive service by
God to offer sacrifice on behalf of the people for sin. In other words, He served
exclusively in the temple. He was set aside, He didn't
work, He didn't own any land, He didn't have a business, anything. His only work was on behalf of the people before God in the temple. So here's the argument. The argument was that
Jesus had to become a human and experience suffering
and temptations so that, like the priest, He would
be able to understand their weaknesses and empathize with them. So basically, he's saying,
"You people know about "sacrifice for sin and so on and so forth. "You have the priest, he's a human, "he understands, he's a human like you. "Well," he said, "Jesus had to
become lower than the angels, "he had to become a human." Why? Well, first of all, He had
to have some understanding of what it was like to be a human being, a personal experience of that, just like the priest has
a personal experience of how you feel. And like a priest, He offered sacrifice on
behalf of the people. Here he shows how Jesus is
similar to the high priest, but later on, he's going to demonstrate how Jesus is superior than a high priest. He's already talked about
Jesus superior to the prophets, Jesus superior to
angels, a little later on he's going to talk about
Jesus superior to priests. But for now, he only compares
the work of the priest with the work of Jesus. So the point in this verse, however, is that according to Jewish religion, a sacrifice for sin was an honorable thing ordained by God to deal with sin. They had a whole history of this. The author states that the death of Jesus for the sin of men, by comparison, is also an honorable thing, totally in line within the Jewish system. Now later on, he's going to show how even Jesus' sacrifice is superior, but for now, only the fact
that it isn't a shameful thing. Remember our original idea. He's trying to show that the suffering and death of Jesus is
not a shameful thing, because suffering and death,
especially the way He died, was considered shameful to the Jews. Now in verse 18, he says, "For since He Himself was tempted
in that which He suffered, "He is able to come to the
aid of those who are tempted." So at the end, he injects a kind of an exhortation, an encouragement. Since the human Savior suffered as part of His work to save man from sin, it means that He is able to
understand human suffering, He's able to understand
your suffering now, and He can help you with it now. And so he subtly refers
to their persecution and reminds them that a suffering Savior is well-qualified to help them
through this difficult time. Okay, so let's kind of summarize here. Within the context of the idea that Jesus is greater than angels, the author introduces the
concept that He was also, for a time, lower than the angels. And during this time, He
shared not only human nature, but He shared human suffering. Without leaving his eye on Jesus as divine and the Son of God,
exalted above the angels, the author says the
following things about Jesus when He took, for a time, a position below the
angels for a human being. Number one, he says, "This
was according to God's plan." In other words, according to God's plan, the Messiah had to become human, lower than the angels,
in order to save man. Number two, he says, "His suffering produced
important and necessary results." For example, His suffering
ultimately destroyed the power that Satan
had over sin and death, because His suffering led
to a sacrifice for sin that pays the moral debt of man. And once man's moral debt is
paid, Satan's power is broken. So he says His suffering was
important and it was necessary, because it did that and also, it freed mankind to
become children of God. They were no longer simply fearful of death and condemnation. They, despite their imperfection, could become children of God. So His suffering and death
produced very positive results and therefore was necessary. And thirdly, His suffering
was in accordance with the basic concepts
of Jewish religion. When he says, "Look, you
people understand the idea "of sacrifice, sacrificing for sin, "well here Jesus is sacrificing. "His death was not because
of His own thing, sins, "it was not a shameful thing. "It was a sacrifice, alright? "It was a sacrifice on
behalf of all men's sins "and it falls completely in
line with the concept of, "the Jewish concept of
sacrifice is made for sins." Okay, so we've learned a lot about the theology of the
Incarnation and the Atonement and how these were the true fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the real substance of the
Jewish sacrificial system, but we're not Jews. The things I told you, those
were lessons for the Jews, but we're not Jews, we
don't see the death of Jesus as a stumbling block for us. We're not, we didn't grow up
with the sacrificial system, so what's in it for us? What lessons for us in this
quite complicated passage? Well, lesson number one,
we need to pay attention. They had to pay attention,
because they were not paying attention to what
the Gospel actually taught, they were tempted to kind
of drift back into Judaism. Well, we have to pay attention
to what we have heard. We need to be careful to pay attention to what Jesus teaches,
lest we drift away from it. Now, they were not paying
attention to the Word of God and so they were tempted with arguments that it was shameful for a
Messiah to die on the cross. Well, we're also tempted,
not with the the term that it's a shameful thing
for Jesus to die on the cross, but we're tempted by
sophisticated philosophies that repudiate God's Word or cast doubt upon the divinity of Christ or the reality of sin and judgment. We're scoffed at, were mocked at. So we today, we need to pay
closer and closer attention to God's Word, lest we drift away from it. We need to understand
God's Word so that we can kind of respond to these type of attacks. Lesson number two, we must not be afraid. God has freed us from sin and death through this elaborate
plan in Jesus Christ. We must no longer be afraid
of death or sin or failure, because we are free from the
consequences of these things. That's the point, that's
the Good News of the Gospel. We're not free from sin, we still sin, but we're free from the
consequences of these things, okay? So we need to learn to live
like sons and daughters, because in Christ, we will
reach our ultimate potential. Don't judge yourself too
quickly, wait for the end, and according to Jesus' promise, all of us will wear a
crown above the angels. And then number three,
lesson number three, we must put all of our
trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to share our experience so He could effectively help us. How foolish we are when we rely
on other things to rescue us than Jesus Christ, who sits above all authority and power in Heaven. Imagine, we rely on ourselves or money or some other thing here below, instead of relying on the
one who is above to help us. These Jews, they were being
tempted to return to their temple and ritual and law to
save them from persecution. And little did they know that
only a few years after they, the author sent this letter, the temple and all that was
precious in the Jewish religion was to be utterly
destroyed by a Roman army. They might have gone back and felt a little secure for a while, but eventually the Jewish
religion, so to speak, the core of it, the center of it, would be destroyed in 70 AD. So we need to stop trusting earthly things that will ultimately be destroyed and begin now to trust in the only one who can save us from eternal destruction and, of course, that's
the glorious Jesus Christ. Okay, we're going to stop here. As I said, this is a lot of lesson here, this is a lot of material to chew on. But these things, this is
not the milk of the Word, this is the meat of the Word, we're getting into the meat of the Word. Anyways, that's lesson number three. We're going to continue in this intense study of the Book of Hebrews and we'll see you next time, thanks.
