Hebrews 1:5–2:4
"For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.” And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will."
In U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse.
Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.
The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."
The captain said, "Send: "I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.'"
"I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees."
By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'"
Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."
We changed course.
[Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, Page 153.]
Our lives are full of warning signs: on the road, in our schools, workplaces, even at home (on medicines, appliances, toys and so on.) Of course, the effectiveness of a warning is directly proportional to the negative consequences that might arise due to disobedience of that warning. This is probably why medicines are always placed higher in the restroom cabinet than our body lotions.
The writer of this epistle is writing to a community of Christians who had left their Jewish heritage behind to follow Christ. But they are now facing tremendous pressure to abandon their faith and return back to Judaism (the Jewish religion). Alarmed by this turn of events, the writer has sent this community a letter that is really a sermon in itself; one that proclaims the superiority of Christ over all the significant markers of Judaism. Because He is superior, the author is calling his listeners to make a commitment to Christ once and for all, no matter what the cost of that commitment is.
The method this writer uses is in many ways a perfect model for a sermon. He begins each section with the exposition (explanation) of the Old Testament (OT) scriptures. But he is not content with just exposition; each exposition is followed by an exhortation, or as they are commonly referred to, a warning passage. There are five such warning passages in Hebrews: 2:1-4, 3:7-4:13, 5:11-6:12, 10:26-31, 12:25-29. These passages are actually exhortations (invitations to press on in the Christian walk) but in our modern context, exhortations are always seen as positive and affirmational without any mention of negative consequences. Thus, it is better to refer to these passages as warnings, because they point out in stark detail the negative consequences of the failure to make a commitment to Jesus Christ.
In 1:5-14, the writer uses seven quotations from the OT to make the case for Christ’s superiority over the angels. Why the angels? As we saw in the previous sermon, this is not because this community was somehow worshipping angels or thinking that Christ himself was an angel. Rather, in the OT, angels were the messengers of God, and one of the messages of God that they were believed to have mediated was the Law given to Moses upon Mount Sinai. Though this is not mentioned in the Exodus account, it is alluded to in Deut 33:2, and is also referred to by Stephen in his famous sermon in Acts 7:38,53 as well as Paul in Gal 3:19. Since Jesus is the mediator of the final word, the writer is stating that the message mediated by Jesus, the Gospel, is superior to that mediated by the angels, the Law.
Briefly, it is also important to realize how the writer uses the OT scriptures. We are often guilty of using Biblical passages, especially the OT, wildly out of context from its original intent. It is tempting to accuse the writer of doing the same; however, in this Jewish style of exposition, in a culture that was saturated with Biblical knowledge, the listeners could quickly identify the references the writer was making (be it to the Psalms or to any other OT book) as well as the context of the passage that the reference came from. In a sense, a single verse was enough to bring forth the contextual details of that reference afresh in the minds of the listeners.
The writer uses the OT in three specific ways:
1. He uses quotations that were seen as Messianic by the Jews; these verses were originally addressed to a human king of Israel or to (or by) a prophet but the Jews realized that the full extent of these verses was not fulfilled in the lifetime of that person. They awaited ultimate fulfillment in the incarnation, life and exaltation of the Messiah. The writer is stating that Jesus is the Messiah and hence these verses are really talking about him.
2. He uses quotations that were originally addressed to God (Yahweh), especially in worship. The writer has already made the case that Jesus is God and hence, it is apt to worship Him as God.
3. He uses quotations that refer to people or to groups of people in the OT, sometimes for historical reasons but more often for moralistic reasons. The writer wishes to say ‘that these people did such things, look at what happened to them; therefore do not be like them!’
Hebrews 1:5–6 "For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”"
The writer begins his exposition by asking a question which is intended to draw a strong NO! as the answer.
The first two quotations (found in v.5) are Messianic in nature. The second quotation is from 2 Sam 7:14, when David inquired of the prophet Nathan as to his desire to build a house for the Lord. God replies that this task was to be done not by David, but by his son Solomon, and that God would establish a special relationship between Himself and the house of David, a relationship in which the son of David would indeed be called the Son of God. Through this relationship, God promised to bring about the fulfillment of His purposes for His people. The first quotation from Ps 2:7 reaffirms this promise.
But every child who has gone through Sunday School knows how the kings of the Davidic line ended up living in wickedness and depravity, resulting in the exile of God’s people to foreign lands. So the people awaited a Messiah from the line of David to fulfill once and for all, God’s purposes for them.
This Messiah has arrived from heaven; his name is Jesus. He is the son of David but eternally, he is the Son of God, not just in title but in actual relationship to the Father. He is qualified, in a manner that was beyond that of the human line of David, to fulfill God’s purposes for His people. He is the one whom God affirmed from heaven “This is my Son in whom I am well-pleased.” By his ministry on earth, and on the cross, and in his resurrection exaltation to the right hand of God, Jesus has completed the work of the Messiah, once and for all. All our hopes are fulfilled in him.
Since he is God, verse 6 proclaims that the worship due to Yahweh from the angels is also due to the Son. Indeed, In Revelation 5, this is what John sees happening at the end of time, millions of angels falling down at the feet of the Lamb saying
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
In the OT, the angels were sometimes called sons of God but there is only one Son of God. Jesus is superior in status to the angels because of the unique relationship he shares with the Father, whose purposes he has ultimately fulfilled.
Hebrews 1:7–9 "Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
The next two quotations identifies the difference between the Son and the angels with regard to their ministry.
The angels were servants of God. They were subservient to God’s desires; their actions, indeed sometimes their very form (be that of wind or fire), was dictated by the explicit command of God.
But the Son has an authority that is that of God himself. He sits on an eternal throne that is his by right of being, as well as his by right of his work on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. God rejoices in the Son and in his work; thereby, God is pleased to exalt the Son beyond all of humanity and indeed above all of creation.
Jesus is superior in ministry to the angels because the ministry of the angels is to serve God but the ministry of the Son is to rule from the throne.
Hebrews 1:10–12 "And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”"
In Psalm 102, the psalmist finds himself in deep affliction, contrasting his own wretched earthly existence with the eternality of God. The writer to the Hebrews has already pointed out that the Son was the agent by whom and for whom all creation was made. This Son is eternally powerful over all creation; indeed, all creation is wearing out at the seams like a garment and the Son will one day roll this earth and heaven up and transform it into something new but He himself will remain, the same yesterday today and forever.
Hence, Jesus is superior in existence to the angels because the angels are part of this time-bound creation while the Son is eternal.
Hebrews 1:13–14 "And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?"
The writer concludes his argument by repeating the question from verse 5.
The quotation is from Psalm 110, the most quoted OT passage in the NT. All of the points deduced above are brought together in this one quotation. The angels stand and serve in the presence of God but only the Son sits at the right hand of God, awaiting the day when his enemies are vanquished and the world will see him as the one who reigns from the eternal throne.
In fact, the writer asks, the angels, as the servants of God, are they not working to look after us, the children of God? Has not God tasked them with the ministry of serving the needs of those who are to be saved?
It is important to pay attention to the way salvation is referred in verse 14. Salvation is something to be inherited; it lies in the future. Of course, the Bible does refer to the entire span of a believer’s existence in Christ as the period of salvation, but often, salvation is identified with the future vindication of a person’s faith and commitment to the message of Christ. ‘I am saved but I will be saved on the last day.’ It is that promise of salvation on the last day that the writer of Hebrews is concerned with. It is similar to what Paul writes in
Romans 13:11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
as well as Peter in
1 Peter 1:3–5 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Thus, having made the case for Jesus’ superiority over the angels, the writer proceeds to the warning that logically follows his exposition.
Hebrews 2:1–4 "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will."
These Christians had already heard the gospel; they had proclaimed their allegiance to it. Now they were considering throwing that away and returning back to their old ways of living, away from Christ and back to Judaism.
The writer pleads with them to carefully listen once again to the gospel and pay attention to its message because the danger of not doing so is that they will ‘drift away’ from it. The term for ‘drifting’ used here is meant to invoke the image of a ship or a boat that is unsecured to an anchor and is being carried away by the waves, perhaps upon to some rocks that will destroy and drown it. It can also portray the picture of a ring that is so loose upon one’s finger that it will slip right off and be lost forever.
These Christians had become inattentive to the message of the gospel and were in danger of renouncing their commitment to the Christian faith and the mediator of that faith, Jesus Christ. But the writer points out that in the past, when the people of Israel went against the message that was mediated by the angels, which is the Law, they were met with due punishment. Deut 28:15-68 is a list of curses pronounced by God himself upon those who neglected the law, be it out of ignorance, rebellion or malice. These punishments could even include death; the people of Israel, and by extension these listeners (from a Jewish background) knew that the demands of the Law were not to be taken lightly.
And now, they were in danger of neglecting an even greater message, the final word of salvation proclaimed by God’s ultimate messenger. The gospel was first proclaimed by the Lord himself when he was on the earth and he established the Christian faith through his work on the cross. But the gospel was also attested (affirmed) by those who had seen and travelled with Jesus while he was on the earth (perhaps some of whom were known to the audience of this epistle). And apart from human testimony, God himself bore witness through the signs and wonders that were performed by the apostles and others as well as the gifts of the Spirit that fell upon those on the day of Pentecost and those in the early NT churches (likely including this community).
The writer asks “How can we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” Surely there is no escape; if the those who heard the Law and neglected it met with such severe punishment, do we even need to think of the fate that awaits those who have heard the Gospel and neglect it?
At this point, I would like to take the easy way out and end this sermon by exhorting you to test and strengthen your commitment to Christ and not neglect the demands of the gospel. That way, I can avoid the questions that some of you have in mind right now, one that makes the warning passages in Hebrews a game of ‘theological ping-pong’.
The question is simple: what is the threat being laid out by the writer of Hebrews to those who neglect the Gospel? And a secondary question, does this threat affect our understanding of the assurance of salvation and the eternal security of the believer?
Too often, the answer to the first question is determined by how strongly we feel about the issues raised in the second question. So one point of view states that the threat is purely hypothetical in nature - “This is what could happen to you but it won’t happen because you will repent and turn back in time (or because you are a born-again believer.)” Sometimes, it is good to test a theological supposition with the experience we have gained in life itself and anyone who has been around children know that hypothetical threats only work if the fact that they are hypothetical is concealed from the intended audience.
Another point of view holds that the threat is tied to the loss of rewards in the millennial kingdom. Apart from the fact that the book of Hebrews has very little to say about rewards and about the millennial kingdom, this line of thinking also fails the ‘life test’. Not many Christians who are lax in their commitment to Christ are going to be spurred to action by the threat of loss of millennial rewards.
Once you read the book of Hebrews, especially the warning passages, free from our biases and preconceptions, it is evident that the views mentioned above sideline the real intent of the writer in these passages. Hebrews makes it very clear that the threat is that of apostasy (which means to fall away); that some of these listeners are in danger of not being saved on that last day of salvation (refer to Heb 1:14, which we have discussed prior.) The danger of drifting away from Christ is that you might reach a stage where you have so set yourself up against him that only eternal destruction lies in your future. This understanding is especially clear in Hebrews 6.
If apostasy is real, can a Christian become apostate? That depends on how we define ‘Christian.’ If the only type of Christian is a true Christian, one who is truly born-again and one who lives out their faith in their lives on the basis of a sure commitment to Christ, we are indeed placed in a conundrum from which there is no escape. But what if ‘Christian’ meant one who professes faith in Christ, a person who testifies to some experience of conversion? Then the question becomes simpler: is it possible to have a ‘false’ conversion so to speak?
The answer to that is of course, yes. Many of us who have been Christians for some time can attest to that in our own experiences. Indeed, Jesus himself points out this phenomenon in the parable of the sower and the seeds. Some of the seeds fell on rocky ground, and immediately they sprang up, just like the seeds that fell on good soil (Mt 13:5) but when the sun rose, they were scorched and withered away. Jesus also says that not everyone who calls him Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.
We all know and understand this but sometimes there is a disbelief among Christians that there can be false conversions within their local church and that it is possible that someone whom they identify as a brother or a sister is indeed not saved. We have too simplistic an idea of conversion; an idea that is often just validated by a date inscribed on the front of a bible, a canned testimony and perhaps a public baptism. The writers of the New Testament are not so easily satisfied.
In the famous passage from 1 John,
1 John 2:18–19 "Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."
Those who ‘went out from us’ were members of that church community! Or consider the cases of Peter and Judas, both members of Jesus’ core discipleship. Both fell away but Peter repented and was restored but Judas did not. But apart from hindsight, there was nothing to differentiate between the two. And amongst all the other examples in the NT which we do not have time to delve into due to lack of time, consider the strangest case of all. In Acts 8, we read of Simon Magus, a great and popular magician in Samaria, who is ‘converted’ upon hearing the gospel preached by Philip and even baptized, thereafter continuing in fellowship with Philip and the other believers. Some time later, Peter and John went down to Samaria and laid their hands on the disciples there to enable them to receive the Holy Spirit. Upon seeing this, Simon offers the apostles’ money to provide him also with the power to lay hands. Peter tells him in Acts 8:23 that ‘he is still in bonds of iniquity.’ He had not been saved despite all the outward signs; infact the NT does not even say he repented. But history records that this same Simon went on to become one of the greatest opponents of Christianity and the founder of a heretical cult. There are many Simon Maguses today, those who have left the church and have set themselves up in opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But the message of the warning passages might strike close to home for us and that indeed is the source of our discomfort. A sobering statistic (from the Barna group) reveals that nearly 3 out of 5 youngsters who identify themselves as Christians in the US (most of them evangelical) leave the church and the faith after the age of 15, either permanently or for long periods of time. The numbers are similar (if not so profound) for those who graduate from college, young people who get married and especially for those who suffer the loss of a close loved one.
It is the saddest thing to consider that some of these people might be our loved ones; our friends, our brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. They have lost commitment to the faith and to Christ and are living either in negligence of the gospel and its demands or perhaps even in open rebellion, drifting away. Of course, it is possible that many of them are backsliding, due to the pressures of education, lifestyles, sin and more. They are not beyond the grace of God and they might return back to us. But we should pay heed to the testimony of Scripture and realize that some of them were never saved in the first place and are headed down the path of destruction.
We are not called to distinguish between Peter and Judas, the backslider and the false convert. The symptoms they exhibit are the same: the same lack of appetite for the things of God, the same disregard for the word of God, the same apathy for the people of God and the same lack of concern to maintain a Christian testimony in their lives. How can we know which camp they fall into? They do not want assurance; they could not care less. But it is often us, the ones who love them dearly, who seek assurance that they are saved and find solace in a date or a ceremony. Let us not give them false assurance and explain it away as a phase that they will grow out of. What the backslider and the false convert needs, equally, is a reminder of the gospel that they once heard and professed to believe, a reminder of the privilege it is to hear that gospel and the benefits that flow from a Christian commitment in response to that gospel, and a warning of what lies for them in the future if they are to reject that gospel and fall away. If we love them, we will warn them of the danger of apostasy. John describes those who fell away in the passage from 1 John as ‘anti-Christs.’ What a fearful thing it is to stand in opposition to the Son of God , the One who sits at the right hand of God and whose right it is to rule over all creation for eternity.
What about the assurance of salvation, in the light of these passages? Are some Christians doomed to forever wonder about their status in Christ? But as the NT warns those who are in danger of falling away into apostasy, it also offers plenty of solace for those who are genuinely seeking to affirm their position in Christ. Jesus says that whoever hears the word and believes in him has eternal life, not having to fear judgment (Jn 5:24). He is the good shepherd and no one can snatch his sheep out of his hand (Jn 10:28).His children can rest confident in the fact that he who began a good work in them will see it to completion on that last day (Ph 1:6).
Just as we have settled for a simplistic a view of conversion, we have also been satisfied by a simplistic view of assurance. We demand more in our relationships with our spouses; we are not assured of fidelity due to a marriage certificate but rather due to the relationship we share with each other and the commitment we live out daily in our family life. Similarly, God is calling us to a greater experience of assurance, one that is drawn out of an abiding, intimate relationship with his Son.
In fact, one of the most profound verses on assurance comes from this same book.
Hebrews 6:18–20 "...it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Do you see that? A sure and steadfast anchor for the soul; that is the Jesus Christ in whom we have put our trust and to whom we have declared our commitment. He is the faithful high priest for whom no sin, no doubt, no weakness, no temptation can ever take his children beyond the safety of his reach.
In the sea of Christianity, there are many boats. Some are drifting away from that which they once held onto. For them, danger is nigh; the warning must be sounded to turn back before it’s too late.
But there are some others who feel like they are drifting, tossed about by the waves and the turmoil in their lives; they sense the weight of their burdens and fear that they are lost. But as they seek and rediscover the hope found in God’s sure Word and the joy of their Christian commitment and the beauty of their relationship with the Son of God, they will look down and see him who holds them eternally secure. He is the One in whom God delights, whose ministry it is to rule over all creation, and the One who still remains when the heavens pass away. He is the steadfast anchor of their souls.