Hebrews 2, verse 1 to 9, crowned with glory and honor

 

Hebrews 2:1 ¶  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. 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; 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?

 

When you’ve read everything in chapter one and absorbed it Paul warns the reader not to neglect these fundamental truths. If the Law given to Moses by God’s angels, who clearly it says here assisted in the dispensing of that Law, and through the presence of God Himself in the preincarnate Christ was not to be ignored or disobeyed then how can we dare ignore the gospel of Christ?

Remember, an angel is a presence, an appearance of something that is somewhere else, representing that person or thing but with power and ability that would prevent us from distinguishing the difference.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Matthew 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Acts 12:15  And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.

Revelation 1:20  The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Christ is the appearance of God; the angel of the Lord, His presence. I want to repeat the definition of an angel in Isaiah 63:9.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Galatians 4:14  And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

(Even can link two things that are the same such as I, even I, in Genesis 6:17 and over a dozen other verses.)

Who led the Hebrews out of Egypt.

Judges 2:1 ¶  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

You can imagine the angel of the LORD (LORD with all letters capitalized is Jehovah in the Old Testament) or the angel of God as this Angel.

How then can we afford to neglect or ignore the gospel, good news, glad tidings given to us directly by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself through the Apostles and through His disciples? This is far better news than the Law given to Moses provided.

 

How can we hold in contempt the salvation provided by the Lord Jesus Christ?

 

Hebrews 2:5 ¶  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? 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: 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.

 

Only Jesus Christ reigns supreme. No angel or son of God, lowercase s, has such authority.

 

Matthew 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

 

The Messiah coming to earth, God in the flesh, in human form, is referred to in David’s Psalm, chapter 8, which is alluded to here.

 

Psalm 8:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.» O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2  Out of

the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

   

3 ¶  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7  All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8  The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9  O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

 

Now, in His state of glory, His power is revealed.

 

1Peter 3:22  Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

 

Although we cannot tell this truth the way the world appears to us so that now we see not yet all things put under him. 

 

Philippians 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.