Posts

Hebrews 2:8

Hebrews 2:8 Everything under our feet? There is an order to everything that God does, He is not random or dithering and does not act arbitrarily. That is why prophets were instructed to write, centuries ago, about events that are unfolding at this very moment in the history of our world. Everything is carefully planned, and God’s plan was that the human race would be His subjects ruling over the created world and that we would be His representatives from the beginning. Sin got in the way and God’s plans have not yet been fully realised, but even the faults of men were taken into account, and the mission of Jesus Christ to destroy sin and its causes was established before we were even created. So, we do not see everything under our feet, instead we see vast swathes of humanity enslaving themselves to sin and to the evil one. As the writer points out, there is nothing in this world that could not be subject to man’s rule but, in truth, the enemy has us all tightly bound and bowing to his...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hebrews 2:7

Hebrews 2:7 The roles of men and angels Psalm 82 opens our eyes to the existence of the “elohim” or the “sons of God” who worship daily in His presence and who contribute to the activities in the heavenly courts or the “great assembly”. Many believe that these are just human rulers and leaders but there is good reason to take this one step further and today’s verse supports the theory that the Bible gives us an insight into the activities of heavenly beings. Scripture teaches that there are those who are faithful and obedient servants of the Lord but others who have wilfully chosen to disobey Him. As our text shows us, mankind is created to be just a little lower than these celestial beings. We were originally crowned with glory and honour and meant to reflect the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord over all living things. Our role was to manage and protect His earth and all of creation and to rule with justice and righteousness. Angels would be available to help in this task, but it...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hebrews 2:6

Hebrews 2:6 What is mankind? In Job 7:17-18, the writer asks the question; “ What is mankind that You make so much of them, that You give them so much attention, that You examine them every morning and test them every moment?”  In truth, we are the crowning work of God’s creation, made in His image so that all humanity is worthy of honour and respect and should never be murdered or abused. We are raised above all other created life to be God’s representatives and to rule the world as He would rule. Genesis 1:26-30.  In very short time after creation, Kings and rulers arose on the earth who made statues of themselves and demanded worship from their followers as if they were gods! Then worship turned towards God’s created objects like the sun and the moon and the stars, so that He has been brought to despair at times and poured judgement upon mankind, simply to save us from ourselves and the deluded taunts of the evil one.  We are not far from yet another bout of such judge...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hebrews 2:5

Hebrews 2:5 Jesus, the ruler of the world to come However important some of the Jewish readers of this letter deemed angels to be, they could never compare with the Son of God! The prophets had long testified that He would not only be ruler of the Jews but also King of the whole earth. For instance, listen to these words from Isaiah 11:10, “ In that day, the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His resting place will be glorious.”  Isaiah 42 begins as follows,  “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.”  And then, in Isaiah 66:22-23 we read,  “”As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will Your name and Your descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord.” The Satan used ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hebrews 2:4

Hebrews 2:4 Signs, wonders and miracles How gracious the Lord is (or should it be “was”)! The Word, back in the time of Jesus and the early church, was firstly attested by signs, wonders and various miracles. I grew up at a time when such things were frowned upon in churches, where they were unheard of. There was no expectation that anything extraordinary might take place, so long as we studied and taught the Word of God we were fulfilling our role as the people of God. Miracles, signs and wonders were exclusively for the early church and for the apostles, primarily to give them a kind of spiritual “leg-up” as they began their seemingly impossible mission of taking the Gospel to the world. It’s interesting to note that the church of Jesus Christ is still divided on this issue, there are counterfeits for sure and wildly inaccurate claims made by some, and mind-control techniques used by others, but I have certainly witnessed remarkable acts of God’s grace in my life and of others, for w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hebrews 2:3b

Hebrews 2:3b What a great salvation! The author of this letter has more than one terse warning for his readers, as we shall find out. Chapters 3-5 carry warnings against unbelief and unfaithfulness and there are further admonitions in chapter 10 and chapter 12 of this book.  We have been offered an incredible gift from heaven; the Son of God has come to our planet to bring God’s salvation to all men. He came with endless parables and teachings that enforced His message but then He did something so amazing that it still baffles believers of all ages across all continents. He offered Himself as a living sacrifice for all sin and willingly took our wickedness and shame and the ensuing judgement, as our substitute. It really is possible to escape from the inevitability of judgement and death because Jesus Christ took our place. He came with an offer from the throne of heaven, “Have faith in me, surrender your life for me and I will give you eternal life.” “ If the Son sets you fre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hebrews 2:3a

Hebrews 2:V3a       “How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?”  These are chilling words, the previous verse has set the scene, the history of the Jews had, and has, been turbulent to say the least. Their relationship with the Lord God had gone through many phases and rarely are they found to be in a faithful and obedient affiliation with Him. There are countless instances described in Old Testament history where the people went astray, both corporately and individually, and they had to suffer the consequences. As Verse 2 says, “ every violation and disobedience received its just punishment. ” And now the writer, quite justifiably, asks us the obvious question. “If they didn’t get away with it, why should we?”  Too many treat the Christian faith as an optional “add on”. They can “take it or leave it”, they attend church when they feel like it or when there’s nothing better to do and they consistently compromise with the world. The co...
Post a Comment
Read more