Daily Meditations

Hebrews 2:12 The mission of Christ Psalm 22, written by David, explores in amazing detail, the suffering of Jesus at His crucifixion and allows us to understand a little of what that sacrificial act cost Him, physically, mentally and also spiritually. After a plaintive plea to God, to save Him from the onslaught of His enemies, the Lord Jesus makes an astonishing vow to His Father. A vow that involves you and me.  “I will declare Your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.”  V22. Here in Hebrews “my people” becomes “my brothers and sisters.” The Greek word is “adelphoi” and it embraces all believers who are part of God’s family. It’s a word that occurs in several other places in the Bible when describing the intimate relationship of the true church with Jesus Christ.  In His deepest moments of suffering on the cross, Jesus pledged to His Father to declare His name to His people and “wow” how He has kept His promise! Think about it, we would not have an...

Hebrews 2:11 The Holy Family! Are you holy? Am I holy? I don’t feel like I am, in fact I know that I am still a sinful, human creature, and yet… And yet, by some miraculous means, God sees the seal of His Son and His Spirit in us and chooses to overlook our sin and accept our deep faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, as a substitute for our failure. This is extraordinary, beyond belief, but it is also the terms of the New Covenant and the contract that was signed and sealed at the Cross. Somehow, the incredible truth of the previous verse takes on a reality that is life-transforming. Jesus the Christ, Son of the living God, has elevated us to positions of high favour and honour, we are deemed to be rightful members of the most exclusive family in heaven and on earth. We are the brothers and sisters of Jesus for He has made us as holy as He is holy! All sin and wickedness have been wiped clean from the charge sheets that condemned us, and we are accepted in the Kingdom of Heaven...

Hebrews 2:10 We are His sons and daughters What an amazing statement this is! It begins by reminding you and I about our true relationship with our Father, God. We are His sons and daughters! (The Old Testament would just say "sons") John puts this so succinctly in the opening verses of his Gospel,  “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  John 1:12-13. I am His son! You are His child! John cannot contain himself as he writes later about this glorious honour,  “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall...

Hebrews 2:9 But we do see Jesus What a glorious change of direction! From the failings of humanity, we are whisked heavenwards to fix our eyes on Yeshua. Whilst all other members of the human race have so far failed in their mission, He has not!  The world is not subject to the righteous and just rule of men, but one man came and perfectly fulfilled the will of God and demonstrated what is possible if we are faithful and obedient.  This verse establishes the fatal problem that hangs like a cloud over the earth, it is death. The ultimate outcome of a life on earth, a life provided and sustained by God, is death. This is also the ultimate outrage, for He is the giver of life and had always planned that we should share in this eternal gift. Our destiny is to live, with Him, forever. The Satan challenged this destiny right at the beginning and mankind has chosen to accept the ways of sin and evil and the annihilation that they bring, rather than to revere and obey the living ...

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...