Daily Meditations

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...

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...

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...

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 ...