SPEAKING NOTES – HEBREWS CHAPTER 2
In Chapter 1, the writer to Hebrews established through Old Testament scripture that Jesus, as the Son of God, was clearly superior to the angels. Using the Old Testament truths already acknowledged by the Jews, he drew them inexorably to the conclusion that Jesus, though fully human, is also fully divine, and that His mission was to save all of mankind. He showed that the angels, though powerful and vital in their mission, are neither human nor divine. The angels are spirits whose purpose is liturgical – to minister to God and perform His will throughout His creation. They have specific scopes of authority and some even have particular people or geographic areas of responsibility (e.g. Michael protector of Israel, and the angels of Persia and Greece referred to in Daniel.)
Now the writer moves to his central point, the purpose of writing this book in the first place.
Heb 2:1 TNIV We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
Then he begins his argument to prove why it is so important to listen to the message that was made visible to us in Jesus.
Heb 2:2-3 TNIV (2) For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, (3) how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? …
The message spoken through the angels here is The Message from the Jewish point of view – and that would be the Mosaic Covenant – the Old Law. We always think of the Mosaic Covenant as being given directly by God to Moses, but the Jews understood that it was the angel of God who gave the Law to Moses, since no one can look on God’s face and live.
Let’s look at how it happened as recorded in Exodus:
Exo 19:9-11 NIV The LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you." Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said. (10) And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes (11) and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
Exo 19:16 NIV On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.
My first question to you is – who was in the thick cloud ? – (not a trick question). It was the Lord. But who sounded the loud trumpet blast? Ah – an angel, don’t you think? This is confirmed by Moses in his recounting of this incident just before his death.
Deut 33:1-2 NET This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.(2) He said: The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself1 to Israel2 from Seir. He appeared in splendor3 from MountParan, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones.4 With his right hand he gave a fiery law5 to them.
Deut 33:1-2 LXX And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. (2)And he said, The Lord is come from Sina, and has appeared from Seir to us, and has hasted out of the mount of Pharan, with the ten thousands of Cades [Kadesh]; on his right hand were his angels with him.
Here’s another reference to the involvement of angels in the old covenant. Right in the middle of the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai, the Lord said a very interesting thing:
Exo 23:20-22 NIV "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. (21) Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. (22) If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.
Hmm, an angel was to lead the Israelites and instruct them in what the Lord would have them do. Apparently, the angel was to speak to them. This was repeated later, after Moses went down and found the Israelites worshipping the golden calf and he ended up having to beg the Lord not to destroy them right then.
Exo 33:1-3 NIV Then the LORD said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' (2) I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. (3) Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."
Moses begged the Lord to accompany them as well, and eventually the Lord agreed to do so.
(Skip this section – just for reference)
Then, Moses asked to see the glory of the Lord – which is kind of funny, because just a few verses before this it said that Moses spoke to the Lord face-to-face as a man speaks with his friend. But apparently, Moses spoke with an angel of the Lord – an angel who had a face and spoke the words of the Lord as a man would speak. Now Moses was asking to see the Lord Himself – he called it seeing the Lord’s “glory”. Here’s what the Lord said:
Exo 33:19-23 NIV And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (20) But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." (21) Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. (22) When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. (23) Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."
So you can see the distinction between angels, even the angel of the Lord, and the Lord God Himself. You can see why the Jews understood that the original Law was spoken through angels. For the angel continued to lead the Israelites and speak directly with Moses. The glory of the Lord also accompanied them, but the interaction was apparently with the angel of the Lord.
Stephen, in his defense just before he was stoned by the Jews, narrated the history of God’s relationship with the Jews. When he got to the part about the Mosaic Covenant, here’s what he said:
Act 7:37-38 NIV "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.' (38) He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
And Stephen concluded his defense saying:
Act 7:52-53 NIV Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— (53) you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
Paul, also, explained the role of the angels in the giving of the Mosaic Law:
Gal 3:16,17,19 NIV The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. … (17) … The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. …(19) What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.
So we can accept that to the Jewish Christians would have understood that when the writer of Hebrews referred to “the message spoken through angels”, he was talking about the Mosaic Covenant, the Law.
The writer’s next point is that the Law spoken through the angels was binding and disobedience resulted in severe consequences. When the Law was given, the Lord demonstrated through many signs and wonders – and dire punishments - the importance of obeying the Law. Then, just before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, Moses gathered them together to remind them of all the Law and all the things the Lord had done in the 40 years they had been wandering in the desert. Then Moses explained both the blessing of obedience and the consequences of disobedience.
Deu 28:1-68 NIV If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. (2) All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: [He then went on to list many, many blessings.]… (6) You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ... (13) The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. …
(15) However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: [He then lists equally many curses.] …(19) You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. (20) The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him…(28) The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. (29) At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you. …
(45) All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. …[He then went on to prophesy in great detail what actually ended up happening to Israel because, as you know, they did not obey the Law.] …
(64) Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. (65) Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. (66) You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
Yikes! If this is the consequence of ignoring the Law given by angels, says the writer of Hebrews, how shall we escape if we ignore the new message – the great salvation brought to us by the Son Himself? On top of that, the Israelites had disobeyed the Law and all the horrible things God had promised had indeed happened to them. They knew firsthand of the consequences of ignoring the Law given by angels.
Now he’s got their attention. Who among them could imagine the consequences of ignoring the salvation not entrusted to angels, but brought to them by the Son Himself?
Heb 2:3-4 NIV …This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. (4) God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Note that the writer of Hebrews says the message was confirmed to us by those who heard Jesus. From this we can conclude that the writer was not one of the original disciples who knew Jesus personally, but was instead a Christian who had come to belief in Christ through the testimony of the eye-witnesses. So he goes on to say that the new message of salvation wasn’t just announced by Christ, but it was attested by God Himself through signs, wonders, miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus announced it – we read the passage in our first lesson.
Luk 4:16-21 ISV Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been raised. As was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. When he stood up to read, (17) the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, (18) "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to tell the good news to the poor. He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set oppressed people free, (19) and to announce the year of the Lord's favor." (20) Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. (21) Then he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
This was at the very beginning of his ministry, just after he had returned from the temptation in the desert. His earthly ministry which followed this announcement was accompanied by many signs and wonders. We always call them “miracles”, but the original Greek word used is almost always the word “sign”.
G4592
σημεῖον
sēmeion
say-mi'-on
Neuter of a presumed derivative of the base of G4591; an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturally: - miracle, sign, token, wonder.
Joh 6:13-14 ESV So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. (14) When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!"
Jesus didn’t perform miracles as a magic act. He gave us signs that He was sent from God and that His message of salvation was true. These signs were the testimony of God.
Joh 5:36 NIV "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.
When Jesus gave the disciples the Great Commission, He didn’t just send them out to spread the message. He also gave them the testimony from God – the ability to work miracles as a sign of the validity of the message.
Originally, this was just the twelve disciples, and they were sent and empowered by Jesus before his crucifixion.
Mat 10:1,5-8 NIV He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness… (5) These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.(6) Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.(7) As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.'(8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Shortly after this, He sent 70 more disciples, empowering them as well.
Luk 10:1,17-20 NAS77 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
…(17) And the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." (18) And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. (19) "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. (20) "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
But notice that the writer of Hebrews didn’t stop here. He said that God testified to the validity of the new message through signs and wonders andthe gifts of the Holy Spirit. The writer of Hebrews says the gifts of the Holy Spirit are part of God’s testimony to the world that His message of salvation is true.
The comingof the Holy Spirit was foretold by Jesus after his crucifixion, just before he ascended into heaven.