Hebrews 1 and 2

Hebrews 1 & 2

I want to start off with a brief review of chapter 1. This time will be different because I am using the NIV instead of the REV as a reference not because the NIV is better I don’t know that there is a perfect version but the NIV for the most part is easy to read and tries to stay faithful to the text.

Hebrews 1

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

The Son Superior to Angels

The Word heir in verse 2 is the Greek word kléronomos: an heir  Many seem to be confused by this word with what they think it means, salvation which of course it does not. Words have meanings. An apple is not an orange. A car is not a motor boat. The Greek word for Salvation is sótéria:deliverance, salvation as you can see they are 2 different words with 2 different meanings.

(In verse 4 it says “So he became as much superior to the angels” If Jesus Christ is God I thought God always was superior to angels. How can you create something superior to yourself? )

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,“You are my Son;

today I have become your Father” ?

Or again,

“I will be his Father,

and he will be my Son” ?

There is a figure of speech employed in this verse the figure is called Er'-o-te-sis; or, Interrogating. It is a question. God knows the answer. This also shows figures are true to fact in some instances.

6And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

This does not mean nor is this talking about the birth of Christ in Luke 2. If you will recall it says :

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

No this is talking about the resurrected Christ.

Michael has said in his teachings and I agree that this ticked off some angels. We will get to that shortly.

7 In speaking of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels spirits,

and his servants flames of fire.”

8 But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;

a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

Verse 8 is speaking of Jesus not the father so the word god should not be capitalised. This does occur several times where god is used with lowercase Genesis 35:2, Exodus 3:20, Psalm 82:6 in all 38 times in the Hebrew scriptures. It also occurs a few times in the Greek scriptures "god" (2 Cor. 4:4; John 10:34 and 35; Acts 12:22).

Lynn, John A. . One God & One Lord, 5th Edition (Kindle Location 13730). The Living Truth Fellowship. Kindle Edition.

Because of the trinity teaching this means it never shows up, in most of the Greek. John 20:28 is a perfect example of where the lower case should be used.

John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.  god

You also need to remember that there are many quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures in chapter 1 you might do well to read those Hebrew Scriptures in the context so you can see what they say.

9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions

by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

10 He also says,

“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

11 They will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

12 You will roll them up like a robe;

like a garment they will be changed.

But you remain the same,

and your years will never end.”

13 To which of the angels did God ever say,

“Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet” ?

14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Some say verse 14 is talking guardian angels I don’t believe that is the whole story in fact you can look through the entire word of God and you will never see that phrase guardian angels used. It never states we lose angels watching over us. I believe many times when things change and go the right way it is God sent an angel to correct what was going wrong.

Think about this why would God set up protection for us and when we finally get to the point of confessing Jesus Christ as our Lord and believe God raised him from the dead God says hey love ya but you're on your own now. You are practically defenseless against a very cruel devil whose whole mission is to steal, kill, and destroy you He’s been at it for 6000 years and knows how to do it.He tricked Eve in short order and he will do the same to you.

(One side note here Eve was not called Eve till after they had been booted out of the garden. Genesis 3:20 tells us that up to that point she was called “the woman”)

If you have hung around believers you know there must be a whole traffic divisions of angels. They saved my butt and several others who were in my station wagon with me at the time. Hang around believers and you will hear many of these stories. Cars demolished looking like no could have survived it yet no one got hurt.

No I don’t believe God takes away our angels and leaves us unprotected at the mercy of the devil.

Hebrews 2

1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 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? 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 by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Watch the context it goes back to chapter 1 we are talking angels. Look at verses 2. Messages were sent through angels and it was binding. Angels tend to be no non sense beings. If you look at the angels with Lot during the whole Sodom thing you see that they do not put up with garbage read Genesis  19 and they took care of business and blinded a bunch of homosexual’s who wanted to have sex with the angels. There are two reasons in the bible that men would have sex with other men. Humiliation being the one that was the main reason in this case. Remember they didn’t know they were angels. Sodom was a very inhospitable place. God had commanded for people to be hospitable but that is another teaching called.

When it talks in verse 4 about gifts it is not talking about the miss called gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Let’s take a quick look at that.

1Co 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

Notice the word Gifts is in italics just like it is in the KJV. When a word is italisized in the KJV it means it was added by the translators in an attempt to clarify, In this case it has had an opposite afffect.

You can see above that the word {gifts} means the word is not in the text but added it. The word spiritual means spiritual matters. This is from the Greek Interlinear they use at bible hub. The Greek word for is pneumatikos it does not mean spiritual gift that is the word charisma it is used in verse 4

This is another teaching but for someone who has never studied .I felt I should at least lay some of the ground work. To gain a better understanding I suggest you read a book called

The Gift of Holy Spirit The Power to Be Like Christ

By

Mark H. Graeser

John A. Lynn

John W. Schoenheit

You can find this book at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble it is available for the Kindel and Nook

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,

a son of man that you care for him?

7 You made them a little lower than the angels;

you crowned them with glory and honor

8 and put everything under their feet.”

In verse 6 it says “Who is man that thou are mindful of him?”

It almost sounds as if the next line should be “What about me?” Michael has stated and I am in agreement that some of the angels were not thrilled with with this. Angels have and can rebel. That is what happened to Lucifer. He rebelled against God. It talk about the dragon and a third of the stars (a figure of speech called Met-o'-ny-my; or, Change of Noun) many times used of angels, falling to earth.

It sounds like jealousy you made him lower than the angel’s yet you crowned him with glory.

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them.Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Jesus is now crowned with glory and honor because he fulfilled his mission. A preview of what is to come for us who stand upon the word. We will not walk perfectly but for those times we do, we know God won’t forget them and he will reward us the same as he did for Jesus. This is part of the hope part of our hope so don’t tell me you don’t care about rewards our example  We will eventually get to Hebrews 12 but I want to show you two verses from there now.

Hebrews 12: 1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God

Jesus endured the cross so he could receive his reward part of which was to be set at the right hand of God.

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,

You will notice the word theos which is where we get the word God isn’t

This is how the REV handles verse 10

For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

The only way to get to salvation is through Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

So no matter what any man might say there is only one way to get to salvation and that is through Jesus Christ. I don’t care how many roads there are to Chicago there is only one path to God and it goes through Jesus Christ.

“Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters”.

That sends chills up my spine The Lord is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. I have one brother and three sisters in my family and thankfully we all love each other. I know I am lucky to have that because there are many families who don’t. Brothers and sisters who don’t like each other and don’t want to be with each other. I also know from this verse the our big bro Jesus isn’t ashamed to call us brothers and sisters.

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;

in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.

We are always being told to put our trust in him. If you look it up the word trust is used 134 times throughout God’s Word. That is a synonym for the word faith. To have faith is to trust. Some teach that faith is believing. Well the word faith or trust are nouns. Believing is a verb therefore they cannot be the same. Believing is an action based on faith or trust. If you are sitting on a chair you trusted that it would hold you then you act on that trust and sit on it because you believed.

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,k fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Verse 14 I really like the KJV:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

It says righ there that it is the devil has the power of death. So if some one accuses God of killing some one they are a liar!! This also blows the argument for the soviernty of God. If the devil has the power of death then God doesn’t, how can you say he can do whatever he wants if something else controls something? My mother died when I was 19 years old, and all she tried to do was be a good Christian. I had a hard time with that. Everyone kept talking about how God killed my mom, of course they didn’t use those words they made it sound flowery and nice she went home and she was at peace. Well she had spent the 6 months before that in pain. She had never hurt anybody before that that I knew of. Someone showed me this verse and I finally lost all that anger. It made sense that an evil being killed her. God is love. You don’t kill innocent people if you love.

We have now been released from the fear of death. If the lord tarries I may die but death cannot hold me the lord will meet us in the air ad we will be released from death including my mom. I will see her again.

Our Brother Jesus knows what we go through because he already went through it and he proved the word of God works. So let’s learn that word and help to set others free from the fear of death.