(vs1-3) “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, & every transgression & disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, & was confirmed to us by those who heard Him”?
Take heed to what you hear. Salvation is everything. We are taught the glory of Christ, His eternality, equality with God, and saving power. We've heard He's exalted at God's place of highest honor, judging the world, upholding all things by His command.
Don't be talked away from your hope or dazzled by men. We read, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation” (vs3)? Christ alone saves sinners. Angels came on Mt Sinai with the holy law, and those who despised the word were punished. How much more shall those who hate mercy be tormented by God? His word was sure in judgment, and payback for sin was promised, but salvation is God's message now, reverence for the Son.
Christ preached the gospel to us, demonstrating His love and power, and then others who heard Him came forth boldly. We read, “God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His will” (vs4). God Himself declared that Jesus is the Christ by the miracles accomplished in His name, demonstrating His power to meet our every need. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and gave sight to the blind. The Holy Spirit, God the doer of His works, performed these things because Christ pleased God (John 8:29). According to His good pleasure, He magnified the Son.
Secondly, the coming world isn't subject to angels, but to the Risen One. God, according to scripture, reveals Himself mindful of the perfect man, Christ. We read, “But one testified in a certain place, saying: What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet” (vs6-8). He cared for Him as a father with a perfect son. He came into this world, humbled himself, lived perfectly under God's approval, and now rules eternally as the Man whom God exalts. Everything shall bow to Him, even death shall soon submit to His rule. He is the man the scriptures spoke of, the worthy One who tasted death for us. He had to pay for sins so that He could mercifully save us, as His reward. Now, having honored God, He's earned the right to judge His enemies.
Thirdly, grace set Him up as Savior and gave Him for us. We read, “He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (vs9)! Grace is God's motive - to show how wonderful the Offended is, how sickening rebellion is, and how glorious is our salvation - that the Son would be given for it. All who want salvation are welcome, and all who experience salvation are predetermined.
It was right that He saves this way, in justice and generosity, glorifying God's true character, doing good to sinners whom He loves. Suffering pleases God because sin, though punished and forgiven, brings misery. Therefore, He must die, if sinners will live. We read, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (vs10). Now, He makes us holy by faith, and believers are brothers, equals, and friends. We read again, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (vs11). God's Son stooped so low as to elevate us as brethren, changing sinners into sons of God, when others, just like us, are punished in hell, mercilessly and eternally (Jer 13:12-14). We are God's treasures, given to Him in predestination, and He joyfully took us, esteeming us WORTH His sufferings... and the agony worth the glory.
He became one of us, taking pain, temptation, heartache, weariness, and abandonment for our sakes, so that He could redeem us from sin, as our near kinsman (Lev 25:25). Satan no longer accuses in heaven, and we conquer by the blood on earth, being reconciled, rather than estranged by sin. Now, we have God's help, rather than separation! Now, we're free from shame, legal righteousness, and looking behind us fearfully! He doesn't help fallen angels, but believers are helped. We read, “For He does not give aid to angles, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham” (vs16). He became one of us, intercedes in heaven for us, and He now brings down God's goodness, having removed our sins, pacifying of God, forever ! He suffered, now He saves.
Finally, don't neglect so great a salvation as God in the flesh, lovingly dying to save sinners, so that He may justly bring us to God. Don't reject the family of God, for the world.
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