Thursday, October 11, 2007

Hebrews 2

Hebrews 2: 1-18

There are five warnings to the Hebrews contained in this book of the Bible.

The first of these warnings can be found in verses 1-4: We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

There are three points that come out of these first few verses. First of all, there's a discussion about angels.

Angels are messengers sent by God. They are heavenly beings that he created specifically to serve him.

In this web site: http://www.ibelieveinangels.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,157/ the author says that angels are sent by God to watch over the human race, to deliver his message, to guard and protect us from danger, to do battle with other spiritual beings on our behalf.

The author goes on to say that since the beginning of time, angels have delivered God's messages to mankind. Sometimes the messages are warnings of impending danger, sometimes instructions as to what to do in a particular situation, sometimes they are simply "there" as protection from enemy forces. Sometimes they bring joyful announcements as in the day they announced the birth of Jesus.

What we need to remember, though, are three truths about angels:

1. The ministry of holy angels will never contradict the Bible.
2. The actions of holy angels will always be consistent with the character of Christ.
3. A genuine encounter with a holy angel will glorify God, not the angel.

Holy angels never draw attention to themselves. They typically do their work and disappear.

Another web site that defines angels and gives us some Bible history of angels is found at: http://theshadowlands.net/angels.html#History

But back to this first warning in Hebrews: the messages of angels are binding. We ignore these messengers from God at our peril.

The second point that jumps out at me is that this message of salvation was confirmed by people who had heard it first hand. This indicates to me that the writer of Hebrews was not a person who walked with Christ.

Instead, the message of salvation was confirmed by those who had actually been with and heard Christ bring the message to them.

And lastly, the author of Hebrews says that God distributes gifts of the Holy Spirit. These spiritual gifts are given to each person.

Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? The Apostle Paul refers to individual spiritual gifts several times in his letters. He identifies 20 different spiritual gifts in Romans 12:-48; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-11; 1 Corinthians 12: 27-30; and in Ephesians 4: 7-12.

I would encourage you to determine what your spiritual gifts are.

There is an excellent inventory to help you figure this out at: http://www.acts17-11.com/gift_inventory.html

This is the inventory that Quint and I participated in and discovered what our spiritual gifts are at a church workshop several years ago.

The two of us share the gifts of intercession, exhortation, administration and teaching. This particular web site not only identifies the spiritual gifts by name, but also explains what each one is.

This chapter goes on to bring us more truths. Insofar as Jesus Christ is concerned, in verse 7: You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.

Jesus was made man. By taking on flesh of humanity, (verses 14-18) by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death -- that is, the devil -- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers 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. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

For Christ, the cosmic clock had struck the minute hand of his destiny for he came to earth to become human, and his destiny was to bring salvation to all mankind who are born into sin. His destiny was to die for our sins.

If he were not human, how is it that he could die?

And we know that he died. The Romans kept execution records. And we know that there was a horrific earthquake on that same day when Jesus died.

This was, no doubt, the earthquake that tore the curtain in the temple that separated the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. (Luke 23:45)

Christ's death was an act of atonement for all of humankind. Embraced within that atonement is the assurance of forgiveness for our sins. It is up to you to claim that forgiveness by confessing your sins, by your contrite spirit and your promise to God that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, you will not continually commit the same greedy little sins over and over again.

Don't be complacent about this forgiveness because there is not a promise of another atonement for you anywhere in the Bible.

Claim forgiveness today as the gift from God that it is. Salvation for you is assured. Get down on your knees in a place where it's just you and God, and have a conversation with him.

I pray that you will feel the presence of God in this place. Even if it's a tickle that won't stop. Might just be his way of letting you know he's got you in his sights and is listening to you. Heaven won't fall apart while he concentrates on hearing what you've got to say. He created lots of angels to be his servants. Listening to you is that important to him.

Believe it!

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