Chapter II

Verse 1. Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”

If a ship’s anchor isn’t properly fixed to the bottom, the ship will begin to drift when gales and storms blow.

God’s Word is like an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast and which enters behind the veil, where Jesus has entered for us. Heb. 6:19-20.

It is quite possible to drift away from what we have heard, and the result is always disastrous.

Adam was the first to drift away from what he had heard, and the consequences were dreadful. The whole earth came under the curse.

Saul drifted away from the word of the Lord. He was told to destroy Amalek and all that belonged to him. He was to kill man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. 1 Sam. 15:3. Yet Saul spared the king of the Amalekites and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the lambs and all that was good. Everything that was despised and worthless he utterly destroyed. Verse 9.

Amalek had ambushed Israel on the way up from Egypt. This was why Saul was commanded to punish him, but he drifted away from the word of the Lord.

How important it is for those who preach the Word to be faithful to the Word of the Lord, not like Saul who destroyed what was despised and worthless but spared what looked good and was highly esteemed.

Samuel received the word from the Lord regarding Saul: “For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Whatever God speaks stands for all eternity and leads to eternal salvation. To drift away from His Word is to drift into the arms of Satan. The end of that is judgment and perdition because God requires obedience.

Verses 2-4. “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and 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, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both by signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”

The Lord and two angels manifested themselves to Abraham and said: “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” Gen. 18:10. “And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” Gen. 21:1-2. Sarah was well on in years, but God performed a miracle. What He had spoken by the Lord and the angels came to pass. What he had spoken regarding Sodom and Gomorrah also came to pass. He caused fire and brimstone to rain—from the Lord, from heaven—down on Sodom and Gomorrah. Gen. 19:24.

In exactly the same way, Jesus’ words will also come to pass, and if we neglect so great a salvation, we will not be able to escape.

Verses 5-6. “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 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?’”

David says in Psalm 8: “When I consider your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!”

Everything has been put into subjection under the Son of Man. If we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified together with Him, because we are members of His body. We are not only members of His earthly body and its sufferings, but also of His glorified body, provided we are faithful and endure. Col. 1:22-23.

The world to come will not be subject to angels. “But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’” Heb. 1:6.

Verses 7-9. “You made him a little lower than the angels; You 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.’ For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”

Jesus was exalted above all men because He suffered death for all men. What did Jesus accomplish for all mankind? God’s will was carried out in flesh and blood. Life and immortality. Victory over sin, death over al the powers of Satan, the power of the resurrection and exaltation over every principality and power and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in the one to come. Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:9-11; Eph. 1:19-23. And God placed Him over all this as head of the church.

Verse 10. “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 author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

God saw that nothing less would achieve the goal. If many children were to be led to glory by and through sufferings, then the leader of these many brethren, the captain of our salvation, had to be led the same way. All things were made through Him and for Him, and for this reason He had to enter the sufferings more deeply than anyone else in order to be crowned as the Lord of glory. He surpasses all comprehension. It was fitting for God to do it this way because Jesus had given up all claim to heavenly glory for our sakes.

Verse 11. “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 . . . .”

God has made it very simple, so that we may be able to lay hold of eternal life. He has given us His own Son, Jesus Christ, as a brother among brothers, and has made Him a second Adam, a life-giving Spirit. We are all of one and the same Father, whose love is given to us all and draws us all to Him. Jesus showed the Father to His disciples, and now as the Mediator, He is still doing the same. We are all at different levels, so the Mediator isn’t just for one, but God is one. He reaches us all through the Mediator. He communicates with us all through the Son.

Verses 14-15. “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

If Jesus had not partaken of flesh and blood He could not have helped us who have. But He did share in flesh and blood, and through death He crushed Satan, who after the fall of man ruled through the flesh. Most people remain in death because they do not believe. Because of this, they are still ruled by the power of the devil. In these days there are many Christians who consider it blasphemous to believe that Jesus came in the same flesh and blood as we. They believe that He had flesh and blood like Adam before the fall of man. But what help would that be for us who are in need of salvation after the fall of man? Surely there weren’t people before the fall of man who, through fear of death, were in bondage all their lifetime, and now need redemption through the appearing of Jesus in the flesh? Each revelation that is not divine leads people astray because no scripture is for private interpretation. True revelation came when holy men spoke, driven by the Holy Spirit. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. When a person lives in manifest sin, he has no use for clarity about Christ manifested in the flesh. He gets along fine with “sin and grace.” We hear about this constantly, but it never leads to a victorious life.

If a person is to overcome the law of sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life, he must have light over Christ manifested in the flesh—light over the fact that God condemned sin in Jesus’ flesh, and that Jesus died to the flesh in order to free all those who were in bondage all their lifetime. Rom. 8:1-3.

Verse 16. “For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.”

Abraham lived hundreds of years after the fall of man. It was his seed that was to receive aid. Jesus did not take upon Himself the nature of an angel or of Adam before the fall of man. Abraham was a God-fearing man with a sinful flesh, and he waited for the deliverance that would come from the city whose builder and maker is God. People who have this mind—even though they have a sinful flesh—are in truth the seed of Abraham. These alone can receive revelation about the great mystery of godliness: “Christ manifested in the flesh.” 1 Tim. 3:16. The fact that it is described as the mystery of godliness tells us clearly that this mystery is only revealed to God-fearing people. They have use for it. The study of theology is of no use here. People who have all kinds of theories about the New Testament remain in complete ignorance and are far away from understanding the mysteries of Christ, while uneducated people can easily understand the instruction of the Spirit. What is the reason for this??? Isn’t it because the spiritual priesthood is so highly exalted above the earthly?

Verse 17. “Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

It was here on earth, in flesh and blood, that Jesus received His education to be High Priest. It was while He was here that He had a self-will to conquer. John 6:38. It was on earth that He suffered death according to the flesh, in that He suffered when he was tempted. All this took place so that He can come to our aid when we are tempted. He Himself went before us through the flesh and therefore can give grace to help in time of need.

Verse 18. “For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

Is this difficult to understand? No, it is quite simple. But it must be understood by faith, because unbelief understands nothing.

He Himself has suffered being tempted and is therefore a faithful High Priest, One who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. A man who has never himself been tried in an area cannot help others when they are tried in that area. If Jesus had been like Adam before the fall of man, He would not have been tried like we are. But that is not what the Scriptures testify to: “Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren.” It is the Word of God that we are to follow and not the fables of men. Faith is the full assurance of things which cannot be seen, and by faith we understand.

However, unbelief also has a type of understanding. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and scribes became furious when He testified about Himself that He was “the Son of God.” Today people react in the same way when we say that He was “the Son of Man.” Yet faith knows the way, both then and now. And against that faith the masses always cry, “Crucify, crucify!” This is precisely where unbelief and faith go separate ways. And who was it that stirred up the crowd against Jesus while He was alive? Was it not the scribes and Pharisees? There is nothing new under the sun; the same thing happens today. The sins of the people provide a livelihood for the priests. But in 1 John 3:8 it is written: “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” The works of the devil are destroyed when we do what God’s Word says: Take up your cross daily.