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Psalms
127:1-5 A Song of
Solomon. Unless the
LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards
the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the
bread of sorrows; For so He
gives His beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand
of a warrior, So are the
children of one's youth. Happy is
the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall
speak with their enemies in the gate.
Father God, we thank you for taking a
special interest in us and sending your Son Jesus Christ to us in human flesh
so that we might have a chance for eternal life. It is out of love that you did
this, because your desire is that all might be saved. John 3:16-17 I ask for special blessings for
anyone that reads these lessons. May they find peace and comfort in your Word. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Book of Hebrews 2:1-9 NKJV
Chapter Two goes on to say that based
on all that was confirmed in Chapter One about the rank of Jesus in God’s
kingdom by means of prophecy being fulfilled by our Saviour, then we should
believe and not doubt the Word of God. The start of this chapter states a few
more facts that validates Jesus rank and then goes on to redemption.
1 Therefore
we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift
away.
Therefore we must give the more
earnest heed to the things we have heard; “Therefore” in the Greek means “on account of this.” On
account of what? On account of all that is stated in Chapter One we need to
take into account this information and believe what the Word of God says. What was prophesized long before Jesus birth
and death became reality, the same will hold true for the prophecy about the
end times. We need to heed what the Bible teaches and not scoff at it. Paul is
trying to get his Jewish brethren to open their eyes and see what they hold
tight to, has come true according to the prophesies and teaching of the OT
scriptures. The whole of the OT had one purpose, and that was to point the
Israelites toward their coming Redeemer. All the miracles, revelations,
prophecies, and laws of the OT was to point them in the direction of seeing and
recognizing Jesus as the Messiah when he came into this world. But only a few
recognized Him and the rest rejected Him and crucified Him. Those that
recognized Jesus as the Messiah actually knew and understood what the OT taught,
while those that rejected Him didn’t really know what the OT taught in detail,
therefore rejected Jesus and believed in their interpretation of scripture. The
same holds true today. People claim to know what the Bible says, but what they
believe many times is religious dogma, customs of old, heritage, etc, therefore
they call themselves Christians, Christians based on mans ways and not God’s
ways.
Spiritual blindness had
prohibited the brethren from seeing His greatness. The proof of who He was, was
awesome, the healings, the casting out of demons, raising the dead, etc. Just
the prophesies alone were so accurate how could anyone doubt. The Messiah must
come from the Tribe of Judah, the house of David. Isaiah 9:6 For unto us
a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His
shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Joseph and Mary were both direct descendants of David who was of the Tribe of
Judah. Isaiah stated Jesus would be born of a virgin. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a
sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. Micah the
Prophet stated some 700 years before Jesus birth He would be born in Bethlehem.
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me that
is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. If the Pharisees had studied Isaiah
closer they would have found that he foretold of healings, deliverances, and
miracles that Jesus would fulfill. Isaiah
61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound.
Lest we drift away; The meaning of “Lest we drift away”,
portrays the fact that if one doesn’t study the Word of God daily, they will
drift away from the truth. We humans are far more interested in the things of
the world that are temporal, instead of the things that are eternal. We can
recite sports scores, player statistics, or what store has the best bargains,
but not the Word of God. Had the Scribes and Pharisee studied the OT and asked
questions to verify the prophets claims maybe they would have recognized Jesus
as their Messiah, but no they were blind with self pride, arrogance, and mans
interpretations. The same holds true for today, man hasn’t changed, they still
think they have all the answers and won’t believe God’s Word or interpret it to
fit their lifestyle, but some day the light bulb will come on and I pray it is
sooner than later.
2 For if
the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and
disobedience received a just reward,
For if the word spoken
through angels; The
revelation in the Old Testament was indeed given by God, but it was the common
opinion of the Hebrews that it was by the ministry of angels. Acts 7:38 "This
is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to
him on Mount Sinai, and with
our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us. Paul is using the Hebrews beliefs to
try and get them to believe in what Jesus preached and the testimonies of those
who were witnesses. Verse 2 and 3 go together.
Proved
steadfast; The word “steadfast” means that it was settled and established, so if the
brethren believed what angels spoke, then it was firm and they should believe.
The law was firm or established,
and not variable, it determined what crime was, and it was firm in its
punishment. It did not yield to circumstances, but if not obeyed in all
respects, punishment was the result. The idea here is not that everything was
“fulfilled,” but it is that the Law so given could not be violated at liberty.
It was not safe to violate it without consequences.
And
every transgression and disobedience received a just reward; Every instance of disobeying the law was
sure to be punished or receive a just reward. It made no provision for pleasure
in sin, it demanded prompt, implicit, and entire obedience. This was the
character of the Law. It threatened punishment for each and every offence, and
made no allowance for transgression in any form. God’s laws are highly
disregarded in the world today, but one day all will stand before Jesus for
judgment.
3 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,
How
shall we escape; How
shall we escape the just recompense due to transgression? What way is there of
being saved from punishment, if we neglect salvation, and do not embrace what
it has to offer? The logic is, that there is no other way of salvation, and the
neglect of this will be followed by certain destruction. The apostle proceeds
to show, by stating that this plan of salvation was proclaimed first by the
Lord himself in His ministry, and was confirmed by amazing miracles and the
Apostles teaching the same message.
If
we neglect so great a salvation;
Neglect is referring to how we view transgression and disobedience to God. If
we neglect God’s laws and live a life as we see fit, then how are we to escape
the flames of Hell? Let’s look at an example of neglect from a business point
of view. It doesn’t matter what your function is where you work, if you neglect
your duties, depending on what they are, you could shut an assembly line down,
cause a shipment to miss its deadlines resulting in an order cancellation and
profit loss, not harvest the crop timely resulting in profit loss, not process
loan papers timely resulting in a lost customer, etc. If the neglect continues
and goes unchecked the business will close and jobs will be lost. There would
be no means of escape because the rules, regulation, and job tasks were
neglected you would suffer the consequences no matter what they were in some
way.
Eternal life is the same, if we neglect
the Word of God, what it has to offer (salvation), and live a life that we
want, then we will receive our just reward of Hell for eternity. Without
repenting and accepting Jesus as our Saviour we are doomed, because Jesus is
the only human being that led a sinless life, He defeated Satan at the Cross. We
as human beings are sinners and without the gift of Grace by Faith there is no
hope. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
So,
“great a salvation” from sin and from Hell, it is called “great” because: Its
author is great; it is great because it saves from great sins, no matter how grave
they are; it is great because it saves from great dangers, the danger of
eternal Hell; it is great because the reward of eternal life in Heaven is made
possible by the Cross; it is “great” because it was effected by endless
displays of power, and wisdom, and love. It was procured by the incarnation and
humiliation of the Son of God. There are many many good people in the world
that know who God and Jesus are, but they neglected them or put them on the
bottom of the daily task list and don’t get to them, because of our fast pace
lifestyle. So we can go on with business as usual, and execute our daily to do list
with Jesus being last or not even on the list, but the end result will not be
good.
Which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him; This
phase means exactly what is states. Jesus preached the Gospel and when the
Apostles received the Holy Ghost on Pentecost, then they went out and preached
what they had been taught by Jesus. John the Baptist prepared the way so the
Gospel could be preached. He was like an appetizer before a meal.
4 God also
bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts
of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
God is a witness to Jesus
Christ, and there is no greater Witness. He proved this by giving power to the
Apostles to perform miracles, etc. The Holy Spirit, in fact, performed all
these great things in the ministries of the disciples via the gifts of the
Spirit (Corinthians
12:8–10), and was
able to do so because of what Jesus had done on the Cross. This was all according
to the Will of God, meaning that it is something that was planned long before.
Actually, Peter said that the Crucifixion of Christ on behalf of lost mankind
was planned even before the foundation of the world (I
Peter 1:18–20).
5 For He
has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.
As
powerful as Angels are, God has not given them dominion of the world to come.
The word “angels” also includes Satan, because he is a fallen angel. Therefore
this statement given to Paul by the Holy Spirit, states Satan and his followers
will not have dominion of this Earth either. Jesus Christ, will rule and reign
over the entirety of this Earth one day forever (Revelation
Chapters 21–22).
The
world to come, speaks of the New Jerusalem era to come, when all of the forces
of darkness will have been put down forever.
6 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?
In
verse 6-8 Paul introduces a quotation from Psalms 8:4–6. David wrote this Psalm and the theme
is, “the goodness of God to man, the insignificance of man, and the greatness
of man”.
These three verses are
talking about man in general and also Jesus Christ. We are made in God’s image
and therefore being created in this image why wouldn’t God have a special
interest in our well being? Genesis 1:26 It is the main reason Jesus became
man to die for us so we could have a chance of eternal life through salvation,
if we so desire.
7 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.
This verse is speaking of
the incarnation of Jesus and also mankind. Being in human form we are lower
than that of angels. Don’t be confused by this because, Jesus was only lower
than the angels while He was here on earth. He is now exalted and sits at the
right hand of God Almighty because He defeated sin and death through His death,
burial, and resurrection, meaning the Cross.
Mankind has dominion over
the things of the earth, or did have until Adam fell from God’s grace (Genesis
1:26), and one day
Jesus will have dominion over all things/universe starting with the Kingdom Age.
8 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.
Here
again this is a twofold statement. Originally mankind had dominion until the
fall of Adam. This dominion will be restored, and has begun with the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but won’t come to completion until after all
corruption is wiped off the face of this earth.
9 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.
This statement says it
all. If it wasn’t for the love of God for His created beings in His image,
there wouldn’t be any reason for God to take on the form of human flesh and die
for us out of love so that we could be save by God’s Grace through Faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone
should boast.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill
Wiesbrock https://www.facebook.com/bill.wiesbrock?ref=tn_tnmn
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe
it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord Jesus
I know I am a sinner. I confess my sins
to you; I am sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a
sinful lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness of all
of my sins. I believe that only you can
forgive sin. I commit my life to you and
ask you to come into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my Savior.” I believe this and have faith you will make a
new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my heart and lead
me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1
John 5:11-14; 1:6-10) (Sin: Rom.
1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7)
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