#DailyDevotion The Message Of Jesus Is Greater Than That Of The Angels
Heb. 2 That is why we should listen all the more carefully to what we have been told, or we may drift away. 2If what God said through angels was valid, and every transgression and disobedience got a just punishment, 3how can we escape if we neglect a salvation as great as this? First the Lord spoke of it, and then those who heard Him guaranteed its truth to us, 4while God added His testimony by both miraculous signs and wonders, by different kinds of miracles, and by distributing gifts of the Holy Spirit as He wished.
A great warning is given here in the first verse of this second chapter. It is a warning of drifting away from the faith. If everything he had said already concerning Jesus, namely, He is the Son of God who has spoken to us the things of the Father and He is greater than the angels, “we should listen all the more carefully to what we have been told.” Some people go digging through the Old Testament thinking they’ll find something that we have been missing in the New. The New is the fulfillment of the Old. Now if you are looking for the things in the Old that point to the fulfillment in the New, that is the proper direction to take. If however, you think the New is lacking in something then you are looking in the wrong direction or for the wrong things. The Old Testament is a shadow of the things to come. The New Testament is the reality. The Old Testament was the blueprint and the New Testament is the reality. It is spoken to us by the Son. We should listen therefore lest we fall away from the truth of His teaching.
He says the Torah was spoken to the Israelites through the angels (I think this was a tradition of the Jews). It was valid for the lives of the Israelites. Any transgression of it was punishable by some means. Some were even capital punishments. We can look to how God punished the Israelites in the Old Testament to see how serious God is about His word being obeyed. Now He has spoken to us by His Son. The Son has spoken to us a great salvation. In Luke 24 Jesus said, 46“This. . .is what is written: The Christ will suffer and will rise from the dead on the third day; 47and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all people, beginning at Jerusalem.” If we ignore this or neglect this great salvation proclaimed by the Son, how will we escape the coming wrath of God. Jesus, the Son of God Himself, died on the cross and rose from the dead, guaranteeing salvation for all who believe this message and repentant. He has done the work of salvation. We are told of this great gift and are called to believe it. It is no wonder it is written somewhere, “it will be worse for those who have heard the message and didn’t believe it than those who never heard.”
The LORD Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. His preaching was backed up by signs and wonders. Finally, by the great act of His sacrifice, He guaranteed its truth to us. His disciples whom He commanded to preach it in Luke 24 guaranteed, witnessed to it. The Father sealed their eyewitness testimony with signs and wonders. He poured forth the Holy Spirit upon those who heard the message of the resurrection, of repentance and forgiveness as a sign to the truthfulness of the message. Now we who have received the message, heard the witnesses testimony are called to listen, hear, turn from our sins and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ, in His name we have the forgiveness of our sins and eternal salvation.
Heavenly Father, grant that we may have ears that hear and hearts that listen to the Good News won for us and spoken to us by You Son, Jesus Christ, and give us Your Holy Spirit that we do not neglect this salvation but persevere in it unto life everlasting. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.