Hebrews

The audience were Jews who had converted to Christianity and who were facing persecution and pressure to return to Judaism. In the opening portions of this letter the author demonstrates the superiority of Jesus over angels. This was done because angels had a high regard in the Jewish religion. Next to God, angels were the only spiritual beings that Jews were familiar with. The writer describes Jesus' place at the right hand of God, far above angels in order to fix Jesus' position in the spiritual hierarchy of heaven.

The writer expresses the general theme of Jesus greater than angels while also introducing other ideas that will be discussed in later chapters. The example given is from Hebrews 1:14 regarding the role angels have in serving those inheriting salvation.

The author warns about the possibility of drifting away from one's salvation and the resulting punishment. To do so is to ignore God's signs, wonders and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This continues to be a warning for us today as we too can lose our focus of faith in and service to Jesus as our Lord. The world offers many distractions that can interfere with our faith. Some of these are not wrong in and of themselves, but if they prevent us from serving our Lord we run the risk of drifting away from our lives as disciples.

Remember that Jesus referred to those who rejected His teaching as foolish and subject to destruction (Matthew 7:24-27).

Man will inherit with Christ a new world order, however, the angels will not. Man will reign with Christ as our King, but not the angels. He goes on to describe man's dominion over creation. We are not yet able to fully understand all that will be subject to man. Note, however, that when man fell through sin, man's dominion was cut back. Man will return to glory through Jesus following His return. This is a hope for future glory.

Note: It is through Christ that this will be accomplished, not through the efforts of men or angels.

It may mean many things to us as individuals, but it certainly demonstrates the love that our Lord has for us that He would forgo His position as God to humbly submit himself to becoming a man and then as a dying man on our behalf.

We see Jesus and understand His glory and honor following His death and resurrection. By our Lord's victory over death, man has a chance to return to glory.

It was an honorable death; one that led to glory. It was not deserved. It was a substitutionary death made on behalf of mankind to pay the moral debt caused by our sins. The fact that Jesus died a criminal's death at the hands of a foreign army caused some to disbelieve or have a weakened faith.

Hebrews shows us that our Lord's suffering was according to God's will (Hebrews 2:10-13). Through it mankind can receive redemption.

Hebrews 2:14-16 establishes the idea that as a result of the suffering of Jesus Satan was rendered powerless over death. By becoming a man, Jesus was able to free mankind from death (Hebrews 2:15). All of this was aligned with the promise made to the descendants of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16. Hebrews also refers to Jesus as a "High priest" (superior to an Aaronic High Priest) serving as a mediator between God and the people. Like other High Priests, Jesus understands our weaknesses as He presents His sacrifice on our behalf in heaven before God (Hebrews 2:18), something no other priest could accomplish.

Jesus is greater than angels although for a time, so as to bring salvation to us, He became lower than the angels, just as man is. This was God's plan. As a result of our Lord's sinless life and resurrection from death, He destroyed Satan's power over sin and enables us to become children of God. This is not a simple concept to grasp but one that is at the heart of who Jesus is, what He did, and what He continues to do on our behalf as our savior. Our role is to pay careful attention to the teachings of Jesus and not drift away into disbelief or worldliness.