We’re going to continue in our study of the letter to the Hebrews. This evening we’re going to look at chapter 2. The bulletin says verses 5 through 18, but really to catch the flow you need to see the entire chapter in one sitting. So we’re going to read all of it, recognizing that Wiley preached on the first four verses last week; we’re going to use that as a launching off point. Before we read, let’s pray together.
Our Father, we come to You this evening; we so desperately need to hear Your voice through Your Word applied to our hearts by Your Holy Spirit. Our only hope is Your Spirit’s work in us and through us. We so desperately need a fresh outpouring of Your Spirit on our individual lives, on our marriages, our parenting, our families, our neighborhoods, our government, our nation, our world. Lord Jesus, we need You. Make Yourself known in deeper and more beautiful ways as we read and study Your Word together. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.
Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1:
“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,
‘What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.’
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,
‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.’
And again,
‘I will put my trust in him.’
And again,
‘Behold, I and the children God has given me.’
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Amen. This is God’s Word.
That’s a long chapter, isn’t it? It’s a lot of content covering a lot of history, right? Going all the way back to creation. When I read that chapter and thought about, “How do you organize this?” I was reminded of an experience I had twenty years ago or so where I just decided to pick up a rather ambitious novel written by Leo Tolstoy. He called it his best novel, Anna Karenina. It was written in the 19th century in Russia and so translated to English, but as he writes he covers multiple timeframes and there’s parallel timelines. There’s a lot of characters and the names all look very similar. And before I had gotten very far into the book I was hopelessly lost. I mean the plotline was completely lost on me. And I thought, “How in the world?” You know I’ve got a completion mentality. I want to finish this book, but I was lost! I got so bogged down into the details and the individual characters and Tolstoy went really deep into describing who they were and why they were that way and what they were experiencing and what they thought about everything. I had to go back to the beginning of the book and on the inside front cover I began a list of the characters – who they were, who they were connected to, and where they lived. I had the separate timelines and I tracked where the characters were and then I drew lines between the characters to say who was related to whom and what groups they were connected with and where they lived and where they traveled and what it meant that they were on the scene at that time. And then, with that framework, I was able to read through the book and actually finished it with a pretty clear sense of what the plotline was.
Now, I start there because when you read through the book of Hebrews, when you read through the whole Bible, when you read through the story of your life, it’s very easy to lose the plotline, especially when you find yourself in a place such as we find ourselves in today where, I had a meeting with two men in our church last week and as they talked about how they were experiencing their life, the word that kept coming up was “disorienting.” With the COVID dynamics, with the economic chaos, with the racial and social tensions and violence, the political arena, the campaigns for the different offices and what each candidate is saying about the other candidate, I don’t know that I remember a more disorienting season and it’s very, very easy to lose the plotline in the story. Then you lose a sense of, “Where do I fit in this?” and “What do I do with all of this?”
I think that’s what this chapter is going to help us with. This chapter in the book of Hebrews is going to very sharply present to us four questions and their answers that once you get them clearly fixed in your mind, it will establish a structure through which you’ll be able to track the plotline of the rest of your life, stretching into eternity. Really you find this as you look at any story, any story, even the story of your life, answers four basic questions. How did it start? What went wrong? How is it made right? How does it end? The story of your life addresses those questions. Most every book you’ve ever read, most every film you’ve watched, looks at those questions. How did it start? What went wrong? How is it made right? How does it end? That’s what this chapter is going to put in sharp focus for us so that we can look at our lives and say, “So this is where all of this fits.” Let’s look at those questions. That’s our outline, those four questions, and their answers. And in the process what you’ll see is the Gospel message itself because the Gospel message has four answers, one word answers, to those questions – creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, consummation – and that’s what this passage is going to speak to us.
How Did It Start?
So first of all, “How did it start?” Now the book of Hebrews is going to talk about creation over and over. From the very beginning of the book, chapter 1 verse 2, “In these last days, God has spoken to us by His Son through whom He also created the world.” A couple of verses later, verse 10, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands.” Again and again, the letter to the Hebrews will talk about creation as a fact. But chapter 2, the verses we’ve just read, are going to include a quotation of Psalm 8. This is verses 6 through 8, quotes Psalm 8 and talks specifically about our place in creation.
And it’s going to show us four things, very briefly. I’m just going to touch on them so you see them in context that speak to the unique place that we had in God’s creative work. We’re shown that we were created with special favor in the mind of God. Verse 6, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” meaning that “You actively remember man, that You have given him Your personal attention and care in a way that is unique to man.” There’s a special favor. Secondly, there’s a special privilege. Verse 7, “You made him for a little while lower than the angels,” temporarily lower than the angels, knowing that there’s something even greater yet to come. Special favor. Special privilege. Special dignity, verse 7, “You crowned him with glory and honor,” meaning that we are treasured by God in a unique way. And fourth, a special dominion. Verse 8, “putting everything in subjection under His feet,” meaning there was complete authority and rule entrusted to man. That’s how the story started. That’s how your story started in our first parents. Special favor, special privilege, special dignity, special dominion.
What Went Wrong?
It was so great that at the end of Genesis chapter 1, the last verse in the chapter, we read “Be fruitful” – God says to His creation, “Be fruitful and multiply, subdue the earth, rule over this perfect world. You are the masterpiece of My creation.” And God looked and He saw that it was all very good. That’s where the story started. But it didn’t stay that way long. We don’t know how long it was before Genesis chapter 3, but Genesis chapter 3 speaks of what went wrong. That’s the second question, “What went wrong?” And you see it in this chapter with an ominous statement at the end of verse 8. “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him.” You look at man and it’s clear not everything is in subjection to man. As a matter of fact, there’s an awful lot of chaos, there’s an awful lot that is absolutely outside of our control. One commentator put it this way, connecting that special privilege with which man was created in the fall. He said, “Instead of following God’s intended design, we see man despising God’s favor, abusing his privileges, squandering his dignity, and losing his dominion.”
And with that abandonment of what God had created and offered to man, with the rebellion of Genesis 3, comes death. And you find death mentioned five times in this second chapter of Hebrews that we’ve just read. Five times. Verse 9, the suffering of death. Verse 14, the power of death. Verse 15, the fear of death. Again in verse 15, the slavery, the lifelong slavery that grows out of this condemnation of death. Verse 11, even shame that is connected with death, and this penalty is referenced.
I remember years ago I was invited to an exhibition. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but a professor at Mississippi College who died last year, Dr. Samuel Gore, started, help start the art department. He came in with a box, and there were people gathered around, and out of this box he pulled out a round turntable with a big lump of clay. He said it was the Big Black River bankside clay. And Dr. Gore created most of the sculptures around Mississippi College. But Dr. Gore began quoting from Genesis chapters 1 and 2 from memory as he began squeezing and pushing on this lump of clay. And I was astounded at watching his fingers move over this clay and saw right before my eyes emerging from this shapeless lump, this figure of a man’s head. And even telling you this story right now I’m getting goosebumps remembering what it felt like to watch this emerge as he quoted from Genesis 1 and chapter 2. This man’s face emerged – a handsome man looking upward with this expression of curiosity and wonder and discovery and amazement in his eyes and this slight smile of discovery and amazement. And this man appeared under the work of his fingers. It was spectacular. And he ended with Genesis 1:28, quoting what I just read – “God saw and it was very good.”
And it was about that long of a pause before he took both of his hands and he went – bppppf! And he crushed it. And with his finger still in that once stunningly beautiful head, he pulled chunks out and threw them back in the bucket as he began quoting from Genesis chapter 3, the story of the fall. One by one he pulled those chunks, now disfigured, ruined – as I’m telling you this story I’m still remembering the sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched something so stunningly beautiful ruined. And he threw the pieces in the bucket and then he looked at us. And he picked up the bucket and he let us see what was inside. You could still see part of a nose or an ear and a jawline. You could see what was once there, echoes of it, images of it, but it was ruined. And Dr. Gore said very calmly, “Because of the fall, this is your life. The image of God has been ruined. There’s still marks of it, but because of the fall, this is where you live.”
Where did it start? Creation. What went wrong? The fall. And you don’t have to think hard to experience what it feels like to live like in that bucket – still with images of what it was to be created in the image of God, echoes, pieces of it still there. Man, it’s ruined. And you think of a global pandemic. You think about what we mentioned at the beginning of the service, the beginning of the sermon – the political upheaval, racial conflict, violence, protestors being shot, killed by one another, the rhetoric in political candidacy, the blaming, the shaming, the mocking, the out of control chaos that it feels like to live in our world right now. Is it any wonder that it feels that way when you realize that what was perfectly created was ruined by the rebellion of the fall?
The point is this. It really is easy to lose the plot line when you forget that everything you’re experiencing really is life in that bucket. The image of God, there are evidences of it still all around us, but it’s been ruined. It is not what it once was. As good as your life gets, it’s life in the bucket because you live under the fall and all of its effects – disease and death and war and conflict and divorce and loneliness and conflict and disruption. Things aren’t as they were designed to be. Verse 8, “Yet at present, we do not see everything subject to him.” That’s an understatement, I would say.
How Is It Made Right?
So how did it start? Creation. What went wrong? The fall. Third question, “How is it made right?” That’s really the question to which Wiley pointed last Sunday evening. Verse 3, “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” How do we escape if we neglect this great salvation? David started us off two weeks ago by talking about the drifting, the dulling, the hardening, the – verse 1, “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it,” lest we lose the plot line. This is what the author is saying. How is it made right? It is this great salvation that Christ has worked on our behalf. That takes us specifically to the center, I think, of this passage – verses 14 and 15 – which says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. These two verses talk about how it is put back right – through death, Jesus destroyed death and delivered us from slavery.
Now there are two “D” words that we need to unpack so that we don’t misunderstand what the author is saying. One is “destroy;” the other is “deliver.” Because they’re special words used in the original to describe what the author means. First, the word “destroy.” It says, “that He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” That word, “destroy,” does not mean what happened in Beirut several weeks ago. I’m sure you read the news where 3,000 tons of stored ammonium nitrate, fertilizer, was detonated and it wiped out entire neighborhoods, hundreds and thousands were killed or wounded in that explosion. Most of that city is nothing but a smoking, smoldering crater. It was destroyed. That’s how we normally use the word. That’s not the word used in this passage. I wish it was. I know it will one day be true, that is, the devil will be destroyed in that way, but he is not yet. He is still alive and well, working amongst us.
The way that word is used, the specific word the author uses is best illustrated in this picture. Years ago when Emily’s grandfather, Hugh Sr., was in his early 90s, he was convinced that he was still a good, safe driver and he had a new Lincoln in his driveway and he loved driving himself to the office – he still went into the office in his early 90s; flew to Europe at 93! He wasn’t what he thought he was. Matter of fact, the family members would regularly get phone calls saying, “You understand Hugh no longer understands what a stop sign means or a red light means? He just drives on through!” So the family tried to talk with him and he wasn’t budging. “I’m a good driver. I’m continuing to drive!” So a decision was made, and during one night a mechanic was brought in who, well, he removed one small part of the ignition system that you couldn’t see, but he removed it, locked the car back up, and left. So the next morning when Hugh Sr. went out to drive to the office, he used his, “chirp, chirp” and unlocked the door, it opened, the lights came on, he put the key in the ignition, turned it, and the blower came on, the radio started on the talk show he had been listening to the previous day, and he turned the key in and it just went, “rrrrrrrrrr.” And he thought, “Well that’s odd.” And he tried it again and he tried it again until he drained the battery, not understanding that his car had been destroyed. It was still there. It was clean, it was full of gas, at least when he got into it it had battery power, but it was destroyed. It was rendered inoperative.
That, my friends, is the specific word that’s used for “destroy” in verse 14. “Through death,” Christ’s death, “He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” He’s been rendered inoperative. He can no longer hold you trapped in his power. One day, even his presence will be removed. For now, he no longer holds you in absolute power, which leads to the second word in verse 15 where he says, “and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery.” That word, “deliver,” corresponds with the English word, “emancipation.” You know the Emancipation Proclamation where people were freed from slavery, those who had been held in slavery were set free? Or I read this past week of a sixteen year old who was appealing the court to be emancipated from her parents. She no longer wanted to be under the authority of her parents. It’s being removed from oppressive authority so that you are free to live as you are designed and created to live. This is how it is made right.
How Does It End?
That takes us then to the fourth question, “How does it end?” And verse 5 of Hebrews 2 speaks to this. “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking.” There’s a world to come and we are rapidly moving toward it. This is what all of human history is moving toward. Now I understand that scholars and commentators debate about what this world to come specifically means, but it’s clearly in the future. A.W. Pink, in his massive commentary on Hebrews, says very simply, “The world to come is the renovated earth, the new heavens and the new earth, under the absolute reign of the Messiah.” Now where you and I sit today, we have a hard time imagining a world to come in which we don’t find disease or death or conflict or divorce or loneliness or suffering or grieving or debate or all of the things that are the outgrowths of our rebellion. We have a hard time imagining that kind of world, but the writer of this letter says, “It’s coming. It really is coming.”
How did this story start? Creation. What went wrong? The Fall. How is it made right? Redemption. Jesus Himself enters into death to destroy, by His death, the one who holds the power of death. And where does it end? Well it ends in the world to come. The rest of the book of Hebrews speaks about this over and over again. Verse 8, we already touched on this – “We do not yet see everything in subjection to Him,” but that day is coming in the world to come. Chapter 13 verse 14, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” Hebrews 9:28, “So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” There is coming a day, a world to come, where the special favor, the special privilege, the special dignity, the special dominion will be restored, not just like it was in the garden of Eden, but better, because that favor and dignity and privilege and beauty that was enjoyed by our first parents in the garden of Eden was great, but it was loseable and they lost it. What’s coming in the world to come? That special favor and dominion and privilege and dignity will be so good and so beautiful and so secure that not even you and I can mess it up. It will be unloseable, permanently so, forever and ever. That’s where the story ends. But that’s really a new beginning, isn’t it? Life as it was intended will finally be ours, unloseably, because of Jesus.
Creation, fall, redemption, restoration – this is the great story. All of your history, everything you have experienced, fits into that story and everything in your future, even the eternal future, fits into that story. And what that means is this moment that you and I are living fits perfectly into that story. It’s part of the design that’s moving us closer and closer to the day that we see Jesus face to face. The challenge that the book of Hebrews, and this chapter in particular is making, is “Don’t lose the plot line” because when you lose the plot line, that’s when you drift, dull, and harden, and you forget. There’s a grand story. It may not make sense to us right now, but there’s a purpose to all of it. And when it’s all said and done we’ll look back over our shoulders and we will say something like this – “Man, that was hard, but I am so glad He did it that way. Had He not done it that way, this would be nowhere near as beautiful and rich and good had that hard been missing.” That’s a difficult thing for me to say, but I simply know it’s true because of the questions of the story – Where did it start? What went wrong? How is it made right? Where does it end? It is a great, great story. Don’t lose the plot line.
Now I want to offer one word of help. If you’re wondering, “How do I not lose the plot line? How do I remember the grand story and not get caught up in the struggle of this moment in the story? How do I not become overwhelmed by the hard?” well, the passage offers us some help. It’s at the very end of the passage, verses 16 and 18; actually, it’s the word “help.” In verse 16 it says, “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.” Twice he uses the word “helps” and that word points to His taking hold of us, wrapping His arms around us and says, “You may drift, you may dull, you may harden, but I’m not going to fumble you. I will help you. I will hold onto you.” And that floods my soul with encouragement that I desperately need.
But he uses the word “help” one more time in verse 18. This time it’s a slightly different word – “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” There’s another place in the New Testament where that exact same form of that same word is used. It’s in the gospels in Mark chapter 9. You’re probably familiar with the story, and when you remember the story it puts this verse into context. Because in that story, Mark 9:24, there’s a man who brings his son to Jesus and says, “Jesus, my son is possessed by a demon. He takes control of him, he throws him to the ground, he thrashes around, and sometimes even throws him into the fire.” And then he says this to Jesus, “If you can do something, would You please take compassion on my boy?” Jesus looks at the man and says, “If I can do something? All things are possible to him who believes,” to which the man responds with words I suspect you remember, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”
That’s the exact same word in verse 18, exact same form. “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted,” those who say, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Help my drifting. Help my dulling heart. Help my wandering. Help my hardening. Help my neglecting. I am always going off in the distant country. I am always like the apostle Paul, ‘The good that I want to do, I don’t end up doing. No, the evil I don’t want to do, that’s what I keep on doing.’ Lord, help my unbelief. Help my drifting, dulling, hardening heart.”
Look, if this is up to you and me to get this right, to keep ourselves from wandering, we’re lost. We need someone who is going to help us, someone who doesn’t stand outside our story but one who enters into our story, so much so that He – this sounds sacrilegious but it’s true – He becomes our story. This is the Gospel. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin” – He became my story in the worst of it. And on the cross He was treated exactly as my story deserves to be treated – crushed His Son in my place. That’s not the end. The rest of 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “so that in Him we become the righteousness of God,” meaning that it’s not just that we enter into His story, but we become His story. And God treats us as if Jesus’ perfect story is our story. That’s the Gospel. That’s how it’s made right. That’s why we are assured that this eternal future is ours already. What the book of Revelation says is happening right now – “Behold, I am making all things new.”
How do you know? Because your story has become His story and His story has become yours, irrevocably so. No one can take this away from you because no one can take you out of His hand. Don’t lose the plot line. No matter how messy this gets. And it’s probably going to get worse. I want to be an optimist, but here’s the truth – it’s probably going to get worse. That’s what the book of Revelation tells us; that’s what Paul tells us. People go from bad to worse, hating and being hated. You remember the description of what the end times will be – we live in the end times. And yet Jesus says, “When you see these things happening, look up.” You know the rest of the phrase? “Look up because your redemption is drawing nigh, is coming.” You’ve read the last chapter of the story. You know where this ends. Look up. Don’t lose the plot line. Smile. Your Redeemer is coming. Let’s pray together.
Therefore You, Lord Jesus, had to be made like Your brothers and sisters in every respect so that You would become a merciful and high priest in service to God to make propitiation for the sins of Your people. You have done so. You have turned aside the wrath of Your Father against our sin. You have done everything necessary for redemption, perfectly, completely to become ours. You have made all things right and You are applying that redemption to our lives and You will finish what You have begun. With that certainty in our hearts, would You flood us with joy and hope and an eager longing when our eyes see the reigning King welcoming us into His presence with joy. Let that govern our laying hold of the story and all its plot line – the good, the hard, the broken, the ugly, the shameful, the redemptive, the rescue – all of it. Make us rememberers and keep us looking to Jesus, the author and the champion of our faith, for we pray in His precious and holy name, amen.