Dry Thoughts From a Tired Mind.

Since we began Hebrews in family worship time yesterday, I wanted to give you a few thoughts on my interpretation of Hebrews 2, which we will be reading tomorrow morning.

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 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 andd by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Now 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.

Hebrews 2:1-9

The great beauty of this passage is the great structure of it. We are called first of all to "pay attention" to what we have heard, and not without reason. He continues in order to tell us of the reason of our awareness. We have been blasted in the face by the truth! It is as if God smacks His people in the face, and says to us, "Now you have no reason to not believe in me! I have given you signs, and wonders, and angels and everything! Pay attention, wouldja?"

Now that He has our attention, the writer of Hebrews finds it useful to tell us our hope in Christ, and our duty within that reality. God has raised us up, to be even higher than the angels, which seems to have been higher than man for a little while, as ministers to men, which you may see in the relatively often occurrence of their presence in the Old days, before the Light came.  But now we have gifts directly from the Holy Spirit, among those being glory and honor and subjection of the earth.

But if we are too hasty, we may find ourselves in that disgusting trap that says that Christianity offers full wallets and nice cars, and that we will be above reproach, wise, 'holy,' and invincible to sin. Christianity offers no such thing. It offers only a life of servitude. A hard life, a suppressed life, and a dangerous life. Christianity isn't for sissies. It is not all rainbows (though useful) and butterflies (though perfectly designed by Yahweh), and its end is pure bliss with our maker. Instantly, our glory and honor is that we carry the name of Jesus Christ, and our later glory and honor flows through this, and realizes it in ourselves, as we are made fully sanctified. Praise be to God.

Last, we see that nothing is left outside of God's control, and yet, there is a tension in the world which he allows, one that gives us some work to do. Calvin writes:

It is again asked, "Why does he say that we see not all things made subject to Christ?" The solution of this question you will find in that passage already quoted from Paul; in the first chapter of this Epistle we said a few things on the subject. As Christ carries on war continually with various enemies, it is doubtless evident that he has no quiet possession of his kingdom. He is not, however, under the necessity of waging war; but it happens through his will that his enemies are not to be subdued till the last day, in order that we may be tried and proved by fresh exercises.

I apologize for the dryness of this. Suggestions are welcome for spicing it up!