The law of Moses was “spoken by angels” and anyone in Israel who broke that law was subject to God’s righteous punishment.v.2Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:2 Jesus is higher in status than the angels, therefore we should be careful not to neglect his word: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should drift away from them”.v.1Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:1 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord” and confirmed by the apostles v.3Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:3 and by God.v.4Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:4
Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God which was good news concerning “the world to come”,v.5Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:5 but the apostle proves from Psalm 8 that Jesus had first of all to be made lower than the angels.vs.6-8Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:6-8 He had to be of our nature so he could fight against the same temptations and sin in the flesh as ourselves. He was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.v.9Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:9 It was an essential part of God’s purpose “in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering”.v.10Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:10
By belief in Jesus’ word, baptism, and obedience we can be counted God’s children, being with Jesus “all of one” Father, so that Jesus is not ashamed to call us “brethren”.v.11-12Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:11-12 This is a quotation from Psalm 22 which recorded beforehand the suffering of Christ and tells us that Jesus’ thoughts as he hung on the cross turned from his agony to the glorious future when he will declare God’s name to his brethren in the great congregation of the redeemed. Psalm 22:22Waiting for response for Psalm 22:22
Because the children of God are partakers of flesh and blood, Jesus partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.v.14Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:14 Sin causes death and holds people in the grave, but Jesus overcame it by a perfect life and a sacrificial death at the hands of sinful men. Afterwards, this innocent man was raised from the grave to live an everlasting life free from sin and death. Thus he destroyed sin in himself, and he will destroy it for all his brethren and sisters whom he will raise from the dead to immortality. Sin is personified in the scriptures and called “the false accuser”, translated here as “the Devil” because of the popular misconception concerning some imaginary evil supernatural being. It is difficult to understand how Jesus “who was crucified through weakness” 2 Corinthians 13:4Waiting for response for 2 Corinthians 13:4 could destroy such a powerful superhuman being by his own death, but when we understand that the enemy is sin his victory becomes clear.
By their relationship with Christ, the saints are all the seed of Abraham. Therefore to save them Jesus needed, not the nature of angels, but the nature of the seed of Abraham. If he had the same nature as angels he could not have been tempted as we are and he could not have overcome sin and delivered us from death. It was essential therefore that Jesus possessed our nature, which he did by his birth of Mary: “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren... For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted”.vs.17-18Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:17-18 Partaking of our nature, he was able “to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” and become “a merciful and faithful high priest” to sympathetically intercede for us with the Father.v.17Waiting for response for Hebrews 2:17
In the first two chapters, the apostle shows that Jesus is superior to the angels. Jesus is the Son of God but also the son of man, and both these aspects of Jesus are brought out in this letter.