We are warned to listen carefully to the truth. Breaking the law has a price and God has been fair and just in that He never wavered from that. Loving us and knowing that we would fall short, He sent His Son to pay the price for us. We know that the only way to receive this great mercy and gift was by faith in Christ and in His redeeming power and sacrifice. Our world is so full of distractions and views that attempt to lead us astray causing us to falter in our belief in that truth. If we do not pay close attention to the truth we have been given, if we allow ourselves to listen to the lies the world would have us believe, we are putting ourselves in a place that could lead us away from God rather than closer to Him.
We see that in the coming age, angels will not be in authority but that responsibility will be given to Christ and those who have been redeemed. Christ and those who have been redeemed will be given authority over all things.
While Christ is above the angels, He was given a place a little lower than the angels when He came to earth as a man to give His life as a sacrifice for mankind. While here, He suffered death as payment for our sins and now He is rightly elevated to His place of honor and glory above all things. He is the Creator of all things and He never changes, He is the same always. He chose to die for His love of man so that He could make a way for many to be brought into His kingdom.
Jesus and those who are made holy in Him have the same Father. That is why we see Him call those who believe in Him, His brothers and sisters.
Although Christ is above all things and creator of all things, He had to become man to die for mankind to make those who believe holy. He had to do this because only man could die and only in death could He break the power of death and the devil. Believers could only be set free from the fear of death thus giving us the hope of life everlasting by His death and resurrection.
He came for those descended from Abraham, those who live in the faith of His truth. He did not come to save fallen angels, but man. For He became man, died and paid the price required so that man may live with Him. He stands before God as our High Priest offering His sacrifice as payment for our sins. Because He experienced what we experience in our lives, He stands with us to help us when our faith, life and beliefs are tested. He did not only come and pay the price for the sin of man, He daily walks with us offering to help in time of need.
CHAPTER 3
Chapter three begins with a call to think about who Jesus is. Hebrews 3 calls all who are in faith and belong to God and are called to heaven to carefully think of who Jesus is. We rightly acknowledge Him as God's messenger and High Priest. He was faithful to God who sent Him on His mission of mercy on our behalf. Moses also was faithful with God's chosen family but Jesus deserves much more praise and glory than Moses. Jesus built God's house while Moses served God in that house. Jesus is in charge of the entire house (house referring to believers). We will remain in His house as long as we stay strong and maintain our faith and hope in Christ.
We are given the example of Israel when they rebelled. They hardened their hearts, tested and tried God 's patience by challenging His authority over them. God cared for them and did miracles for them for forty years, yet they remained rebellious (taken from Psalm 95, 7-11.) After all the years of slavery in Egypt, God had prepared a place of rest and prosperity for them in Canaan, yet because of their rebelling in the wilderness (Numbers 14:22), God was angered and promised they would never enter it.
The end of chapter 3 warns all who are brothers and sisters in Christ to pay attention to what happened to Israel. Do not become rebellious, do let our hearts become hardened or evil. Do not turn away from God as Israel did. We have a responsibility to stand along side other believers and in love support one another, so none of us become deceived or rebellious.
We are promised that if our faith stays strong and we remain faithful to God and His truth, we will share in all that Christ offers.
We close with the fact that God is true in what He says. We are again reminded that the Israelites were those who heard His voice, yet rebelled. It was the Israelites who were led out of Egypt by Moses. It was the Israelites who spent 40 years in the wilderness and sinned against God. It was the Israelites whose dead bodies were left behind in the wilderness and who God said would never enter the place of rest. God's promises are true, for they did not enter the place prepared for them.
Likewise, God has prepared a place for us. Let us learn from Israel and not rebel against God, let not our hearts be hardened so that we may enter the place prepared for us.