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A Little Lower Than the Angels
1 ¶ Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
5 ¶ For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
We have been looking at who Jesus Christ is and we have found out that he is the Son of God, and Very God, Immanuel, meaning "God With Us." This has been pointed out by comparing the things that are said in the scriptures about him, both Old Testament and New Testament, with the things that have been said about the angels. We ended up finding out that angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" and that Jesus Christ is far above them in rank.
1 ¶ Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
Because we now know who Jesus Christ is, should we not listen and obey the things he said to us? Should we not give "earnest heed" meaning close, serious, attention, to what we have heard Him say? If we do not give serious intent to what we have heard and attempt to understand and respond with living obedience, we might just let them slip away and then pay the consequences for our negligence.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
We know that the messages that have been received from angels are stedfast, meaning firm, fixed, and settled, and we also know that when their words were disobeyed the rebellious received the payment for every transgression and disobedience. For example: when the father of John the Baptist was being addressed by an angel and he questioned the message with disbelief, he was struck dumb for a season.
Luke 1:19-22 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.
Clearly there are just rewards, or consequences, attached to the messages and the ministering of angels. They rank above us and should be obeyed because they do dwell in the Presence of God. This means they have authority over us.
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
A great salvation was first spoken of by the Lord, Jesus Christ, which was also confirmed by the apostles who reported the message of this great salvation. The question is "How shall we escape, if we neglect" to hear what God has spoken unto us? If what the angels said was stedfast and sure, would not what Jesus has said to us be of even more importance?
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
Should we not listen to the testimonies the apostles left for us concerning Jesus Christ? God, Himself, also bore witness of what the apostles taught about Jesus Christ and the salvation he wrought for us, through the signs and wonders, many different miracles, and also gifts of the Holy Spirit that we read about in the New Testament as having accompanied the preaching and teaching of the apostles.
He did all these things according to his own will. It was God's purpose to give us this great salvation and it was his objective to make sure through the signs and wonders that we understood that Jesus Christ's message was the message of God's love and salvation for us.
5 ¶ For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
Even though the angels are the messengers and ministers of God, God did not put the world to come under subjection to them. Notice that we are speaking of the world to come -- the one that will appear after this one has been changed.
Heb 1:10-12 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Who will that world be in subjection to? We are about to begin looking at man.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
This is a reference to the book of Job where Job is wondering why God has man in his thoughts at all. What is it about man that God even pays attention to him? Why did God, the Supreme and All Powerful Creator, come to visit the children of man?
7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
God made man a little lower in rank than the angels. God crowned man with glory and honor and gave him dominion over the things that God created.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.
The Earth and everything on it is subject to the influence and doings of mankind. God left nothing outside the domain of man.
But now we see not yet all things put under him.
Right now, we do not see this domain as being under the power of man. Yet. The big word "yet" -- meaning, at this time, we do not see all that God has given us. What do we see?
9 But we see Jesus,
Oh, but we see Jesus!! Jesus we can see in the pages of scripture. Jesus we can see in our prayers and praises. And what do we see about him?
who was made a little lower than the angels
We see that Jesus was "made a little lower than the angels" just as man is.
for the suffering of death,
Jesus came and lived in a body like ours. He became a man so that He, in His great love, might pay the penalty of death for us. His whole purpose was so that he might suffer death in our place and free us from the bondage that we live under on this Earth.
crowned with glory and honour;
We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, knowing that every knee shall bow to Him.
Philippians 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
that he by the grace of God
What Jesus did for us He did by the wonderful grace of God the Father! Even the announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ by the angels was announced with praise to God and His great goodwill toward men:
Luke 2:12-15 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
The shepherds heard the message the angels delivered. They heard about God's good will (grace) and God's confirmation that the baby being in the manger was the sign that this was the correct child. The shepherds wanted to see the event that had taken place of which the Lord had told them. If you read farther on in the account you will find that they found Jesus and looked upon Him and rejoiced, telling everyone there about him and the angels.
Here is what Paul said to Timothy about how we should behave in church and why:
1 Timothy 3:15-16 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Great is the mystery of godliness! There is much we do not understand, but this we do understand: God was manifest in the flesh as Jesus Christ. He was justified in the Spirit by the signs and miracles that He performed. Angels saw Him and spoke of Him. Jesus was preached to the whole world, not just the Jews, and many in the world believed. Jesus was received up into glory and dwells on the right hand of the Living God.
And what is it that Jesus did for us?
should taste death for every man.
Jesus died a different kind of death than we shall have to suffer. He came in the form of a man but did not sin as a man does. He was the sinless sacrifice who was able to taste the horrible death in our place, so we would not have to. Yes, our physical bodies still have to die, but after that everything is different because of what Jesus did for us.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The difference for the one who believes in the Sinless Sacrifice is that when we leave this body, we shall instantly be present with the Lord where He lives in heaven. Praise God for his boundless selfless love and mercy! Thank you Jesus for doing for us, what we could not do for ourselves!! Hallelujah!
Here are the verses again:
Hebrews 2:1-9
1 ¶ Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
5 ¶ For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
