Do Not Drift Away

Hebrews 1:1-2:4

Key Verse 2:1

[Introduction to Hebrews: Most likely this book was penned by the Apostle Paul. Obviously this book was written to encourage the Jewish believers to keep their faith in the Lord to the end, and not drift away from it. Note that it was more difficult for the Jewish believers to leave Judaism and stick to their faith in the Lord Jesus [publicly professing their faith that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God] than for a communist living in N. Korea to come out of the closet and profess his faith in the Lord as a Christian. Nowadays increasingly difficult and challenging conditions exist, warring against true Christians professing their faith in the Lord, invisible pressures, pressuring Christians to compromise with the sinning world.  This is all due to the increasingly wicked and adulterous, secularized environments, that are visible and yet we are called to keep our faith in the Lord, and follow him, doing God’s will, going against the stream of this generation. This means that we need to go through the narrow gate, participating in the sufferings of our Lord Jesus, with our hope above, not on the things of this world. But in order for us to do this we need to stand on the strong foundation of “faith” in the Lord. Faith is built up through the correct knowledge of who Jesus is. It is to build up faith in the Lord Jesus that Paul wrote this epistle. The study of this epistle should equip us to not drift away from our faith but go upstream, fighting against the increasingly secular environments in our society especially on our college campuses.]

Read verses 1-3. What do the following expressions tell us about the Son? 1) in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son; 2) [God] appointed [the Son] heir of all things; 3) through him [the Son] whom [God] made the universe; 4) the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being; 5) [the Son is] sustaining all things by his powerful word; 6) he had provided purification for sins; and 7) he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. What do the above statements tell us about the Son?

** His words are the final authority.

** The world to come is going to be deeded to Jesus (and those who belong to Him).

** He is the true owner of the existing universe and everything in it. [Many claim this is mine that is yours, or don’t touch this for this is mine, etc. The devil also tempted Jesus saying if you bow down to me I will give this or that to you, but the devil is not the real owner; he only stole what he got. Thanks to what Jesus did the devil is now in the course of being evicted from his dominion; the devil is just like an unlawful detainer.]

** When we see the Son we can correctly understand who God is what God has in mind etc. The point is that Jesus is the living God made visible to our physical eyes. The glorious promise is that Jesus identifies with us even by calling us as his brothers (or his Bride). 

** Jesus died on a tree for our sins, only to adopt us into him as His Bride, that all of us would inherit the world to come.

** Jesus went there to pray for us, to fight with us, to build God’s kingdom together with us. Psalm 110; Mat 28:19-20. 

Overall these statements tell us that he is the true director of the Lord’s ministry; he is truly reliable; in fact he is the only one who is reliable, so we need to indeed rely on Him, and obey Him. As we identify ourselves with Him, rely on him, and obey him, he can start working fully within us, fulfilling the purpose of creation and redemption in and through us. As we go by his precepts then nothing can stand in our way. 

Read verses 4-14 and think about: 1) the purpose for which God made angels (7,14); 2) Jesus’ relationship with God the Father (5); 3) his relationship with angels (4, 6,-); 4) Jesus’ position in God’s kingdom (8-9); 5) Jesus’ [past, present, and future] dealings with his creations (10-12); and 6) the [eventual]  outcome of the conflicts between Jesus and his enemies (13). What does this passage tell us about Jesus? 

** God made them to serve those who are going to be saved through Jesus’ blood.

** Jesus is the Son (this does not mean that Jesus is inferior to God; rather it means Jesus is equal with God; this is just like a father and a son shares the same standing in a kingdom, so that when a son succeeds the Father the son is the ruler and a king is in full power. 

** Angels are Jesus’ gophers.

** Jesus is the one seated on his throne as the King. 

** He is the one who runs and sustains present order; he is the one to usher in the new order. 

** Jesus will turn out to be the ultimate victor, so that all of his enemies will be underfoot. This alludes to the truth that the Risen Jesus is working with his soldiers fighting the Lord’s battles against his enemies. Psalm 110:1-3; Mark 16:20.  We are fighting the battles which Jesus had already won. 

Overall the above statements tell us that it is wise for us to stand on Jesus’ side and fight the Lord’s battle for his name. 

Read 2:1. What have we heard? (Romans 10:17-18) What does “drift away” mean? From what are we called not to drift away? (2Ti 4:7; Heb 12:4,11-13) Why is it that merely “hearing” [the word of God] is not enough? Why do people fail to “pay more careful attention” to what they have heard?

** Drift = it gives us the image of an object which is not grounded but being driven or floating down stream instead of keeping one’s position despite counter forces applied against it. Mainly the author has in mind the wicked environment of his day where many started compromising with the sinning world, living selfishly going against what Jesus came to present, that is, going through the narrow gate, denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Jesus, making disciples of all nations, no matter what.

** From professing one’s faith in the Lord. Professing faith in the Lord is never a matter of lip service. It means living and dying and rising with Jesus Christ. In those days coming out as a Jesus-believing Christian meant martyrdom. In our days claiming oneself to be a Christian has even become something stylish. But as the generation gets increasingly secular, the title Christian became almost a dirty word, for many see that so called “Christians” are pseudo Christians, Christians by title only, a bunch of hypocrites, easy going, double minded and self centered opportunists.  

But a Christian means a man who is truly Christ-centered. Who is at the center of your life? Is Christ your Savior and the Lord? 

** It is not enough for hearing the word is just the first step towards the next step that is, believing in His name, which then must lead the believer to the next step that is to follow him, living and dying for him. Along with taking these steps there has to be sincere struggles to grow up in faith, for faith must prove genuine through the times of ordeals and trials.  

** The expression “pay more careful attention” answers the question. . 

The word “pay” indicates that we need to invest what is valuable into checking into the matter on Jesus and his gospel; we need to deeply study the word of God, and struggle to obey even one word of it.

More careful…: this expression reminds us of lack of care. So many people care so much about what to wear where to live how to make a living, what others think etc., but they do not care about something eternal such as salvation, life to come beyond the grave, what the Bible says about Jesus and his gospel, etc. 

Attention: we have attention problem; there are so many distracters which distract us away from the Lord.  This is particularly true in this electronic age. 

 

Read verse 2-5. What does “the message spoken by angels” refer to? Verse 2 says, “…every violation and disobedience received its just punishment”. What are the examples of “punishment”? [Consider the Scriptures in the history of the Israelites such as Genesis 3, 6-8,19, etc.] What will happen to those who ignore such a great salvation (and thereby drift away)? (Heb 10:26-31; 12:26-29)

** They refer to the Old Testament Scriptures in general, particularly the first five books of the Bible. Angels = messenger such as prophets like Moses.

** The point here is that every act of disobedience comes with ill consequence of its own. 

Faith in Jesus must result in the “obedience” to God, for Romans 1:5 states obedience comes through faith in the Lord. Similarly faith without obedience (or action or deed) is no faith; it is dead faith, not living faith. 

** The consequence will be that they would not inherit the kingdom to come. The author is saying what he says here to talk about the dreadful consequence which he elaborated at the end of Heb 12.

The end 

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