Hebrews 2:5–18

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture. From memory, determine the central points.

1. Though we do not know who the author of Hebrews is, we do know he or she is Jewish, a second generation Christian, writing at a time when the Church is no longer experiencing the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit as did the first generation, that of the Apostles.
2. There were no written “Gospels” as yet, except for maybe Mark, and for decades more, most of the Gospel telling was oral in nature.
3. Plus, no creed had been developed, and there were no schools or seminaries. No church buildings had been built, the believers were meeting outdoors and away from the general population.
4. The persecution under Nero would be in recent memory. Paul and the other apostles were dead as well, with the exception of John, who was in exile by Roman authority.
5. Satan, and his demons, oft disguised as angels (see 2 Corinthians 11:14), had infiltrated the believer’s gatherings and where busy spreading lies as to the core of the Gospel message.
6. At center the misrepresentations had to do with who Jesus is. The lie is that Jesus is merely an angel, thus not the incarnate God, thus His death on the cross is not the atoning sacrifice for sin. Again, we see the devil aims squarely at the central reason for the incarnation, that of the Word, the Son of God, becoming flesh and dwelling among us.
7. Because Jesus is indeed both as we are, fully human, and not as we are, fully God as well, He was tempted as we are, and this is illustrated in the passage in Matthew 4. A sinful Jesus could not atone for our sin, and so Satan would pretend to give up all to see Jesus stumble and fall.
8. But no, He did not, and He lives and reigns for us who are tempted.

The Man of Lawlessness

2 Thessalonians 2:1–12

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture. From memory, determine the central points.

1. The man of lawlessness or the lawless one is the antichrist spoken of in 1 John 2, which has been with us from the beginning but will make a dramatic re-appearance just prior to the Second Coming of Jesus.
2. In Revelation 13 we read of a beast and a second beast, one of which is the antichrist and the other, the second beast, is the antichrist’s representative.  And, yes, this is variously interpreted.
3. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 we find a rebellion takes place that has the power of being able to deceive even Christians. And this just prior to the Second Coming, and Paul warns that this return of Jesus has not yet occurred. Before that day, the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, shows up and succeeds is such a way that it is widely worshipped. This creature proclaims itself to even be God and is accepted by many.
4. This lawless one is already present and active, Paul says, as we also see in 1 John 2, but is restrained in some manner and many commentators believe by the working of the Holy Spirit through the living, worshipping Body of Christ.
5. A most curious statement is, “Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.” (Note the words in bold, my emphasis. I have no explanation for this.)
6. The upshot, that the lawless one will be revealed, and at this point is the return of Jesus who “will kill” and make it nothing.
7. The lawless one is equipped by Satan with “power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception.”
8. Many, maybe even most, will be attracted to the antichrist. These are not born-again Christians but are those “who are perishing.” And the word “perishing” does not mean their existence comes to an end.
9. Amazingly, God sends to these perishing ones a strong delusion, which serves to make them believe that which is false.
10. These perishing ones are those who “had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Are we living in these days? Yes and no is my answer, but we are not yet at the grand finale.

Hebrews 2:1–4

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture. From memory, determine the central points.

1. Hebrews is written to a group of Jewish Christians, likely in Rome, somewhere between 80 and 95 CE, and written by an unnamed second-generation Jewish Christian.
2. The writer previously, chapter one, corrected a theological error to the effect that Jesus is an angel and nothing more. Such error would not be unusual in that day, and such error is common among many Christian cults and contemporary occultism groups today.
3. There is indeed the possibility that some might “drift away.” This does not mean a loss of salvation, for it is true that “once saved always saved,” but we Christians can be troubled, abused, disregarded, and more, which may easily result in drifting away, even if just for a time.
4. The falling away may have been that some, living in that debauched era, would miss their old sins, and return to the “world.” And in a pastoral kind of way, the writer of Hebrews wants to reach out to these.
5. The born again true believer in Jesus will suffer the consequences, the natural not specific, consequences, of such rebellion and ignorance. Our Bible author hopes to prevent this.
6. Though this second generation Christian experience was not as full of “signs and wonders and various miracles” as the first generation, that of the Apostles, and Paul, and more, still they are called to be faithful people in the midst of a corrupt world.
7. This complex Hebrews yet speaks to us today as we are living in what are called “normal times” and not revival times with it’s out powering’s of the Holy Spirit. This calls for even more faith and faithfulness.

Hebrews 1:5–14

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture. From memory, determine the central points.

1. In this passage are 7 quotes from the Hebrew Bible. The author of Hebrews likely would have memorized all of these as few had access to the written Scripture.
2. The subject of these verses has to do with the contrast between angels and human beings, especially in regard to Jesus. Angels are created beings, while the Son is not.
3. Spiritual groups both then and now, make an angel out of Jesus, and one well know Christian cult makes Him out to be Michael the archangel.
4. In language we are not accustomed to, the author of Hebrews makes it plain, and poetically, that the Son is uncreated, that His throne is forever.
5. To say of the Son, “sit at my right hand” means that this Son is of the same nature as the Father.
6. Angels are “ministering spirits” sent out into the world to serve those who “are to inherit salvation.”
7. We must focus on the word “inherit.” Here we see the Gospel of grace as the original intent of God. No one earns an inheritance; this is only given out and received.
8. The point of our passage is the supremacy of Christ over the angels. From early on, angels have been worshipped instead of the Creator God. This continues to this day. We read of this reality in 2 Corinthians 11:14–15: “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.”