Commentary on Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

“Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches” (Revelation 3:22). 

The above recurring words from Revelation 3 (verses 6, 13, and 22) are embedded in the clarion warnings of Hebrews 1:1–4 and 2:5–12. The Judeo-faith disciples of Jesus and early people of the Way who resided in the ancient Roman Empire, as well as 21st-century global believers, are all candidates for relapsing or drifting away from God, the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit, leading to a condition of becoming spiritually dead. Such is the urgent message and warning of the preacher of Hebrews. Regardless of being warned, human beings as creatures of habit and pride suffer greatly from the perennial sin of amnesia. But God’s faithfulness, grace, compassion, and love are available to call us into alignment with the Creator’s heart. 

Hence, Hebrews is in many ways a sermon targeting believers who have settled into their own cultural and traditional ethos yet claim to be Christians. Yes, post-Christendom is a possibility in every generation. The preacher is unknown but the fact that the homily made it into the biblical canon means that its Gospel message is worthy of our attention. Simply put, Hebrews is probably a message of warning to Christians who might be on the cusp of drifting or relapsing into apostasy. Indeed, the sermon is powerfully crafted, is theologically grounded, and summons Christians to be committed to their faith in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. 

Metaphorically and proverbially, Christians are called to embody God’s message as revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus our Messiah. Hebrews 1:1–4 declares the identity of Jesus Christ, the one who is one with God from the foundations of creation to eternity. Angelic beings, and even human beings, may claim superiority, but Jesus is greater than all created beings, and he is the embodiment of God (verses 1–4); he reveals the essence of God and sustains all things by his powerful word (verse 3). 

Jesus as the Son of God is indeed the manifestation of God’s shekinah, or the effulgence of the Supreme God. In other words, hearers of Hebrews are invited to live in and with the message that the being of Jesus and his nature of divinity are no different from God. The unity of the Son and the Father is total. This understanding anticipates the main purpose of the sermon and inevitably the basis of the appeal to Christians then and in the present generation. 

As the final atonement, Jesus the Lamb of God whose blood brought human salvation, is both the priest and the king who made purification for our sins. The message of the blood of Jesus is foreign to most in the Western world, but in the Global South, Christian faith is grounded in the understanding that salvation is solely a result of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross and remains available to all who believe in Christ as their Savior and the Messiah of the world. 

Hence, the message of Easter is incomplete without a belief in the blood of Jesus and his second coming (Acts 1:11; Hebrews 7–10; Revelation 7:9–14). Simply put, Jesus Christ is our “YES” to God, and believers are to live with and embody Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior (2 Corinthians 1:18–21; Romans 10:9–11). 

As a caution and counsel to Christians on the cusp of relapsing, Hebrews maintains that God is the subject of all creatures and Jesus Christ is the ultimate and absolute voice of God to the Christian church. In our journey of continuity and discontinuity, our faith is always shaped and informed by our unwavering belief in God, who manifested his love to all through the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus is the excellent hope, our covenant, and he summons believers to refuse the lures of worldly idols. 

The message is simple: Do not drift from the Gospel, do not assimilate, do not be complacent, and do not believe the lies of the world. Instead, hold firmly to your salvation faith and do not take your eyes from Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:1–3). 

Hebrews’ audience was perhaps a second generation of Christians, and for us who are far removed from the early Christian church, the message is addressed to us, that we should be attentive to the “signs, wonders, and miraculous powers of the Holy Spirit” still happening in our lives (Hebrews 2:4–5). For those who might be tempted to drift away, there are four faith and spiritual lessons to be learned from Hebrews 1:1–4 and 2:5–12. 

First, we are to remember that Jesus Christ is the Lord, the one who proclaimed God’s message to the world. Second, Jesus called the apostles, whom he commissioned to be ambassadors of the Gospel to the Hebrews and to believers in the 21st-century world. Third, God as the Father affirmed the truth of the Gospel through signs, wonders, and miracles. Fourth, the Holy Spirit, the advocate, comforter, and friend, ushered gifts to believers and summoned them to grow in faith, love, and building up of the body of Christ (John 14:18; 1 Corinthians 12:7; Ephesians 4:11). 

In a world of affluence, complacency, assimilation, and accommodation to the luxuries of capitalism and national pride, Hebrews 1–2 and 12:1–29 offer a plethora of dangers involved when believers abandon faith in God. The Israelites in the wilderness, under the leadership of Moses, were specialists in disobedience and turning away from God. Vehemently and with a broken heart, Moses exhorted the Israelites with the following words: “And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the LORD even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all these people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction” (Numbers 32:14–15). 

Similarly, 21st-century global Christians have become worse than the Israelites because nations, clergy leaders, and almost all people have intentionally abandoned faith in God, trusting themselves and even justifying their sinful nature. Poignantly, the warnings of Hebrews are addressed to Christians in the present era, and our shrinking back and abandoning of faith will be followed by both present and eternal punishment. 

The choices we make in this eschatological period determine whether we will enter God’s paradise or be in eternal hell. A gospel of perseverance is urgently needed for the entire believing global body of Christ. May the words of Hebrews call us back from our wandering away from God and point our hearts, minds, and souls to the mission of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the calling of the Holy Spirit.