Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Foundations: Hebrews - Day 3

READ: Hebrews 2

In chapter one God made it very clear Jesus was to be treated with the same respect and obedience they gave to Him. It was easy for many to drift away from God because they didn’t believe in Jesus. Today our situation is almost opposite: People want Jesus without God. They want the ‘love’ but not the ‘holiness’.

Many Jews would not believe in Jesus because they were mistaken about what God said about Jesus. This is what the writer of Hebrews is warning them of: Don’t lose your salvation and drift away because you don’t believe what God said! Today many people are willing to drift away from salvation because they want to separate the Old Testament God from the New Testament Jesus. They say with their words that Jesus is God, but with their actions they disobey. After reading chapter one we have no good excuse! Jesus is God… and if that is true we had better be very careful to obey and live according to that truth!

The second thing the writer of Hebrews really wanted the believers to understand is the fact that Jesus suffered and experienced what we suffer, including death.

The writer of Hebrews also made a very clear distinction between man and God. Man was made lower than the angels. This doesn’t mean angels were made at a higher altitude! It means they have high aptitudes and abilities. They have some authority, even though God has all the authority.

Humans on the other hand were created with less ability and aptitude than the angels. Yet… the story gets interesting here… God ordained that it would be man who would have authority over Creation! Everything would be under the authority of humans, not angels. Of course, God is the ultimate authority, and is completely sovereign. Yet under God, humans have authority, and in eternity will continue to have, authority over all things.

Jesus existed from before the Creation of the world. John 1:1 tells us Jesus was the Word, the Word was God and was with God. Majestic. All-powerful. Incredible God. Jesus was above ALL in authority and power. He was IT! But then, out of love and a plan to crush death, Jesus became a man. He willingly gave up all that and became lower than angels. If He had come as King, at least He would have had some authority and power! But no! Not our God of love. He came as the lowest of all humanity – a baby, weak and powerless, born in an animal shelter, being totally dependent on those who had so little power themselves.

Wow! What love!

It is for this reason Jesus did it: to show us His love and so we could never say to Him that He doesn’t understand us. He has suffered, He has lost, He has died.

One day – and this chapter reminds us this hasn’t happened yet – all of creation will once again be under Jesus’ authority, and we too will be given authority and the ability to rule with justice and love. Because of Christ’s sinless death on the cross and His resurrection to the right hand side of the Father, we will be given the authority God has always intended for us to have. So much to look forward to!


JOURNALING AND PRAYER
1.      Ask the Lord to speak to you about any lies you believe about Him that might be causing you to drift away from Him. Write down what He shows you. Ask Him where these lies come from. Then ask Him to smash them with a new word, thought or picture of the truth. Write down what He says. Finally, ask Him if there are any steps you need to take to ground yourself in this new truth or to set up a barrier from slipping again. Journal what He shows you.
2.      Spend a few minutes meditating on the sacrifice God made to become human and to demonstrate for you that He understands what you are going through. Think about the glory of heaven, the authority and power He had. Then compare it to all He suffered and gave up. Ask Him to really make this sink into your heart. Spend time in thankful worship.
3.      What has God been saying to you about your identity in Christ? Look back to what He told you for question 3 in Day Two, and think on what He said today in question 1. Ask God to give you an even fuller picture of your identity in Him.