The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Hebrews 2:1-13 1 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. 5 For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. 6 But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him? 7 “You have made him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And have appointed him over the works of Your hands; 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.” (NASB)

The epistle lesson assigned for this morning began with a Greek word that was translated in the NASB as the words “For this reason. . .” Other translations used the word “therefore.” The word “therefore” indicates a conclusion or action based on a set of circumstances and reasoning that preceded the word. In this case, “therefore” lets us know that what is said here is based on what has been said in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews.

And the first chapter of Hebrews began with “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” (1:1–2).

Here Jesus is distinguished from the prophets who came before as a higher and more direct self revelation of God. In these two verses we learn that Jesus is God’s final and ultimate word. “God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

Immediately on the heals of this declaration, verse three teaches us that “He [Christ] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Now we are able to understand the “therefore” or “for this reason “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” We must pay attention to the Gospel, to what we have heard. To what the Son of God Himself has done for us and for our salvation. The One who made and upholds the universe by His speaking, speaks to us in His Son.

And what has He said? He tells us that He has made purification for our sins, by His suffering, then sat down at the right hand of God. We should pay attention to the Author and Perfecter of our souls’ salvation and not drift away from what we have heard from the Word of God.

This Gospel is so necessity for our salvation God’s declares that it is “unalterable.” 2 “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” Some translations say, if we neglect the greatness of this salvation?

Point number one. No one has the authority to add or take away a single word from the Gospel and the Word of God. This is a more diplomatic way of saying what St. Paul was given to write in Galatians 1:8-9; “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

I once heard an LCMS pastor at a Peoria/Tazewell circuit meeting say that there is a Catholic gospel, a Baptist gospel, a Methodist gospel, and a Lutheran gospel and we should respect each of them. Utter foolishness, especially for a Lutheran who took an oath to the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions as the correct exposition of the Bible’s teaching. There’s not a Catholic gospel, a Baptist gospel or even a Lutheran gospel.

There is one Gospel and one Gospel alone and we are to listen to it, learn from, and defend the right preaching, teaching, and application of it. Any deviation from the Gospel as delivered by the prophets, apostles, and even the angels threatens the salvation that the Son of God came to give.

Point number two. The writer sets before us an argument. That is, a proper valid and true line of reasoning. “If the word spoken through angels proved unalterable [and it is], and [if] every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty [and it does], 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” Without the Gospel rightly preached, rightly taught, and rightly applied it is not possible to escape the judgment to come against sin. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Now a point of clarification. “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable.” The Greek word for angel is aggelos. The word means “a messenger.” The word “angel” in the Bible is generally, but not exclusive understood to be a supernatural messenger from God conveying news or behests from God to men. Only the context determines whether the referent is a human messenger (a preacher) or a supernatural being from heaven.

Hebrews 1:14, the last verse of chapter one, refers to the angels who are praising God in heaven and are God’s servants as He pleases. So the angels referred to here two sentences later are not human beings, but rather they are heavenly creatures. Angels are angels. By the way, when your or my believing loved ones go to heaven, they do not become angels. They are with the angels as we indicate in the communion liturgy, but they did not become angels be they adults or children.

As for the Son of God, our Savior, He was once made lower than the angels, is crowned with glory and honor, as the psalmist said (Psalm 8). That means He took on flesh and became a man, yet having suffered for our justification Hebrews 1:3, He “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

3 “How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” It is the greatness of this salvation that is the centerpiece of chapter two. Everything that is written here is written so that we do not neglect or lose “so great a salvation.”

Neglect is a transitive verb. It means that the action is done to someone or something thing. When we neglect the salvation of God, we are doing something, in this case harmful to the salvation won for us. Neglect itself “means to pay little or no attention to; fail to heed; disregard. To fail to care for or attend to properly. To fail to do or carry out, as through carelessness or oversight.”

One pastor pictured the neglect of salvation this way. He wrote, picture water in a river flowing by you. Yet even though you are very thirsty, very dirty, and very hot, in dire need of this water you don’t engage with it, you don’t drink of it to quench your thirst, or wash your skin, or use it to cool off. You simply remain an observer. You look at it as it flows by not recognizing that is has the power to save you.

Think of all the people who treat the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and the words of God like that. They neglect it. To neglect the greatness of this salvation is to neglect Jesus Christ, the Son of God who took on flesh and died for the sins of the world and every individual in it.

Think of all those who were born of the water and the Word in Holy Baptism, who were raised in families and in the church, who were in their youth confirmed in the faith; think of all those older members who took to neglecting this great salvation because we moved from one place to another, or who wandered off to more exciting and less Christ centered congregations, or who simply took to sleeping in, and who are now neglecting the greatness of Christ’s salvation. Think also of yourself and those times when you and I have neglected what we have heard and learned concerning the Word of God, the Gospel, and the Son of God.

Neglecting your body may be lethal. Neglecting your home and family will do great damage to those you claim to love. Here God asks a rhetorical question. “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (2:3). We shall not. There is no escape.

Retributivism or retributive justice is a theory of justice that holds that whoever commits certain kinds of wrongful acts and serious crimes, morally deserve to suffer a proportionate punishment to the wrong that was done. The principle of an eye for an eye. Justice is done then when the punishment fits the crime and the wronger doer is punished accordingly. Our sins and sinfulness require justice.

God is good. God is just: “He left nothing that is not subject to him [Christ]. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” God the Father, the God of justice and mercy, placed our sin on Jesus and delivered to Him over to the punishment due us. That’s why He had to taste death, that is God’s judgment.

There was no escape from God’s retribution. Just as the neglect is tied to the importance of what is neglected, the greatness of salvation is tied to the magnitude of the escape and from that which is being escaped. Eternal condemnation.

The punishment fit the wrong doing. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) What makes this salvation “such a great salvation” is a God who loves you, who gave His only begotten Son for you, whose blood paid your price for sins committed, whose blood cleanses you from all sin, whose blood set us free to be people of God.

Our salvation required a greater work than what the angels do. “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come.” (v 5). God made it His personal business to provide this great salvation. 10 “ For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

We neglect the greatness of this salvation all too often. But God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit neglect nothing. The Author of this great salvation made us perfect through His life, works, teachings, sufferings, death, and resurrection.

God built this great salvation for you. Therefore, inconclusion, He is not ashamed to call you His son or daughter.

AMEN

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 2021 – Therefore

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