Hebrews 2 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Having just celebrated the saving events of Holy Week, this question in today’s’ epistle reading is most fitting. For salvation in Jesus Christ, in His Person and Work, is God’s final word to mankind …
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
To neglect the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not only to despise the Gift of salvation, but also the Giver, God Himself. The author admonishes the Hebrews, to whom this epistle is addressed, that they - and we - ought to give heed to the things which have been heard. … “Wherefore we ought to give more earnest heed” (says he) “to the things which we have heard.” Why “more earnest”? Here he meant “more earnest” than to the Law” (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews). The Gospel declared by God’s Son is to be more closely attended to than the Hebrews’ attention to the Law. The law is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). The problem does not lie with the Law, but with sinful man, who is a law-breaker. Jesus has done what no other man could - He fulfilled the law perfectly in our stead. Therefore the glory of the Law is completely surpassed by the glory of the Gospel ,,, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings life where the Law brought death. The Christian hope in the Gospel is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Heb 6:19). Accordingly,
Heb 3:12 Take care, brethren, lest there be in any an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Heb 3: 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, …
Heb 4:11,14 Let us strive to enter that rest … let us hold fast our confession.
Heb 10:35, 36 … do not throw away your confidence … you have need of endurance …
Heb 12:1 … let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us …
Heb 12:25 … see that you do not refuse him who is speaking …
As partakers of Jesus Christ we must hold fast our assurance in Him, our confidence, our hope in Him firm until the end. We must take heed “while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it” (Heb 4:1). Neglecting so great a salvation means we shall not enter God’s rest. Hebrews 3 makes it clear that we come short of God’s rest because of unbelief. (Note the parallels here: unbelief is manifest by sin and disobedience.)
16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, holding fast our confession in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
JSH+