The Things We Have Heard

1 Therefore we must give even greater attention to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

greater attention... It is above all upon this verse that the consensus of commentators concludes that the Book of Hebrews is written in order to forestall the Jewish believer's apostasy from the Good News of Yehoshua HaMashiach / Jesus the Christ. And this thought is a reinforcement to the opinion of replacement theology, which holds that the failure to fully receive the message of the Son of God by the Jewish People spelled the promises from Israel and giving them to "the Church".

However, the drifting away here spoken of is from the revelation of God given to Israel through the son of Israel, who not only was promised to Israel but who was given to Israel, in life, in death and in resurrection from the dead. The drifting away can be to one side or the other. It can be to the side of not believing in his resurrection at all. Or it can be to the side of believing in a replacement theology, an understanding of his death and resurrection that derives from one's own theological reasoning and imagination and not from the humanity of the resurrected Saviour of Israel.

Therefore, it should not be thought that the Book of Hebrews was written to prevent the apostasy of Jewish believers "back into Judaism", for the writer of the book did not ever leave Judaism but was laboring to raise the Jewish faith from the level of the revelation of a faithful servant to the level of the revelation of a faithful son. And this level of faith to which Israel was being called would be the only faith to which the gentiles also would be called.

2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,

if the word spoken... Once again, if this statement is read with an anachronistic gentile Christian presupposition already set in the mind that the writer is a faithful believer (like Paul) rebuking those Jewish believers who may be thinking of "going back into Judaism", then it will be read as a threat against such "apostasy". However, if we are clear that these words were written by a Torah-faithful Jew to Torah-faithful Jews, and so there could be no "going back into Judaism", because there is no concept for writer or readers of a Messianic Torah faith in Yehoshua that is not Torah Judaism, then these words will be read as a simple assertion and reminder that the word spoke through a son is of a higher order of revelation than the word spoken through servants and that therefore the rewards and chastisements accompanying it will be greater.

3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

how shall we escape..? How will Israel escape chastisement? The neglecting that is being referred to will later be spelled out carefully by the writer in terms of the failure to build upon the foundation of the apostolic word about Mashiach in a way that is able to take one past a never developing spiritual infancy to a level of corporate maturity in faith and service to God. If the majority of the Jewish believers of the generation remain spiritually undeveloped, the writer says, Israel will be facing whatever chastisements are required in order to arouse them to the works of faith that are necessary for going on unto perfection in the Messianic testimony of God.

Once this reading of Hebrews is correctly understood, it can then be asked, what does this mean to gentile Christians, or, in other words, gentile Messianic believers? Of course it reinforces the need to not give up on the deconstruction of Replacement Theology until it is removed entirely from the understanding of the Good News itself, and from all Renewed Covenant teachings. But what of the specific admonition and warning concerning the need not to neglect the spiritual and living works that lead to spiritual maturity? We can certainly say with Paul that all that is written for the edification of the children of Israel in the Scriptures is also written for the sake of the gentiles who are converting to the faith of Israel through the Good News of Israel's Messiah. And we can also be reminded that in order for us to come to the unity of the faith ... to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Mashiach Eph. 4:13 , we must come as one Adam, Jew and Gentile, in Mashiach.

For a time there is a difference between the mature and the immature believer, one with greater faith and one with lesser faith. In the end there is no difference between one believer and another. For when Israel was faithful they gave testimony immediately to the Blessed Holy One, and when Israel sinned and was immature in faith when they ought to have been well developed in faith, then God was faithful to correct them and bring them to the desired state of faith in the end. One is lesser and one is greater, but all are equal in Israel, for both have one promise from God. One is certain of Mashiach and one is uncertain and seeking him like the blind man. And the first shall be last and the last shall be first. If all are equal within Israel, how much more are gentile believers, who have no promise given to them, not to think that they are above the children of Israel, who all have the promise that they shall be the witnesses of God?

4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

gifts of the Holy Spirit... The reference here to gifts of the Holy Spirit is also elaborated upon in Ephesians 4, as well as other places. Here the great and glorious achievement of Mashiach overcoming the captivity of Egypt in the hearts of the children of Israel and therefore the whole of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman captivity is the salvation that is being spoken about. The stone cut without hands like a mountain smashing down upon the feet of the image of the idol that had captured Israel has already happened in the death and resurrection of Mashiach. And there is no other victory to come. But it is a victory of grace. And grace is gentle with those it saves. It saves them through the weakness of God, which is stronger than any Adam. He shows Moshe his back and not his face. For if it were to save them with the strength of God they would not live through it. They could not be saved. No one sees his face and lives.

Rather than immediately revealing the full radiance of the glory of His Divine Presence, his Shekinah, he gives gifts of his Holy Spirit. And little by little, gently, we understand the signs, we come to understand that these gifts, with the miracles he works in our lives, can only come through the Presence of The Kingdom, the corporate salvation of Israel. How can we escape our own blindness that keeps us in the chains of fear and captivity if we neglect to pay attention to the Word of God on the cross, defeating death itself?

The Son Made Lower than Angels For The Crowning of Glory

5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.

subjection to angels... It is the nature of this world that it is subject to angels for its maintenance. By whom is the World To Come maintained? It is by Mashiach the promised Jewish son. It is not maintained by angels. Angels do not have power over death. Angels cannot bring about the resurrection of the dead for all Israel. But, as mentioned above, this is not about angels. It is about the difference of all servants of God and the one servant who is not just a servant because he is a son.

Theologians argue about whether or not God has a son. The Jew who wrote this letter tells us that we are not talking about theology. The ancestors of the Jews, the servants who were prophets told us that God has a Jewish son. He calls Ephraim his son. He calls Israel his son. As we shall see in verse 10 of this verse, God is bringing many sons, many he calls sons and daughters, his own children, to glory, all through his one son, his one only begotten Jewish son, who he loved, and in loving him loved Israel, and in loving Israel loved the world, and for the sake of this love he re-created it to be the world to come.

6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is Adam that You are mindful of him, Or the son of Adam that You take care of him?

What is Adam? We see how the writer has put this psalm into the context of the subject of the world to come. In this context we can read this psalm to be hinting to the truth that it was God's purpose from the beginning to elevate Adam above the angels in the world to come. The son of Adam is clearly not mentioned simple for the sake of poetic parallelism but for the sake of showing that the son of Adam must be considered in his own right, independently from being Adam by nature. [Nt.]

We see that the mystery of Mashiach was designed into Adam right from the beginning. In the end Adam is just a servant like the angels, and yet God pays him special mind. It is because of the son of Adam, for whom a body was prepared in the form of the seed of the woman from the beginning. But who is this son of Adam? There are endless children of Adam. Many seeds of many women provide bodies for many children. But God speaks with his mind on one seed. For Adam as one was corporate. And there must be one who is corporate to atone for him. It is not the many who can save Adam. For indeed there are countless children. And they all fall short of the glory of God, like Adam did. Except for one. There is one son of Adam who does not fall short of the glory of God, and therefore is not just a servant but is worthy to be called a son. And now by this son God speaks to Israel, and all the world may hear.

7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.

You have made him... The poetry of the Psalm presents the mystery of Adam's creation. The writer of the Book of Hebrews use of this Psalm both resolves the mystery and amplifies the mystery. From the Psalm itself it is given to us that the resolution to the mystery of Adam can be understood in relation to the angels. If we were to ask the question, Why does the writer to the Hebrews even talk about angels? this would be our answer. Those commentators who imagine it is because there is a tendency among these Jewish believers to return to worshiping angels are far off. It is because the writer wants to base his whole work on the foundation of this psalm, and those Scriptures related to it, that he speaks as much as he does about angels. An understanding of this psalm in its own right is, then, essential for understanding Hebrews. I have written a brief commentary on Psalms 8 for this purpose, which you can read on the page Heb\Wrk\Nts.

The writer of Hebrews uses this mystery of the relation of Adam to the angels to show the Jewish believers of the first century, and to show us thereby, that the relationship between God's speaking through an agent who is only a servant and God's speaking through a son signifies the relationship between this world and the world to come.

8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

under his feet... The reference, here and in the Psalm, goes directly to Genesis 1:26-28, and assures us that when God was creating Adam he thinking not just about Adam but was thinking about Mashiach. We are told that even before creating God was thinking about Mashiach and the Torah that would be accomplished through Mashiach. Here it is important to hone in on the fact that also in the very act of creating Adam God was thinking about Mashiach. While God was talking about the subjection of all living creatures on earth to Adam, for better or worse, he was also thinking about the subjection of all things in heaven and earth to Mashiach, and only for their good. But while this is accomplished through Mashiach's finished work on earth, and God sees it, we, who have not altogether finished our own work, do not yet see this.

In our experience, which is still heavily informed by militarism, that someone or something should be said to be put under someone's feet means that violence has been done to them and that they have been humbled if not humiliated. But Mashiach accomplished all without violence. And all things are now in heaven and to be on earth put under his feet without violence and without the world suffering humiliation. The enemy of the world will be humbled, but the world will be made glorious in the glory of God's grace. Because of our earthliness, we do not yet see this...

9 But we see Yehoshua, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

Because he was taken up out of the sight we do not see him crowned with glory and honor. We see him as he was, made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death... We see the cross below and not the throne above. But we do see him. And because we see him, and know him whom we see, we know that it is on account of the death that he suffered that he is crowned with glory and honor.

The mystery of Mashiach, who was without sin, is that his glory is in his suffering humiliation living and dying in this world of sin. For he did not do so out of any need of his own but did so for the sake of others, because it was God's will. Accordingly, the Kingdom of Mashiach is already present but in weakness. For it is stronger in its weakness than the world of sin is in its strength. Even though the world cannot see the present kingdom of Mashiach, cannot see the lion feeding together with the lamb, it is already being dominated by the power of that kingdom, which is, though weak now, the power of the world to come. Those, therefore, who seek to turn the kingdom now into something visible to this world show themselves to be those who are not able to bear the cross of Mashiach.

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Read more about the atonement on the Heb\Wrk\Nts page, under the heading, "The Finished Work of Mashiach".

Bringing Many Sons to Glory

10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

The One for whom all things strive to exist is God, and because they exist for him they praise him and he hears their effort to exist as prayer and he will provide true existence for them. Indeed, "All creation groans and travails together in pain waiting for the manifestation of the children of God." (Romans 8). The writer here states that God, in designing all things according to a manner that will serve his ultimate purpose, designing all ends of the world to bring many children to the place of his rest, the time and place of being able to share in his glory. In that time and place the lion will leap with the lamb, and the lamb will dash about and sing with the lion. This redemption and transformation of nature is about the glory of the son, who became subject to nature, in order that nature might become supernatural through the glorification of his humanity.

11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Here is the Holy of Holies of the mystery of Mashiach, The Song of Songs. Here God says, I love you! God brought the woman to the man and immediately he was in love. What then if your lover is the one who proved worthy to be called by God his son? What if you are the one he loves? The one who sets you apart for himself sets himself apart for you. Are you unworthy? He is worthy that the one he loves should be justified and her sins be made as white as snow.

12 saying: “I will declare Your name to My family; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

You are ashamed of your sins. Yet you do not bring him shame. Israel broke the covenant of the glorious God, who bowed down low to be small with her. She was ashamed. Yet still he was not ashamed to call her his own. He was lifted up and he drew all the assembly unto him. They were frightened and could not breath, but he sang praises to God and his song embraced them and gave them voice and their joy brought joy to God.

13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me."

Israel, was terrified and said to Moshe, "We cannot hear God, lest we die! You hear, and tell us all he says". Moshe turned to Mashiach questioning. Are these people dead? Will they be replaced by a different bride? Mashiach saw that Moshe was afraid also, because of the terror and unbelief of the people. Mashiach responded to Moshe by looking to God and saying, 'I will put my trust in him! And speaking to God he said, "Here I am and the children whom You have given Me".

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

Does a reasoned theology of Christ's (Mashiach's) deity lead to knowing him in his humanity? Or does knowing him as he is come to us, a human being among human beings, lead to a rectified knowledge of the Deity?

There is a human compulsion to understand reality, to alleviate the condition of being lost by some form of systematic thought, like science or a system of logical theology. [See Ext.Nts. for more on this.]

The author to the Book of Hebrews shows no need to logically reason out or speculate theologically what the relationship is between the father and the son, God and the Mashiach. It is the Father who will show him this, (Matt. 11:27). Now it is the way of faith to only follow the Jewish son through life and through death to return to the Father in truth, completely, together with All Israel and those who are called to the end of the earth, until the perfect repentance of corporate Adam is accomplished.

15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

"Hear oh Israel..." The God of Israel alone is the true God and Creator of all worlds. He has spoken to Israel through a Jewish son. Hear him! "Kiss the son" and put your trust in him, (Ps. 2:12), for the Father has committed all things to his hand, (Matt. 11:27), and you cannot be released from fear of death or bondage to your evil inclination without his salvation. Call upon him while he may be found, (Isa. 55:6), lest he come quickly, (Rev. 22:20), and the light of all human science and understanding be extinguished in the glory of his presence, and not having eyes to behold his glory you be left in darkness.

16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

To his own holy angels, who have the knowledge of the power of the stars, he does not give the key to salvation, the aid that will save the universe in the day of re-creation, but he does give this key and this aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, if you would receive this key and this aid, seek to know the Jewish son by whom the God of Israel speaks to Israel, His people. Search the Scriptures, for it is the Hebrew Scriptures which testify of him, (Jn. 5:39).

17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

A majority in Israel were blinded when the Jewish son came to his own. Both a majority in Israel and a majority even among the called out ones from among the nations were further blinded because of this blindness in Israel. 'If God was speaking to Israel through this Jewish son,' the majority if Israelis say, 'why did Israel not hear him? And why does it not hear him to this day?' And a majority of the called out ones from among the nations say, 'If it was as a Jewish son that Israel was to hear him, why did Israel not hear him? It is because God spoke in him not as a Jewish son but as his own son, in the form of a generic human being, no more and no less akin to the Jew than to the Gentile.'

In all this blindness the greatest revelation is missed. For it was revealed in this very thing, that he came to his own and his own did not receive him, that in coming to them he came in mercy to be their faithful High Priest in all things that pertained to their relationship with God. He came to make propitiation for the sins of Israel.

The very light that is not seen is the light in which God put Israel's blindness, the blindness of us all. How are we to see this light? How is our blindness to be revealed to us by this light? It is through the completeness of his never ending humanity, his Jewish identity and never ending solidarity with his people, Israel.

18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

"For this is how we judge: If one died for all then all were dead; and if he died for them, he died for them in order that they would no longer have to live selfish lives but would be able to live their lives for him who died for them and rose again! (1 Cor. 5:20). If Israel now has a High Priest in heaven then there is no other hope than this for Humanity.

In all that this Jewish son suffered he suffered temptation. Just as his people were tempted to spiritual blindness, so as not to recognize him, to lean to their own understanding of repentance and salvation in order to make sense of God and the world, instead of hearing the word of God revealed in him, so he too was subject to experiencing the temptation to give into spiritual blindness. He felt and understood the nature of their temptation. Even the devil knew this and used this to try to tempt him. But he could not be successfully tempted, for he knew temptation only for the sake of his love for his people. And for their sake, while he knew the power of their confusion in the world and their temptation to lean to their own understanding, and while he did not condemn them, he himself resisted the temptation to seek to have understanding from his own point of view, but instead had faith in his Father in all things. He resisted the temptation of being influenced by the doubts of his people for the sake of his people, in order that he might aid those who were tempted.