Hebrews Chapter 1:

Hebrews Chapter 1:

4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? ...

13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Hebrews Chapter 2:

1 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?

5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.

The book of Hebrews is quite simply the most powerfully impacting book with the fear of God, that we have in the Bible. But of course the book needs to be rightly understood in order for someone to get from it what is there to get. I copied just a few verses from the first two chapters of the book just to make the point of what the book is really about. The reason that the apostle is making the comparison of Christ and the angels in the first part of his epistle, is to punctuate the superiority of the new covenant to the old covenant, which old covenant was mediated by angels (Gal. 3:19). The entire reason he is marking the vast superiority of Christ to the angels, and the new covenant to the old, is to show the greater degree of accountability and responsibility that new covenant believers are subject to. In this age of false grace that is not much more than a free license to sin, the message of Hebrews is like a hot cup of straight black coffee given to a drunken person. Very, very sobering.

The first three verses of the second chapter are straight to the point in admonishing us that we will not escape the wrath of God if we prove to be negligent of this covenant that was founded on the suffering and death of God's only Son. Negligence of the covenant would translate to mean transgression and disobedience, even as chapter 2 and verse 2 says. Because this covenant is based on such a high cost to God, and because this covenant does provide a true deliverance from the sinful nature we were born with, a much greater responsibility and accountability is placed on us as partakers of Christ (Heb. 10:4; Heb. 9:13,14). So the truth of the matter is on the opposite end of the spectrum of the indulgent 'grace' that is so widely embraced in this modern time. The remainder of the book of Hebrews continues in this very pattern, with a number of climactic warnings of godly fear throughout the book; most notably in chapters 9 and 10 where the apostle warns believers about the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the holy Ghost (Heb. 6:4-8; Heb. 10:26-31). Once you understand the theme of the book of Hebrews you can read it and have the fear of God impressed upon you, as God intended for it to be.

As for the whole grace issue, the book gives us an emphatic defining of that as well: "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:25-29). Now if that is not a stark impression of the fear of God, then I don't know what is. So the bottom line can only be one thing, and the incredible wisdom that God gave to Solomon tells us what it is: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 12:13,14). And before somebody says, "But that was for the old testament," let me remind you to read the book of Hebrews. Any questions?