Hebrews 2:1-4

As you are probably aware, Hebrews is dedicated to showing the supremacy of Jesus Christ over every being and institution except the Father. The previous chapter establishes Christ’s role as the Son of the Highest, and thus a divine Messenger who is superior to all the prophets and all the angels. So, the author begins by reminding the audience of the overwhelming significance of this Messenger, and thus, His message. That’s what leads up to this “therefore” statement in verse 1.

In other words, because of the overarching significance of Jesus Christ and His gospel message, the author says we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so we don’t drift away from it. Here is an early hint that the pressure at the end of an age can lead to drifting, which is something for us to watch out for. As the intensity of the times increases, we can either use it to draw closer to God and grow stronger now, or we can drift, and end up spiritually out of shape and unprepared for when things really get tough.

Starting in verse 2, the author adds some weight to his admonition by using a contrast. “The word spoken through angels” is a reference to the covenant with Israel, in which angels played a key role (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; see Deuteronomy 33:2). He points out that God backed up fully everything that was delivered to Israel through these lesser messengers.

Then he takes it one step further and asks rhetorically that if the previous things were binding, how can we expect to escape fitting retribution if we neglect, as it says, so great a salvation. He identifies the salvation as first being announced by the Lord, meaning the gospel of the Kingdom. He goes on to say that this message was confirmed by those who heard Christ, and the Father Himself also bore witness to His Messenger and His message in various ways. In other words, if what was spoken to Israel was backed-up, and covenant-breaking was dealt with decisively, we dare not think that God will let us off the hook if we let this far greater opportunity slip out of our hands.

This passage about neglecting salvation teaches that salvation is not limited just to having our sins forgiven. This world’s Christianity tends to view salvation quite narrowly, as relating only to Christ’s blood paying for our sins in the past. When combined with the pestiferous belief in “once saved, always saved,” the general approach within much of Protestantism is that Jesus either has done or will do it all for us, so we just have to vaguely “believe,” claim the blood, and then live life pretty much as we want because His grace is so great.

Yet notice that God’s word says salvation can be neglected or ignored, with the implication that doing so will have devastating consequences. That flies in the face of the idea of one’s salvation being eternally secure. And there are even stronger and more direct warnings later in this book.

Hebrews 2:1-3

Because God has spoken to us by His Son, and because His Son is so great and so glorious a Person, and because the subject which is addressed is of such infinite importance to us and to our welfare, He says we ought to give the more earnest heed to it.

The word "earnest" is an important word. It means abundantly, it means more exceedingly, it means much more frequently and it means more super-abundant heed. He is saying to really pay attention to what God is doing in our lives!

We should pray and study with great care and concern lest we should let God's Word slip. Now this means to "let it (God's Word) run out"—to leak out like a barrel with a cracked stave. The barrel is full and it very slowly starts to leak.

Another analogy would be to "drift away." You can envision a rowboat being tied up to a pier and the rope loosens and falls into the water. You can reach down and grab the rope and retie it. But if you do not, then the boat (which was floating right next to the piling) slowly starts to drift away. Soon it will be ten feet away, then fifteen feet, and pretty soon it is out over the horizon where the water is rough. We are told to not let that happen. Do not let it drift away, pay attention! If we become superficial in our prayer and study, then our vision of God will begin to disappear.

If those without God's Spirit who heard God's Word died in the wilderness (now that was their correction, but their chance is still ahead) how much greater will be our punishment. For us God says, "Pay attention!" Our chance is now! And if we are not successful then this is our only chance! He says to see the scope of what God is doing in our lives. God is telling us here that we are to constantly remind ourselves of His purpose for our calling. We must pray and study with that purpose at the forefront of our minds.

Hebrews 2:1-3

However, it just had not happened the way that they expected it would occur. Time went on, and conditions got worse. And sometimes it was very difficult for them to maintain their loyalty as a Christian to Christ.

Hebrews 2:1-3 captures the essence of what this problem was in terms of the way that they reacted to it:

You have heard of people who supposedly were in love, drifting apart. It is not that anybody seemingly intended that one or the other drift away, but it happened because maybe one or both were not paying attention to the relationship. Something else had grabbed the interest of one or the other (or both), and so they began to drift apart.

Here we have a penetrating insight into their attitude—the Ephesian church, or the Ephesus era of people—a penetrating insight into their attitude seen in an epistle that was written somewhere around the mid-60s AD. This was thirty-some years before the book of Revelation, and I think that we can assume from the book of Revelation that things did not get any better—that things were gradually getting worse. Rather than the people recapturing what had been their devotion before (because of the writing of the apostle Paul, which appears now in the book of Hebrews), they did not recapture it. Instead they continued to drift apart.

Hebrews 2:1

Now, the takeaway is as obvious as this passage is sobering. We must bear fruit. It is a given. A Christian must bear good fruit. We cannot depend solely on our calling. God does what He does. And we cannot just say, "Well, I'm a called person of God. I'm one of the firstfruits!" and do nothing. That is just not how it works. We cannot assume that God will allow us to slide by without judgment when we do nothing, when we sit down and dig a hole and put our talent in there and do nothing with it. I mean, His reaction there in that parable is pretty absolute. We cannot rest on our laurels, you know, any of our past accomplishments. I am sure God will take them into consideration, but He is going to say, "Why did you stop? Why'd you put it into neutral and coast?"

Hebrews 2:1 says, "Beware. . . lest you drift away." That is the coasting idea. That we get to a certain point and say, "I've done enough. We don't need to row against the tide here anymore. It's too hard. Let's just coast for a while." Because as the author there in Hebrews says we just get farther and farther and farther away from the goal.

Hebrews 2:1-3

Here, we see a complete change in the way God is working with His people versus Israel's relationship with God prior to Christ's arrival and His ministry. No longer is God sending the prophets as He did with Haggai, or angels as He did with Daniel, or a mediator. I am not saying He cannot. It is just not the norm. As He did with Moses. But the Son Himself now speaks to us. What a great honor and privilege we have to know and to know that we know we are directly being taught by Christ Himself, and what He has heard from His Father, He speaks to each one of us. No one before spoke as He is speaking. And it is through Him we see the Father. Certainly more than enough of a reason why we should of course give the more earnest heed. Christ, who is the express image of His Father, Christ, who made the worlds and upholds all things by the word of His power. In these last days has spoken words that are spirit and are life for each one of us. It is a great advantage to us to listen, just as it would be a great loss to ourselves if we failed to give heed and obey.

Hebrews 2:1-3

This is where Paul warns us not to neglect so great salvation. So we have a similar illustration. The person who is neglecting his salvation is not deliberately setting his mind to turn away from God—His way of life. He is simply, through neglect, allowing himself to drift in that direction. He is not planning to go that way. He gets distracted by things in his life—by hobbies, by work, by rearing children, and a great many other things that it could be. It does not matter what it is, but he allows himself to neglect what has been given to him.

The metaphor that is used there in Hebrews 2 is of a boat that has slipped its mooring and it is drifting within the harbor. Just drifting with the current.

Hebrews 2:1

Now, this is something that happens because both God and we are actively involved in making the relationship work. On our part, it is a matter of yielding to His way. You might recall, from the book of Hebrews, that the problem in that book was that the people were neglecting so great salvation. They were neglecting their relationship with God.

That will happen. It is just what I described a little bit earlier. If a relationship is not worked on, we drift apart. The same principle is at work with God.

Hebrews 2:1

You have heard of people who supposedly were in love, drifting apart. It is not that anybody seemingly intended that one or the other drift away, but it happened because maybe one or both were not paying attention to the relationship. Something else had grabbed the interest of one or the other (or both), and so they began to drift apart.

Hebrews 2:1-3

Here's my concern—"neglect," "drift away." Jesus Christ, the living Head of His church, here warns against neglect. Neglect is NOT deliberate. It is NOT willful. It is NOT intentional sin. It is something that happens because of familiarity, or distraction, caused by one having too many things going in one's life.