“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:1-3a)
The warning is to “pay attention…lest we drift away from it”. In the first chapter of Hebrews the author details the superiority of Jesus over angels and prophets. In fact, he says Jesus is God’s word spoken to us in these final days. Pay attention to Jesus and salvation because He is the “radiance of His [God’s] glory, the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all thing by the word of His power”. In other words, Jesus Christ is God with skin on.
If we do not pay attention to Jesus, then we will drift away from Him. “Drift” means to “slip away” or “pass by almost unnoticed”. Drifting away from Jesus can be almost imperceptible, at least in the beginning. This might entail a subtle shift in our thinking, perhaps illustrated by denial of conscience because we think we can afford the consequences of the action we are considering, or that circumstances justify our action.
Or drifting might involve a re-definition of sin, labeling “OK” what God says is wrong.
A lack of vigilance leads to drifting, ending up in neglect of our salvation. For us in the 21st century, this can mean misunderstanding the gift of grace in the gospel. The modern concept of grace too often considers grace as permission to do anything we want because God will forgive us. What is lost is the reality that grace comes with strings attached. No, we do not “earn” the gift nor are we in danger of having it snatched away, but there are entailments, or expectations, that accompany the gift.
“For he who was called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price…” (1 Corinthians 7:22-23a)
Because we were bought with the price of the blood of Jesus, we are not our own to do as we please.
Jesus connected His love embodied in His grace with the evidence of obedience:
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me” (John 14:21).
One old believer quipped, “God did not save you to make you a smarter sinner; He saved you to make you a holy saint”.
Key in the book of Hebrews is the condition of perseverance, expressed by “holding fast “ or “endurance”, words used eight times in the epistle.
If we fail to pay attention to Jesus, we will find that we have not endured after all.
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