King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Thursday, December 21, 2023
Chapters: HEBREWS 1-5
Message: More Than An Angel And A Man
Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,
Yesterday was a little better day at work, maybe it was because my husband was with me and he drove, but things are starting to come around. I did do something ridiculous though, the night before I got distracted and ended up leaving the keys of my truck in the ignition and did not even lock the door. Praise God, it did not get stolen. I swear I have angels all over me, with some kind of protective shield keeping me from more danger than I care to know about. Speaking of angels, during the Christmas season we tend to see a lot of references about angels, even movies about them, after all, the Bible does say, [Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.].
So, what is an angel? Well, they are real and they are messengers from God. [Angel; Literally, a messenger; one employed to communicate news or information from one person to another at a distance; A spirit, or a spiritual intelligent being employed by God to communicate his will to man; Any being whom God employs to execute his judgments.]
When you think of angels and how your perception of them are it all depends on who and what you believe in. The world sees angels differently than Christians do, in fact, the world will believe in angels over God. Likewise, depending on the religion Christians see angels differently. And believe it or not, they are not these powerful beings who have the ability to control ones fate, but they are sent by God to assist Him in whatever needs to be done, [Psalms 103:19-20 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all. 20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.]
The Book of Hebrews is the nineteenth book of the New Testament, the fifty-eighth book of the Bible, and contains thirteen chapters. The author of this epistle (letter) was Paul and it was written to the Jewish believers, known as the Hebrews, around 65BC. The purpose of the letter was to present Jesus Christ as superior over all. What we are to learn from it is that Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises, [Hebrews 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.]
Angels, actually come in several forms, as we will see through the reading of Hebrews that while they do not have special powers (only what God tells them), they are God’s messengers. Many Jews had a superstitious or idolatrous respect for angels, they looked to them as mediators between God and man. Seeing this, Paul, begins his letter to the converted Jews a little differently than other letters that he wrote, he just comes right out to the point in that while God did use the prophets as mediators in the past, Jesus became much more than a mediator, He became our inheritance.
[Hebrews 1:1-5 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; 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?]
[as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.] Talk about an everlasting covenant! An inheritance with Christ Himself. There is only one way to God, and one way to obtain this inheritance, and that is through God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Why? Everything on this earth will perish, but Christ has always been promised and through our faith in Him we are given eternal life to live with Him.
[Hebrews 1:6-9,14 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?]
[sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?] Saved, born again Christians are heirs of salvation and the angels are sent to minister to them. We are not to worship angels, we just need to be aware of them. We, who are heirs of Salvation through our faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, are surrounded by angels who protect us. And I can attest to this, these past few years, I have seen some shields around me and my family like you would not believe. We can pretty much account that angels have a special place with God and are called to assist Him in many ways, but what they and no one else could ever do is save our soul. Jesus, alone is the only one capable of that, [Acts 4:1012 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.]
Whether you believe that or not, we will all stand before Jesus and give an account to whether or not we believed in and accepted Him. As Paul continues his letter, he stresses the importance of their understanding that the Law of Moses was not their salvation, and it never was, not even from the beginning.
[Hebrews 2:1-6 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. 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?]
[if we neglect so great salvation;] Jesus, with all the power of God, and above the angels, lowered Himself to be less than the angels by putting on the flesh that we have, becoming the sacrifice necessary to bring permanent salvation to all who believe in Him, and gave us life through His sinless death. Not only that, we become joint-heirs with Him, [Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.]
[But one in a certain place testified…What is man, that thou art mindful of him?] This is in reference to what David said when God told him that He was going to send His Son through his lineage, [Psalms 8:3-5 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.]
Jesus, was certainly crowned with glory and honor, Christ is “the Captain of salvation”, and is so rightly called as He is the author and finisher of our faith, [Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.]. It was through His sufferings on the cross that we are made perfect through our faith alone in Him.
[Hebrews 2:9,11,14,16-17 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.]
[For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one:] Jesus, prayed this to His and our Father all whom have received Christ as their Saviour are sanctified through Him, [John 17:8-9,17,19,22-23 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.]
[For verily he took not on him the nature of angels;] This right here proves that Jesus is not just some spiritual being that God created to save man, nor is He just the Son of God, He is God in the flesh, sent through a woman, in particular of the lineage of Abraham. Do you understand what that means? God, with all the power that He has, who can hear, see, and do anything and be anywhere, all at the same time, had one thing that He never experienced, and that was what it was like to live in the flesh. That all changed when He came here in the flesh through man, in the person of Jesus Christ. He became just as you and I, subjected Himself to hunger, pain, and death, and He did it all because He loved us too much to see us perish, [John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.]
[that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,] Now that he covered the angels, it was also necessary for Paul to remind the Jews, who held Moses in such high esteem, that he was just a man too. Moses, was a sinner, just like you and I, who just happened to win God’s favor because he saw a bush burning on a mountain top and looked back to see why it was not being burnt to a crisp, [Exodus 3:2-4 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.]
God, gave Moses the Law and while it was not a permanent means to salvation it was the foundation that every believer, whether Jew or Gentile, would follow until He sent His Son, who is also the Apostle and High Priest of our profession of faith.
[Hebrews 3:1-6 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. 4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.]
[But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we,] Yes, not only are we one with Christ we are also His temple. Well, in the form of the Holy Spirit He is. God does not dwell in a building with some walls, some windows, and doors, He dwells in every believer. Naturally, since He dwells in every believer we can pretty much account that He will not let us remain as we were. This will actually send a lot of people packing up and leaving Christ, which is why we must believe this until our last breath on earth.
[Hebrews 3:7-9,11-15 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.]
[lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,] People die every day thinking that they were saved because lived a certain way or followed a certain religion, but where they end up is hell because they turned their heart from Christ. The Gospel, is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ who was born of a virgin and remained sinless the entire time that He lived here on earth. If anyone believes anything other than this, even if you do not believe that Mary was a virgin, then you are not saved. You must believe in all of the Gospel in order to be saved. Why? You cannot believe that one part of the Bible is true and another part is not. You must believe that the entire Bible is true! Jesus, is our rest from the work that we never could do to save our soul.
[Hebrews 4:1-2,6,8,10-11 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.]
[but the word preached did not profit them,] This is the majority of those who walk away from Christ. You see, when we come to Christ it is not like the world portrays Christianity to be, as though we will never feel pain or sorrow again. We suffer, are afflicted, falsely accused, often for our faith, and go through a lot of pain, and since it does not profit them, they walk away. Why then do we stay true to Christ? His grace.
[Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.]
[but was in all points tempted like as we are,] We will never be sinless while we have this flesh, but we can be faithful, and show our love for Christ by living the rest of our lives in our faith. Jesus gave us the greatest example of obedience, and yes, He was tempted just as much as we are.
[Hebrews 5:8-9,11-14 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.]
[he first principles of the oracles of God;] [Oracles; The place where the answers were given. The communications, revelations, or messages delivered by God to prophets.] Somehow, the world has crept into the church, in fact, the devil has, there are false prophets everywhere, and they are teaching this false doctrine that is literally sending people to hell. We are too complex in our reasoning to ever comprehend everything that God wants us to learn in His Word, but as we study it for ourselves, through the Holy Spirit, we learn that God really in not that complicated at all, the everlasting covenant that God gives believers of His Son, is by trusting in Him as our Saviour, [John 3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I will never understand how I can be saved simply by believing in and accepting You as my Saviour, but I do understand that I am saved by my faith alone in Your finished work. Thank You for saving me, it is not always easy to get through the pains and sorrows, but I know I can endure them through You. Lord, Lead me and guide me, teach me Your truths so that I can teach them to others, and when I start to doubt or feel like things are hopeless, keep me looking to You, my Saviour, my God, my everything. I love You, LORD, and am nothing without You. I ask this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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