Salvation- God bears witness

Heb 2:3 ...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
Heb 2:4 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


So great salvation- first spoken by the Lord- confirmed by those who heard the Lord.


God also bore witness of this great salvation. How?

With signs.
With wonders.
With different miracles.
With gifts of the Holy Ghost.


To reveal salvation to the world many steps were taken. The unveiling was in reality miraculous in many ways so that it would be undeniable.


Salvation undeniable yet denied by the vast majority of those who witnessed first hand and by the vast majority today, and all throughout the ages.


If signs and wonders, if miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost were not enough- nothing would be enough. Do we want this today? Do we demand today to see signs, to witness wonders, to experience miracles, to be declared by a tongue of fire that the Holy Ghost has gifted us? Would we even recognize a sign, a wonder, a miracle, a gift? We are so jaded by so many things and our skepticism has only grown deeply embedded in our lifestyles. We are quick to judge on the side of negativity and we call it by the name realism- we are just being realistic about things. The truth of the matter is that we join with the throngs that stood in a crowd and cried out for our Savior to be crucified when we deny active faith, when we refuse to believe real miracles, real signs, real wonders, and real gifts from the Holy Ghost. Yes, we do have to be extremely cautious because Satan will try and imitate all of these things and he will succeed in deceiving many, but just because Satan will use these things, doesn't mean God won't use them. We can differentiate between the two by taking everything to the Word of God. Should we seek signs and wonders, miracles and gifts? Not to the exclusion of a faith that stands on just that… faith alone.


All has to be done according to God's will- not our will. All was done according to God's will when God's Son took on humanity and chose to offer His life to bring us salvation.


Salvation is REAL!


Salvation! A word that means what exactly?

sal·va·tion
[sal-vey-shuhn]

Show IPA
–noun
1.
the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2.
the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
3.
a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
4.
Theology . deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.

Pasted from


Saved! Redeemed! Delivered!


So many people today don't even believe they are in need of salvation. Satan has done His work well. People don't believe they are in a state of captivity because the captivity is to sin and they don't believe in sin. Yes, they might believe in *certain* sins but they don't commit those *certain* sins - they aren't criminals and so they have no need of being saved, they aren't captive to anything at all, thank you very much.


Satan worked with all stops out when Jesus was working His ministry on earth and since Jesus won salvation for all that would accept it, Satan has stopped at nothing, working harder and harder to deceive using every single tactic he can. So what if you believe, he'll steer that belief into the 'saved by works' mentality. So what if you show faith in God, he'll guide you to have more faith in yourself. For every single bit of godliness that exists, Satan and his minions have counter measures to put into place. Is it no wonder the path is so narrow? Is it no wonder few there be that find that path? Ask for God to take the spiritual blinders off you, ask for the eyesalve so needed so we can see all the truth, so that we can see His ways and then by His grace, by His power walk in those ways.


Salvation! Brought to us undeserving sinners by God! We can't neglect this so great salvation, God has done all He can to bear witness to its reality.


By His grace, by His mercy, in His love, His righteousness now and forever!



Amen!

Plead my cause, oh LORD!

During my recent Bible studies on Friday evenings we've been studying Spiritual Warfare. As most people know - when we get closer to the Lord the Devil gets mad. We are attacked. It's not fiction- it's reality. Satan would have us believe it's fiction, Satan would have us believe any attacks by him have to be the stuff of exorcisms. The every day ordinary life is Satan-free, right? That's how Satan would have us think. The nasty little every day irritations can't be from him, He doesn't bother himself with tiny stuff.


It's a lie, and He's the father of lies. Satan works his evil in every way he can in the smallest ways possible. He's not going to exert any more effort than needed to capture the spiritual life of a person. Satan will not go to great lengths if only small upsets are enough to take over a person and bring them to despair that they'll ever be able to be the Lord's fully.


Today I was attacked spiritually in a very vicious way and I didn't exhibit any Christ-like qualities as I was assaulted. The attack came from more than one side and just threw me for a loop. No, I'm not going to relate some amazing, supernatural occurrence to you. It wasn't a supernatural occurrence but rather situations set up to entice me to be overcome by the sin of unrighteous anger. In the blink of an eye one occurrence took place and while that spark ignited the fire a heart beat later another occurrence caused that small flame to explode and I felt an awful rage of anger and logically there was no real reason for any of it to happen! None! I don't understand why, I just know that I succumbed to the attack and reacted just how Satan wanted me to react. The guilt, the shame, the awful knowledge that my spiritual life was so lacking I could be so easily goaded into sinning pained me something awful. Knowing that others witnessed my unwarranted anger, knowing others were the victims of my failing made me feel sick. Recognizing it all for what it was- a Satanic attack- not of the spectacular but of the ordinary- was a blessing. Asking for forgiveness, letting the others know it was an attack- helped me get through it without too much spiritual damage- PRAISE GOD!


The reason I'm writing about this here in my Bible Study is because we need to recognize the enemy for what He is and what He does. We need to realize His workings not as an excuse like some think we use it for, but for the reality we live in. We need to BLAME Satan for what He does, for what He orchestrates, for the evil He incites, we CAN'T let Him place the blame on us as if He doesn't exist, or worse still we can't let Him place the blame on God.


This Psalm of David has been brought to my attention several times lately and with good reason-


Psa 35:1 A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
Psa 35:2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
Psa 35:3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Psa 35:4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
Psa 35:5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Psa 35:6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.


The angel of the LORD chase them.
The angel of the LORD persecute them.


Satan is an evil angel and he has many minions of like kind. We might read something like the verses above and instantly imagine living in a time of warfare with human enemies after us- something I know I don't live with at all in that respect. What I live with is spiritual warfare. I need to pray this prayer- I need to ask the Lord to strive with me, to fight against them that fight against me- and those who are the 'them' might just be evil angels, not other human beings. We are told to put on armor- Spiritual armor. We are told to take a helmet, a shield, a sword, a belt, boots, a breastplate- armor. Here in this Psalm David is pleading to God- 'take hold of a shield and buckler- draw out the spear.' Spiritual armor! We need our spiritual enemies to be just as confounded, to be put to shame, to turn back, to be brought to confusion. We need the spiritual enemy to be as chaff in the wind- we need the angel of the Lord to persecute them.


We are in a battle! We are, we really, really are and we can't let anything in this world convince us otherwise. As soon as we begin to believe the battle is fictional we are lost.


It is my prayer along with David's- Plead my cause, O LORD. Plead my cause! Please God- Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation!


By His grace!


Amen.

Jesus' Prayer

What a blessing it is for us personally to hear these words of our Savior--


Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word


That's you and me Jesus is talking about! Jesus is praying for you and me! This prayer is so important for us. Jesus told us specifically that when we pray we shouldn't do so with vain repetitions, that we shouldn't make a great show of it, no public spectacle when we pray but rather go to a closet and pray there, do so in private rather than put your praying on display. So after being told all this we are greatly privileged, blessed, to hear one of Jesus' prayers. Jesus would go away in private to do most of His praying, but this prayer was one we were meant to hear. A prayer to His Father. Communication with His Father, with God the Father, how amazing is this! We get to listen as Jesus speaks with His Father when mentions US.


Let's really listen to this prayer-- Joh 17:1-26


These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said--

Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.


And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.


And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.


I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 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.


I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.


And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.


And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.


While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.


And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.


I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.


I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.


They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.


Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.


As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
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.


Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.


AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!


Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.


Amazing! Jesus doesn't pray for the world! How shocking that news might be for many who preach that we are to pray for the world. Jesus isn't praying for the world. Jesus knows this world as it is belongs to the prince of darkness. Jesus prays for those that God has given to Him. Those God has given to Him do not find this world to be theirs either.


Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.


We are NOT supposed to fit in! We are not supposed to look, be, feel, act like the world! We are not supposed to be like the majority! We are not to have their same thoughts or actions. We are not to seek acceptance from the world. If you are hoping to fit in, hoping that the Lord will answer your prayer to make you more like the world- more acceptable to others- then you are not in harmony with Jesus at all. You've had to have heard that that there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to do things. The right way to most people is the one that doesn't rock any boats, that doesn't make you stand out in a crowd. The wrong way is to go about it in a way that will cause unrest, unease, making people feel uncomfortable- in a way that doesn't conform. Am I suggesting people who serve their Lord and Savior are to be unruly? No. I'm suggesting that we need to stand up for Christ and not be ashamed of Him and do so in a way that the world may not accept. Don't hide our faith, don't try to fit in with the world just so the world accepts you. What good is having the acceptance of EVERYONE on this world and not having the acceptance of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior? Do your peers accept you? Does your family accept you? Do co-workers accept you? Do your neighbors accept you? Do they all follow the Lord? Are they too not of this world? If they are of this world and not of Jesus then you need to ask yourself if you are conforming to their ways- being accepting of their worldliness- so you are accepted, or are they tolerating your ways, the ways of our Lord?


Jesus lived in this world but wasn't of this world! He is our great example. I want to be of Jesus' world, not this world. The more uncomfortable, the more ill-at-ease, the more strange I feel in this world the better, as long as the world I belong to is the same as Jesus' world.


May God bless us as Jesus' prayer is prayed for us even now. By the mercy of our Lord, by His grace!


In Christ now and forever and ever, always.


Amen.

How shall we escape....

Heb 2:1-3 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. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 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


Every transgression
Every disobedience…


…will receive its just reward.


Make NO mistake people! No mistake! We have to give EARNEST HEED to what we know, because if we don't, if we just let what we know of salvation slip away we will NOT ESCAPE! If we neglect salvation we will NOT ESCAPE! It's not automatic, eternal life in Christ is NOT automatic. What is automatic is eternal death if we neglect the great salvation of our Savior.


Are you giving earnest heed to your Salvation? What happens when you stop heeding salvation? What happens when eternal life ceases to be a concern and all that matters is the life you have right here on earth now? Should thoughts of salvation be daily thoughts? Should the eternal be a daily contemplation or just something you think about once in a while, from time to time? Should our eternal life be something like retirement? You think about it occasionally and even make a few plans for it, you accept a few conditions here and there about investing in your retirement fund, but it isn't something you bother yourself with every day. Maybe the older you get the more you think about it and then as it approaches you have constant thoughts. If we treat our eternal life in the same way there is a great chance that we will have neglected salvation. No, you say? You will have saved up for eternal life? You will have put away a little something? It doesn't work like that. It's not retirement, it's not a new phase of life as you wait for inevitable dying. Eternal life is just that - eternity. It's so much more important than any sort of retirement. Eternal life needs earnest heeding. Eternal life needs to be experienced every day, constantly. Eternal life needs to be part of our daily life now, not something we think about later on.


How else shall we escape?


Do you really believe that life is nothing more than birth, aging, and death? Do you really believe that here and now is all that life consists of? The real world is the eternal world, not this world we are living on right now. The real world exists beyond this one. Satan would have us believe that this is the real world and all there is and everything else is mere fantasy. Satan would have us believe that we don't have to concern ourselves with heeding earnestly anything spiritually discerned- if we keep our thoughts in the real world, on real problems, on real life will we be okay- that's Satan's plan for any and all he can convince.


Heb 2:1-3 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. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 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


Unless we recognize our sinning and seek salvation through repentance and the grace of our Lord and Savior, unless we realize our need of constant salvation through the righteousness of God's Son, we will have to pay a price for every sin, for every transgression. Our Savior paid the price for us, but we have to live in Him, making that gift available to us. Salvation is the gift of God and it's a gift we have to have in our hearts at all times, a salvation pacemaker if you will. Something with us at all times, working at all times on our behalf. We cannot accept salvation and like a real pacemaker forget about it being there after awhile, we need to be aware of God always. We need to be aware of God's love and the gift of God always. Once you accept Christ as your Savior you are choosing to live for Him.


Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.


The only way this verse if pertinent is if we are praying daily, right? Our Lord and Savior would have us praying daily, He would have us living in Him daily.


Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 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.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.


By the grace and mercy of our Lord! By His will! Please Lord, please… let the love that God the Father loved His Son with be in us , and Christ be in us now and always! In His righteousness, in His amazing love!


Amen.

No angel sits at the right hand of God.

Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?


None. He said this to NONE of the angels. So while angels have their place in the grand scheme of things, a great place, they cannot compare to the Son of God.


Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?


Angels sent forth to minister to ME! Angels sent forth to minister to YOU! We would be heirs of salvation and we have angels to help us. Even in our darkest hour angels are surrounding us- protecting our salvation. Would we have it any other way? Sometimes we want help right now for our temporal life and that's not such a bad thing, but more importantly we need help for our eternal life and suffering here and now is nothing as long as we holdfast to the prize of salvation. Life weebles and wobbles all the time. One day it's wonderful the next day it's filled with horror. Everything in our life can be taken from us. All our money can be stolen, lost, spent. Our health can go from perfect to deadly in a blink of an eye. There is NOTHING in this world that can't be stripped from us, nothing! I've heard these words in a song, but they are from the Bible--


Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,


Everything is counted as loss. Anything we have, everything we've gained whether it's mental gain, emotional gain, physical gain… it's all counted as loss… if we have Christ!


There isn't ONE thing you can possess in any fashion that is worth more than the possession of salvation through our Lord and Savior.


Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?


We ARE ministered to. We might not realize it, but we are and in the ONLY way that matters, in a way we cannot fathom, in the way of the invisible. We can't see the angels that surround us as we engage in this unseen war that most people don't even WANT to realize exists. The unseen war is fiction and fairy tale, the stuff of fantasy to the majority of people. The unseen war isn't real- ask most people you meet if they believe in the unseen war, the battle of principalities and powers and they'll give you a look that tells you that you belong in a loony bin.


Keep it real. You've heard that before, right? Keep it real. This is as real as it gets. Eternal life real. I refuse to believe that this screwed up life right now is the only life we are supposed to ever have. Call me crazy if you want, but I'd rather be considered living in a dream world than having my feet firm in reality if it means giving up my belief in eternal life, my belief in the unseen world beyond this one.


Angels sent forth to minister to us- heirs of salvation. Are you an heir of salvation? By the grace of our Lord, through His love, mercy, His forgiveness and His righteousness we can be heirs of salvation. And being heirs of salvation we can be assured that behind the veil that separates our sight from the unseen world angels are there to keep us in our path of salvation, protecting us, ministering to us in the way of the eternal all because of our Savior's love! All because our Lord sit's at the Father's right hand.


Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?


No angels sits at the right hand of God, our Savior sits there and the angels are sent forth by Him to help us. Praise God!


In His Love now and forever!


Amen.

Everything can fail but our LORD!

Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.


Have you ever made anything? Stupid question, right? Of course you've made things. You've followed a recipe, you've planted a flower, you've taken a blank piece of paper and drawn on it, you've had an art project in school that you had to create, right? You've taken things and used them to create other things. There are very few people who have never held a crayon and drawn a picture. Even people who live in complete poverty and only have mud puddles to play with end up creating things. A scrap of cloth along with an imagination becomes so much. We know what creation is and we can only grasp minutely that the foundation of this earth we live on was created by our Lord. Scientists and skeptics, the faithless of all walks would have us believe we just are. End of story, we exist and that's that. Sure, let's toy with the idea of mankind transforming from ape creatures over millions and billions of years, and let us entertain the idea of alien creatures planting us here millions of years ago. Let us even imagine that life itself popped into existence in some watery ooze and as a microscopic creature crawled out of that ooze and became a human being over years of transformation. The belief that our world was created by our Lord takes faith. Faith that some call foolishness. Not only did the Lord lay the foundation of earth He laid the foundation of the HEAVENS.


We look at our world and the heavens and believe they are everlasting- barring any unforeseen asteroid, or nuclear war. Yet they aren't. This world is waxing old, wearing out… is it the greenhouse effect? We are calling it that and at the same time denying it. This world can perish, SHALL perish. Whatever the reason behind it all - as we search for reasons so it can be stopped- it will continue to wax old, it will continue to wear out. Sin has degraded not only the people but the world in devastating ways. Only the Lord's mercy has kept this world from being destroyed.


This world and the heavens will wax old, they shall perish, like an old shirt they will be folded up…tossed away…changed! And while this earth is changed, and while the heavens perish, the LORD will NEVER change. The Lord's years will NEVER fail.


Everything we know can disappear and fade away. Everything we believe is tangible all around us can perish, everything! We can't allow ourselves to believe that anything on earth or in the heavens is untouchable by our Lord. So many people like to explain away Biblical miracles by finding supposed scientific reasons for those miracles- anything so that their faith doesn't have to be engaged. Those people will come face to face with our Lord and Savior one day and in that day all their reasoning's will mean nothing.


Can we fix the world? No.
Can we fix the sin problem? No.


Can God fix the world? Yes.
Can God fix the sin problem? Yes.


God can fix the world, and God can fix the sin problem, in fact He has. We know that this world isn't our home, that there will be a new world. We know that God's Son sacrificed Himself so that we would not have to eternally die and sin would not eternally live. We know all this by FAITH! By FAITH in our LORD, in our SAVIOR, our CREATOR!


This world was created, it didn't just happen by chance. This world and the heavens are God's handiwork and there are many, many miraculous, stunning sights on this earth from the tiniest miracle to the largest- all created, not just in existence by happenstance.


Faith.


Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.


EVERYTHING can fail, but our LORD. Nothing is sure but our LORD. In all things, when lives are turned upside-down in a blink of an eye, our LORD is sure.


All praise, all glory, and all honor unto our LORD forever and ever without end!


Amen!

Christ's Authority- Christ's Rghteousness

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 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;
Heb 1:3 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;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.


God's Son… made so much better than the angels.


People would doubt that there could be anything better than being like an angel, wouldn't they? Think about it. Who wouldn't want to have a spirit form that can transform into solid form at will? We make movies about this sort of dream life, this supernatural ability, this super power. Jesus was made HUMAN. Was Jesus able to turn into all spirit form and no flesh as a human being before He died and was raised from the dead in His human form that others were not to touch until He ascended to the Father? We know that He could walk on water, we know that He could get a boat and all the people in it to a shore having been in the middle of the lake in a blink of an eye, we know that He could change water into wine, we know He could heal people. We know that Jesus possessed powers that He could use and even give to others to use. Jesus was made BETTER than the angels, and by inheritance He obtained a more excellent name. Jesus had the best of both worlds- spiritual and physical, human and God. Angels are not gods. Angels are created beings. Jesus is from everlasting in His spirit form. He was created in the womb of a human to take on human form- his substance joined with human substance- a baby conceived in a miracle of the Spirit. Jesus also experienced the worst of humanity, this is something we can never forget.


Angels can never be human. Angels may be able to take on the appearance of flesh, but they can never be flesh. So many humans trapped in decaying flesh, trapped in bodies filled with aches and pains, disease and frailty, long for the disappearance of their flesh bodies wanting what angels have-- yet we have NO real concept of what angels experience.


We do know that our human flesh will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye when Christ comes and takes us to heaven with Him, even the dead in Christ will rise and take on this new, transformed body and it's easy for me to assume it will be a body like Jesus' body after He rose from the grave and ascended to His Father.


Heb 1:5 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?


There is so much to contemplate when thinking about what it means - Jesus being made so much better than the angels. Only to Jesus did God ever say- '...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'


No angel ever heard those words from God. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- was there creating the worlds. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- lowered himself to take on human flesh, divesting Himself of His spirit form. Jesus- a god in and of Himself- the son of God the Father- received honor from the Father as no angel ever could.


Heb 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.


God made the angels spirits.
God made the angels-his ministers- flames of fire.


But...

Heb 1:8 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.


Amazing! God said to His Son-
Thy throne O God
is for ever and ever
a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.


Christ's righteousness is the sceptre of the kingdom, a sceptre is a symbol of authority. Christ's symbol of His authority is His righteousness, that is so beautiful! It really is beautiful. Is it no wonder we need Christ's righteousness? We have none of our own and only Christ's righteousness will prevail. Christ's authority, by His authority we live.


Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.


Beautiful.


The love of righteousness.
The hate of sin.


Jesus anointed with the oil of gladness above all others.


You know, Satan thinks He's better than our Savior, better than God's Son. Satan dared to tempt Jesus with things as one who is greater than the Son of God.


Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.


How incomprehensible!!! That Satan, a fallen angel, full of sin, the father of lies is deluded into believing he could have anything the Son of God could want.


Satan would give to the Son of God, as if the Son of God couldn't take anything He wanted, as if the world wasn't already His.


Yes, the Son of God was anointed with the oil of gladness above all.


The Son of God who for OUR SAKE took on human flesh in all its frailty, who suffered, who died for us. There is no other love so amazing, none!


In His righteousness, in His love, by His grace, through His mercy!!!


All glory to God and His Son!



Amen.