“Flesh and Blood” [Matt's Messages]

“Flesh and Blood”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

March 1, 2026 :: Hebrews 2:10-18 

Today, we need to fix our eyes on the humanity of Jesus. 

We need to fix our eyes on the humble humanness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the first four messages in our series on the sermonic letter to those Hebrew Christians–who were tempted to take their eyes off of Jesus and fall out of the race of faith–the emphasis has been on the exaltation of Jesus. 

And that is right! Jesus is exalted! He is the Son of God and God the Son! 

He is superior to the angels! He is the maker of all things, the sustainer of all things, the owner of all things. The radiance of God’s glory and the perfect picture of His nature. Jesus is God’s last Word. 

And where is He now? Church, where is Jesus right now? He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (1:3)! He is exalted! And we should fix our eyes on Him. And not take our eyes off of Him. And pay careful attention to Him and the great salvation He has announced and provided. 

Jesus is exalted. Last week, the writer said (v.9), “[W]e see Jesus...crowned with glory and honor!” And we sang, “Crown Him! Crown Him! Crown Him! Lord of All!”

But there was a step before that crowning that Jesus had to take. There was a step downward before that exaltation that the Son had to descend. And that is that He had to become a human. He had to take on (v.14), “flesh and blood.”

[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]

“Flesh and Blood.” 

The Son of God had to become one of us. That phrase “flesh and blood” is really good because it expresses a couple of different things at the same time. One is the literal fact of having actual flesh and actual blood. Jesus had both. 

He didn’t just seem to be human, but He was (and is) fully human. There was a heresy in the first few centuries after Christ called “docetism,” where the false teachers spread this idea that Jesus was fully God, fully divine, but He only seemed to be fully human. 

It would be gross and wrong, they thought, that the Son of God would have actual flesh and actual blood?! Eww. That would be beneath God and sully God if the Son had all of the weaknesses and indignities of humanity.

But that is, of course, what we were just celebrating two months ago at Christmastime, wasn’t it? 

The Word became flesh! And He dwelled among us. And He had blood. 

Stop for a second and feel your pulse. Put your fingers up on your jugular. Do you feel with your flesh the thump thump of your heart pumping blood through your body?

Two thousand years ago, when Jesus did that, He felt the exact same thing. He had flesh, and He had blood. And that’s what this section of the letter is all about. 

And we also use that phrase “flesh and blood,” to talk about family. Right? Pete and Isaac down here are my own flesh and blood. “We are family” as Sister Sledge might sing. We share in flesh and blood as a family.  And that’s also what this section of the letter is all about. 

There is all kinds of family language: brothers (and implicitly sisters), and children and descendants and sons.

Flesh and blood. Jesus in His mission to provide such a great salvation took on human flesh and blood. Why? 

This passage is going to say that it was “fitting” and appropriate and the right thing to do and even will say, He had to do so. He had to be made like His flesh and blood brothers. How come?

Because it takes flesh and blood to suffer and die a human death. It takes Christmas to get to Good Friday. Flesh and blood. So we need to fix our eyes on the humanity of Jesus. 

The writer has already started us on that focus. Last week in verses 5 through 9, he pulled out Psalm 8 and preached a message to us about how human beings were made and meant to rule the world. Remember this?

We were made to wear crowns. And, at creation, everything was placed under our feet. But we ruined it. We humans broke the world instead of ruling it wisely and well, and now we do not see things the way they supposed to be. Chapter 2, verse 8.

“Yet at present we do not see everything subjected to [humanity].”

“But [v.9] we see Jesus! ... now crowned with glory and honor.” At the right hand of the throne of God. How did He get there? He started there, but how did He get back there? First, He was “made a little lower than the angels” so He became a human being, like us, taking on flesh and blood, and then...He died a human death. Verse 9.

“But we see Jesus...now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Jesus is exalted and crowned in this way because He suffered death. And to do that, He had to take on flesh and blood.

I have three points this morning I want to make to summarize what Jesus accomplished by partaking in flesh and blood, and here’s the first one. We’ve already sung this line this morning in “How Deep the Father’s Love.”

#1. TO BRING US TO GLORY.

Jesus took on flesh and blood to bring His children to glory. Look with me at verse 10. It flows right out of verse 9. Verse 10.

“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

Now, there’s a lot there in that verse, and the logic is not obvious at first. He says it was “fitting,” so that means “appropriate.” It was the correspondingly right thing to do that God–the One Who made everything and that everything is for–would make the author (or your version might have “captain” or “source” or “pioneer” or “leader,” and that’s got to be Jesus) perfect through suffering.

Wow! “Perfect through suffering?” What a thought?! What does he mean?

One thing he cannot mean is that Jesus was morally imperfect and needed to be made morally perfect. No. Jesus was sinless, and this author insists on that more than any other book in the Bible (see Hebrews 4:15, 7:26)! He does not mean that Jesus was sinful and had to be perfected through suffering to become sinless. No way.

What he means, I think, is that Jesus, in His humanity, was being perfectly equipped to save His people.

Jesus was taking on all of the qualifications of a perfect savior. And one of the chief qualifications of a perfect savior was suffering. He couldn’t save His people without suffering.  Suffering was essential to being the perfect Savior, and so Jesus was made perfect through suffering.

Now, that’s counter-intuitive to us. We think that suffering should always be avoided whenever possible. But the Bible says that suffering is the path to glory, and God’s people will all walk it. And so must their Savior.

The writer calls Jesus, the “author” of our salvation. The same word that he will use in Hebrews 12:2 when he tell us to fix our eyes on Jesus and run the race set before us fixing our eyes on Him as the “author” of our faith.

The Greek word there is a little hard to translate. That’s why our English Bibles give us so many options. (Maybe Keith will talk about it tonight at the class on Bible translation?)

The basic idea is a something like a trailblazer. Somebody who goes first and makes the way? Like an author who is the source of the story, getting the story started and first to get to the end because it’s His story. 

Or like a pioneer who sets out first and makes the trail. Jesus took the route of suffering and made that the way of salvation.

And the writer says that that was “fitting” for God to do to Him! Why? Because everything is about Him, it was right for God to make Jesus perfect through suffering. Because He is worth it all. And because He’s gracious like that. And because the Son Who would suffer is that same God who would get the glory for stepping down into death for His children so that they would be brought to glory.

“In bringing many sons (and daughters too!) to glory...”

And what blew me away this week was realizing that he does not just mean “gloryland” there. I think about “bringing many sons to glory” as being “bringing many Christians to heaven.” And it does mean that, but the glory here in context is the glory of verse 7 and verse 9.

It’s the glory that we were originally supposed to have as God’s image-bearing rulers of the world! He’s saying that we’re going to get our crowns back.

Jesus is going to fix everything so that we, fellow-humans, will be crowned with glory and honor–not because we’re so amazing in and of ourselves but–because Jesus perfectly suffered for us in His flesh and blood.

We’re going to be brought to glory and share in it! Church, we’re going to be glorified!

And Jesus is going to exult in that. He’s going to be so happy that we are brought to glory. I think that’s the point of the next three verses where the author makes his points again from quotations drawn from the Old Testament. He knows that these Jewish Christians will appreciate arguments from the Hebrew Bible. Look at verse 11. It’s the verse that Jenni put on the front of our bulletins today. Verse 11.

“Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. [Notice the family language.] He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again he says, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me’” (vv.11-13).

The writer has 3 quotes from two different passages in the Old Testament. Psalm 22, verse 22 in Hebrews 2:12 and Isaiah chapter 8, verse 17 and verse 18 in Hebrews 2:13.

There is a lot going on here, but the basic point is not complex. The basic point is simple. The basic point is that Jesus is so pleased and excited that He is bringing many sons (and daughters) to glory. And He calls us family. V.11 again.

“Both the one who makes men holy [that’s Jesus] and those who are made holy [that’s us] are of the same [NIV has] family [your version might say “Father,” the Greek is simply, “one” but the basic idea ends up the same].”

You and I are made of the same stuff as Jesus.  Jesus is the made of the same stuff as us! Flesh and blood, right? It’s not like we’re one thing and He’s another. Yes, He’s more, but He is not less. He’s 100% human. Just like we say in Article 4 of our Statement of Faith echoing the Nicene Creed. That theology comes from right here.

“Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same [flesh and blood]. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t miss that. Jesus is not is not ashamed to call us brother or sister!

Did you get that?! Jesus is not ashamed to call you brother. Jesus is not ashamed to call you sister. Jesus is not ashamed of you. Jesus is not ashamed to be associated with you.

Do you believe that?

That doesn’t mean you and I haven’t done things that we should be ashamed of. But see Who Jesus is in verse 11. He’s the one who makes us holy. He’s One who sanctifies us. And He’s become one of us. So He’s not ashamed to be associated with us. He’s not ashamed that we are in His family.

Let that sink in. Some of you live in shame all the day long. Jesus is not ashamed of you. You don’t have to be ashamed. You don’t have live in shame. You can hold your head up high. Because of Jesus, your head is being fitted for a crown! He is bringing you to glory. Glory!

Do you need proof this is how Jesus thinks of you? Verse 12 says to check Psalm 22 where “He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises’” (2:12).

We’ve studied Psalm 22 before. It’s the one that is so clearly about Jesus and His crucifixion? It begins, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus quoted it about Himself on the Cross. We read it this time of year. “...they have pierced my hands and feet” (v.16). “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing” (v.18). It’s about the crucifixion. 

But then the Psalm takes a turn towards the end that is clearly about the resurrection and the ascension to the right hand of God the Father! The Psalmist (who turns out to be Jesus) declares that He will be rescued. He will saved. And “we will feast in the house of Zion.” The kingdom will come in all of its fullness (see Ps 22:22-31). 

He is sure of it! So he says, “I will declare your name [God] to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”

He calls us brothers, and He says He’s going to sing with us! Have you ever thought about that? That the Lord Jesus is going to sing with us in glory?!

And what will He sing? Verse 13. 

“I will put my trust in him.” That’s Jesus’ song. He gets it from Isaiah 8:17 (look it up this afternoon), “I will put my trust in him.” And then Isaiah 8:18 says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

And the writer to the Hebrews says that Jesus sings that one, too.

“Here I am! I’m right here. I’m alive! I’m on the throne. I’m at the right hand. And look who I’ve got here....The children God has given me.”

He’s talking about you and me. He’s got His arms around our shoulders, and He’s so excited and pleased to present us to God. “Don’t they look great in their crowns?!”

He’s not just “not ashamed.” He’s pleased to call us His family. That’s how He feels about you if He’s making you holy. 

He’s bringing us to glory, and He’s not ambivalent about it. No, no. It was the thing that sustained Him through the agony of the cross. For the joy set before Him of glorifying His father and bringing His children to glory, He endured the Cross. That’s what made it worth it to Him. That’s why He took on flesh and blood! To sing with us in glory.

#2. TO DEFEAT OUR ENEMIES.

Look at verse 14. “Here am I and the children God has given me.” Verse 14.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (vv.14-15).

Here’s where he uses the words, “flesh and blood” though in the Greek, it’s actually the other way around, “blood and flesh” but the meaning is the same.

The children have flesh and blood. That’s us. Everybody here has flesh and has blood. We can feel our pulse. So our Savior shared in that. Literally, “shared in the same.” 

The Son of God who had never suffered. Had always dwelled in unapproachable light. Was impassable. Could not suffer in His divine nature. Became a little baby that probably screamed for His milk. Took on flesh and infirmity. He got tired. He got sick. He didn’t know everything. He became limited. And He bled. And He died.

And in that dying, He defeated our greatest enemies. He defeated the devil, and He defeated death itself!

“...he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil...”

The devil does not have ultimate power over death (only God does), but he does have some power over death, and he sure loves death. He loves how he tempted us to sin and then how death came! And put a death grip on us. But Jesus died (and rose again) to destroy the devil and his work!

That word the 1984 NIV translates “destroy” can mean “render inoperable or ineffective” or “reduce to nothing.” The updated NIV has “break the power of” (NIV 2011). One commentator I read this week says that Jesus “defanged the devil” at the Cross (Douglas Moo).

He lost. Satan was beaten by Jesus’ death. That’s why he kept trying to get Jesus to avoid it.  He tempted him at the start of his ministry to skip the Cross and then again in the garden. But Jesus chose His death. Because He knew that He would be defanging the devil. So you and I don’t have to be scared of Satan any more. Wary of him, sure. He’s still prowling around. But if you resist him, he must flee. And someday soon, we will crush him underneath our feet once and for all.

But that’s nothing. In His death, Jesus defeated an even scarier enemy than Satan. Jesus defeated death itself. Remember verse 9. Jesus tasted death for us by the grace of God. And we know that He then spit it out! He took on the wrath of God death that we deserve, the death of judgment, and absorbed it so that we won’t have to. So that, yes, we might die physically, but after that, we won’t enter into the eternal death that we deserved. So now we don’t have anything to be scared of.

If we belong to Jesus, we don’t have to be scared of death. Did you get that from verse 14?

Here’s why He took on flesh and blood. He “shared in their humanity so that by his death he might...free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

We were supposed to rule the the world. But instead we became slaves. Slaves to fear. And specifically fear of death.

Are you afraid of death? It’s normal to be. And it holds us back from so much living. But we can be free! You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to be ashamed (because Jesus calls you His sibling).  And you don’t have to be afraid even of dying. Because Jesus died for you! You don’t have to be scared. You don’t have to be scared of death because what is waiting for you now on the other side. Because of Who is waiting for you now on the other side!

Death is still an enemy.  But like the devil, death is a defeated enemy. And it really can’t hurt you if you belong to Jesus. Because He let it hurt Him. The Son took on flesh and blood so that He could die and kill death in the process (and see Revelation 20:14!). And one day, death will be no more. Do you believe it? Verse 16.

“For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.”

He’s back to angels!

Jesus is not an angel. Jesus never was an angel. Jesus didn’t become an angel. Jesus became a human. He came to save humans. He came to save Abraham’s descendants. And that doesn’t just mean biological Jews. It means all of those who have faith in God’s promise like Abraham did. Jews on the inside (see Romans 4:16, Galatians 3:9). Jesus came to save all who will believe in Him. Is that you? Verse 17.

“For this reason he had to be made [had to! Had to be made] like his brothers in every way [flesh and blood], in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”

Last point for today. Why did Jesus take on flesh and blood?

#3. TO BECOME OUR PERFECT PRIEST.

This is going to be a major theme in the rest of the letter. In fact, he’s going to come back to the idea of Jesus being our high priest again and again, and in chapter 5, he’s going to focus on Jesus being merciful and compassionate and in chapter 3, the very next chapter, he’s going to focus on Jesus being faithful. 

So we don’t have say everything right now. But what I want to point out for sure is that Jesus is our perfect high priest. He is the total package. Merciful and faithful in service to God. He did all that was needed once and for all. And He made atonement for the sins of the people! That means that He dealt with the problem of sin once and for all. Both wiping sin out and absorbing the wrath of God for sin in our place. And the only way that He could do that is if He was flesh and blood. He had to be like us in every way. 

It takes a human priest to be the high priest for humans. And it takes a flesh and blood priest to offer His own flesh and blood!

Because Jesus is like and unlike every other high priest there ever was. He is like them because He’s a human like every other high priest was. But He’s unlike every other high priest because the sacrificial offering He presents to God is His own flesh and blood. He made atonement for the sins of the people. 

And then He sat down. Remember chapter 1, verse 3. “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” It is finished. Our sins are forgiven. They are paid for. They are gone. Because Jesus suffered for us.

His suffering was real. There wasn’t anything fake about Jesus’ suffering. It was agony. It was torment. It was excruciating in every way. He didn’t just seem to suffer. There is no saying that Jesus got off easy or that Jesus doesn’t understand what it means to suffer. Jesus’s suffering was as real as it gets.

And because of that, He can help us. He can help us to be forgiven forever, and He can help us to get through trials and temptations every single day. That’s where he goes in verse 18.

“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he [Jesus] is able to help those who are being tempted.”

What’s he talking about? It was so hard for Jesus. He was tempted, and it never stopped. Our temptations often stop because we give in to them. But Jesus never gave in. And He hated sin more than ever had, so when He was tempted to sin, it was even more painful than we can imagine.

How much He felt like giving in! Think about Jesus in the garden sweating drops of blood. “Take this cup away, Father. Please!” But not my will but your will be done.

He didn’t give in. He never gave in. And we don’t have give in either. He is able to help those who are being tempted to give in. And to give up.

These Jewish believers were tempted to give up. They were tempted to throw in the towel.

They were tempted to go back to Judaism alone. They were tempted to drop out of the race and stop following Jesus.

But this pastor wrote them this letter. "Don’t give in. Don’t give up. Jesus became flesh and blood for you to bring you to glory. He is not ashamed to call you brothers and sisters.  You don’t have to be ashamed no matter what they throw at you! Jesus took on flesh and blood for you to defeat your enemies. You don’t have to be scared of the devil any more. You don’t have to be scared of death any more! And you certainly don’t have to give in to temptation any more. Because He suffered, and He paid for your sins. You don’t have to give in to them either. Don’t quit! Don’t stop!"

Fix your eyes on the humble, suffering humanity of Jesus.

***

Messages in this Series:

01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14
03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4
04. "We See Jesus" - Hebrews 2:5-9

Read More

“We See Jesus” [Matt's Messages]

“We See Jesus”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 22, 2026 :: Hebrews 2:5-9  

We’re going to start today with a pop quiz. See if you’ve been paying attention! Are you ready? Five questions.

QUESTION #1. “In the past God spoke to [us] through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by...[What? Or Whom]”? 

ANSWER: His Son! The owner of all things, the maker of all things, the sustainer of all things. The Son! He’s the “radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” He’s the full and final revelation of God to us! The Son.

QUESTION #2. Which is greater...this Son or the angels of God?

ANSWER: The Son is infinitely greater than the angels. Angels are great! Angels are amazing. But they are nothing compared to the Son. Angels are created. The Son is the Creator. Angels are winds and fire. The Son never changes. We don’t worship the angels. We join the angels in worshiping the Son. 

QUESTION #3. On Whom should we, as Christians, fix our eyes?

ANSWER: Jesus! We should fix our eyes on the Son. That’s the whole point of this letter.  

Chapter 12 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

The Son is worthy of our attention. He’s worthy of our focus. Last week, we learned in the first four verses of chapter 2 that we should pay careful attention to the Son so that we don’t drift away. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus so that we don’t neglect this great salvation that He has announced and provided. 

QUESTION #4, if we ignore His great salvation, will we escape? Yes or No?

ANSWER: No. We will not escape if we ignore such a great salvation. That’s the flipside. That’s the warning of what will happen if we refuse to fix our eyes on Jesus. We will drift away, and we will not escape. There’s so much at stake.

One more question in our pop quiz for today. Well done, so far. One more question, and [big hint] I have already said the answer in the last few minutes! 

QUESTOIN #5. According to the Book of Hebrews, where is Jesus right now?

ANSWER: At the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

I quoted it already from chapter 12, verse 2. It’s also right there in verse 3 of chapter 1, and the writer also quoted Psalm 110 verse 1 in chapter 1, verse 13, as applying to Jesus when he asked, “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?”

What’s the answer to that one? To which of the angels? Not one of them! But He did say that to the Son.  He did say that to Jesus. “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for you feet.” And He did!

Right now, the Son is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Now, I think that’s what’s uppermost in this pastor’s mind as he writes this letter to this struggling church of primarily Jewish believers.

Jesus sitting at the Father’s right hand.

And this writer so wants to encourage these precious saints to focus on Him!

But it’s hard. It’s hard for them to focus on Jesus because life is hard. And because they are starting to be persecuted for following Jesus. And because they are feeling alone and insignificant and scared. And things just aren’t the way they are supposed to be.

Do you ever feel that way? “This is not how things are supposed to be.” I feel that way a lot.  There’s a reason we feel that way. It’s because they aren’t!

So this shepherd wants to encourage these struggling sheep to focus on the One who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high because that will get them through.

He reminds them, “We See Jesus.”

Those words are in verse 9. “We see Jesus.” We lift up the eyes of our hearts to see Jesus where He is. And we fix our eyes on Jesus. We see Jesus, and it makes all the difference.

Let’s work through the passage. It’s really part of a longer section that goes to the end of the chapter, but I felt like studying all of that was biting off more than we could chew. So we’re just focusing today on verses 5 through 9. The writer picks up his argument again about how much greater Jesus is to the angels. Verse 5.

“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.”

Same deal. The angels are amazing, but they are not everything.

The angels are not going to be the rulers of “the world to come.” That’s an interesting phrase isn’t it? He says he’s been writing about a new world coming, and the angels are not going to rule it. They are servants but will not be the masters (see 1:14).

Now, that might be surprising. There are some ways in which angels are currently ruling this world. Remember back in the book of Daniel chapter 10, where the curtain was peeled back a little bit, and we learned that the archangel Michael was some kind of a “prince” (see also Daniel 12:2). And Paul’s letter to the Ephesians says that there unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (KJV: “principalities” and “powers”).

But in the world to come, it will not be angels who will be at the top of creation, ruling all of the world.

So, if not angels, what kind of being will rule the world to come?

I don’t think it’s the hippopotami.

The answer may surprise you. 

Of course, God is the Ruler over all. That’s the same forever and ever. The Ancient of Days sits on the eternal throne. Always has, always is, always will.

But the writer of this letter says that God has made a certain kind of being who He’s going to place over all of the world to come.

And it’s going to be the kind of being that He originally intended to rule over all of creation. And he’s got the Bible to prove it. Look at verse 6.

“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet’” (2:5-6). Stop there for now.

What kind of being will rule over the world to come?

It will be human beings.

Not angels, amazing as they are. It will be you and me. The Bible says so.

Isn’t it funny in verse 6 where he says, “There is a place where someone has testified...” Like he doesn’t remember where it is in his Bible. I feel that don’t you? That happens to me, too. “I don’t know. It’s in there somewhere.”

Actually, he’s probably assuming that they do know exactly where it is. So he can be vague, but they all know where it says:

“What is man that you are mindful of him, 

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the angels; 

you crowned him with glory and honor

and put everything under his feet.”

Where does it say that?

That’s in Psalm 8, which we read at the head of our worship time this morning.

It starts, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” (Psalm 8:1).

You might want to read it again this afternoon.

You know how I said, that Hebrews is a lot like a sermon? It’s a letter, but it reads a lot like what I do every Sunday in explaining and applying the Bible to the flock. Well, here in the first part of chapter 2, the writer is preaching on Psalm 8. He’s taking it out and looking at it and applying to their lives.

And Psalm 8 marvels at the placement of humanity in the world. The focus here is on humanity. Look again at verse 6.

“...there is a place where someone has testified: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

King David was astonished to think that God would think about little old him!

David was blown away that the majestic God of the universe would care two figs for little David.

David says in the verse right before the one Hebrews quotes, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place...what is man that you are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:3).

I have four implications of this passage for our lives today as applications for us this morning, and here’s the first one.

#1. BE AMAZED.

Let yourself be amazed at your place in the world and in God’s own heart.

David looked up at the night sky. He had been a shepherd, you know. A lot of nights looking up at the Milky Way, smelling sheep, and he says, “When I look up there and see just how small I am...the heavens, the moon, the stars...I am so small.”

And those things up there are just your “fingerwork.” Like Heather’s knitting. The stars the galaxies are just the fingerwork of God.

And when I think about that, I feel so small. And that’s right! We are small.

We like to think about ourselves as big. As the measure of all things. We act like we are the center of everything. No! God is the center of everything. God is the measure of all things. And He is immense! 

He’s majestic! But He’s also “mindful” of us. He cares about us?

What I always say about Psalm 8 is that it puts us in our place. Which is small and also significant. It’s tiny and also beloved. God knows your name. God cares about little you. 

I would imagine that the first readers felt insignificant, especially if they were experiencing government sponsored persecution. I mean, when the government comes after you, you can feel so small and defenseless. Who do you call?! You can’t call the police. They’re the problem. You feel so alone. And in the big old universe. So alone.

But Psalm 8 says that we are not alone. And that God has His mind on us. And that blows David’s mind!  Because we’re not just loved, but we we’re given a position of authority in this world. Verse 7.

“You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet’”

 

That’s amazing! Human beings were made just “a little lower than the angels,” and we were given “crowns.” King Adam and Queen Eve were made the rulers of Creation. They were given the glory and honor of bearing the very image of God. Listen to Genesis chapter 1:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Genesis 1:26-28).

That’s amazing?!!

That’s what human beings are supposed to be!

You and I were made to wear crowns.

That’s why we are supposed to be so respectful of other human beings.

Because they bear the image of God and are therefore royalty. 

That’s why abuse is so evil. That’s why mistreatment of other humans, no matter who they are, is so wrong. Inhumane means ungodly. That’s why we honor both men and women. Not one or the other. Both of the two sexes are made in the image of God. That’s why we put money in baby bottles to help convince parents to carry and raise their little princes and princesses. And it’s why take we responsibility for our domains. Because we were given a job to do. We’re supposed to tend the garden, so to speak, of this world.

God crowned us with glory and honor and put everything under our feet.

And by everything, what do you think he means? V.8

“In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him.”

“Everything” means “everything” in all creation! Human beings were made to rule wisely and well.

And yet...Look again at verse 8.

“Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.”

Things are not the way they are supposed to be.

Do you feel it? We all feel it. This world is broken. And we broke it! We are broken, and we broke the world. We failed to rule it well. We failed to rule it wisely. We failed to reflect the image of God. We fell into sin, and we spread it all around. And we invited the curse and death.

We’ve done a bad job of ruling the world. So much so that a fallen angel is often right now called, “the prince of this world.” We do not see everything subject to humanity. 

Oh, we still throw our weight around, but it’s nothing like what it’s supposed to be.

Do I need to convince you of this? Just scroll on your phone, and you will see. We are doing a bad job of ruling the world, and creation isn’t cooperating either. Our enemies are exercising dominion over us. 

Death, for example, is the reigning champion. Everybody here is living with it. It’s coming for everyone in this room.

We were made for so much more, “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to” us.

But! There is more to the story, isn’t there? Here’s our key sentence. Verse 9.

“But we see Jesus...”

This is the first time his personal name is written in this letter. Jesus. It always emphasizes His humanity and His mission to save us. “But we see Jesus!” And that makes all of the difference. Because see what Jesus has done?

The writer uses the language of Psalm 8 and takes it all to a new level. V.9

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels [He became a human like you and me! Stepping down from heaven and assuming a human nature just like ours, taking a spot as a servant, a little lower than the angels, we see Jesus], now crowned with glory and honor [not just because He’s the image of God but] because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

What’s He talking about? He’s talking about where Jesus is right now.

Church, where is Jesus right now?

He’s at the right hand of the Majesty on high. How’d He get there? He is crowned with glory and honor. How come?  Because He suffered death, even death on a Cross.

And He was victorious!  He came back to life. He was raised on the third day and ascended into heaven! And all God’s angels are worshiping Him (1:6). 

That’s where we see Him. We don’t see Him with our physical eyes. We see with the eyes of our heart where Jesus is. 

He is crowned!

He is honored!

The First Adam failed. But the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus, won the victory!

And He’s waiting until the Father makes His enemies a footstool for His feet. And then He’s coming back to rule here as He does there. 

Implication number two:

#2. BE PATIENT.

Be amazed at your place in the world and in God’s heart, and be patient while you wait for Jesus to take His place over the world.

“It is not to angels that [God] has subjected the world to come...”

It is to humans that He has, and most specifically one particular human has led the way.

We see Jesus!

Jesus is the quintessential human. He’s everything that we are (barring sin) and everything we were supposed to be! And He’s coming again to rule the world as it should be.

I can’t hardly wait. But we have to wait.

But while we wait, we wait in hope. We wait, understanding where we are in the story. Creation, Fall, Redemption. New Creation.

We are not forgotten.

We are not alone.

We are small, but we’re on God’s mind and in His heart.

Things are not the way they are supposed to be, and it’s our fault.

But Jesus has tasted death and spit it back out!

Jesus has conquered death so that death will not have the last word for you and me. Jesus is going to fix it all. He’s going to fix everything. And everything is going to be put under His feet.

Implication number three:

#3. BE THANKFUL.

We see Jesus...suffering death, by God’s grace, in our place.

He tasted death, experienced the full force of death, for every one of us who are His. He died the death that we deserved.

We’re going to talk more about this next week because Jesus’ flesh-and-blood-humanity and death is the focus of the whole rest of the chapter. And all of what His death means to you and me.

But we know just from verse 9 that it was “for” us. And that it was a gift. It says “by the grace of God.”

We didn’t deserve. We couldn’t deserve it. 

We didn’t earn it. We couldn’t earn it.

We can’t even pay it back. It’s got to be a gift or nothing.

And, praise God, it is a gift!

Have you received the gift? The gift of eternal life that comes from the death of Jesus Christ? If you have not, you are headed to destruction. You are headed towards Hell. And you deserve it. But you don’t have to go there. There is such a great salvation you can have instead! You are invited to turn from your sins and trust in the Savior. To put your faith in Jesus and what He did on the Cross.

He endured the Cross.

He scorned the shame.

And He sat down at the right hand of throne of God!

And one day, He’s coming back to set everything right.

Jesus is the quintessential human. He’s the Son of Man (like in verse 6) and also like in Daniel 7 which we learned about this time last year.

Where Daniel saw, “...one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).

Remember, all bad things must come to end.

And then we will reign with Him!

Daniel 7 also said, “Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him” (Daniel 7:27).

You and I will get to wear those crowns after all!

In fact, the Bible says that one day we will in some way judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)?!

Be amazed.

Be patient.

Be thankful.

And lastly:

#4. BE FOCUSED.

Be focused on Jesus. Because it’s all about Him. Don’t take your eyes off of Jesus. Not for one second.

Do you see Him? He’s seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High.

Yes, things are a mess right now. Things are not as they ought to be. But things are going to change. Guaranteed by the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the accession of Jesus, and the present session of Jesus at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let’s stay focused, not on angels, not on ourselves, not on how hard life is, not on what we cannot yet see, but let us stay focused on Him.

We see Jesus.

***

Messages in this Series:

01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14

03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4

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“Such a Great Salvation” [Matt's Messages]

“Such a Great Salvation”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus 

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 15, 2026 :: Hebrews 2:1-4  

Pay attention to Jesus.

Pay close, careful, focused, heart-attention to the Son of God. 

That’s the main point of application in these four verses. 

And that’s, of course, the point of the whole book. Our series’ title comes from chapter 12, verse 2. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Pay attention to Jesus.

That’s what we’re here to do today, and we’ve been doing it, praise God! And that’s what our church is here for, praise the Lord! To focus on that “one single candle, shining so bright.” And to not take our eyes off of Him. Pay attention to Jesus. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1.

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”

Interestingly, this is the first explicit point of application that the writer to the Hebrews makes in his sermonic letter.

He jumped right in to an amazing description of Jesus as “the Son” in the first paragraph, and then he gave a complicated Old-Testament-based argument that the Son is superior to the angels in the rest of the first chapter (remember that?), and there are many implications for all of that deep theology, but this is the first application that he wants to draw from it.

Notice the word “therefore” in verse 1. “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”

What have we heard? We have heard from God through His Son. Because Jesus is everything that he said He is in chapter 1, we should pay careful attention to Him. 

Pay attention to Jesus...or else.

These four verses of chapter 2 are not just the first application that the writer includes in his letter, they are the first clear warning.

Embedded in the Letter to the Hebrews are several serious warnings against falling away from following Jesus. Not only does the writer encourage us to fix our eyes on Jesus, he constantly warns us that we are serious trouble if we do not.

Listen to verse 1 again. “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” So that we do not get lost.

Have you ever gone body-surfing in the ocean?

You go to the shore. You go to the beach. You lather up with sunscreen. You head out for a swim, and the main thing you do is ride the waves as they come in. Up and down. Up and down. Some people can do it for hours. I always want to get back to my chair and my book. But it’s fun. Have you ever been out there enjoying yourself for a long time and you kind of lose track of where your beach towel is? And where your cooler is. And your beach umbrella and your family? And you’re just living in the moment, and then the next thing you realize is that you are really far from where you started.

Those are the undercurrents, right? You can be a mile down the beach. And if you aren’t paying attention, you can get sucked out into the ocean. You have to keep an eye on your kids, right? And an eye on some of the adults, too. If we are not paying attention, we can just drift away.

The writer is warning us to pay attention to Jesus or we might drift off and be lost.

Now, that sounds kind of scary because it is. It’s a warning! And the writer was concerned that some of his Hebrew readers were in danger of doing that very thing.

But notice that he includes himself. “We must pay more careful attention.” He’s not saying anything to them that he isn’t saying to himself.

And he expects them to heed this warning and to not drift away. Because he’s told them just how worthy Jesus is of our attention. He’s the Son! Heir all of things, maker of all things, sustainer of all things. The radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. He never changes, and He sits at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (see 1:1-4). That’s the Son! Superior to all of the angels. 

So we need to hear and heed this warning, but we should also be encouraged by it if we are paying attention to Jesus. If you are paying attention to Jesus, then this passage should encourage you. 

But if you are no longer paying attention to Jesus or on the brink of ignoring Jesus, then this passage should serve as a “wake-up call” for you.

Why would we stop paying attention to Jesus? How would you answer that for yourself? 

I think one thing would be distractions of this world. There are so many thing vying for our attention. Good things and bad things. We can get so caught up in the rat race, in our jobs, in our families, in our sports, in our politics, in our entertainment, in our social media, in our accumulation of money and possessions, that we take our eyes off of Jesus and start effectively worshiping those things instead.

What is it for you? What keeps drawing you away from focusing on the Son?

Last time, we talked about angels. Some of these folks might have been tempted to fix their eyes on God’s amazing supra-human messengers instead of the Son. Angels are good, but they are infinitely inferior to Jesus. We don’t worship them. We join them in the worship of Jesus.

What is it for you? Maybe not angels, but what is that undercurrent that threatens to pull you out to sea away from Jesus?

For the original recipients of this letter, it seems that it was persecution. Life was getting hard. They were being attacked for following Jesus, and they were tempted to stop focusing on Jesus and go back to “just being Jews.” That was hard enough. 

Can you relate? Life is hard enough without the added pressure of people attacking you just because you follow Jesus. And so...you start to drift.

Life is hard so you stop coming to church every Sunday.

Life is hard so you stop meeting with other Christians for Bible study and encouragement and prayer.

Life is hard so you skip your Bible reading today and then again tomorrow and then before long you don’t remember the last time you opened that thing.

Life is hard so you skip your prayer time this morning. You’ll do it later.  You’ll do it tomorrow. You’ll do it next week. You’ll...drift away.

Now, I’m not saying, and neither is the Bible, that we are sinning if we miss church for good reasons or that you have to legalistically read your Bible and pray every single day to somehow maintain your salvation. 

No. No. No. It doesn’t work that way, and I’m not trying to shame or guilt anybody. We don’t need legalistic religion.

But we sure need Jesus! And if we don’t have Him, we are lost.

And we pay attention to Jesus by reading His Word, praying in His name, and meeting with His people. It doesn’t have to be this church, but we need the church! Because the church is Jesus’ people on Earth, and we need Jesus. Amen? You don’t have to listen closely to me, but you do have to listen closely to Jesus. 

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”

I’ve seen so many people drift away.

Don’t take your eyes off of Jesus. It’s dangerous. That’s what the writer emphasizes in next two verses. Look at verse 2.

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away...For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (vv.1-3).

Do you see his logic? What’s he talking about?

He’s, once again, contrasting the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. The Old Testament with the New Testament. The Law given through Moses and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Look more closely at verse 2.

“For if the message spoken by angels was binding...”

Aha. We’re back to angels. What message is he talking about? That was the Law given through Moses at Mount Sinai. There were apparently thousands of angels, “myriads of holy ones” (Deuteronomy 33:2) present and helping to hand down the Law through Moses to the people at Mount Sinai.

“For if the message spoken by angels was binding [reliable, true, applicable] and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment...”

What’s he talking about there? He’s talking about all of those times in the Old Testament when the people disobeyed, and the Lord brought judgment. Think about the golden calf. Think about the quail. Think about the wilderness wanderings. Think about the man who broke the Sabbath and was executed. Think about all of those times in the Old Testament when they broke the Law, and they received the retribution of God. 

Was that good? Of course it was good! It was holy. It was right. It was righteous. God is holy, holy, holy, and He judges sin.

Now, here’s the logic. It goes from lesser to greater. If God was just and right to bring that earthly judgment on those sins against the lesser Old Covenant (and He was) then... Verse 3. “...how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”

What’s the answer to that one? How shall we escape? 

We shall not. No way. No how.

Do you see the logic here? Remember in chapter 1, verse 1, the writer said that, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways...” And that was good! But now, He’s spoken to us through, something much greater. He has spoken through His Son! 

So what do you think? If you disobeyed the prophets and ignored the prophets and you got God’s justice, what happens if you ignore the Son? 

Some people think that the Old Testament is stark and scary and full of God’s wrath. Well, it is...for those who are disobedient. But they also think that the New Testament is just sweetness and rainbows and soft things. But the New Testament is even heavier in some ways because the Son is so much more worthy and glorious.

If you reject the Son of God and the salvation that He offers, then there is no escaping the eternal judgment of God.

That’s what we learned about all week at the Theology Conference.

If we ignore such a great salvation, how shall we escape?

We won’t! We just won’t.

So these Hebrews who were considering going backwards and falling out of the race and ignoring Jesus, were in danger of eternal judgment. Because the salvation is so great, the punishment for ignoring it is so great, as well.

Pay attention to Jesus.

The word for “ignore” in verse 3 could be translated “neglect” or “disregard.” It means to make light of something and consider something else (anything else) as more important.

Do you remember the parable Jesus told (in Matthew 22) about the king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son and sent his servants to bring in those who had been invited? 

But then the guests refused to come? So the king sent some more servants and said, “Tell them that the beef brisket is ready. Come to the wedding banquet!”

“But they paid no attention [same word in the Greek, ignored, neglected, paid no attention] and went off–one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.”

And do you remember how the king responded? “[He] was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” (See Matthew 22:2-10.)

“...how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (V.3).

Now, this probably raises some questions for some of you. It does for me, too. And I don’t necessarily have all the answers.

Some of you have very tender consciences, and this kind of talk makes you worried that you’re going to miss your salvation because you have sinned here or there. You have lost your focus on Jesus from time to time, and this wigs you out. 

I believe that if you love Jesus and are even just wanting to fix your eyes on Him, that is the last thing you need to worry about. 

We do not save ourselves by being sinless or keep ourselves saved by focusing on Jesus. No. But if we are saved, we will focus on Jesus. If we are truly saved, then we will heed this warning. But if we are truly saved, we will pay attention to Jesus because He’s the One who saves us and because our hearts will want to pay attention to Him.

The very fact that you are here today to worship Jesus should encourage you that you are fixing your eyes on Jesus. It does me! The very fact that you are singing, “Here’s my heart, Lord! Speak what is true” should encourage you that you are paying careful attention to Jesus.

But! If you are dropping out or considering dropping out of the race or have checked out, then let this be a warning to you. If you are not singing the songs at least in your heart. If you are turning your back. If you are putting your fingers in your ears when Jesus speaks to you, then be warned. Be scared. Be afraid. Be very very afraid.

Because we (any of us) shall not escape if we ignore such a great salvation.

Why would we even want to?!Why would we want to ignore this salvation?! It’s crazy!

You can almost understand those outside of the church. Maybe they haven’t heard. Maybe they’ve been turned off by church people. (None of those are excuses. There are no excuses.)

But for those who have heard about Jesus?

For those who have sung the songs and prayed some prayers?

For those who have been loved by Jesus’ people?

To then turn their backs on Jesus and walk away forever?

If that’s you or me, we will not escape. And Hell will be the right place for us for all eternity.

Some of you are worried that’s it too late for you. As we get further into this letter and bump up against some of the even more heavy warnings, you may feel that even more strongly. 

What I would say to you is that if you have started to walk away and regret it, and you can turn around and return to Jesus and run back into His waiting arms, then do it!

And if that’s you, then you haven’t gone too far. It’s only those who cannot find repentance that have gone too far.

That’s why the writer warns these folks. He’s saying, “Don’t go there! We must pay more careful attention. We must not drift away. Let’s not drift out to sea!”

Focus on the shore.

Focus on the Son.

Pay attention to Jesus.

Because He has provided “such a great salvation.”

And it’s all true. That’s the point of the rest of verse 3 and all of verse 4. We can trust that this salvation is true because...just look at the witnesses to the gospel message! Verse 3.

“This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (vv.3b-4).

You see the three steps? Announced, confirmed, testified?

Salvation was announced by Jesus Himself! “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is here.” “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus says so! Salvation is announced!

And then (second step) the salvation was confirmed to us (notice he includes himself again) “by those who heard” the Lord. That’s the apostles. That’s what we have here in our Bibles. 

And that’s not all. The third step is even more witnesses–not just the Son and the Apostles but the Father and the Holy Spirit! This testimony is triune like our God! V.5

“God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles [that’s the Book of Acts], and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”

And He’s still doing that today–gifting God’s people to serve the church and share the gospel with the world. It’s true. It’s all true. The Triune God and the people of God all bear witness to this salvation. It’s true, and it’s great.

I was trying to think this week why it’s called a “great” salvation in verse 3. I agree with that, of course, but what exactly did the writer have in mind?

What’s so great about this great salvation? And I kept coming back to three things. First, it’s great because we are saved from our sins.

#1. SALVATION FROM OUR SINS.

Our sins are very great because they are sins against a holy God.

The speakers at last week’s Theology Conference emphasized this. We deserve Hell. Hell is good and right and just. Hell is not bad. We’re bad. Hell is good. It’s hard for us to accept mainly because we don’t realize how sinful we are and how awful our sins are before a holy God.

We need to come to see the gravity of our sin and the danger we are in. And then we’ll understand that amazing grace that we have been shown.

We tend to think that maybe an eternal Hell is not justice. And we think we’re maybe more merciful than God. But the merciful One is the One who purified us from our sins. From every “violation and disobedience” and rescued us from our “just punishment” (v.2).

Remember that’s what salvation is. Salvation is rescue!

“Let us love and sing and wonder

Let us praise the Saviour’s name

He has hushed the Law’s loud thunder

He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame

He has washed us with His blood.”

- John Newton

And that’s the second thing I thought about in our salvation’s greatness. We are saved from our sin, and we are saved by the Son.

#2. SALVATION BY THE SON.

“He has washed us with His blood.” He didn’t just announce the salvation and then step aside for someone else to deliver it. Like an angel? No, He did it Himself. The Son! The Son of chapter 1 did it Himself!

Chapter 1, verse 4 said that “he made purification for our sins.” Jesus did it. He did it on that Cross. With a love divine, of all loves excelling, Jesus took our place and took our punishment. 

One of the speakers this week said that if you are concerned about injustice, then look no further than the Cross. Because the Holy One of God was crucified for your sins on that Cross. He didn’t do anything to deserve being there, and yet, there He was! Talk about injustice! 

It was such a great salvation because the salvation was purchased by the blood of the Son.

And lastly, it’s a great salvation because it’s an eternal one. We are saved from our sin by the Son forever and ever.

#3. SALVATION FOR ALL ETERNITY.

We are saved from an eternal hell and to an eternal heaven. Or, more precisely, an eternal new heaven and new earth. One ruled by the Son! Because, as we saw last time, He is God and He never changes, and He accomplished our salvation, was resurrected[!], and came to sit at the right hand of the Majesty on High. And one day He’s going to bring the Kingdom of God in all of its fullness to Earth. And He’s going to bring that salvation that He has purchased for us with His blood.

Remember chapter 1, verse 14 says that angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.” Salvation is here in part, but the fullness is still on the way. And Jesus is going to bring it some day soon. 

We’re going to see that again when we get to chapter 9.

Where it is written, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrew 9:27-28). And it’s going to last forever!

Notice who will get that salvation. Those who are “waiting for him.”

Not those who have given up. 

Not those who have checked out.

Not those who have turned their back on Jesus and fallen out of the race.

Not those who have drifted away.

Not those who have ignored such a great salvation!

But those who are paying attention to Jesus. 

May that be you and me. 

***

Messages in this Series:

01. The Son - Hebrews 1:1-4

02. Superior to the Angels - Hebrews 1:5-14

Read More

“Superior to the Angels” [Matt's Messages]

“Superior to the Angels”

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus - The Letter to the Hebrews

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

February 1, 2026 :: Hebrews 1:5-14  

Do not fix your eyes on angels.

Last time we were together, we opened our new series on the sermonic Letter to the Hebrews with the overarching theme, “Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus.”

And that’s also our theme as a church for this year: “Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus.”

The writer of this letter was encouraging these apparently primarily Jewish Christians in the first century to run the race of their lives focused on Jesus at the starting line and, especially, at the finish line. And he tells them to not take their eyes off of Jesus. Not for one second. To not get distracted. To not get discouraged. To not stop running towards Jesus. To not drift off or go backwards! 

He says in chapter 12 of this letter, “[S]ince we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:1-2).

That’s the message of this sermonic letter, and that’s what we are focusing on in these days as a church.

Not on angels.

Do not fix your eyes on angels.

Why would you? Well, angels are pretty amazing! The Bible says a lot about angels. They are really fascinating. 

For one thing, angels are real. We should not fall into the ditch on the other side of not thinking about angels as real things in our world. Angels exist. There are multitudes of them! They are numerous. Thousands upon thousands exist. Probably millions upon millions! Maybe billions upon billions?

I don’t know how many angels might be right here in this room? There is some evidence in the Bible that God gives every Christian at least one guardian angel (see Matthew 18:10, though there it says that they are in heaven). So there may be at least 170 right here, right now?

Chapter 12 says that we as Christians “have have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:22-23). Are we in the presence of thousands of angels right now? I don’t know. Maybe there’s just a few right here, right now. They’re invisible, so I don’t know. And that’s okay!

But they are real. They are all over the Bible. 

Think about all of the angels in the Bible stories that you know. Michael and Gabriel in the Book of Daniel last year.

Gabriel coming to the virgin Mary to tell her about the Son of the Most High before that first Christmas.

The army of angels lighting up the sky and singing to the shepherds when Jesus was born.

There are angels from Genesis to Revelation. They are real. They are here. They are numerous. They are powerful. 

Angels are supra-human personal worshipful spiritual beings. And they are often sent by God to deliver a message. Angels are supernatural messengers from God. God sent angels when He gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. That’s what chapter 2 is going to emphasize about angels. 

And they do miracles! Think about how the angels helped Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3 (see Dan 3:28) and shut the mouths of the lions in Daniel chapter 6 (see Dan 6:22). And rescued the Apostle Peter from prison in Acts chapter 12.

They don’t just deliver messages. They deliver miracles! Angels are powerful.

And they are pure. Think about the seraphim in the vision of Isaiah chapter 6, flying above the Lord in the temple. Burning. “Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying” (Isaiah 6:2). Pure, fiery, awesome creatures that attend the very presence of God.

Angels are real, and they are scary! Nearly every time an angel appears to humans in the Bible, the first thing they have to say is, “Do not be afraid!” Because they are fearsome creatures.

Angels are not cute. We have gotten that all wrong. If you think about angels as little round cute things with their faces on their hands, you are not thinking about the real angels.

And they are not former humans. Angels are not humans who have died. 

I love the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and I love the character of Clarence Oddbody, Angel Second Class (A2). He’s one of my favorite characters in a movie of all time. And he’s supposed to be a clockmaker that died like two hundred years earlier and then never got his wings. So he’s sent to help poor old George Bailey. 

But as fun as that story is, that’s not how it works. You do not become an angel when you die. Your deceased loved ones are not angels. That’s not in the Bible. Angels are not ghosts.

Angels are supra-human personal worshipful spiritual beings that are created by God to serve Him and guard and guide God’s people (see Graham Cole’s excellent Against the Darkness for more biblical angelology).

Last year at Stay Sharp 2025, Greg Strand taught us about angels and about fallen angels. If you want to learn more, I would recommend going to back and listening to the recordings of that.

Kids coming to Snack and Yack today, Mrs. Sass and I are going to ask you to tell us some things you know about angels. What are they? What are they like?

Angels are real, and here, and numerous, and powerful, and pure, and scary. They are fascinating. They are wondrous. They are amazing, and they are inferior to the Son.

That’s what Hebrews said in the first four verses of chapter 1. What we studied last time. Let me read it to you again. Remember there were no niceties at the start of this letter. No mention of whom it’s from or even whom it was to. He just launched in and then rhapsodizes about the Son. Verse 1.

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs” (Hebrews 1:1-4).

You can see where we get our title for today (v.4). “Superior to the Angels.”

We learned last time that the writer of this letter loves that word “superior” to describe Jesus. He’s going to use it at least 15 times in this letter, detailing over and over again the things that Jesus is superior to. Jesus is better; Jesus is greater; Jesus is superior to...the angels. And therefore, we should fix our eyes on Him.

Now, if you’ve got that, you’ve got the main point of this section. Jesus is superior to the angels. The angels are inferior to Jesus. 

But the writer doesn’t just want to say that and move on. He wants to show that. He wants to prove it to these Jewish Christians by looking at their own Bible and pressing home what the Old Testament said about the Son.

So he gathers up at least seven quotations from the Old Testament and throws them at these Hebrew Christians one at a time in a quick succession.

You can tell by looking at your Bible and seeing how the spacing changes all of a sudden. In most versions, verses 1-4 are a block of text, a dense paragraph, that was all one long sentence in the original Greek. And there were like 7 descriptions Who Jesus is: heir of all things, co-maker of all things, sustainer of all things, the radiance of God’s glory and the perfect picture of His being, the purifier of His people, and the co-ruler of the universe!

And then, in verses 5 through 14, there’s all of this spacing that changes. You see lines of poetry and quotation marks in our English versions. The CSB has the quotations in bold print. And it’s bold all over the places for 10 verses. And your Bible may have footnotes that show where all of these quotations can found.

Psalm 2:7

2 Samuel 7:14

Psalm 97:7 (or perhaps Deuteronomy 32:43 or both)

Psalm 104:4

Psalm 45:6-7

Psalm 102:25-27

Psalm 110:1

This is how the writer to the Hebrews thinks. He thinks Old Testamenty. Remember, He said that, in the past, God had spoken to our forefathers “at many times and in various ways.” And we should hear and heed those past messages from God.

This afternoon, I recommend that you get out your Bible and go look up all seven of these quotations in their original contexts. Because I assure that the writer to the Hebrews did. He may only quote a verse here or a verse there, but he’s got the whole thing in his mind. And he expects his readers to have read these passage in their original contexts. 

If we did that in these sermons, we might spend several years getting through Hebrews. Because he’s going to do this again and again throughout the book. We’re just going to scratch the surface. [This lecture by D.A. Carson goes deeper into three of them.]

The whole Bible is hyper-texted. Double-click on any part of it, and it will take you to another part. Hebrews is especially like that, because he wants to make his points about Jesus from the parts of the Bible that these Jewish Christians knew and loved.

So, he says in verse 4 that Jesus, “...became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.” What name is that? 

I think it’s the name, “Son.” That’s the name He’s always had for all eternity, and it’s the name that He inherited when He was resurrected and ascended back to the Father.  That’s the point of verses 5&6.

“For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? Or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son’? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God's angels worship him’” (vv.5-6).

The writer starts with a basic question, “For” (which shows that he’s proving his point) “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father....?’”

What is the answer to that question? Which angels?

None of them, right? God has never said to any angel, “You are my Son.”

But He has to Jesus.

I have three points to summarize this section this morning, and here’s number one.

Jesus is superior to the angels by His:

#1. UNIQUE SONSHIP.

God has never said to any angel, “You are my Son.” But He has to Jesus.

Now, notice that this means that Jesus is not an angel. Jesus has not ever been an angel and never will be. This goes against the teachings of some of the cults out there. Do not believe anybody who comes to your door and says that Jesus is the archangel Michael or that Jesus was a brother angel to Lucifer. That’s not what the Bible says.

The Bible says that God has never said to any angel, “You are my Son.” But He has to Jesus.

We know He said it at Jesus’ Baptism and at His Transfiguration, but the writer to the Hebrews takes us back to Psalm 2.

Some of you studied Psalm 2 this last week because we sent a Worship at Home Guide for the snowstorm last Sunday and it included a sermon I recorded in December of 2020 on Psalm 2.

Psalm 2 an enthronement psalm, probably sung over King David’s sons when they took the throne. And they were all called “God’s Son” in a way. Not because they were God the Son but because they were taking up a special role representing God to His people. 

That’s what the second quotation is saying in verse 5, “Or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.” That’s from 2 Samuel 7:14 where God promised to build a house for King David. David wanted to build God a house, but God said, “No, I will build you one.” David meant the temple, but God meant a dynasty, that there would always be a Son of David to rule over Israel. And that Son of David would have a special relationship with God, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.”

But we know that it was pointing to something much greater. We know that most of the sons of David did not live up to the name, “Son of God.”  Remember all those disappointing thumbs-down kings in the Books of Kings and how it eventually led to exile in Babylon and Persia? They were poor Sons of God. So God had to do something about it.

We know that, one day, a Son of David would come and perfectly fulfill Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14. A Son of David that would be the perfect Son of God because He is God the Son! And even if He would die, He would come back to life and ascend to heaven to take up an eternal throne and, one day, bring the kingdom of kingdoms to Earth! Verse 6.

“And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God's angels worship him.’”

That’s either Psalm 97:9 or Deuteronomy 32:43 or both. I won’t get into the complex textual questions. The point is clear either way.

The Old Testament calls on the angels to worship God. And the writer to the Hebrews knows that the Son is God. He’s the firstborn Son of God. The preeminent Son of God. The heir of all things from verse 2). And the angels are supposed to worship Him.

Now, it’s true that sometimes the angels are called “the sons of God” collectively in the Old Testament. But none of them are called by God, “My Son.” None of the angels are called “The Firstborn Son.”

But when God brings His firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Now, I’m not sure when that “bringing into the world” happens. It might have been at that first Christmas when the sky lit up with angels singing, “Gloria In Excelsis Deo.”

Or it might be still to come when Jesus returns with His holy angels like we learned about in 2 Thessalonians 1 a few months ago.

I tend to think it’s talking about when Jesus came back into the world from the dead and ascended up to the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. In my mind, the angels just went crazy that the Son had returned victorious. “Let all God’s angels worship him.” 

It might be any of those or all three. Because Jesus is worthy all the time. 

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Don’t fix your eyes on angels?!!! Fix your eyes on Jesus. The angels do!

Here’s the application for you and me today:

Worship Jesus with the angels.

Don’t worship the angels! Worship Jesus with the angels.

Now, I’m telling you if an angel appeared to us today, right here, right now, we would all be tempted to worship him. That happened to John the Revelator in chapter 19 of the Apocalypse. He ran into angel and fell down at his feet. It was glorious! But the angel said, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!” (Revelation 19:10). 

Worship the Son of God! That’s what we came to do this morning, and we have done it, and we’re going to do it again. “Let all God’s angels worship him.” And let’s join them!

You see, the angels know that Jesus is uniquely the Son and so is infinitely superior to them. So they worship Him. And so should we.

Now, in verse 7, the writer picks out a passage that is about angels. He quotes Psalm 104, verse 4. Verse 7. 

“In speaking of the angels he says, ‘He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.’”

Now, that does sound impressive. Angels can be winds. Angels can be flames of fire. Angels are powerful servants of God. 

In the Psalm, it emphasizes how God controls the forces of nature and makes them do His bidding. Winds and lightning obey Him. But the flip-side is also true, God can send angels in the forms of wind and fire. 

Angels are amazing, make no mistake. But notice how fleeting those things are. Winds and fire. Those things are here and then gone again. They are temporary and ephemeral.

But see how the writer contrasts Psalm 104:4 and Psalm 45:6-7. That’s verse 8.

“But about the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy’” (vv.8-9).

Now, we could spend a whole message just unpacking Psalm 45. And in fact, we have. Five years ago, in February of 2021, I preached a Valentines’ Day sermon on Psalm 45 and showed how it relates to Hebrews 1. You might want to go back and listen to that.

Psalm 45 is a wedding song. It’s really different from any of the other psalms in the Psalter.  And this part is addressed to the king, probably a Son of David on his wedding day. Maybe Solomon’s first wedding day. Maybe all of the Sons of David had it sung at theirs. And in that psalm, the singer seems to call the king, “God.” It’s really remarkable. It’s probably like Psalm 2 where the king is standing in for God because he’s supposed to be a Son of God. But it was prophetic as well. Because, one day, a King would come Who was not just like God but was God Himself! So that the song was truer than it ever had been before.

And the writer of this letter understood that. He knew that Psalm 45:6&7 was about Jesus! 

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, [notice that! This God has a God! Sounds a lot like verse 3 to me! God, your God] has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy'" (vv.8-9).

Do you see the comparisons? The angels are fleeting and ephemeral. They are winds and fire. But the Son is eternal. His throne lasts “forever and ever.” And the Son is (v.9), “Set above your companions...”

He is greater! He is superior! Because He is God! And He has the Holy Spirit without measure. He has been anointed (He’s the Messiah) with the oil of joy. Which I think must be the Holy Spirit. 

Now, I’m not sure if the “companions” here are the angels (which would further his argument) or His people (like you and me). It’s true of both.

The point is that Jesus is superior. Because He is God!

And because He is God, He is the Creator. That’s where he goes next in verse 10. Quoting from Psalm 102, verses 25-27. Verse 10.

“He also says, ‘In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end” (vv.10-13).

He’s saying the same thing as he did in verse 2–that Jesus, as God the Son, was there at creation, helping to create everything there is. And so, He is eternal. 

In other words, Jesus is superior to the angels by His:

#2. UNCHANGING CREATORSHIP.

He was there at the beginning. He was the architect of creation. He was the master builder at the start of all things. 

And one day, when He decides to remodel the universe, Jesus can just roll it all up like my wife rolls up our clothes and tosses them in the laundry.

How many times do we change our clothes? I change mine several times a day. I have the clothes I walk in the mornings. The clothes I feed the fire in three times a day. The clothes I wear when I’m at work and out in the community. And my pyjamas, the clothes I sleep in.

They all change. They all wear out. I don’t wear any clothes that I wore when I was a teenager except a few of my neckties. (They still fit!) And some of them are getting pretty old.

But Jesus never changes. His years never end.

Jesus will never wear out!

I don’t know if the angels get old?? But I do know that they are created. Verse 7 says that they are made. But verse 10 says that the Son is the maker. Even the angels can be changed. But the Son remains the same.

What did we sing this morning? Hebrews 13:8 does say, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Here’s the application of this truth. We should:

Trust Jesus to always be the same.

Don’t fix your eyes on angels?! Fix your eyes on Jesus. He never changes. We need Him to be like this! Everything in our lives is changeable and fleeting. 

How many things have you trusted in that failed you? They changed on you. The terms and conditions changed on you. That’s life in this sin-sick world right now. And we’re never told in the Bible to put our trust in angels as amazing as they are. But we are told to put our trust in Jesus and that He will never change. Jesus will never wear out because He’s God! He’s the Creator! 

Angels are just a part of God’s creation. Jesus is the Creator Himself.

Now, you might not be tempted to trust in angels, but I think that an awful lot of people are. Go to the book section at Ollies and look for all the books about angels and see if they are good biblical books that teach what Hebrews 1 teaches about angels.

Scroll through your social media feed or tap on a hashtag for #angels, and see all of the offers on hand.

“If you click on this picture of this angel, then you will be blessed this week with good health, with money, with restored relationships.”

All of the stories out there about angels. All of the shows. “Touched by an Angel.” “Highway to Heaven” (for those of us old enough to remember Michael Landon).

All of the sightings. All of the distractions! Do not fix your eyes on angels. They are wonderful, but they are wind and fire. Fix your eyes on the One Who made the angels and never changes.

In verse 13, the writer goes back to that same basic question, “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'?”

What’s the answer to that one? Same thing, right? None of them. 

God has never said to an angel, “Come up here and sit next to me.” But He did say that to Jesus. 

The letter writer understands that the Father said that to the Son all the way back in Psalm 110. Which is one of the most wild and wonderful of all the Psalms. I have called it before “The New Testament writers’ favorite Psalm” because the New Testament authors just loved to quote Psalm 110.

This writer sure does. I think this is one of about 10 times that he quotes Psalm 110 in this little letter!

He keeps say, “right hand,” doesn’t he? He said in verse 4. He said in chapter 12, verse 2 in that same place he tells us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and...sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

That’s Psalm 110. We don’t have the time to study it in-depth. But we did do that about five years ago in June of 2021 when we were studying the Psalms during the pandemic. You might want to go back and listen to that this week some time.

Again, the psalm is prophetic and messianic. Maybe more than any of the other psalms. The Lord Jesus befuddled the Pharisees and teachers of the Law by asking them a question about it. “Whose Son is the Christ?” (See Matthew 22:41-46.)

The careful reader of Psalm 110 realizes that ultimately God the Father (“the LORD”) is inviting God the Son (“my Lord”) to sit on the throne right next to Him.  And that’s a place that no angel could ever sit.

So Jesus is superior to all the angels by His:

#3. UNBEATABLE CO-RULERSHIP.

He sat down! He was victorious in His death and resurrection and ascended to the Majesty in Heaven. And took His rightful place! Co-ruler of all of the Universe! Because He is God the Son.

Now, notice that there is still some mopping up to do. “My Lord” is supposed to sit at the right hand “until [the Father makes His] enemies a footstool for [His] feet.”

The kingdom has not yet come in all of its fullness. We’re still waiting for that. We are still waiting for salvation to come in all of its fullness. We are saved. We are being saved. And we will be saved. 

But Jesus is sitting. He’s not threatened. He’s not in trouble. He’s not even fighting. He’s got all of the coolness and calmness of The Ancient of Days. He is the unbeatable co-ruler of everything. Sitting at the right hand.

But angels? They are not sitting. They are being sent. They are being sent out to and fro. Verse 14.

“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

What’s the answer to that question? Yes, they are. That’s what angels are. They are serving servants. “Ministering spirits sent to serve.”

Notice how superior Jesus is to them.

There many of them. There is only one of Him.

They are spirits. He took on a full human nature. He is embodied.

They do not send Jesus. Jesus sends them.

They are servants. He is the unbeatable ruler.

Now, obviously, He was sent. And He was a servant. But He was successful in His mission, and He returned to the Father and sat down. 

They are being sent to serve...us! Did you notice that? The angels are sent to serve the Lord by serving His people. Verse 14, “...those who will inherit salvation.” Salvation is still on the way, but it’s coming.  

And it’s coming to all who believe in the Son.

And while we wait for that salvation, the angels are being sent to serve us. They guard us. They guide us. I don’t know what other things they do. They do it quietly most of the time. I don’t need to know what they are doing. I just need to know that they are doing it!

This doesn’t mean that we tell the angels what to do. They aren’t our servants who obey our wills.

They are God’s servants who serve us at His will.

So, I think the application of this truth is:

Thank Jesus for all the help.

Thank Jesus for sending those ministering spirits to do their thing (whatever that is!) while we wait for the salvation to come.

Don’t fix your eyes on the angels. They’re invisible most of the time anyway. They’re doing their work there in the background. Be grateful for them. This room might be full of them right now. That’s wonderful.

But they are not the point. They are inferior.

Fix your eyes on the One Who is the point. The One who is sits at the right hand. 

Fix your eyes on Jesus. He is infinitely superior. 

***

Messages in this Series:

01. The Son - Hebrews 1:1-4

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