A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on October 3, 2021 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Hebrews 2:1-13. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Epistle to the Hebrews, the second chapter:
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Angels are always one of these things that, I think, capture the fascination of people. And honestly, it's because the angels are really weird. They are so different from us. They are in some ways lower than us and in some ways higher than us. And because of that, I think we have a tendency to look at them and wonder at them. Now you have to understand, angels are created as pure spiritual beings, just as God is spirit. They have no physical form, though they seem to be able to manifest a physical form for a time. But angels are weird. After all, in the Scriptures, some angels are depicted as having eyes that cover every square inch of their bodies. There are some angels with six wings; with two they fly, with two they cover their face, and with two they cover their feet. There are angels with four faces on their heads, a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man. There is an angel that even looks like a giant spinning disc up in the heavens. Angels are strange and weird. There are angels who also just inspire fear wherever they appear. This last Wednesday was the Feast of St. Michael and all Angels, and so you can imagine Michael, the great angelic general of all the heavenly armies, having a giant sword in his hand as he throws Satan and his devils out of heaven and into the pit. We see Gabriel appearing to Zechariah and Mary, to tell each of them of the baby about to be born to them, both times having to tell them not to be afraid because of his appearance. Incidentally, all the angels that appeared to the shepherds at Jesus’ birth had to tell them not to be afraid, too. Incidentally, there are no angels in the Scriptures that look like those chubby little babies we see everywhere. That was just someone’s imagination running wild, I think.
Angels are pretty incredible and scary and fascinating. So much so, in fact, that it became a huge philosophical argument as to how many angels could dance on a head of a pin. The answer to that is, of course, no one knows. And anyone who has time to consider that probably has too much time on their hands. And for everything we find fascinating about them, I think it’s because they’re just so different. They are only spiritual beings. We are created as spiritual beings, but we are also created as physical beings. We are not just spirit. We are not just a soul and we're not even a soul with a body. We are soul and body, body and soul. These things are interconnected to our entire being; we shouldn’t be split up. And angels aren't like that. They aren’t and that’s good because their spiritual nature allows them to the jobs assigned to them by God.
One job is to surround us. Right now, though you cannot see them, they are all around us. All of the time they're guarding us. They are protecting us. They're watching over us in so many ways. That's their main job, actually. I mean, there are angels who are part of the choir of heaven and they sing praise to God at all times. But the angels who are here on earth, their job is to watch over you. The Scriptures even tell us very plainly that we have, at least what's known as, a guardian angel, someone who's been assigned directly to you. And yes, that means that they watch all of the good things that you do. And it might seem a little creepy, but they watch over all of the evil things that you do as well. They know the sin that you commit, but they rejoice in so many ways, especially when you come to God, repenting of your sin and you find the forgiveness of that sin in Jesus Christ. Angels are watching over you. Those times that you're in the car and you missed another one by a couple inches, well, it could be that an angel was watching over you. The Scriptures even tell us to welcome the stranger in our midst because unawares, you may be entertaining angels.
So, the author of Hebrews, and we don’t know for sure who wrote it, but I tend to think it was not Paul, but whoever it was wrote this passage and he specifically mentions that Jesus was created in his flesh, not in his divinity, but in his flesh, to be a little lower than the angels. Jesus was made to be God in flesh, and that’s an incredible thing, but what does it mean that he’s lower than the angels. Flesh is bound. Flesh is not that which is spiritual. Jesus took humanity for himself and bound himself to it forever, including being subject to our many issues, like death.
But then the author writes that we need to pay attention to this message of Jesus, the message of the Gospel, since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. This is one of those confusing passages, because you have to ask, when did the angels declare a message? Well, I've already mentioned three times that they've done that; once to Mary, once Zachariah, and once to the shepherds out in the field. Do not fear, your son will prepare the way of the Lord and call people to repentance. Do not fear, your son is the Messiah and will call all to salvation by repentance. Do not fear, the peace of God is now born in Bethlehem. I think that is the message of the angels that is being declared. Here we find in those very simple words that God is at peace with mankind, that he does not count us as his enemies, but instead is bringing the salvation of mankind as testified in Genesis chapter three, that the seed of Eve will crush the devil's head even as he bruises his heel. We find the fulfillment in this declaration that peace with God is here at last and peace with God looks like the forgiveness of sins. Peace with God, looks like wiping out the transgressions of mankind. Peace with God means that Jesus Christ is here for you.
And now he has sent his Holy Spirit into your heart that you might believe and access this peace that he gives to you by grace through faith. This indeed is the message of the angels, but if we neglect such a great salvation, who shall escape the judgment, the wrath of God? Not one, not one who turns away from our Lord will escape his wrath. And in fact, the writer of the Hebrews even says that, right, when he talks about the suffering of Christ, so that by the grace of God, Jesus might taste death for everyone? The author is talking of Jesus here, dying for everyone. And, while many will be saved, many is not all. Some will not be saved. And why would that be? It's certainly no fault of God, for he sent his son to die for each and every single person who has lived, who is living, and whoever shall live, but yet, so many, so many reject this good news of Jesus Christ. So many turn from the truth that is evident in all things in this world, that there is a God and that God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. They turn from this, they reject this, and instead ask to be judged according to their works and not according to the righteousness of Christ. And for this, we grieve and we plead with God to have mercy on them and to send his Spirit to them once again, to bring them into the saving fold of the church, for indeed, our Lord was made a little lower than the angels for this purpose, because if Jesus had come as pure spirit, he could not have died.
A spirit has not flesh and blood. An angel has not flesh and blood as we have. And the divinity has not flesh and blood like we have until he takes upon himself human flesh, bringing humanity into the Godhead forever. What an amazing mystery this is, that, for some reason, he decided that this would be the way that he would redeem you out of your sin, that he decided that he would use his flesh and lay it down at the foot of the cross for you, that his blood shed into this earth would redeem you. What a great mystery this is. This is an even greater mystery than the angels. But I think we’ve gotten used to it. We’ve lost the wonder and mystery of the incarnation, of the death and resurrection of Christ. We so often take it for granted because Jesus is like us, and, ooh, look at the pretty things with wings. Snap out of it. This is the most amazing thing to have ever happened and the Scriptures tell us even that the angels marvel at this mystery, looking at you with wonder, that one like you could be redeemed, that one like you, that you were just who God had in mind for redemption, that he died just for you.
It is an amazing thing that our Lord has chosen for you to be counted among the righteous. And you are, you are one of the brothers of Christ according to his flesh, for you have been raised into the flesh of Jesus Christ out of your baptism. You have been made a child of God. You, indeed, are an inheritor of all of the good things that have come to you through the death of Christ. You inherit not just this world, but you inherit also the world to come, the world without end, the world remade. God desires that this world be yours in the death and resurrection of the Christ. Our Lord Jesus has seen fit to take on flesh, just like you, to be counted as one just like you, to be counted as chief among sinners, that you might be counted as Kings and Queens of righteousness.
What an amazing thing it is that the one who makes you holy and the one who is completely holy himself, has been made like you. He is not ashamed in any way of you, but instead looks at you with great pride. And he intends to glorify you in the age to come. My friends in this life, you will continue to be glorified. You will continue to be sanctified by God the Holy Spirit. It may not look like it in this world for we do not yet see everything put into subjection to him; all these things are hidden from your eyes, but may known to you by faith. You absolutely may trust that our Lord is doing exactly what he has set out to do, which is to redeem you out of this world, to be brought into his marvelous light, that you may be joined with him in his flesh forever.
Take heart, my friends, that, even as you endure in this life, your Lord has endured the suffering that you endure to this day. And if he has redeemed your life, if he has set you free from this world, if he has relieved your suffering and pain by his good news, by his death and resurrection, then you also shall be redeemed to open your eyes into the world which is to come, to open your eyes out of your grave and to see your Lord face to face where you shall live forever with him in bliss and joy. Now, seeing in fulfillment all things in subjection to him now and forevermore, we rejoice in the one who is like us and has brought us to himself. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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