The Superiority Of God’s Messenger

After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard.
–Hebrews 2:3

In Hebrews 2, the writer explains why we should respond right now to Christ’s invitation for forgiveness and eternal life.

One reason is the superiority of God’s messenger, Jesus. Hebrews 2:1 says, “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” He was pointing back to what he said about Jesus being superior to Judaism. Yet there were some Jews in that congregation who had not yet become Christians. They said, “I like Judaism better, I like the prophets, I like the sacrificial system. My old religion makes me feel good.” But the prophets of the Old Testament, the sacrificial systems, those were all given by God as signs to point people to Jesus. Jesus is the perfect priest who would offer the perfect sacrifice. You do not worship the signs; you worship the substance that the signs are pointing to.

Let me illustrate it for you this way. Imagine you are driving out in the middle of nowhere. Your gas gauge is on empty, and you begin to panic. What are you going to do? To your relief, you see a sign that says, “Gas 10 Miles Ahead.” You think, “Maybe I can make it.” Then you get to another sign that says, “Gas 5 Miles Ahead.” You start to feel a little bit better. Then you get to a sign that says, “Gas 1 Mile Ahead.” You think, “I am going to make it!” Finally, you get to the gas station. You sit in your car and think, “This is nice, but I remember how I felt when I saw that first sign 10 miles away. I felt so good I think I will drive back and just sit under that sign.” So you go back and sit under that 10 mile sign. You can sit there all day long, but you are not going to get any gas there. The sign cannot provide gas; it only points you to where the gas is. Or imagine you get to the gas station having just limped into it, and you think, “I am glad I made it here, but I wonder if there is another gas station down the road that would have better gas.” So you set out in the middle of nowhere looking for another gas station only to realize there is nothing else out there, and now you do not have enough gas to make it back to the real station.

That is what the writer of Hebrews was saying. He was saying, “Why would you hang on to the Jewish priests and sacrificial system? Those were signs pointing people to Jesus Christ.” There is no salvation in the sacrificial system. There is no salvation in the Law. There is no salvation in the priests. They pointed to the One who could provide salvation. Why, having heard the message of Christ, would you go out and say, “I think I will see if there is any better religion. I will study the world religions to see if there is anything else out there that might meet my need”? Jesus is not one way to God; He is the only way to God, the Bible says. He is the superior priest who offered the superior sacrifice. That is why we must tie up to the message of salvation: the superiority of God’s messenger, Jesus.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “So Great A Salvation” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2013.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.