EARNEST HEED. Hebrews 2:1
Because of everything the author of this book has written about the Son of God in Chapter 1— being higher than all of creation, the Lord through whom God has spoken in these last days— readers must pay close attention to what they have heard. This is the first of five warnings in this letter. Others are found in Hebrews 3:7-4:13, 6:4-8, 10:26-31, and 12:25-29. The Son of God is the ultimate revelation of God, and we must obey Him. He is the Word, the Son, who is far superior to angels or prophets.
There are some safeguards in the book of Hebrews to which we should pay attention, even though we may not have the same difficulties in our lives as Christians today that those early Jewish saints had. Heb. 2:1. “Take heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” LISTEN AND OBEY TRUTH: Pay attention to truth so as not to drift away into false teaching. The mind, body, and senses are involved in paying attention. Paying attention is hard! Heb. 3:12. “Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” BELIEVE AND ENCOURAGE: Our hearts turn away from God when we refuse to believe in Him. We need to not only have confidence in God and His Word ourselves, but we also need to encourage our brethren. Heb. 3:13. “Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” EXHORT AND BE ON GUARD: The heart gets hard when it gets used to sin. Talk to one another; stay connected; stay in fellowship to prevent this tragedy. Heb. 4:11. “Labor to enter into His rest, lest you fall by disobedience (margin).” STRIVE AND APPRECIATE: Do not take salvation for granted. Appropriate God’s rest by decision and commitment. Heb. 12:3. “Consider Christ, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.” LOOK UP AND TAKE COURAGE: Keep your eyes on the big picture. We are not alone. Suffering is our training ground for maturity. It develops patience. Heb. 12:13. “Be straight in your life, lest you turn aside the weak.” BE RESPONSIBLE AND LEAD RIGHT: Draw on Christ’s strength and then help the struggling ones around us. Heb. 12:15. “Look and see that you are holy, lest you fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you…” BE ALERT AND BE OPEN: Bitterness never brings anything but trouble and defilement.
Pay close attention to what we have been taught and know to be true, or else those things will slip away from us. “Let them slip” (drift away like an untied boat). If we are not firmly connected to what is spiritually immovable, we are not strong or stable in faith. If we neglect what we hear, we will drift away intellectually and morally from the truth and the Lord. Listening means hearing and obeying.
The Spirit of God, through the writer, wanted the Hebrew believers then, and us today, to consider this practical application in light of all that has been said in the first chapter, in light of the moral obligations and necessity we are responsible for, and in light of what he is going to say next about the great salvation.
The ones this was written to appeared to be immature and spiritually lazy believers who were being influenced to the point of drifting away from God's truth. Popular opinion among those around them had weakened their commitment to God and His word. They possessed the Old Testament scriptures and had heard the Gospel, but were gradually drifting away from them toward the falsehoods Satan places in the path of Christians who neglect what they have been taught. To drift away from the truth or let it slip away through neglect and laziness is a quiet, effortless way to die spiritually and lose one’s soul if not saved, or to lose one’s testimony as a believer.
Today, believers who are immature and sluggish spiritually [5:11-12] should hold tightly to the word of God, rather than being influenced by popular opinions around them. We have heard the Gospel, which means our redemption comes through the Person and Work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The “Son” [Chapter 1] is God’s ultimate revelation, and it is to Him and what is spoken of Him that we must “Give the more earnest heed.” It is easy to drift away from Him through neglect. The early Hebrews had heard the Gospel, but not everyone who heard it believed. Even some believers were at risk of abandoning the truth of God. This can happen to us.
Some people today, raised in Christian homes and attending scripturally based assemblies, are in danger when they listen to things that raise questions about the scriptures and seem interesting and persuasive because they are unusual compared to the biblical teachings they have previously heard. Some who have taught children in Sunday School or even preached publicly have let the things they heard "slip."
These Hebrews were Christians, but among them were those who only professed to have faith in Christ. They had “tasted” what being a Christian was like, but they wanted to add their previous religious practices and opinions. A more “earnest heed” goes beyond normal acceptance to something more “abundant,” overflowing, purposeful, and heartfelt. Nothing less will do. God is speaking to us through His Son, so we must give more abundant heed.
Those Jewish believers familiar with the Old Testament would remember the warning this first parenthesis provides. 3000 people died for the sin of idolatry when they rejected Moses and turned their hearts back to Egypt. The deaths of Nadab and Abihu, the burning at Taberah, the murmuring of the mixed multitude, Miriam’s leprosy, the deaths of the spies, the Sabbath breaker, and Korah and those with him would remind them not to let what they had slip away.