Re-Reading Hebews 2:3

"how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? "

Hebrews 2:3

I had the privilege of speaking yesterday at the Open Door Fellowship at the Nazarene church in Perth, on Hebrews 2:3. I am amused to see that on their website the event is advertised as "A lunch club for the over 50s - Enjoy delicious food followed by an inspirational speaker." Well, at least the food matched the billing.

I had always assumed that salvation was described as "great" in Hebrews 2:3 because of the depth of sin to which we have sunk and the heights of glory to which Christ lifts us. That is to say that I had thought that the 'greatness' referred to was firstly about the scale of what it does to us.

Now this is a fine observation in itself, and indeed salvation is 'great' in this way. However, having studied Hebrews 1&2 this week I have realised that this isn't the first 'greatness' that the author is directing our attention to. Rather chapter one of Hebrews is a celebration of the greatness of Christ the Saviour Himself: His unique relationship to the Father (4), His deity (3,8), His achievement (3b), His coronation (9), His right to be worshipped (6), and His superiority to the angels (7).

The greatness extoled in Hebrews 1 is the greatness of Jesus Himself! The begining of chapter 2 deals with our response to this greatness, with two warnings. Firstly, don't drift away from this great Saviour (1), then secondly don't ignore this great Saviour(3). For when the LORD himself has offered Himself for our salvation, what possible other escape can there be?