2:2 The words which God spoke through prophetic-messengers, were not to be taken lightly; considering the fact that the many and various ways in which God spoke to our fathers, (1:1-3) did not compromise the initial intention and ¹resolve of God; neither did the prophetic announcement distract from the ²ultimate conclusion of the word, ⁵realized in the Son of God. The prophetic word ²stands above reproach in every way; the same ³source is confirmed in our hearing today, and is to be ⁴judged in the same integrity. (Note the words, ¹bebaios, steadfast, from baino, to stand, and ²parabaino, and ³parakoo are used here; para, closest possible proximity and baino, footprint, to stand; and then also the word para combined with akoo, to hear, hearing from the original source. The word, ⁴endike, from en, in, and dike, judged equal, two parties finding likeness in each other; a scale perfectly balanced. The word, ⁵lambano, to receive, to realize, to grasp, to associate with.)

2:3 No one can afford to underestimate and be blasé about this final message; a salvation of such magnificent proportions. There is no alternative ¹escape. Salvation as it is articulated in Christ, is the message that God spoke from the beginning, and it was confirmed again and again by those who heard him. (We are ¹rescued from the lies that we believed about ourselves under the law of performance.)

2:4 The delightful resolve of God in every sign, miracle, and diffusion of Holy Spirit bear joint-testimony to the magnificence of this salvation.

2:5 God never intended to put celestial-messengers in charge of this ¹new world order that we are speaking of. (The ¹age and dispensation of mankind’s realized, redeemed sonship and identity.)

2:6 ¹Somewhere in the Scriptures it is written, “What is it about the human species that God cannot get them out of his mind? What does he ²see in the son of man, that so captivates his gaze?” (¹Psalm 8:4-6. The word ²episkeptomai, from epi, continuous influence upon, and skopos, to view; to observe with keen interest.)

2:7 It seems that man briefly descends to a ¹less elevated place than Elohim; yet he is crowned with God's own glory and dignity, and appointed in a position of authority over all the works of his hands.” (Possibly, a copyist felt that the reference to equality with our Maker [Gen 1:26] was too bold, so the Greek text reads, "he made us a little lower than the celestial messengers." Here is the reference, Psa 8:4 What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care so much for him? Psa 8:5 Yet you made him little less than God, [Elohim] and crowns him with glory and honor. Psa 8:6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.

The word ἐλαττόω ¹elattoō [English, elation] suggests a little less than Elohim.)

2:8 God’s intention was that human life should rule the planet. He subjected everything without exception to his control. Yet, looking at the human race, it does not seem that way at all.

2:9 But what is apparent, is Jesus. [Now God spoke to us in a son. Heb 1:1-3] Let us then consider him in such a way, that we may clearly perceive what God is saying to mankind in him. In the death he suffered, he briefly descended to a seemingly less elevated place than Elohim, [Psalm 8:5] in order to taste the death of the entire human race, and in doing so, to fulfill the grace of God and be crowned again [as a man, representing all of mankind] with glory and highly esteemed honor. (See Phil 2:6 His being God’s equal in form and likeness was official; his Sonship did not steal the limelight from his Father. Neither did his humanity distract from the deity of God. Phil 2:7 His mission however, was not to prove his deity, but to embrace our humanity. Emptied of his reputation as God, he fully embraced our physical human form; born in our resemblance he identified himself as the servant of the human race. His love enslaved him to us. Phil 2:8 And so we have the drama of the cross in context: the man Jesus Christ who is fully God, becomes fully man to the extent of willingly dying humanity’s death at the hands of his own creation. He embraced the curse and shame of the lowest kind in dying a criminal’s death. (Thus, through the doorway of death, he descended into our hellish darkness. Rev 9:1 When the fifth celestial messenger blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft into the fathomless depths of the Abyss. [In his death, Jesus conquered the underworld and he has the keys; no-one else does.] Rev 1:18 I am also the Living One; I died and now, see, here I am alive unto the ages of the ages and I have the keys wherewith I have disengaged the gates of Hades and death. Also, Eph 4:8-10.) Phil 2:9 From this place of utter humiliation, God exalted him to the highest rank. God graced Jesus with a Name that is far above every other name. (Eph 1:20 Do you want to measure the mind and muscle of God? Consider the force which he unleashed in Jesus Christ when he raised him from the dead and forever seated him enthroned as his executive authority in the realm of the heavens. The man, Jesus is God’s right hand of power. He was raised up from the deepest dungeons of human despair to the highest region of heavenly bliss. [See Eph 2:5,6 & 4:8,9] Eph 1:21 Infinitely above all the combined forces of rule, author ity, dominion or governments; he is ranked superior to any name that could ever be given to anyone of this age or any age still to come in the eternal future. The name of Jesus endorses his mission as fully accomplished. He is the Savior of the world. Titus 2:11 The grace of God shines as bright as day making the salvation of mankind undeniably visible. See also Eph 3:15, Every family in heaven and on earth originates in him; his is mankind’s family name and he remains the authentic identity of every nation.] See Luke 10:18-24 in the Mirror)

2:10 He ¹towers in conspicuous prominence far above all things. He is both their author and their conclusion. All things exist in him and through him. He now, triumphantly leads everyone as sons to glory, through a perfect salvation. The extent of the suffering he bore is the measure of the perfection of the salvation over which he presides. (The word, ¹prepo, means to tower; see Heb 7:26 - 8:1 and Eph 4:8-10.

Also Col 1:15 In him the image and likeness of God is made visible in human form in order that everyone may recognize their true origin in him. He is the firstborn of every creature. [What darkness veiled from us, he unveiled. In him we clearly see the mirror reflection of our original life. The Son of his love gives accurate evidence of his image in human form. The incarnation means that God can never again be invisible.] Col 1:16 Everything that is, begins in him; whether in the heavenly realm or upon the earth, visible or invisible, he is the original blueprint of every order of justice and every level of authority, be it kingdoms or governments, principalities or jurisdictions; the original form of all things were founded by him and created for him. [Any order that does not mirror Christ is a distortion of man's own making.] Col 1:17 He is the initiator of all things, therefore everything finds its relevance and its true pattern only in him. Col 1:18 The ekklesia is the visible expression [body] of which Jesus is the head. He is the principle rank of authority who leads the triumphant proces sion of our new birth out of the region of the dead. His pre-eminent rank is beyond threat. [“ ...leading the resurrection parade” —The Message. See also Rev 1:5])

2:11 Because both he who carried out the rescue mission, as well as those whom he saved and restored to innocence, ¹originate from the same source. He proudly introduces them as members of his immediate family. (The word, ¹ek, always denotes origin, source, out of; see 1 Corinthians 1:30.)

2:12 He says, “I will ¹reveal your name to my brothers as being their own; in this great ²family re-union I will celebrate you in song.” ([Ps 22:22] This is a powerful reference to the great, dramatic Psalm 22 which gives profound context to the entire conversation recorded in the book of Hebrews.

[Ps 22:22] In Hebrew: “I will ¹inscribe your name, in the core of my kindred;” The word, ספר safar, means enumerate, detail; and the word, tavek, תוך ּmeans to cut to the core, sever, to bisect; it is a mathematical term which is the division of a given curve, figure, or interval into two equal parts, the one mirroring the other.

Ps 22:27, And all the ends of the earth shall remember and return to the Lord. All the families of every nation shall worship him face to face.

This also dramatically reminds of the emotional moment when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. [Gen 45:1]

The ²ekklesia is the great family re-union. From ek, source or origin and kaleo, to surname - thus our authentic identity is redeemed, "Simon, son of Jonah [surname], Who do you say that I, the son of man am?" He replied, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus responded, "Blessed are you. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father has. I say, you are Mr Rock [petros], a chip of the old block [petra]. Upon this rock [the revelation that the son of man is the son of God] I will build my ekklesia and the gates of Hades [ha, negative plus eido, to see] will not prevail against you. In a walled city, the gates are the most strategic point - if the gates are disengaged, the city is taken. Thus, the blindfold mode of mankind’s forgotten identity, will not prevail against you.)

2:13 ¹I will rest my confident trust in him. I am surrounded by the children which God has given me. I am one of them.” (Precise ¹quote from Isa 8:17 in the Septuagint; "And One [the Messiah] shall say, I will remain in seamless abiding [meno] in God and I will be yielding upon him." πεποιθὼς ἔσομαι ἐπ ̓αὐτῶ pepoithōs esomai ep' autō - then, Isa 8:18. See also its context in Isa 7:14/ 8:8,10 -the only 3 places where Immanuel is mentioned.)

2:14 The fact that the children are flesh and blood-beings by design, explains the incarnation. In the genius of God, the Word was always destined to become flesh - he lived and died in a body as fully human as ours. Dying our death was his doorway into our deepest fears. He thus ¹disengaged the dominion of the death that trapped the human race in a ²fallen mindset. (Had he done all this in a superhuman body, the implications of his life, death and resurrection would be irrelevant. The word, καταργέω ¹katargeō means, to render entirely useless. Then, ²diabolos, usually translated Devil, literally, dia + ballo, thus, as a result of the fall.)

2:15 As a fellow human, he re-defined death and delivered them from the lifelong dread of death. (He brought final closure to the idea of judgment, which is what the system of works is all about. Heb 9:27,28. Evil is not immortal, love is. See 1 John 4:18.)

2:16 This is why it is so relevant to understand that Jesus did not arrive on the planet in a celestial form [or a Superman-suit]; he is the seed of Abraham. (The seed of faith-righteousness and not flesh-righteousness. See Gal 3:16 It is on record that the promise [of the blessing of righteousness by God’s faith] was made to Abraham and to his seed, singular, [thus excluding his effort to produce Ishmael.] Isaac, the child of promise and not of the flesh mirrors the Messiah. Gal 3:7 The conclusion is clear; faith and not flesh relates us to Abraham. [Grace rather than law is our true lineage. Ishmael represents so much more than the Muslim religion. Ishmael represents the clumsy effort of the flesh to compete with faith; the preaching of a mixed message of law and grace.] See also Gal 4:21-31.)

2:17 He therefore completely assimilated every detail of his human family so that, as Chief Priest standing face to face before God, his compassion and unwavering faith would prevail effectively over the ¹lies that they believed about themselves, having fully accomplished their ²at-one-ment. (The Greek word, ¹hamartia, often translated as sin, is the word, ha, without, and meros, allotted portion; which is the stem of the word morphe, form; thus a distorted form; the lie that we believed about ourselves as a result of the futile ways we inherited from our fathers. See 1 Pet 1:18. The word ²ἱλάσκομαι hilaskomai, means to conciliate, to bring about atonement/conciliation, from hileos, gracious, merciful. 1 John 2:2 Jesus is our at-one-ment, he has conciliated us to himself and has taken our sins and distortions out of the equation. What he has accomplished is not to be seen as something that belongs to us exclusively; the same at-one-ment includes the entire cosmos.)

2:18 He experienced mankind’s temptation with the same intensity, and under the same scrutiny, and powerfully represents them ¹with immediate effect. (To run to their rescue. [βοή boē shout/cry for help; and θέω theō to run.] The word, βοηθησαι ¹boethesai is the Aorist Infinitive of βοηθέω, boetheo

which means to reinforce, specifically a rope or chain for frapping a vessel in a storm. In his incarnate human body Jesus victoriously faced every onslaught that we would ever possibly encounter. See Heb 4:15,16. The Aorist Infinitive indicates the prior completion of an action in relationship to a point in time.)