For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment
Hebrews 2:2
Living here in Central Florida, there are some things that you just need. That you can’t live without. Things that are top priority. That no matter what, you pay attention and make sure that these things are right there when and where you need them. And one of them is air conditioning in the summer.
The other day I tried to turn on our whole house air conditioner. I flipped the switch and waited the three-to-five seconds that it normally takes for it to kick in. Nothing. No sound. No air. No nothing. So, I went into my air conditioning repair man routine. I flipped every switch, pulled every battery, disconnected the thermostat, resetting everything. And still nothing.
So I called in the experts. The same people that we’ve been using for more than 20 years. And like always, they had someone come out almost immediately. After inspecting everything, the verdict was in. Either spend over $1,000 dollars to replace a motor with only a 30-day warranty or spend over $5,000 and get a 10-year warranty. The choice was simple.
The only question was when. After looking at their schedule, it was going to be in two days. That sounded OK with us. It wasn’t great, two days in the heat and humidity of Central Florida, but we understood that they were busy and we would wait our turn. But then the strangest thing happened.
Without us saying a word, the air conditioning company called their appointment for the next day and explained the situation that there was someone with AC. They were more than glad to delay their appointment for one day so we could get our air conditioning back the next day.
Guess what happened the next morning? They kept their word. The AC people arrived with the new unit and installed it. Before 11 AM, our house was once again being filled with cool, refreshing air. They made a promise and they kept it.
This is what happened with the Hebrews and the promises God made to them through angels. And what were those promises? We might not like them, but the promise was that there was going to be punishment every time they broke his laws or commandments. There were two ways they could go against God’s laws.
Violation. Whenever they stepped over the line, they could expect God to keep his promise and bring punishment. Whenever they did anything that they knew to be wrong, God was going to send punishment their way.
Disobedience. This was more accidently doing something against God’s laws. Something that they didn’t pay enough attention to. Something where they just drifted into something that God didn’t allow.
God says that these promises of punishment are not just out there somewhere. That God didn’t accidently say these things and now want to walk them back. He didn’t have his fingers crossed when he said these things. He was as serious as the day is long.
And because God was serious with the first agreement, the Old Testament, the writer wants to make sure that the Hebrews are paying attention. There’s to be no misunderstanding. No miscommunication. No excuses. He wants to be so clear that it’s impossible for them to say that there wasn’t any signal. Or that the call was dropped.
The message is that these promises of punishment are binding. These are guarantees that you can bet your life on. Not a shadow of a doubt about them. Everyone knows that what God said through angels was firm. Why is this important? It’s a two-sided answer.
Who God is. God is altogether all knowing and all powerful. He’s never had any beginning, nor does he have an end. He’s one God with three persons. He also is holy and cannot be in the presence of anyone or anything that’s not holy. And this leads to the second point.
Who we are. Because Not because of who God is but because of who we are. We’re always, always, always looking for a way out. Pushing all the buttons possible so we can get out of an agreement. An excuse that will get us out from under punishment.
And there I said it. The part that we’ve been trying to avoid. The topic that not many people like to bring up. And that topic is punishment. Because God is totally holy, he cannot stand anyone or anything that’s not like him. It’s rebellion against the God who loves us and made us.
If you think about it, we feel exactly the same way. When someone has abused our generosity and love, how do we feel? Simple: anger boils up inside us. We want to punish them for turning up their nose against us.
But God doesn’t just let us drift into eternity without him. He takes the wildly unusual and unselfish act of sending Jesus to pay the price for us. To reunite us back with God. To bring us back. To bind us back with himself. We committed the crime but he pays our penalty. This really is good news.
Noodling Questions
List three things that you absolutely need to live.
What happens when any of them are threatened? Taken away?
Since God won’t let us drift away, how does that change everything?
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