Daily Devotions
Hebrews
"God also bearing witness..."
Text: Hebrews 2:4a
THE SPIRITUAL BACKDROP OF FIRST-CENTURY ISRAEL
Not just anyone can proclaim “so great a salvation” as Jesus did! Let us take time to appreciate the challenges that Jesus had to face as He preached the Gospel of the kingdom.
1. An established Jewish religion
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom against a backdrop of a strong religious system:-
a) Temple worship was strong.
b) The religious groups were well-defined and established.
i) The priesthood
ii) The Pharisees
iii) The Sadducees
iv) The scribes
v) The lawyers (religious)
2. A jaded skeptical multitude (unbelief)
a) They resented the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.
b) They hated the oppressive presence of the Romans.
c) They had sat in spiritual gloom and darkness for a long time.
THE POWERFUL MINISTRY OF JESUS
The forerunner, John the Baptiser had done his work well. He preached powerful messages of repentance and alerted people to expect the coming of the Messiah (Cf. Matthew 3). Then Jesus entered into public ministry, full of the power of the Holy Spirit (Cf. Luke 4:1, 14). His life and His works were too powerful to be refuted by anyone.
The author of Hebrews made a very important statement in the following text.
“God also bearing Him witness”
Hebrews 2:4a
He wrote with conviction that Jesus was Lord indeed! He appealed to God bearing witness to the identity of Jesus. (The apostle John wrote about how Jesus appealed to witnesses to authenticate His ministry. Appeal was made to John the Baptiser, His works, God the Father, and the Scriptures? Cf. John 5:31-40).