AT the beginning of chapter 2 we come to one of the frequent insertions into the teaching of this letter. The Apostle is not content with just giving the teaching. He is concerned, as every Christian teachers should be, that the message should be received. If the teaching is understood, but it is not believed, received and acted upon, then it will do the reader no good, so Paul slips in exhortations from time to time in order to urge the reader to believe and receive the message for the good and salvation of their soul.

Whenever we come to the Bible we should ‘pay more careful attention’ to the message, in order that we might be nourished and changed by it. This is Paul’s concern here. He speaks of the danger of drifting away from the truth, and from salvation, and this can be a very real danger. If we are not yet believers, the word of truth can come to us with power from the Holy Spirit, but because we do not act upon the word which has touched us, the influence can dwindle away, and so we gain no benefit from it, and so are not blessed with salvation. If we are believers, but when we read the Bible we do not pay careful attention to what we read, then our spiritual lives can become cold and weak. We may not lose our salvation but we do lose the power of it and the blessing of it, and we cease to be useful to the Lord.

So as we read this exhortation to take heed what we read, let us do so, and apply the message to our hearts by faith.

The argument the Apostle uses here to press this attentiveness to the message upon his readers is to contrast the message which the Jews had through angels in the Old Testament, with the message of salvation which we have in Christ. The Jewish readers to whom Paul wrote would have found this argument persuasive. Such was the importance of the revelation given in the law of Moses, that if it was not heeded and received in obedience, then judgement followed. The Jews had experienced this throughout the Old Testament history. They were constantly not heeding the revelation they were given, and God was constantly warning them of their disobedience, and in the end God punished them, and severely, because they had turned away from him. The blessings promised under the Law of Moses were great, but so were the judgements upon those who were disobedient.

If this was the case under the old system, then how much more under the new revelation of salvation in Christ. In fact the loss under the New Testament is so much greater, because not to heed the message of salvation is to lose salvation altogether.

Not to heed the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is also a great evil because of the powerful evidence which was given that it is from God, and the powerful demonstration of its blessing that was given also.

It is announced as salvation. The law of Moses with all its ceremonial never actually gave salvation. It only pointed to the hope of salvation. To neglect the message of salvation is to lose salvation, and be left in death.

This message of salvation was announced by the Lord Jesus. He announced it by a life of utter purity. He announced it in his divine teaching. He announced it in his claim to have come from God and to be God. He announced it in his sacrificial death on the cross where he made atonement for sin.

This message was confirmed by the application of its truth upon the disciples at Pentecost, where the Spirit of God came upon them and brought such life to them that they saw Jesus as their Saviour and proved in their lives that they had received salvation.

The message was further confirmed in the signs and wonders and miracles that it brought on those who believed, and in the church that was formed. The gifts of the Spirit were very evident in the church after Pentecost. The Apostles were given the power to perform miracles. God was in his church to make the witness effective so thousands believed and when Satan assaulted the church, God step in to deliver and protect his people, as he did in the deliverance of Peter from prison told in Acts 12.

With all this evidence of the salvation God has provided in Jesus, the rejection of this salvation is all the more culpable and blameworthy, and so calls down from God greater judgement. Our trouble today is that we hardly think about judgement, and if we do, we tend to reject it as an Old Testament concept which is not compatible with the gospel of love in the New Testament. What we fail to realise is that judgement is always present, and remains upon all those who reject the message of salvation. Also there is greater blame for those who have been given the message of salvation, and have heard it, and then neglect it or reject it.

Whatever our present state with regard to the gospel of salvation in Christ, such exhortation to pay careful attention to what we have heard comes with seriousness. Let us be stirred by it to pay more attention to the word of truth we receive from God’s Word, and make sure we are not in anyway living so that we are neglecting what we hear, or we are not receiving it as we should, but rather believe and receive the word of God with deep attention and faith.