Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord… The word "salvation" occurs in the Bible under a variety of significations. When the children of Israel had just been delivered out of Egypt, and were brought to a stand-still before the Red Sea, Moses said to them — "Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." Now, in what did that salvation consist? It consisted in this — in a temporary delivering of them out of their trouble, by making a path through the depths of the sea. The Lord delivered them then with a great salvation. Further, you remember that our Lord, on His visit to Zacchaeus, seeing how he was escaping from the bonds of that passion for ill-gotten lucre, exclaims, "This day is salvation come unto this house." That was a great salvation — a deliverance from the thraldom of sin, by the introduction of the freedom wherewith Christ makes His people free. And there remains another appropriate use of the term. We are kept by faith unto salvation: to be redeemed and brought into that glorious state, where the white-robed ones stand — that city, in which we shall not only be saved, as we are now, but in a perfect state of salvation. That, also, is meant at times in the Scripture, when the word salvation is employed. Now, it becomes us to inquire which of these three senses are here conveyed by the words of our text. It seems to me that it comprehends all three; that is to say, all that is needed for the first liberation of man from sin; all that is needed of temporal deliverance to keep him from failing, and to enable him to persevere unto the end; and all that is comprehended in the hereafter, and not-to-be-revealed glory that remaineth for the people of God. Each of the three are great salvation, and, combined, they make the so great salvation. "How shall we escape, if we neglect this so great salvation?" Now, I think there are several things which will plainly prove that this is a great salvation. I. First of all — as A SCHEME, a plan, to work out a Divine purpose — as a Divine scheme and plan, I maintain it is a great salvation. 1. If I examine the wisdom of the scheme — the plan of the scheme — here I come in contact with a wisdom of no finite being: it is the wisdom of the Divine Being Himself; it is infinite wisdom; the mint-mark has Heaven's royal stamp, and the image and superscription are more than Caesar's; they are those of the King of kings Himself. Now this wisdom is displayed in a threefold manner. (1) First, in grappling with a difficulty in which no man can succeed. We can deal with our fellow-creatures' bodies; we can deal with their minds; but their souls are encased as in triple steel; and whenever man has begun to touch sin, the only thing he has done has been to burn his own fingers, without putting that firebrand out of the world. Sin is everywhere, and man has never been able to cast it out. It stands, and ever will stand, till a Divine power shall come to cast it out. Now God has found out the way of accomplishing this, and He has devised a scheme which, in His hand, shall make this wide world to be covered with His glory, even as the waters cover the deep. That is one thing in which I detect the wisdom of God; He has accomplished that which has ever defied the wisdom of the wisest, and the might of the mightiest. (2) Something further is to be noticed — God has done this with a wisdom so great, that He has foreseen all that He has purposed to do, and everything He has done, and has not left undone anything that He has purposed. (3) Let me observe, again, that the wisdom of this scheme is something so great, that not a single wrong is done to any one. God has rest ,red the false note in the great organ of the universe, without staying its tune, or hindering the harmony of the music of the spheres; and He has done it all with a wisdom so infinite, that we must exclaim. "This is indeed a s, great salvation." 2. But now, join that wisdom with love — think of the low, as well as the wisdom, and then you will have further heightened the thought. II. Now, it is a great salvation, not only because of the scheme, but also because of THE AIM IN VIEW, and the objects which it purposes to perform. Christ came, not merely to save man from sin, and from Satan — not merely to save man from going down to the pit without ransom, though that would ha, e been a great salvation. Christ comes, we say, to destroy sin; but how? By bringing in a righteousness that shall far surpass the righteousness of men. He comes to destroy death; but how? By bringing life and immortality to light. He comes to destroy the works of the devil; and how? By doing the works of Him that sent Him, and the great salvation He brings in, has, for its end and aim, not merely the putting of man into the garden of Eden, where he was before the Fall but to put him in possession of life and immortality itself. III. We exclaim again, "It is a great salvation," from THE MEANS that have been used for the working-out of the scheme, and from the original end and aim proposed. And here I might begin at the beginning, but how can we go back to the countless ages of eternity? and time would certain, fail us, if I were to begin at the creation of the world, for it all has been but the theatre for the working-out of this great salvation. I would come down to the time of the Jews, and would see there all the wonders of the life of Abraham, and of Abraham's descendants. All these things formed part of the working-out of the scheme, for the Jews were like the scaffolding which needed to be erected, that there might be raised, inside of it, a true and living structure, which is to abide for ever. The Jewish race, with its wondrous history, has but served as the pinnacle for the erection and for the display of the cross thereupon. But we must narrow our limits again. Let us now start from Bethlehem; and there, in the stable of a lowly inn, we see a babe; small it is, but yet great ; the Son of Mary, and the Son of the Highest. He whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, is there, wrapped in that veil of our inferior clay. As I look upon that deep mystery, and see there that Child of God, I see also and adore "the man my fellow" — Christ in the flesh — God incarnate. I see there a mighty deed that stamps this salvation with a greatness of His own. I pass by all the after-wonders of His life, and come to the cloning scene, when He hangs upon the cross. I look at that bleeding man, and I exclaim, "How is it? — it is the blood of God" — for I find the Scripture saying, "The Church of God, which He has purchased with His blood." How it is I cannot tell; but there is a Divine efficacy in the death and blood of Christ. IV. Fourthly, let us look at these facts taken as a whole, and as LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF OUR RELIGION. Now reason could never discover a religion; I say that reason does tell us this — it is the best religion the world ever has seen, or can see. There are three things that we must find in every religion to make it great. It must reveal a God, worthy of the highest honour ; it must give benefits to the worshippers ; and it must establish a connection between the two. If it does not reveal a God, it is worthless. If it reveals a God, but He is not worthy of the highest honour, I say it is a weak religion — away with it. Now our religion is this: "Glory to God in the highest" — glory in the scheme, glory in the working-out, glory in the end proposed. (C.H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; |
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