NOTES for Heb 3:7-19

The epistle writer's call not to turn away from the living God seems not so much unexpected as self-evident. Yet, in light of everything he has said, a question arises: why does he suddenly turn to such an exhortation? The context of the epistle, however, makes much clear and understandable. After all, the subject is the Messiah: who He is, whether He is a Man or some great angel. The idea of the Messiah as a great angel could have been connected, in particular, with the events of AD 70, which in the eyes of Christians marked the end of history.

Indeed, when Jesus Himself tells His disciples about the last days, He points to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple as events preceding His return and the full triumph of the Kingdom. And now what the Savior foretold has come to pass, yet He Himself still does not return. Against this background, many Christians probably decided that they needed to reconsider the ideas about history—and perhaps even about the Messiah Himself—that had become established by then, for this was already the third Christian generation.

It is precisely at this time that various fantastic speculations begin to circulate among Christians: the Messiah has already returned, but not everyone saw Him, only those to whom it was granted, because He is not really a human being at all, but precisely that great angel who cannot be seen so easily. In short, this was an entirely different “messiah,” a mysterious, mystical “messiah” who comes to a few initiates, to those who are “worthy of salvation.” All these fantasies, of course, had nothing to do with the true Messiah to whom the evangelists bear witness. And fleeing from harsh reality into a world of such fantasies amounted in practice to betraying Christ, as the epistle writer reminds his readers.