Why God became Man

The writer has been making the case that Jesus is superior to the angels because He is God in the flesh.

When the statement is made “God became a man” the obvious question is “Why?”

Why would God do this?

What follows is perhaps the most exhaustive section in Scripture given to this question. It’s important for all believers to understand the answer to the question because so much of Christian doctrine rests upon it. Understanding what is contained in this section will give all believers a firm grasp basic Christian principles that help us interpret Scripture. Let’s look tonight at why God became man.

1. God became a man to represent humanity (14)

He says “Since the children share in flesh and blood he partook of the same things.”

Humans are made of flesh and blood. They are the only spiritual beings made this way. God is a Spirit. The angels are spirits. Humans have a body and a spirit.

Scripture teaches us that the representative of the human race is Adam. Adam sinned against God. As a result all of his descendants inherited a sinful nature (Romans 5:17).

Humanity needed a new representative. There was none who qualified because all of humanity is sinful. God Himself became a human to represent the human race as the new head.

As the new Head, Jesus completely obeyed the Law of God (Matthew 5:17). He withstood the temptation of the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). Listen to what 1 Cor. 15:22 says:

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Thank God for the second Adam. 1 Cor. 15:45-49 summarizes it well:

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being” the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

God became a man to represent humanity.

2. God became a man so He could die (14).

The wages of sin is death and someone must pay that price. The Savior could not simply overlook sin. God id just and justice demands that sin be punished. God’s punishment for sin is death. He told Adam and eve if they disobeyed Him they would die.

God could only die if He had a body. When I say “die” I don’t mean that God ceased to exist. The moment Christ died He returned to Paradise. There never was a time God did not exist even though He died.

3. God became a man to destroy the devil (14).

Satan is described as the one who has the power of death. It was through Satan that death came into the world. He tempted Eve, she tempted Adam, they sinned, death came. Jesus said in John 8:44 that Satan was a murderer from the beginning.

Satan wanted to kill God’s beloved creation. He succeeded. Since the Garden death has reigned. How would God destroy Satan? He would attack Him at His most powerful point. Satan’s greatest accomplishment is death.

Notice it is through death that Jesus defeats Satan. Jesus defeats Satan with his own weapon. Do you remember when David cut Goliath’s head off with Goliath’s own sword? There was humiliation there. Jesus takes Satan’s own weapon and destroys him with it.

How does He do that? He enters into death and then rises from the dead. He defeats death. He takes Satan’s greatest shot. Satan brought death into this world. Death was undefeated for ages. Jesus defeated death with ease. He is the first and only man to do so.

It is in this sense that God has destroyed the devil. He is defeated. He is unarmed. He is powerless against believers.

4. God became man to deliver us from the fear of death (15).

Death is scary for a lot of reasons.

The idea of our life ending is unsettling.

The dread of standing before God and accounting for our sins is frightening.

The unknown of the next world can haunt us.

Death has been taunting people since time began. Notice he says the fear of death is a lifelong slavery to people. There are people who can’t even talk about death it bothers them so much. Some people live in constant fear of their own death or the death of someone they love. Death is like a cruel taskmaster striking terror in the hearts of its servants.

1 John 4:17-18 says:

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Through Christ we have no fear of death. Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:55-57:

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus has given every believer the same promise He gave to the thief on the cross for the day we die. “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

5. God became man to show the distinction between humanity and angels (16).

He says, “It is not angels that He helps.” God did not become an angel. Think for a moment that becoming an angel would have been less a condescension than becoming a man. Rather than descending one rank God descended two. So, we see how far God was willing to go to save us. But also notice that angels have no opportunity of grace. The angels who sinned are eternally unforgiven. God came to save man. We are the offspring of Abraham by faith in Christ.

6. God became a man to be a merciful and sympathetic High Priest (17, 18).

Let’s deal with the High Priest first. The High Priest represented the people before God. On the day of atonement, he entered the Holy of Holies and made a sacrifice for the people. His sacrifice covered the sins of the people for a year.

The Jews were accustomed to seeing priests who had no real concern for the people. Jesis is merciful and sympathetic toward the people. Christ’s humanity enabled Him to be sympathetic to the weaknesses of being a human. In fact, He was even tempted to sin in the same ways we are. He was made like a human in every respect. The only difference was He did not have a sin nature. This should help us when we pray. Knowing that Christ has experienced what we have experienced should strengthen our prayer life. It should close the distance between us and God.

7. God became man to make propitiation for the sins of man (17).

“To make propitiation for the people” is a reference to the substitutionary death of Christ. The meaning is that Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. God is angry at sin and sinners. Sin will not be overlooked. It must be paid for. Christ allowed Himself to absorb the torment of Divine justice on the cross.

Only a Being as powerful as Christ is able to absorb the full wrath of God.

Only a Being as loving as Christ is willing to absorb the full wrath of God.

Christ came knowing that He would be punished for the sins of the world. He went willingly to the cross.

No angel could or would do it.

No man could or would do it.

Jesus was able and willing to stand beneath the spout of God’s anger until it was drained dry.

In this section we see seven reasons God became man.

To represent humanity.

To die.

To destroy the works of the devil.

To deliver us from the fear of death.

To show a distinction between angels and humanity.

To be a merciful and sympathetic High Priest.

To make propitiation for our sins.