Christ Our Brother

MPT: Both Christ and the believer “are all of one stock,” that is, we share a common humanity, with God as our Father, Christ is then not ashamed of the believer but instead claims the believer as His brother.

MPS: We should know and find comfort in the fact that Christ has claimed us as His brothers, adopted through His blood, and now we can claim God as our Father.

I love my siblings a lot, but I know that I haven’t always been the best brother. I’m sure I’ve been cause for embarrassment, shame, and hurt. I’m also sure that you have all had a similar experience with your siblings in some form or another. You’ve caused shame and been ashamed, been embarrassed and caused embarrassment. But despite it all, we still love our siblings because we have a connection with them that goes beyond other relationships.

This is also what is unique about our union and solidarity with Christ. He not only is our Lord, founder, and saviour (these would all be more than enough to glorify Him), but He is also our brother because He shares with us a common source. Because of this commonality, we have many benefits bestowed upon us, benefits that far surpass anything that we could ever conceive of.

The biggest benefit that we have is that we have solidarity with Christ. And Christ has solidarity with us. For as we will see in further passages, it is his humility and taking upon himself our human flesh, living as a man, and suffering for us that means He can be called a faithful High Priest for us.

As we walk through this passage, it is my hope that we will know and find comfort in the fact that Christ has claimed us his brothers, adopted through His blood.

We will look at this passage under three headings: Our Solidarity with our Brother in the Flesh; Our Solidarity with our Brother before the Father; Our Solidarity with our Brother Against Death

Our Solidarity with our Brother in the Flesh Vs 11

Vs 10 sits overtop this section like a crown, claiming that we have solidarity with Christ, our saviour as He is the founder of our salvation. But Christ is a founder unlike one we have ever seen before. He is not distant and apart from us.

He is no George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, or others that founded the United States, long dead from times gone by. He is a founder who continues to work for us in this day.

Here in this verse, we find two fantastic things about our founder. Firstly, He is described as the one “who sanctifies.” It is only God who can sanctify, it is only God who can make clean and holy that which is unholy. Secondly, Christ is described along with us who are sanctified as “all having one source.” Or better and more literally, “are all of one.” We are all of one humanity with our saviour.

Where we find it difficult to have solidarity with men from the 18th century, such as those who founded the United States. We can have solidarity with our saviour. Because we are one with Christ both in character as those saved and made holy by Him, but also in our flesh.

In order for Christ to suffer and become the founder of our salvation, he also had to become incarnate. That is, Christ had to descend from the heavens, take upon Himself human flesh and live a life as a man in order that He may suffer so that He should be made the founder and the sanctifier of us.

Why is this important? Because it is only by being made holy that we can dwell in heaven’s courts.

Think of a gym membership. I can only speculate here as to what is involved as I have no experience with this. But a membership requires upkeep. Usually, that involves just the fee. As long as you pay the money, you can swipe in any time. But stop the upkeep and you can no longer reap the (potential) benefits. Some clubs go even further than this, they require status, clout, and pedigree to keep them. You lose that pedigree for some reason, and pay all the money you want, but those doors are barred to you.

But with our membership in heaven, it is not our up-keeping of our status that ensures our membership, but Christ who sanctifies us. As one man says,

“The Christian’s consecration to God is achieved solely by the reconciling act of Christ at Calvary.” (P.E. Hughes).

We are sanctified by the blood of Christ alone. It is He who is supreme, it is He who has been made the founder of our salvation. It is He who has been made thus through suffering.

His incarnation meant that he could redeem us. He was made like us in every respect, except for sin, in order to redeem us and make us like Himself.

Our Solidarity with our Brother before the Father Vs 12 – 13

Being one with us, Christ declares of us that He is unashamed to call us brothers! Though, due to our sin and our rebellion Christ had every reason to be ashamed of us. But, by glorious condescension, Christ took upon Himself our human flesh and now declares those words about you.

Read vs 12-13

Christ is your brother and Christ is not ashamed of you! One commentator puts it beautifully saying,

“[T]he Son, by becoming man, “is not ashamed” to place himself on the level of their humanity. His taking of flesh and blood is an act of total identification for the purpose of our everlasting redemption. Though he had every cause to be ashamed of us and to abandon us to the judgment we justly deserve, he compassionately abased himself in order that we with him might be raised to glory.”

What a marvellous comfort this is to us. That the one who whom all glory and honour is owed should be made like a man in order to claim them as His brothers and sisters.

And not only is Christ our brother but, we also have God as our Father.

To illustrate such a point, the author quotes three verses from the old testament. One from Psalm 22, and two from Isaiah 8.

Psalm 22:22

This Psalm begins with “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” and ends with this praise upon the lips of the Psalmist, “I will tell of your name to my brothers...” Knowing that it is from the hand of God that salvation comes, the Psalmist proclaims the name of God in all the earth.

The fulfilment of Christ’s work begins with “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as dies there upon the cross. As Christ is resurrected and exalted, His work is consummated with these words “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise.”

Why? As Matthew Henry says,

“The glory of the Father was what Christ had in his eye; his heart was set upon it, he laid out himself for it, and he would have his people to join with him in it.”

So Christ now will tell of the name of God the Father to us, His brothers and sisters.

Many in this earth can know somewhat of the nature of God, “for His eternal attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”

But the Christian has the unique privilege of knowing God not only as powerful creator, but also loving Father. Christ says of Himself, “he who has seen me has seen the Father.”

We know that we have God as our Father because we have Christ as our saviour and brother. We know that we have Christ as our saviour because God raised Him from the dead. Dear Christian, you are now called children of God.

This had serious implications for these Hebrew Christian. For they were facing the prospect of serious persecution. What greater comfort can they have than the fact that the God who created the universe is also their Father.

So too with us. We can sing praises to God our Father with Christ our brother, for we know and are sure that our hope is secure because Christ died for us and rose again. Our Father cares for us and loves us, and will one day also bring us into glory.

This is our right and proper response to all that God has done for us that from our lips would flow forth with “fervent zeal” (Calvin), praises to God our Father.

Isaiah 8:17

The author then goes on to ascribe these words from Isaiah 8 to the mouth of Christ, “I will put my trust in Him.”

We find this Messianic chapter sandwiched between two others, chapter 7 proclaims that the Lord will give a sign, “Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” And in chapter 9 we find the beautiful words, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful counsellor, mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

In this chapter we see how Isaiah bound up the word of prophecy upon seeing no response from Israel, saying “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in Him.” Isaiah had to trust that the Lord would fulfil all His promises, that He would provide a saviour.

In the same way that Isaiah had to trust in the Lord, we see that same trust in Christ as he had solidarity with us in our flesh. He had to trust the Father in His flesh, even to that last breath where He proclaims, “Father, into your hands, I commit my Spirit!”

We have no reason to doubt and fear for our saviour goes before us as a worthy and faithful leader. Following in Christ’s footsteps, we have no reason to doubt our Father’s provision for us.

We too can hope and trust in the promises of God, just as Isaiah trusted that God would fulfil His every promise, and just as Christ trusted that the Father would raise Him from the dead, so too we can trust that our every need will be supplied for we have a brother who goes before us.

Isaiah 8:18

Isaiah here counted his sons as “signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.” For his Son’s names declare to Isaiah that the enemy will be vanquished and those who believe in and have faith in the Lord will remain. Indeed, even Isaiah’s own name proclaims that “Yahweh is salvation.”

Just has Isaiah laid His hands upon his sons, hoping in this promise that God will provide salvation and that a remnant will remain, Christ too wraps His arms around us, His children, and proclaims to us that all the promises of God hold true saying, “behold, I and the children God has given me.”

From eternity past, you have been given to Christ as a treasured possession. You are His and He is yours. You have been covenanted to the Son by the Father. In His ministry here on earth Christ says of you in John 6,

“37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.”

Application

So then, we can have confidence in the solidarity we have with Christ our brother before the Father. Christ has made known to us who the Father is, we can trust in Him that He fulfils His promises, and we can be sure that these promises hold true. We are the children given to Christ.

The One who through whom the world was created, who sits in the heavens and to whom all glory is owed, has taken upon Himself our flesh. He has bound us to Himself in solidarity and goes before us as the founder of our faith. And he now is unashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. Christ is unashamed of you. No matter who you think you are, or what you have done, Christ calls you and claims you as His own and sanctifies you and now with Christ, you can come to God and call Him your Father.

Our Solidarity with our Brother Against Death Vs 14-16

The final benefit of having solidarity with Christ and Him with us is,

Read vs 14-16.

You know what they say, there’s only two sure things in life, death, and taxes. But despite their surety, both fill us with crippling fear.

Fear of death is something that everyone experiences. It’s hard to put into words why, or how, one is scared to die. It may be the people they are leaving behind, or it may be fear of pain, or it could be fear of the unknown, or fear of punishment. Any of these can be a cause for fear. And most people can relate in some way.

In particular, these Hebrew Christians were facing potentially brutal trials and were obviously full of fear. So, the author gives an incredibly tangible solution. Just as they were made of flesh and blood, the author points again to their saviour and says of Him that He is also made of flesh and blood. Highlighting again the point that we are all one with Christ, both in our sanctification and in our bodies.

Christ didn’t become like us for nothing. His taking upon Himself human flesh had a purpose. That purpose was so that through partaking of our flesh, He might destroy the one who has the power of death and to deliver us from fear of death.

It was Christ fully God and fully man who then stood in our place and through death conquered sin, death, and the devil himself. What a wonderful paradox this is. That death is destroyed through death. Yet, this paradox is fitting for God, the one for whom and by whom all things exist. As He holds all things together in this world, He saw that it was fitting that we should be brought to glory by way of Christ’s suffering for us. And that we should be delivered from the power of death over us by Christ dying for us.

We have every reason to hope and to have confidence. Because our brother not only died, but He also rose again. Both in flesh and blood. Just as blood and water poured forth from Christ when He died, so too Christ sat and ate when He rose again. He did not only appear to be a man, but just as we are true flesh and blood, so Christ is also true flesh and true blood.

It is this “realness” of Christ’s body that means he can and has truly and fully paid for all your sins. Just as in one man, Adam, we all are born into death. So too now, through the better Adam, the True Man, Christ, we have solidarity with Him in life.

These words of Christ are now as a soothing balm to our souls,

“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

If Christ now holds the keys of death and hades, what reason is there to fear? What reason do we have to fear the power of the devil. He has been stripped of his power. He has been stripped of his authority; Christ now stands over him as a conquering victor.

As Paul says in Romans 8, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

There is every reason to now see the benefits that Christ bestows upon us as His people. He claims us and calls us His own. Christ, our brother, is of one substance with us, flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood. He is not ashamed to be called your brother.

If you are refraning form coming to Him because of some besetting sin. If you refrain from coming because you feel as though you need to clean up. Know this, Christ took upon Himself your flesh. He was made like you in every way except sin in order that he may wash you clean, set you free from the power of the devil and bring you to glory. He proclaims to us our Father’s name to whom we joyously join in praise with Christ.

We have solidarity with our brother in the flesh, before the Father, and against death. This is our only comfort in life and in death.