01-19-25 The Glorious Humanity of Jesus
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Hebrews 2:10-18 10 For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to My brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put My trust in Him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given Me.” 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
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Hebrews 2:10-18 10 For it was fitting that He God the Father, the One for whom and by whom all things exist, the Father who laid out the plan of salvation in order to in bringing many sons to glory the plan that the Father accomplished was through Jesus the Son, It was fitting that the Father should make the founder of their/our salvation Jesus perfect through suffering Yet how was Christ made perfect? Through His sufferings, Jesus was not made morally perfect nor was His omnipotence made perfect, but rather through His sufferings, Jesus becomes perfectly equipped to be the leader of salvation, through His sufferings He is perfectly equipped to be an effective High Priest, through His sufferings He is able to perfectly identify with mankind, and through His suffering He is perfectly equipped to be the Savior of mankind. Through His sufferings, Jesus becomes the Pathfinder for all humanity to reach God. In the letter to the Hebrews, there is a lot of discussion about the attaining of perfection in the sense of unimpeded access to God and unbroken communion with Him. Yet the letter of Hebrews makes it clear that the ONLY way to the Father is through Jesus who leads the way. 11 For He Jesus, the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. Both the only One who can make others holy, Jesus and the ones who are being made holy, humanity, have one source. In this context that source is Adam, the first human. You see in our context, the author of Hebrews is emphasizing Jesus’ humanity. Verses 6-9 that we covered last week refers to this point. That is why He/Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers, The reason Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers is because He was also born and therefore from the same source Adam, as is all of humanity. That is the reason He, the God of all, is NOT ashamed to call us brothers. In fact the author of Hebrews goes a step farther. Jesus 12 saying, “I will tell of Your the Father’s name to My brothers fellow humans; in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your the Father’s praise.” (Psalm 22:22) Now remember, it was a common practice for people to quote the first line of a Psalm when referring to a Psalm in its entirety. To my Bible scholars out here you may already be realizing that Psalm 22 is much more familiar than we may realize at first glance. Psalm 22:1 begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...” Psalm 22 begins with the cry Jesus made on the Cross. A day that Jesus asked the Father to take away. As you read through Psalm 22 it begins with a cry to God for help and for 21 verses it continues to list all of the difficulties and troubles that surround the psalmist. However, in verse 22 it changes from a cry to God for help to a call of public praise to God for God has heard the cry. Psalm 22:22–24 “I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise You: You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel! For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and He has not hidden His face from him, but has heard, when he cried to Him.” Jesus cried to the Father for help and stood in the midst of His brothers proclaiming that the Father has heard and the Father has answered. 13 And again, “I/Jesus will put My trust in Him/Father.” (Isaiah 8:17b LXX) And again, “Behold, I/Jesus and the children God the Father has given Me.” Expressing solidarity with humanity and perfect communion with the Father (Is 8:18) As you look at both Psalm 22 and Isaiah 8 they demonstrate a recurring pattern of men and women’s trust in God in days of darkness followed by a glad acknowledgement of God’s faithfulness when He acts on their behalf and ultimately vindicates them. Jesus walked through the valley of the shadow of death and the Father delivered Him.
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself Jesus likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. I like how scholar FF Bruce puts it. “Who are those “children” whom God has given to Christ? Men and women, creatures of flesh and blood. But if His solidarity with them is to be real, He also must be a true human being, a genuine partaker of flesh and blood. Moreover, He must partake of flesh and blood “in like manner” with them—that is to say, by the gateway of birth... And if they, entering this earthly life by birth, leave it in due course by death, it was divinely fitting that He too should die. Indeed, this is stated here as the purpose of His incarnation—that He should die, and in the very act of dying draw the sting of death.” (Bruce, F. F. (1990). The Epistle to the Hebrews (Rev. ed., pp. 84–85). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) Remember Christmas, in the shadow of the manger lies the cross. The devil is the one who brought temptation and through that temptation death. That is the reason 1 John 3:8 tells us that “...The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Sin entered the world and death by sin. This is ultimately the work of the devil that Jesus came to earth to destroy. Only in becoming human could the Son of God conquer death. This is a feat that mankind could never have done for all of us deserved death and thus death reigned from Adam to all mankind. Death had the last word for all humanity. Yet the resurrection of Jesus demonstrated that death would not have the last word. You see the fear of death has been called the “king of terrors.” Yet by the death and resurrection of the One who sanctifies, transforms the meaning of death for those who are being sanctified. For the believer, death no longer leads to penalty but rather it leads to a blessing we do not deserve. Rather than death leading to separation, it leads to liberation from sin and sorrow. Remember Romans 8:38–39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In this way Christ has taken away the sting of death and rather than be something we fear, it becomes something that takes us from this life filled with joys and sorrows, into the next life filled with only perfect joy. This is the reason He became a man. This is the reason for the Incarnation. 16 For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. He helps His brothers and sisters. Jesus became a man to save mankind. 17 Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become... Again we have this idea of becoming. This is not an addition to His attributes, but rather a completion of His work. By His death, burial, and resurrection, He has become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation/pay the debt for/atone for the sins of the people. “How can sinners approach the holiness of God, either personally or through a representative? They can come to Him with confidence only if their sin has been removed. And this above all else makes Jesus so incomparable a high priest and representative of His people; not only is He sinless Himself, and therefore entitled to enter the presence of God on His own account, but He has dealt effectively with His people’s sins, and can therefore enter the presence of God on their account too. The purpose of His incarnation was that through His death He might “make atonement for the people’s sins”—do in effective reality what the sacrificial ritual of Old Testament times could do only in a token form. A high priest who has actually, and not merely in symbolism, removed His people’s sins, and therewith the barrier which their sins erected between themselves and God, is a high priest worth having.” (Bruce, F. F. (1990). The Epistle to the Hebrews (Rev. ed., p. 88). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) Then we have a beautiful verse in verse 18. 18 For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. Jesus endured trials and temptations throughout His life. He knows what it means to be tempted. He knows what it means to be belittled and betrayed. He knows what it means to be mocked and beaten. He knows what it means to be human, yet without sin. Therefore, BECAUSE He KNOWS, He is able to help those who are being tempted, you and me. He is perfectly equipped with not just head knowledge but experiential knowledge, yet without sin. In the words of J. Vernon McGee, “My High Priest is up there. He knows me, He understands, and I can take my burden to Him. When that dark moment comes, and you and I go down into the valley of the shadow of death, we have a great High Priest up yonder who will help us. No matter what happens, no matter what the test, He is able to help us. I am afraid that we do not use His services as we should. We forget about Him and try to fight our battles alone. My friend, He is available. He wants you to come to Him.” (McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Hebrews 1-7) (electronic ed., Vol. 51, p. 53). Thomas Nelson.)
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Take Comfort, Jesus Understands. When you are going through difficulty, when you are going through temptation, Jesus understands the difficulties. He has been there. He has experienced trials and temptations. So He understands what it is like. Now as I say this, we must be careful because even as we take comfort from the truth that Jesus understands, our sin nature will begin to whisper in our ear, “It’s ok to keep sinning. Jesus understands. It’s ok to hold on to bitterness, Jesus understands. It’s ok to not forgive, Jesus understands. It’s ok… Jesus understands.” NO. While it is true that Jesus understands, it is NOT true that He condones. He knows what it is like to be tempted to do wrong, but He NEVER condones/disregards doing wrong. Jesus comes alongside and says, “I know what it is like to be betrayed. Follow My example in how to forgive.” Your High Priest knows the weight of heartache, temptation, and loss. When you feel crushed, look to the One who has born that weight. There is this saying among Christians: “God will never give you more than you can handle.” Yet this is not exactly biblical. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:8–9 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” This is the reason that when trials come we MUST go to our High Priest. It is the reason Jesus says in Matthew 11:28–29 “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” In Christ, we are able to bear the trials, troubles, and the temptations of this life. When you are pressed out of measure, He is the One who gives us rest. Once again in the words of J. Vernon McGee, “My High Priest is up there. He knows me, He understands, and I can take my burden to Him. When that dark moment comes, and you and I go down into the valley of the shadow of death, we have a great High Priest up yonder who will help us. No matter what happens, no matter what the test, He is able to help us. I am afraid that we do not use His services as we should. We forget about Him and try to fight our battles alone. My friend, He is available. He wants you to come to Him.” (McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Hebrews 1-7) (electronic ed., Vol. 51, p. 53). Thomas Nelson.) Dear Christian, take Comfort, run to Jesus. He Understands and He will strengthen and comfort you.