Hebrews 2:10-18 - From Fall to Freedom
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
We mentioned last week how man was given dominion of everything in Genesis 1:26.
Listen to this beautiful verse:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
At this point in creation - man, made in the image of God, is perfect. He has dominion over the earth and all of the things on the earth. All is well. He is in perfect union with God.
Fast forward to Genesis 3. The serpent - namely the devil - tempts Eve and both she and her husband eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. They break the one rule they are given. They are given dominion over everything other than the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God even warned Adam that he would die if he would eat of it.
Yet man rebels and eats of the fruit. Through that sin, death entered the world and freedom from sin and death seemed impossible. The fall was great.
But praise be to God in Genesis 3:15, we are promised a Messiah to come. This first Gospel - the proto-evangelium - is preached. Christ will come and crush the serpent’s head.
Man will go from fall to freedom. Hope has been restored. Christ will come and set the captives free.
Let’s go ahead and read our Scripture for today as we discuss the beautiful picture of salvation provided by Jesus Christ which allows man to go from the epic fall that he has experienced to being truly free from sin and death. Only by Christ’s work on the cross is this possible.
Read Full Scripture:
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.
For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
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,
and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
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.
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Prayer
Today we are going to see three amazing truths related to the incarnation of Christ. The first is…
I. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Champion (10-11a)
I. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Champion (10-11a)
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.
The author of Hebrews uses the word fitting here which means to be proper or be right. In other words, this was God’s plan from the beginning. Jesus would take on human flesh and suffer.
The cross was consistent with the love and wisdom of God. God being fully just and fully love displayed His glorious wisdom and grace through sending His Son to die in the place of sinners.
Jesus Christ took on human flesh and suffered on our behalf in order to bring many sons to glory. This refers to the salvation of those who would come to a saving knowledge of Him. Those who repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Though we are in sin and fallen, Jesus Christ provides us glorification in Him.
Sometimes we read a word like glory and gloss over it. The Greek word for glory is doxa and means radiance, dignity, splendor, and honor. As we have already been reminded, man’s failure in the Garden stripped him of his glory and dominion. Man was left humiliated - his sinfulness exposed before a holy God.
But because of Christ’s work of salvation, man will be restored and be able to share in the glory of God.
Before moving forward there is another important word that we need to address in verse 10. We are told that Jesus was made perfect through His suffering.
This statement does not mean that Jesus was not perfect before He came to earth and took on human flesh and died. The Scriptures are crystal clear on the perfection and deity of Christ. Listen to a couple of these…
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
However, we see this same language regarding Christ being made perfect two other times in Hebrews - Hebrews 5:9 and Hebrews 7:28.
So what does the author mean when he asserts that Christ has been made perfect?
This refers to the perfect plan of God being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Christ was, is, and always will be perfect as He is God. However, the perfect plan of God has come to fruition.
This word perfect means to be complete. God’s plan from the beginning was for Christ to take on human flesh and die as the Savior of the world. Christ completed this wonderful plan and thus was perfected and made complete. Though He was fully perfect before His incarnation - the plan of God was made complete through it.
Through His incarnation He became our champion. He became of Savior.
In fact, verse 10 calls Jesus the founder of our salvation. This word means pioneer or champion.
As R. Kent Hughes asserts:
“Christ our Savior blazed the trail of salvation that we can now follow. God has given us Jesus as the divine hero/pioneer of our salvation.”
R. Kent Hughes
My friends, may we praise God for His glorious grace and mercy. You might look at your life and see the result of the fall all over it. Selfishness, greed, pride, a lack of patience, slothfulness, and other sins may plague you at times.
However, because of what Christ has done on the cross, we don’t have to stay there. He is our champion Who has saved us, and as we will now see in verse 11 - He will continue to sanctify us as we move closer to Him in faith.
For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.
Who is that one source of sanctification? Jesus Christ.
To sanctify means to make one holy, to purify, and to set apart.
The book of Hebrews will speak about sanctification many times. In fact, this word is used some 7 times throughout this book.
We use this word a lot in Christian circles. When we use it we usually refer to something called progressive sanctification - being made more like Christ over time. However...
There are three main types of sanctification understood in the Bible.
1 - Positional Sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:2, Hebrews 10:14)
Once a believer is saved, he or she is viewed as perfect in Christ. The righteousness of Christ has been imputed into his or her life. Regardless of the actual state of one’s holiness - eternally speaking the believer is positionally sanctified. Christ’s righteousness has been applied.
Obviously we know that believers continue on sinning due to their sinful flesh. This does not mean that we do not grow in our likeness of Christ. Which brings us to our second type…
2 - Progressive Sanctification (Colossians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Philippians 3:12)
This is the ongoing process of spiritual growth in the life of a believer. It is both active and passive - being done through one’s own efforts in putting to death the things of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23, Romans 8:13) accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and other believers. Even in one’s own efforts, we cannot negate the need and power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. God promises to bring this good work to completion - Philippians 1:6. Progressive sanctification is a lifelong process that ends when we die - which brings one to…
3 - Perfective Sanctification (2 Corinthians 5:6-8, Revelation 21:27, Philippians 3:21, 1 Corinthians 15:35-49)
This speaks of the future completion and consummation of the believer’s holiness once the flesh has died. Once our sinful flesh dies, we are glorified with Christ. We are given a perfect sanctification.
How amazing is our Savior? He is our champion by blazing the way for our salvation, and He continues carrying us all the way to the end through His sanctifying work in our lives.
This amazing work of Christ is further shown in our second point as well…
Scripture References: 1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5, Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 7:28, Galatians 5:19-23, Romans 8:13, Philippians 1:6
II. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Connector (11b-13)
II. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Connector (11b-13)
… That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
It is important to note that Jesus never called the disciples brothers before His death and resurrection. Before His resurrection He called them friends and sheep but never brothers.
Why would Jesus refrain from calling them brothers? It is because they were not truly brothers until His righteousness had been imputed to them. They were not His brothers until they were positionally sanctified as we saw in our last point.
Because Jesus took on human flesh through His incarnation, we are able to be a part of the family of God. We are able to be adopted as children of God. And in Matthew 28:10 as well as John 20:17, after raising from the dead Jesus calls His disciples brothers. And today, we who are in Christ are brothers with Him - as part of the family of God.
In verse 12, the author quotes Psalm 22:22. Psalm 22 is a widely known Messianic Psalm that Jesus quoted even from the cross. Jesus cries out Psalm 22:1 as He hangs on the cross (See Matthew 27:46):
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Psalm 22:7-8 tells us that the crowd mocks Jesus while He suffers (See Matthew 27:39). And Psalm 22:18 prophesies the division of the garments of Christ (See Matthew 27:35).
Though this Psalm is a somber one that speaks of the crucifixion of Christ, verse 22 is a statement of blessing for those who would come to Christ in saving faith…
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
Here we have Jesus telling us that His victory is for all who would place their faith and trust in Him!
In fact, the Greek word for congregation in Hebrews 12:12 is ekklēsia (eck-lay-see-ya) which is the word used for church in the New Testament. We as the church are blessed because of the finished work of Christ.
He continues this same concept in Hebrews 2:13…
And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
In yet another Messianic passage - this one from Isaiah 8:17-18 - the author of Hebrews shows His readers again the connection that Jesus provides His followers with God. Because of Jesus we are brothers with Christ and adopted children of God.
And to show Jesus’s deity and union with God the Father, we are actually called children of Jesus here as well. The author of Hebrews has highlighted two beautiful familial relations that we have to God - brothers and children.
This entire passage is to show Christ’s solidarity with man.
The author has spent considerable time showing Christ’s glory over the angels. He has done this to prove Christ’s superiority.
Despite his efforts so far, his listeners may have been struggling with the humiliation of Jesus - taking on human flesh and dying on the cross. Why would someone greater become lesser?
And that is the purpose of this passage. The author wants to show how Jesus relates to mankind in order to save him and redeem him.
He took on human flesh to save us. And because of the incarnation of Jesus Christ we are connected to Christ as family.
We have discussed our adoption as children of God before - but it is important for us to remember this wonderful doctrine.
One of the most beautiful verses speaking of our adoption is found in John 1:12
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Brothers and sisters - for us who are in Christ - we have been given the right to become children of God. Romans 8:14-17, which also speaks of our adoptions as sons, tells us that we can cry Abba - which was the Hebrew form of the word Daddy in English. It is a word of intimate closeness as a family.
May you understand even more fully the love and grace of our Heavenly Father who has adopted us as children. And may you understand the beauty of the cross that has connected us who are believers forever as the family of God.
Next we see that…
Scripture References: Matthew 28:10, John 20:17, Psalm 22:22, [Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:35], [Psalm 22:7-8, Matthew 27:39], [Psalm 22:18, Matthew 27:35], Isaiah 8:17-18, John 1:12, Romans 8:14-17
III. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Conqueror (14-16)
III. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Conqueror (14-16)
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,
We as humans share in flesh and blood. Each of us are united around this concept of flesh.
However, Christ was not united to us in this way before His incarnation. He was truly God but not truly man. Yet some 2,000 years ago, He took on human flesh so that He might complete the perfect plan of God that we mentioned earlier.
We are told here that Christ partook of the same things - namely He took on human flesh and became truly man. This word partook refers to taking hold of something that is not naturally his. As the late John MacArthur stated:
“He willingly took hold of something which did not naturally belong to Him. He added to Himself our nature in order that He might die in our place...”
Why did Christ do this?
The author tells us that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death - namely the devil. This word destroy means to bring to nothing. The power of sin and death and the enemy has been brought to nothing for those who are in Christ.
As we mentioned last week, after the Fall of man dominion was taken from man and given to the enemy of mankind - namely Satan. Yet, Christ has taken this dominion back through the cross. He will fully consummate His reign and bring down judgement on Satan and the fallen angels in the days to come. However, the power of death has been removed. The sting of death is now gone (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).
Moving forward we see the beautiful result of our Conqueror’s work on the cross…
and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Again, the author gives a distinction of man from the angels. Christ’s death was not for the angels - it was for man - namely the offspring of Abraham. This does not mean that non-Jews cannot be saved. For we are children of spiritual Abraham as Paul teaches in Galatians 3:7. It is also seen in Romans 4:16-17.
In fact, in Genesis 18:18, Genesis 22:18, and Genesis 26:4 we see the following phrase repeated - all of the nations of the earth shall be blessed. The last two mention in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. This referred to Jesus Christ Who - coming from the lineage of Abraham - would die and offer salvation to all of the nations.
We are now able to be delivered who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
The fear of death is a common fear for mankind. This fear is likely because it seems exceeding unnatural for us to die. We were created as eternal beings who would never die. Before the Fall man was made to live forever in uncorrupted flesh. But because of sin, death has entered the world.
Death is the great enemy of mankind. It is a result of the greatest enemy of mankind - namely sin - which leads to death.
Do you fear death, my friends?
I recently did a podcast regarding what happens when we die. The fear of the unknown can be great.
For those who are not in Christ, this fear is a valid fear. The fear of death for the unbeliever is a real and true fear. It is a fear that is valid and warranted. It is the type of fear that one has getting too close to a ledge and plunging to one’s doom. It is a healthy fear.
It is a fear that should lead one to seeking the Lord Jesus Christ - who defeated death and the grave.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior - if you have not repented of your sins and placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation - allow that fear to drive you to your knees.
Trade in your fear for faith.
Christ has His loving arms opened to you to save you from eternal death and the punishment of hell.
Because for those who are in Christ - we need not fear death and the grave. As we already mentioned - the sting of death is gone (1 Corinthians 15:55)!
Listen to John teach us about not fearing...
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
We, who are in Christ, need not fear death. We are loved by our perfect Heavenly Father. We need not fear punishment - for that punishment was placed upon Jesus on the cross.
May we live in the wonderful freedom of faith.
As I was studying for this week’s sermon, I came across a beautiful illustration given by Charles Spurgeon…
“Sometimes, in the old days of war, there used to be a number of little ships wanting to cross the sea. But the privateers were on the watch, so the seamen were afraid to hoist the sail, and get away from the shelter of the shore, for they would soon be caught by their enemies, like doves by the hawk. Well, what was done? There they lay, in port, until his Majesty sent down a man-of-war, perhaps two or three, to be a convoy. Then the little ships would all be safe; their crews need not any longer be afraid of the Frenchmen or the Spaniards.
So is it with those who are under the protection of God. We, weak little vessels, could never by ourselves reach our desired haven. But the Lord High Admiral of the seas and the great Emperor of the land has come forth in the majesty of His power to conduct us to glory. And we shall get there safely, even though our enemies should be beyond all count.”
My friends - Jesus Christ, our Conqueror and Captain will safely lead us home. We need not fear sailing across the sea of this life. We need not fear sailing to the other side of eternity. We only need to follow Him in faith. And lastly…
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, Galatians 3:7, Romans 4:16-17, Genesis 18:18, Genesis 22:18, Genesis 26:4, 1 John 4:18
IV. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Conciliator (17-18)
IV. Through His Incarnation… Christ Became Our Conciliator (17-18)
A conciliator is one who works with opposing sides in order to bring about an agreement. Not only has Christ become our champion, connector, and conqueror, He has also brought us into a right relationship with God. Listen to Hebrews 2:17…
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.
Again, the author magnifies the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He hammers home the point that Christ is not only truly God but became truly man as well.
He did this so that He might become the merciful and faithful high priest necessary for the propitiation of our sins.
This is the first mention in Hebrews about Jesus being High Priest. In fact, only Hebrews refers to Jesus as Priest or High Priest. Jesus will be called High Priest some 10 times and Priest 5 times throughout the rest of this letter.
We have mentioned in the past that the high priest of Israel would go into the Holy of Holies in the Temple once a year on the Day of Atonement - namely Yom Kippur - and make sacrifices for himself and for the people of Israel.
However, Christ is our perfect Great High Priest.
As a merciful High Priest, He became familiar with our struggles. In fact, this Greek work for merciful here also encompasses compassion. As a faithful High Priest, He fulfilled the righteousness that we fell far short of reaching.
And because of His mercy and faithfulness, He made propitiation for our sins.
Propitiation means to wipe out, appease, and forgive. It is a theological concept that refers to the act of appeasing the divine wrath of God and reconciling God to humanity through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
In this we see that God’s wrath is satisfied and God’s love is displayed.
In this, Christ became our Conciliator, or Reconciler, to God.
God is as much wrath and justice as He is love and kindness. Both are absolutely true of God. God’s justice and wrath were appeased by Christ. And His loving kindness was shown to us through the cross and salvation.
Isaiah 53:5 beautifully reminds us of this great exchange…
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
But there is even more to be understood by our wonderful Savior in verse 18…
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
There is so much beauty for us in verse 18. Christ walked this earth as truly man and truly God. As truly man, He suffered and was tested. This word tempted means to be put on trial. He suffered the difficulties that each of us suffer while on earth yet was without sin. He never gave in to the testing of the devil (Matthew 4, Luke 4).
In fact, many might scoff at this concept because they see that Christ was also truly and fully God and due to His perfection could not have given in. Yet, the testing that Christ underwent was far greater than any man before Him or after Him has been able to bear. Sadly, most of us give in early in the testing and tempting process. We lack perseverance.
Yet Christ was tested beyond that of anyone ever to walk this earth and yet was without sin!
Because of this, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
Listen to 1 Corinthians 10:13:
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
God provides each of us with a way of escape so that we can endure it. Our faithful Lord and Savior understands the difficulties of this life. He is merciful and gracious. And He promises to walk with us through the fires of temptation.
Rely on Him, and He will help you endure the temptations of this life.
Scripture References: Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 4, Luke 4, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Psalm 145:18, John 8:36
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, I pray that Christ is even more tangible to you now than before we started. I pray that you have seen God made flesh more up close and personal. He is a God who is near and not a God far off.
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Jesus Christ took on human flesh through His incarnation to provide freedom to the fallen.
May we place our faith and trust in our Champion Who blazed the way for our salvation, our Connector Who brought us into the family of God, our Conqueror Who defeated death and the grave, and our Conciliator Who appeased the wrath of God and reconciled us to the Father.
Friends, we don’t have to stay fallen failures. We have been set free from death and sin.
As Jesus says in John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Brothers and sisters - live in that freedom.
