The Warrior Priest

I. Introduction: Who do you say that I am?

A. Christ’s Question

Matthew 16:13–17 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus asks his disciples a vital question: “Who do you say that I am?”

This is the most important question ever asked.

And there are a good many wrong answers that people have given because they don’t like being confronted with the truth.

We don’t like typically like mystery because it reminds us how little we know and can understand.

The Incarnation and the Hypostatic Union are affronts to that sense of pride that we are so smart.

And to avoid mystery, humans have come up with all kinds of erroneous answers.

But also, people just don’t like that Jesus is God.

They don’t like that He did things that only God can do.

And they don’t like the idea that they are sinful and need a savior. So they come up with all kinds of explanations of who he was and what he did:

B. Liar, Lunatic, or Lord

Some say:

Good teacher, but not God

Religious zealot revolutionary

Social Justice Advocate

Or a moral example.

Lewis (Mere Christianity): “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.”

Machen (Christianity and Liberalism): “The real trouble is that the lofty claim of Jesus, if the claim was unjustified, places of moral stain upon Jesus’ character. What shall be though of a human being who lapsed so far from the path of humility and sanity as to believe the eternal destinies of the world were committed into his hands? The truth is that if Jesus be merely an example, he is not a worthy example for he claimed to be far more.”

C. How much do we know about Jesus?

Tonight, we need to ask ourselves: Who do we say Jesus is?

We need to ask ourselves: How much do I know about Jesus?

And: How well do I know Jesus?

You can know a lot about Jesus, and not know Jesus at all.

I know a lot about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien but I don’t know them.

II. Exegesis: The Person and Work of Christ

A. The Person of Christ

Hebrews 2:14 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things,”

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood”

Following the progression of the text:

Verse 10: sons

Verse 11: brothers

Verse 14: children

We are flesh and blood

Christ took on flesh and blood.

He became man.

He took on the same body and nature as us.

Athanasian Creed: “He is God from the essence of the Father, begotten before time; and he is man from the essence of his mother, born in time; completely God, completely man, with a rational soul and human flesh.”

Chalcedonian Definition: “We all with one voice teach and the confession of one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man, of rational soul and a body; consubstantial with the Father as regards his divinity, and the same consubstantial with us as regards his humanity; like us in all respects except for sin”

1 John 1:1–3 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 1:16–18 “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”

The Lord Jesus Christ took humanity to Himself and became man.

He had a real body, with a real soul, and a real brain, and real blood that flowed through his veins.

Hebrews 2:17 “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect,”

We will return to this verse in a moment — but the this passage is clear that Jesus was like us in every respect.

He grew hungry (Matthew 4:2)

He grew tired (John 4:6)

He took naps (Luke 8:23)

He was sad (John 11:35)

He was happy (Luke 10:21)

He was angry (Mark 11:15)

He loved (John 15:12)

He grew up (Luke 2:52)

We’ll see another instance at the end in how Christ is like us.

But there’s no gnosticism here. Jesus was God in the flesh.

So what did He do with this body?

He used it to destroy the works of Satan.

B. The Work of Christ

Hebrews 2:14–15 “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.”

Christ didn’t become incarnate just to say: “Hey look at this cool thing I can do”.

He came to destroy the works of the devil and to make peace with God on our behalf.

How is that accomplished? — Death.

“he likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,”

Clearly: God cannot die.

1 Timothy 6:16 “who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

God is immortal.

He has no threats: not age, disease, famine, or enemy.

So to use death to defeat death, God must become that can die — and that’s exactly what the Son did.

He partook of human nature, so that He could live and die and in so doing destroy the one who has the power of death — Satan.

Satan has the power of death?

No. Satan does not have power or authority over who lives and who dies.

Job 14:5 “Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,”

Deuteronomy 32:39 ““ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”

2 Kings 20:6 “and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.””

2 Samuel 6:7 “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.”

The Bible is clear: God is the one who has authority over life and death.

What’s in view here is how death comes through sin, which came into the garden by way of the Devil.

This of course takes us back to Genesis 3:15 and this audience being Hebrews knows exactly what the author is on about.

Christ is the one who’s heel is bruised in death, and the Serpent’s skull is crushed by that same “heel”.

The Seed has to be bit for the skull to be crushed.

Through Christ’s death and resurrection Satan’s work is destroyed.

1 John 3:8 “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

The work of Satan was cause God’s image bearers to fall from their estate and he wants to keep them in that estate.

Yet — Christ has come to destroy those works.

Meaning — man can be restored completely back to God through faith.

This means that Christ is both the Destroyer and the Restorer and the deliverer.

Hebrews 2:15 “and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

The Lord Jesus Christ delivers those of us who are subject to the slavery of death.

Does that mean we won’t die? No. Just the same way, that Satan’s works are destroyed but we continue to sin.

This is a semi-eschatological section.

Yes, Satan’s been destroyed.

Yes, Death has been defeated.

Yes, we’ve been set free from the bondage of death.

But Satan still roams like a roaring lion.

We still sin and we still die.

BUT — Satan will be cast one day into the pit.

By God’s grace and the power of the Spirit we can kill the sin in our life.

And also, if we sin we have an advocate with the Father now.

And finally, we have eternal life!

C. Angels don’t need no help

Hebrews 2:16 “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.”

AND NOW FOR THE EXILERATING WORLD OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM!!!

Hebrews 2:16 (KJV) “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.”

Why the radical difference?

The problem child: epilambanomai

This word means: Take hold of; grasp

but the sense of the word is often used to mean: to help or assist, conceived of as taking someone by the hand to lead or assist him.

Modern translators, take it to mean “aid”.

Which considering the preceeding verse can and does make sense.

But I would argue given the larger context of the first two chapters and the entire book — the KJV’s rendering makes more sense.

(1) Angels don’t need help.

The Angels faithful to God were predestined to be faithful, and the fallen angels were not.

They will not be redeemed.

(2) This entire paragraph is about Christ’s assuming humanity.

(3) The preceeding verse implies that assuming of humanity.

(4) The proceeding verse implies that assuming of humanity.

(5) He is the singular Seed of Abraham, but we are the plural seed of Abraham.

Once again, humanity is in view.

So could you read it like the ESV?

Yes. The preceeding verse does speak of Christ saving us.

Is it wrong? Not necessarily.

Is the KJV more accurate?

I would say it is but I don’t think it’s necessary unto salvation since preceeding verses are clearer on Christ’s assuming humanity.

D. The Faithful High Priest

Hebrews 2:17–18 “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.”

We have established that Christ was truly human.

We’ve established part of why He had to be truly human.

Now we come to the 2nd half — He had to be the merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God so that propitiation for the sins of the people might be made.

Adam — set the stage for the failure of all human priests.

Every priest was sinful and unfaithful at some point.

If they weren’t why did they have to offer sacrifices for their own sins before the sacrificed for others?

The Old Testament catalogs the failures of the priesthood and how they eventually ended up serving idols.

Some priests were even unmerciful — Eli (rude to Hannah)

Now comes the perfect priest who is MERCIFUL and FAITHFUL.

The priest who not only doesn’t have to sacrifice for himself, but is the once and final sacrifice himself.

It’s his sacrifice that makes propitiation.

1 John 2:2 “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Romans 3:25 “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”

Christ atones for and pays for our sins with His sacrifice.

What gives this weight is that he was tempted and tried and yet He never sinned.

We are born sinful, and willfully sin the first chance we get — yet Christ was perfect from the conception to resurection when all the sins of the elect were put upon him.

Even at the crucifixion when all of the sin of the elect was put upon him, he remained holy and perfect because of it was the imputation of sin.

Now he helps us.

Too often we think Jesus has left us behind after He saved us.

But that’s not biblical.

He lives in us and He is always with us.

ESPECIALLY, when we are tempted and fighting sin.

Application: remember that Christ is with you when you are fighting temptation!