Oh! What a Savior!

OH! WHAT A SAVIOR! Spring Valley Mennonite; September 15, 2019; Hebrews 2:10-18 As believers in Jesus Christ and by virtue of attending a Christian Church, certain assumptions can be made regarding what we know and believe about Jesus. Most of us have been students of the Word for many years. This was not necessarily true of the recipients of this letter addressed to the Hebrews. It is true that they were familiar with the Old Testament and the Mosaic Law. But we also are aware that that Judaism in that day was strongly affected by the interpretations of the rabbis, not unlike the additions and layers of ritualism that Catholicism has added to Christianity. When first the Apostles, then teachers like Paul began sharing that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah of whom the Old Testament Prophets predicted, and who died for our sins, one large question would come to mind: If Jesus was God, how could God die? The Old Testament taught that God was eternal and all-powerful. How could the God’s Son die, especially on a cross? For a Jewish person, this would be a great obstacle to their believing in Jesus. The author recognizes this issue and explains why Jesus’ death was necessary. Perhaps you have been confronted with this very question: “Why did Jesus have to die?” Paul recognized this issue also as he stated in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness…” This author gives a masterful explanation of how the death and resurrection of Jesus fit into God’s wonderful plan of salvation. We begin today’s study in the second chapter of Hebrews, verse 10: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.” Speaking of God, the Father, I. “IT WAS FITTING” FOR THE FATHER We saw in our previous studies that God originally made man to have dominion over all creation, but that dominion was forfeited when man sinned. Sin affected not only mankind, but also all creation. God’s original perfect system was broken, and we see this brokenness in disaster, disease, decay and death. God’s holiness and justice demanded that sin could not be tolerated; there could be no compromise. The wages or result of sin is death. But God, because of His great love for the highest of His creation, promised a deliverer, a Messiah and Savior Who would restore Paradise. The darkness of sin would be overcome by light. How could this be done? How could the sin problem be solved? God’s solution was that the second person of the Trinity would take on humanity, becoming like us, and offer Himself as the perfect payment and atonement for all sin of all time. Jesus was the only and unique begotten Son. At a certain time and certain place God became man. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, born to die. Jesus’ death was not an unfortunate accident; Jesus was not killed by the Jews or the Romans. Jesus died according to the determined plan and foreknowledge of God. IT WAS FITTING, IT WAS ACCORDING TO GOD’S PERFECT PLAN OF SALVATION FOR JESUS TO SUFFER AND DIE! And Jesus was not an unwilling participant: He clearly stated that no one was taking His life from Him, but that He was willingly laying it down, even enduring the shameful death on a cross. Crucifixion was designed, not only to afflict the maximum of pain, but the maximum humiliation. Only the worst of criminals or those of whom the Romans wanted to make an example were crucified. It was a shameful and cursed way to die. Yet Jesus, “For the joy set before him (he) endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2.) Verse 10 defines that “Joy set before Him”: it was the bringing many sons to glory. Man had lost his dominion and the image of God had become horribly distorted by sin. Sinful man is a wretched creature, helpless and hopeless before God, destined to eternal death. But the Holy Son of God willingly bore our sin, suffering the awesomely awful weight of our sin by His death—all because of the love of God and the keeping of His promise of deliverance and salvation. To explain about Jesus being “perfected” through suffering: Jesus was perfect in righteousness and without sin, but God’s salvation could not be completed without the suffering of Jesus. The idea of perfection is the completion of God’s Plan through the shedding of blood, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. The suffering was both through the opposition of those who should have welcomed Him and through the agony of the cross. Not only was there physical pain, but the mental and spiritual anguish of separation from God as all the sin and corruption and cruelty and viciousness from all time was laid upon Him. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). But God be praised, with our… II. SHAME REMOVED, WE BECOME MEMBERS OF GOD’S FAMILY Read vv. 11-13. A practice I have used after having someone respond to the gospel message and accepted Christ is to say, “If I am a child of God and you are a child of God, what does that make us?” The answer I am looking for is “We are brothers, or members of the same family.” I then say, “Welcome to the family!” This is the wonderful truth of these verses! Jesus in His humanity and I have the same Heavenly Father; we are family. There is no stronger bond that exists than that of family. I may not agree with everything my children do, but they still are family, and nothing will change that. When we trust Jesus as Savior, we are born into God’s family. A question: can you ever be “unborn” from your family? Perhaps human fathers may disinherit sons or declare them “dead to the family” but God never does this. This speaks to our security in Christ. In a very real sense, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus! The shamefulness of our sinful state has been removed, as Jesus bore the shame of sin on the cross. Jesus also demonstrated that the Father is worthy of our trust. One of Jesus’ last words on the cross was, “Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit.” As the price had been paid for our sins, God proved His acceptance of the sacrifice by raising Jesus from the dead. God is trustworthy. God preserves, defends and provides for His children. He is our light and our salvation, whom shall we fear? He is our strength and our shield. As Jesus trusted His Father, so can we. We are His children, and He is the perfect parent. Read verses 14-15. III. ONLY AS A MAN JESUS COULD DIE AND CONQUER DEATH Look at the words “share” and “partook” in verse 14: The Greek words describe how humans “share” in flesh and blood but how Jesus “partook” of flesh and blood; the emphasis is that while humans have this in common, when Jesus became flesh He took hold of something that was unnatural. We are by nature flesh and blood; Christ was not. Yet the second person of the Trinity took hold of something which did not naturally belong to Him. He added to His divine nature our humanity so that He could die in our place. This made it possible for we humans to take hold of the divine nature that did not belong to us. 2 Peter 1:3-4, in describing how Christ’s resurrected glory affects us, says, “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” By becoming something more than what He was Jesus enables us to become more than what we were! We are born to newness of life. The very life of God in the indwelling Holy Spirit becomes part of us! And those who possess this new life are freed from the fear of death! John MacArthur describes the power Satan had over man: “The only way to destroy Satan was to rob him of his weapon, death—physical death, spiritual death, eternal death. Satan knew that God required death for us because of sin. Death had become the most certain fact of life. Satan knew that men, if they remained as they were, would die and go out of God’s presence into hell forever. Satan wants to hold onto men until they die, because once they are dead the opportunity for salvation is gone forever. Men cannot escape after death. So, God had to wrest from Satan the power of death. And for just that purpose Jesus came.1 The fear of death is perhaps the greatest fear that people have. That fear enslaves them, and they will do almost anything to put off that moment of death. In a recent article in The Atlantic magazine, entitled How We Spend 3.4 Trillion Dollars, it was subtitled: “Why More Than Half of America's Healthcare Spending Goes to Five Percent of Patients”, we find the statement: “For most people, the vast majority of all the health care they’ll ever get comes near the hour of death. Hundreds of billions of dollars each year are spent treating Americans who are in the last weeks, or days, of life.” Death is almost universally feared. One somewhat obscure practice involves freezing the body in the hope that a future cure might be found for an illness and the frozen corpse could be brought back to life and cured. The Alcor Life Extension Foundation will preserve a body for the sum of $200,000. I did read that a Russian firm offers a cut-rate freezing for a mere $12,000! It is interesting that these firms have never thawed anyone out to see if they could be revived! The Bible states that we die once and then comes judgment. But because Jesus became a man and suffered death, then was raised from the dead, the fear of death now holds no terror for believers. Jesus was the “first-fruits” of those who will be resurrected: 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 encourages us with the words, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a nab came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.” We had a dear neighbor, Mel Yoder, who contracted pancreatic cancer. His response was this, “I am 85 years old, my wife is in heaven, and I am confident of eternal life through my faith in the Lord Jesus. I choose not to undergo any heroic medical treatment, but when my time comes, I will accept it peacefully.” Mel was able to face death without any fear. Jesus has set us free from the fear of death! Read vv. 16-17 IV. WHY HE HAD TO BE MADE LIKE US IN ALL THINGS The most important role the Jewish High Priest played was on the Day of Atonement when he entered the Holy of Holies and applied the sacrificial blood upon the Merci Seat. The Merci Seat was the covering lid on the top of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark contained the stone Tablets of the Law of Moses. The symbolism could not be clearer: the people could not keep the 10 commandments, and only a sacrifice of blood could cover their sins. Note that the yearly sacrifice only covered their sins; it did not take them away. It needed to be repeated year after year. When Jesus took on human flesh, He qualified to become our High Priest who could offer once-for-all an atonement for our sins. The big word “propitiation” is used, another word meaning the same thing is “expiation”. Both words refer to satisfying the wrath of God toward sin. Expiation emphasizes the removal of sin by a sacrifice which satisfies God. Sin created a separation between God and man; expiation removes sin and restores the relationship. God received the sacrifice offered by Jesus on the cross; Jesus becomes our High Priest who offers the sacrificial blood which symbolically covers all sin. It all is because of God’s great mercy. The author points out that such a sacrifice could not help angels, but only mankind. This repeats the emphasis of how glorified mankind will be superior to angels, as we are children of God, something never said of angels. Read v. 18. The passage concludes with one last benefit of Jesus’ humanity: V. JESUS IS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND AND SYMPATHIZE WHEN WE ARE TEMPTED I had a call this week from someone who has been diagnosed with PTSD—Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Formerly this psychological disorder was only diagnosed in those who had been in combat, but now it is recognized that it can be the effect of many kinds of trauma or abuse. I have difficulty understanding how physical and mental abuse can so severely affect an individual, although I have counseled with this individual for over 25 years. I can offer sympathy, and reassurance of God’s love and plan, but I can offer only incomplete understanding. We all recognize that a burden shared is a burden lightened. The best help comes from those who have been through the same kind of problems, yet even this sympathy is lacking because my circumstances are always just a bit different. How much better to find someone who understands exactly what I’m going through. Verse 18 tells us that we have a friend in Jesus Who has already experienced incredible suffering and has come through it successfully. Jesus can identify with every kind of issue we face. Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” This is instructive as it reveals that whatever the details of our particular problem, it has a common root issue that Jesus understands and faced Himself. He understands all physical pain, all mental and spiritual temptations, and is able to come to our aid. He is always available, He will never scold or be disgusted with our problem. He always has the answer, and at the root of His solutions is simply, “Trust Me.” “Together we will get through this. This is only temporary, for we will spend eternity together. I will give you strength to endure and to overcome.” He is our sympathetic High Priest. Jesus had to become a man so He could offer the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This was God’s perfect plan for our salvation. Through the death and resurrection of our Lord Satan’s power over us was broken, as we no longer are enslaved by the fear of death. Jesus is our merciful and faithful High Priest who constantly intercedes for us with the Father. And because He shared our humanity, with all its temptations and suffering, He understands and is sympathetic with any problem we face. Oh! What a Savior!