18/02/2020
HEBREWS 2: WHY JESUS HAD TO BECOME HUMAN
This is the order of beings according to their rank and eminence: first is of course God, who is the Creator of everyone else, and then in descending order: the cherubim/seraphim; then the archangels; the watchers; the other angels in their ranks; then mankind; animals and insects; finally the lower lifeforms. Or perhaps a simpler order is: God, angels, man, animals. Now, where is Jesus in all these? Because you’ll discover He sort of fits in all four. He is God, He is “the Angel of the Lord” in many places (Genesis 32, Judges 2, 13, etc.), He is human, and He is also pictured as some animals (the lamb of God, the lion of Judah, etc.). In Hebrews 1, the writer hammers down that the very nature of Jesus is in fact God. Not an angel, and clearly we know He’s not animal.
But pertaining humanity, that is something Jesus became one particular day. He wasn’t always a Son of God initially. John 1:1 tells us that what Jesus has always been since everlasting is ‘The Word of God’, and then later on He became flesh. There’s a double nature there – that Jesus Christ was initially God only (“and the Word was God” – John 1:1), but later He also became human (“today You have become My Son” – Psalm 2:7). In that way, though Jesus can be pictured in many aspects, He has only two natures: fully God and fully man. Don’t worry about Hebrews 13:8, we’ll discuss that when we get to it. Hebrews 1 dealt with the deity of Christ, chapter 2 handles His humanity. Today, we will learn among other things why Jesus had to become human, and what that means for us.
“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” Hebrews 2:1-4(NKJV).
It begins by informing us how to respond to what we have learnt in the previous chapter. You’ll notice that the Bible doesn’t just throw ideas and abstract facts at you, no, there is always a practical application afterward. Now that we know Christ is God, so what? It is so “we give more earnest heed”. The law, which was given by “the direction of the angels” (Acts 7:53), was so serious that you were punished severely for disobedience. Numbers 15:36 narrates of a man who was stoned to death for collecting firewood on the Sabbath day. It’s easy to say that, but when you actually picture a mob justice scene, with someone lying on the ground bleeding and pounded with stones, just for collecting a few sticks on a Saturday – then you know these things are not a joke. If that is how serious it was when dealing with something delivered by angels, how about the Gospel delivered by God Himself? Do not by any means neglect this salvation. You and I have no capacity to imagine how much more horrible it is for people who die without Christ.
“For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying:
“What is man that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man that You take care of him?
You have made him a little lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
And set him over the works of Your hands.
You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying:
“I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”
And again:
“I will put My trust in Him.” And again:
“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bo***ge. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” Hebrews 2:5-18(NKJV).
Here are the reasons Jesus became human, in order of their appearance in this passage:
1. That He might fulfil the word of God in placing all things under our feet, as it is written.
2. That He might taste death, and by it save us.
3. That He might taste suffering, and through it Himself receive glory and honor.
4. That He might bring us to His glory.
5. That He might sanctify us.
6. That He might call us His brothers and sisters.
7. That He might be a role model for us in how to walk with God.
8. That He might destroy the devil, and so liberate us.
9. That He might be able to relate to our weaknesses and thus be merciful.
10. That He too might be tempted as we, in order to help us in our temptations.
From number 1, 4 and 6, we deduce that Jesus makes His followers superior even to angels, as compared to Hebrews 1:5&14. He bears our nature, and therefore can save us, not angels. That’s why demons can’t be saved. But of all these ten, two are given more prominence in the rest of the book, and that is 2 and 9. He saves, and He sympathises. We have a High Priest who is touched by our weaknesses. We do not have a cold and distant God who makes unreasonable demands of us. Rather, He too went through our struggles, so that we may be confident that He understands. We have a friend in Him. Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus!
