The writer to the Hebrews is in the middle of an argument. Jesus as superior to the angels. In chapter one, he says Jesus as the brightness of God's glory, the express image of his person. Quoting Psalm 45 and Psalm 102, he says Jesus as the unchanging God. Then in chapter two, he teaches on the humanity or the human nature of Jesus. And the question arises, Jesus came in human nature. How can Jesus be superior to angels when human nature is inferior to angelic nature? And the answer is given. He came in human nature in order to make reconciliation for sinners to be brought back to God. And through the accomplishment of this work, he is crowned with glory and with honor. This morning, I want us to focus on the human nature of Christ, so that we understand why he came in the flesh, so that we would know the atonement. First of all, notice the condescension of death, or for death. It says here in verse 9 the motivation why God came into the world in Christ. It says it was by the grace of God. And as we considered last night, we should not think of grace as a substance, as a thing, as electricity, but it is the disposition of God, giving himself freely when we do not deserve it. In 2 Corinthians 8, 9 describes grace like this. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. so that you, through his poverty, might be rich. And we see this truth in verse nine. It speaks of Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. This is saying he was not always lower than the angels. He was made lower than the angels. This means that beforehand he was higher than the angels as God. And then in the incarnation, he was made little in degree, little in time, made lower than the angels. And then it says for which purpose he was made lower. For, for the sake of, on the account of, for this reason, the suffering of death. Now look at the argument. He is a higher nature than the angels as God. And he was made lower than the angels for a reason, the suffering of death. This is teaching that he as God could not do something which he was able to do in human nature. suffering of death. This is teaching that God as God is incapable of suffering. And for God to redeem man through the suffering of death, something had to be done. God had to come in human nature in the person of Jesus Christ. This is teaching the doctrine of impassibility, which means God is incapable of suffering or experiencing loss. In Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas are going through their missionary journey, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. They come to Lystra. And the people are so amazed by the works of Paul in Barnabas, they think that they're gods. They bow down and they worship Paul in Barnabas. And Paul and Barnabas of course say, no, no, no, no, do not worship us, you worship God only. But how is it Paul and Barnabas distinguishes that we are men and God is God? How does he describe the difference? He says in verse 15 of Acts 14, we also are men of like passions with you. Rooted in the same word for suffering. Saying here, no, no, no, no, don't worship us, we're not God. How do you know we're not God? Well, we're men just like you with like passions. We're able to suffer, to change, to experience loss, to have emotions. This is different because God does not have passions. He is incapable of suffering and experiencing loss. And God is incapable of suffering. Why? Not because of any weakness, but because of his infinite greatness. Who is our God? 1 Timothy 6, verse 16. God, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. God is too great to suffer or experience loss. He is immortal. He is incapable of dying, going out of existence. He is the eternal one. He is immutable, unchangeable in his being. He does not alter depending upon circumstances like you and I. He is simple, which means he's indivisible. He's not made of parts. He's not a jigsaw piece of love, holiness, goodness, eternality, omniscience. And you put this jigsaw piece all together, and this one picture is God. That's dividing him. He is one being. And he is infinite. infinite in glory, infinite in perfection, infinite in strength, infinite in omnipotence. The nature of God is infinitely above suffering, weakness or loss. This is the matchless glory of God. He is not a man, And when we read the Bible passage it says God grieved, or God repented, or God... These are what's called anthropomorphic terms. God is so above us, so unlike us. If God was to reveal God and his Godness, we wouldn't understand. And therefore he condescends and uses language we understand. He says, I love you. Therefore, husband and wife, mother and child, shepherd and sheep. Sin offends me, therefore I'm grieved that I made man. Genesis 6. He doesn't feel grief, he's incapable of that, but he is offended in his justice and his holiness. This is our God. He is incapable of suffering. But we need to be saved. Because of our sins, we need someone to come in our place and to suffer and die. And look what it doesn't say. He was made like an angel. It doesn't say that, why? Because if God came in the nature of an angel, he could not suffer and die. Now angels can suffer from God. Because remember, demons are basically fallen angels. And they will suffer the wrath of God in hell forever. But angels are of a higher nature. They're stronger than we are. They're smarter than we are. They're more agile than we are. Human beings cannot cause angels to suffer. And angels can't die. Look 20, 36, Jesus is describing the resurrection and what it will be like for human nature in the resurrection. We will not be able to die in heaven. And this is how he puts it, neither can they die anymore for they are equal unto the angels. The angels cannot die. And we will be like that in our resurrected bodies in the future. But notice what it's teaching about the nature of angels. They are incapable of dying. So God could not come in the nature of an angel and suffer and die because angels are of a higher nature than humanity and they cannot suffer and they cannot die in the hands of men. But God came even lower than the angels. He made lower than the angels. Verses six and five, what is man? Verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part of the same. God came so low, not to the angelic nature, but even lower to human nature. Because human nature is able to suffer. Human nature is able to die. Think of the mystery. The immortal became mortal. The impassable became passable. The omnipotent became infirm and weak in the person of Christ. A. W. Pink says, how these words should melt our hearts and move our souls to the profoundest wonderment. that he, the creator of angels, the Lord of them, the one who before his incarnation had been worshipped by them, should be made lower than they, and this for our sakes. Our hearts must indeed be dead if they are not thrilled and filled with praise as we ponder that fathomless stoop. What condescension. God, man, for our sakes. And when we survey Jesus Christ, do we not see one in human nature? Yes, he is God. He is God in the flesh. He is God on earth. He lost none of the glory of God. It was veiled, but he still retained. But yet he was still in human nature. The conception and the Virgin Mary, though it was a conception, a miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit, he was still of the same substance of Mary, human nature. What is human nature? Body and soul. He had a real, true body. Physical, material, the five senses. He could hear, he could feel and touch, he could see, he could smell, he could listen, He has the ability to feel pain. He was a carpenter. And just like anyone who does physical work, physical manual labor, if they were to hit their skin with something, it would bruise. Christ's skin was able to be bruised. If he was working away and maybe he cut himself, he would bleed. He's a true humanity. And humanity has only a certain amount of power and ability. When Christ was travelling from village to village, town to town walking, what would happen to him? He would get tired. And so he stops off in Samaria at the well because he was weary. What happens to physical humanity when we don't drink or when we don't eat? We become hungry and we're thirsty. That was Christ. He had a true body, able to suffer and experience weakness. And our Lord Jesus also had a true, reasonable soul, mind, imagination, intelligence, reason, emotions, the will. He had a mind. Oh how we see his thinking, his doctrines, his teaching. Even as a 12 year old his mind was amazing. He would even teach and his teachers would be taught by a 12 year old. He didn't have this by magic. He had to read and study the Bible and use the gifts and the capacities of his mind to learn, to memorise, to study, to reason, to debate, to compare, to contrast. He had imagination, oh how he had an imagination. Read his parables. He can study the agricultural world and say, I'm going to use that as a picture for listening to the word of God. The parable of the sower. He would think of great banquets and suppers and he would use that imagination for a parable to teach how the gospels laid out like a table and come, compel them to come in. He had a rich and wonderful imagination. He had emotions too. Oh how he loved. How he had joy. He had a will. He had inclinations, desires. And he put his will through the Father, the will of him who sent him. And in his soul he was able to suffer sorrow, grief. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. He was impassable as God, or is impassable as God, but in the human flesh. You see, Christ is not merely our Redeemer, oh no. He is our kinsman Redeemer. Flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone, made like unto man in all points, except without sin. and being made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, he is now able to suffer and die. And it's interesting the language that verse uses here to describe the atonement. He, by the grace of God, should taste death. He should not simply die, but taste death. This means he must experience the fullness of death. You see, you can have food and just simply eat it and gulp it down quickly and have no experience of its taste. Well, Christ did not come simply to die and that's it. No, no, no, no. He is the sin substitute. He's going to bear the curse on our behalf. He must not just gulp it down. He must taste death. We taste by having the food in our mouth for a certain period of time. We feel the texture of the food. We can describe the taste. Is it sweet? Is it sour? Is it savoury? Christ must feel the full sting of the cursed death. He must experience the fullness of his sin-bearing death, its pain, its agony, its horror, its fear, its encroachments, its forsakenness, its curse. Christ came as a burnt offering. A burnt offering means it was roasted with fire and consumed, nothing should be left of it. Which means he should taste death in body and soul, physically and spiritually under the torments for our sake. And it was a real test whether Christ would taste the bitterness of his death. because it's not easy to taste such a death. Think of, first of all, in Gethsemane, the test. In Gethsemane, it's not a preview like some stoic critic reviewing a film. It was not a preview, it was a foretaste. Here, the cup is presented before Jesus. The cup is God's infinite wrath against sin, against you and against me. It is as Revelation 14.10 says, the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. You're reading Revelation 16, I think it is, how angry God is with the wicked. He describes it as seven vials, seven bowls of wrath poured out. That was then the cup. And how did Christ respond to such infinite wrath? It says, he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. He was sore amazed. He says, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Sorrowful unto death. And he had a particular condition that's rare. What was that condition? It's called, Haematodrosis. It is very unique. It only happens to a very, very few people where they are under such intense, extreme pressure that they literally sweat blood. And Luke tells us being in an agony, His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. That's what it's like to foretaste the infinite wrath of God against sin. And then he prays, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. He shrinks. He shrinks from it and rightly so. What human being would delight in inexpressible torments and pain? If you're a human being, you must by nature shrink from it. One commentator says this, why did he shrink back and ask? Because he was human and had a reasonable soul. He shrank from bitterness so terrible. Because he was holy, he desired to escape from a burden that was so loathsome. For he was now to be clothed with filthy garments. Because he was a devoted son, he shrank with a holy sensitiveness. from the prospect of his father's sore displeasure. When we say shrink here, we're not meaning disobeying. We're not saying being unfaithful, absolutely not. But as a son who loves his father, he is saying, is there any other way that sinners can be saved without your infinite wrath being poured out? And the father says, no, because I am just. And Christ could have got out of it and just died, he could have said. No, he must taste death. And by faith and obedience, he will take that cup. And there's another obstacle in the cross. Something is given to him. Matthew 27, verse 34, and Mark says the same. They gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. And Mark says, wine mixed with gall. Or wine mixed with myrrh, he says. And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. He would not drink this. And yet moments later, as we read, when he was given something else to drink, he drank it. So why is it here he does not drink it, and why is it later he drinks something else? Well, two reasons. One, as Mark says, it's wine. It's not just vinegar, it's alcoholic. A priest, where he was to serve in the temple, was not to drink wine, in case he became inebriated and he was not able to carry out his service. Well, Jesus Christ is active as a priest, making the atonement. And this is not simply alcohol, it's not alcohol merely, it's a sedative. It's an anesthetic to dull the senses. So as the criminal experienced the torture of crucifixion, they would have some little comfort. But Christ would not take this anaesthetic. Why? Because he must taste death. He cannot have his senses dulled. He can't just be half with it and half out of it and not experience the full curse, pain and agony. because he must be the sin bearer in full consciousness. So when this is given to him and he realises what it is, he says, no, I will not take this, for I must taste death on behalf of my people. And what a death he did taste. A violent death. He was scourged. In your own time, Google Roman scourging. See what it looks like. It is a wooden handle about that size. There are numerous leather throads. On these throads are balls of lead and brass. And it has small, very sharp pieces of bone at the end. And not always, but usually, the back. And they would just whip and whip and whip. And the skin would be completely shredded so deep, even they say organs were seen. It was so violent. that some people did not survive the scourging and they died there and then even before their crucifixion. It is said that they put a crown of thorns on his head and he was bleeding. Can you imagine sharp jagged thorns literally being placed on your head and pierced? Crucifixion itself was an art form to the Romans. They did not invent it. The Persians invented it. The Indians used it, but the Romans perfected it in a way they could extenuate the torture and suffering. We use the word excruciating to describe the severest of pain. That word excruciating comes from the word crucifixion. and Christ experienced inexpressible sufferings and torments. R.A. Finlayson, he describes the wounds. He was wounded for our transgressions. He says, there are five types of wounds. A contused wound where the flesh is bruised. A lacerated wound where the flesh is torn. A penetrated wound where flesh is pierced. The perforated wound that goes right through the skin and body. An incised wound where there is a gash in the flesh. Jesus Christ received all five wounds. The confused wound when he was struck with the rod The lacerated wound when he was scourged with the cruel thong The penetrated wound when thorns pieced his brow The perforated wound when nails were driven through his hands and his feet And the incised wound when the spear was driven into his side What a violent death he tasted but he also tasted a shameful death. You see, when people are in extreme suffering, we allow them to be on their own. Even celebrities who are hounded by the paparazzi, who for no reason whatsoever leave them alone just for a picture, for money, for the tabloids. Yet often when a celebrity is daily grieving, say the death of a family member, they've been revealed that they have cancer, often even the paparazzi will let them suffer on their own. Not Christ. Not Christ. As Finlayson says, sin is a public transgression against God. Therefore sin can only be punished publicly. And Christ before all must suffer the most shameful of deaths. If I slandered your name, I told everyone, you did this and you did that, how would you feel in the depths of your soul? Christ was slandered with all manner of names. What if someone after the service in front of the whole church said, you're a blasphemer, you blaspheme God, how dare you? And everyone in that room believed that person and says, how could you blaspheme the name of your Jesus? Can you imagine how it would pierce your soul? Jesus was accused of blaspheming God. Imagine you had tragedy in your life. Suffering, a disease. And everyone came, do you know why you've got that disease? God's smiting you right now because he's against you. Imagine how hurtful that would be. Well, people went to Christ and they said, smitten of God. Look at him on that cursed tree. Imagine you were dying and you're on your deathbed and no one wanted to be anywhere near you. And people came to people who knew you in your life, your friends and your family. Are you not going to be with them? They're in the hospital. I don't even know that person. And even if I did, I wouldn't be associated with them. Such shame. All of Christ's disciples, it said, would forsake him and leave him. Imagine the whole church your family, your community, your nation who you love so dearly, every single one of them were ashamed of you and wouldn't come near you. No wonder the Psalm experiences and tells us of Christ's heart, reproach hath broken my heart. That's what Christ suffered for you, brother and sister. But what about God? Where was God? Let me tell you, brother, let me tell you, sister, a wonderful promise. You could suffer inexpressible sufferings in this world. Your very mother and father could forsake you. Everyone could go against you and you could be alone, suffering in the middle of nowhere. And I'll tell you something, you will not be absolutely alone. God will be with you. Whether you're in the hospital, when you're in your home, maybe you're in a prison cell, maybe you're in the middle of the wilderness, God will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you in death. Precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of his saints. He will be with you. The same cannot be said of Christ. God, in all his pity, comfort and felt presence, utterly departed from his son. Ezekiel 8, 18, when we described hell, though they cry in my ear with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them, I will not have pity on them. That's what Christ suffered. He was a curse for sin after all. Stephen Charnock says, the torrent of wrath is opened upon him and the father's heart beats not in the least notice of tenderness to sin. In the midst of his son's agonies, God seems to lay aside the bowels of a father and put on the garb of an irreconcilable enemy. upon which account probably our saviour in the midst of his passion gives him the title God. There's darkness. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Luther was wanting to preach on that passage and he sat in a chair and meditated and he did not get up. and his wife saw him hour after hour just meditating and then out of nowhere he just expresses, God forsaken of God, who can fathom such things? The Eastern Orthodox in their liturgy, they have a saying, they speak of thine unknown sufferings. Who can express the felt abandonment of the Father toward the Son. There was no rupture in the Trinity. The father loved the son for what he was doing, but any felt sense, any comfort whatsoever, any smile was completely and utterly gone. For the first time in the existence of the God-man who was always in perfect communion In Rutherford he says this about the cry, he was deserted and under desertion Christ could not get a blink or a word of his father. May I say more, God might not, he could not as law went then. Christ cried, is there not a word dear father, not a look? And he answers, no, not a look for a world, no joy, no love. There was the matter, I say. Justice kept Christ from a kiss of the Godhead. For there were two things here. The windows of the Godhead were closed, that neither light nor the heat thereof shined upon the soul of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God, man. He is so forsaken, even his own Godhead gives him no comfort on the cross. And then Christ must suffer and taste the power of death. One moment he's alive with brain activity and a heart beating and the very next he gives up the ghost and dead. Separation of body and soul. The body in the grave for three days and three nights under the power of death. And his soul, where's his soul? Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. God's nature. God's incarnation of mysteries. The divine nature was still united to the human nature. The soul in heaven, the body in the tomb. And then he had the victory of death. Acts 2, 24. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Christ committed no sin. He was perfectly righteous and under the power of death. What is the sting of death, friends? Sin, the law. And Christ in his atonement, he completed the work which the Father had given him. It is finished. Justice satisfied. Sinners forgiven. Sins cleansed. And so he's raised from the dead. And he has victory over death now. that sins can be forgiven, the filthiness of iniquity washed in his blood, the fear of death gone with the promise of the resurrection and the life, and he's raised and he's crowned with glory and honour forever and ever and ever. This is Christ tasting death Now notice thirdly, the substitutionary death. Who did he taste death for? He tasted death for every man. Now what do we notice about this statement? First of all, the word man is not there. It's simply the word all or every. All or every is masculine, singular, and it can be translated many ways. He tasted death for all. He tasted death for everyone, or because of the masculine gender, every man. But what exactly is it describing? Context decides. When it says Caesar taxed all the world, he did not tax the people in South America, or the people in Australia, or the people in the southern part of Africa, or the people in what we call Indonesia. No, no, no. All there is defined by context, all the Roman world. As someone says to me, oh, how was the fellowship on Friday, or something like that, I could say, well, it was great. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Every person. Am I saying everyone on earth? I don't think six billion people could fit into my home. Every or all is defined by context. Who is the all he tastes death for? Who is the all he completely fulfills God's justice and forgiveness? Who are the all? Verse 10, the all are the many sons being brought to glory. Verse 11, the all are those who are sanctified. The all are the brethren. The all, verse 12 and 13, are again the brethren and the church. Verse 13, they are the children which God hath given me. The all here is an exact people group. Call them the elect. Call them the sons. Call them the children whom the Father has given. Call them the brethren of Christ. But it's an exact people group. Because Christ did not die for people and then they went to hell. Christ did not taste death in its fullness, and its sting, and its horror, and its victory, so that people were not able to be saved. He tasted death for everyone who would truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they personally receive all the benefits of this death. Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Then you're a son, a child, a brother, to use the language here, or a sister, the church. And Jesus has tasted death for you, which means there is no more fear of death for you. Are you a sinner in Christ? Forgiven. Are you unrighteous in Christ, justified in his sight? Death, what's gonna happen? Just as he was crowned with glory and honor, likewise we will receive a crown of glory. And we are here today coming to the Lord's table. And what are we doing at this table? We are remembering his death till he comes. We're all preachers at the table. When we're at this table, I become equal among many. I'm not the only preacher at that table. Because the Bible says when we partake of the Lord's Supper, we all proclaim the Lord's death, all of us. And we're all preaching about the wonder and the glory of Christ. Who is God, impassable, immortal, omnipotent, and who has made a little low of the angels for you, for the suffering of death on your behalf? And think in your heart, why would God come to such low depths for me? Love. God publicly demonstrates his love towards you, believer, and that while you are a sinner, Christ tasted death for you. And if anyone here is not repentant and trusting in Christ, look at the sufferings, look at the grace of God, and think, Why would God do such a thing for the love of sinners? Turn from your own sins, believe on Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Let us pray.