Well, let's open to the book of Hebrews chapter 2. I'm going to begin reading in verse 5. We should make it through the end of chapter 2 this morning. Hebrews 2, verse 5, For he did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you are concerned about him? You've made him for a little while lower than the angels. crowned Him with glory and honor, and have appointed Him over the works of your hands. You've put all things in subjection under His feet. For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone, if 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. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one. for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying... He goes back to Psalm 22 here. ...I will proclaim your name to My brethren. 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 whom God has given. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. In the earliest days of the church, as today, there were doubters, unbelievers, and heretics who denied that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal God. As Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims do today. Denied He was God. There were others known as docetists or docetists who denied that Jesus was really a man. They taught that He was God, but He only appeared to be a man. He was an apparition. One of the central teachings of Hebrews, and the foundation that the writer of Hebrews lays here in the first two chapters, is that Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, crucified on Calvary, is the eternal God. And that He became truly human. So that there was a unity of two natures in one person. If you doubt any of these things, they're all right here in these first two chapters of Hebrews. The first chapter, using seven Old Testament passages, the writer established the divinity of Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world. He told us that the eternal Son is superior to the prophets in the revelation of God He has brought to mankind. He also told us He's the creator and sustainer of all things. He told us He's the radiance of the glory of God in human flesh. That He's the exact representation of His divine nature. That He came into the world, a world He created, and died on a cross to purify us, to cleanse us of our sins and the stain of our sin. And in this way, by reference to many Old Testament passages which spoke of this Son, the writer proved the superiority of the Son to the angels who worship Him, who serve Him. I don't know if a sermon goes by that I don't mention Adam and Eve and what happened in the garden. But that is the basis for why we need a Savior. We recall God created them and gave them and their descendants, not just a garden, but dominion over everything on the earth. And they lost that dominion. They lost the garden. They lost communion with God. And through Adam's sin, death entered into the created world. There wasn't any death before that. Who was the first death? Cain kills Abel. While they were alive, they witnessed this. Because Adam sinned, all men come into this world stained by that sin. destined to die and under condemnation to eternal misery. That's how we all enter into this world. The Son of God came into this world and lived under the law that God had given. He fulfilled the righteousness demanded by the law of God. And then He offered Himself on the cross to rescue His people, whom He will call in this passage His brethren. His brethren. to rescue us from condemnation, to atone for our sins, to bring us to glory with Him. It isn't just salvation. I think the word salvation really tends to miss the glory of the blessing. The blessing is glorification. Yes, it includes rescue from condemnation. He rose back to life and right now He rules and reigns. So in chapter 1, the writer showed his readers the Son is eternally divine, eternally begotten of the Father. That He's without beginning, without end. That He is the King who rules over everything in heaven and on earth. Things visible, things invisible. In chapter 2, he shows us that the Son is also fully and now forever human. and that it was necessary to our salvation and glorification that He become human. After demonstrating the divinity of the Son in chapter 1, the writer had a warning at the beginning of chapter 2. If you neglect this salvation, if you neglect the salvation that God has provided in Christ, there will be no escape from condemnation. And last Lord's Day, we saw the writer took us back to Psalm 8. And in Psalm 8, the psalmist asked this question. What is the place of man in the kingdom and glory of God? And in comparison to all the glory of God and His works. And the writer showed us that Psalm 8 speaks of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was made, how about these words, for a little while lower than the angels. But now he is crowned with glory and honor. He's appointed over all things, all things in subjection to him. So the dominion over all the earth was lost by Adam, has been recovered by the one who often referred to himself by what name? The Son of Man. the Son of Man. Now the Son of Man has been given dominion over all things on earth and in heaven. And the writer showed us last Lord's Day that it was God's purpose in sending His only Son into the created world to bring many sons to glory with Him, the likes of us. To glory. Something we cannot even begin to comprehend or conceive of. As the second Adam, Christ, by His incarnation and suffering, the Son has fulfilled the original divine purpose of the Creator when He first brought humanity into being. but in order to restore mankind to its divine purpose, the Son was going to have to not only become human, but share in all the things that humans endure. All that goes with being a man. Hunger, thirst, misery, rejection, being misunderstood, being unappreciated. He was even going to have to be tempted. And in our passage last Lord's Day, the writer began to show us what he concludes showing us here this morning. The solidarity of the Son in the human nature with those He came to redeem and bring to glory. He's one with us in our human nature. He's supreme over the angels, but He was made for a little while lower than the angels. He was made one of us. He became one with us in His humanity so He could open the gates of glory so we could walk through after He cleansed us. So in the incarnate Son, in the incarnate Son, the dominion destined for humanity is finally realized. But we can't go into that place of glory because of our sin. And this dominion can only be reclaimed if our sin is removed, washed away. Verse 9, take a look at verse 9. Here the writer teaches us two important truths. First, Christ was crowned with glory and honor. Why? Because He suffered and died. His suffering and death was a precondition of His receiving glory and honor. Now you say to yourself, wait a minute, He's God. He doesn't have. He did if He was to receive glory and honor in His humanity. Christ had to pass through death before He was exalted in glory. And we see in our passage this morning that in order to do that, the Son had to be made like His brethren. He had to be made human in order to die. He couldn't die as God. God doesn't die. But here's the thing. We will also be crowned with glory, but not because we suffer and die, but because He suffered and died. His suffering and death was not only necessary to His receiving glory and honor, but it was necessary in order to bring us, His people, to glory. And why is all of this? Because Adam sinned. Because we sinned. All of this is because our sin had to be dealt with in order for God to accomplish all His purposes. We're all stained with the pollution of sin. There had to be an accounting, an atonement for those sins. And on the cross, the wrath of God was poured out on him for all of our sins. That's what was going on on the cross that day. We were being cleansed. Our punishment was being received. If any descendant of Adam was ever to be able to enter into glory, somebody, somebody had to endure the penalty of our sin. and atone for those sins and cleanse us. If somebody doesn't do this, you see, understand you can't go to the cross and atone for your sins. You're not an acceptable sacrifice. None of us is. And so if somebody else doesn't do this for us, we will take the punishment for our sins. And because the sins that we commit against God are of infinite value, that suffering, that punishment is for all eternity. It never ends. Either we rest in what He did or we receive the punishment ourselves and it's forever. Now the second thing here in verse 9 is this. The sun was made for a little while lower than the angels. Why? So that He could taste death for us. Those angels are created, but they're not going to die. We see them in eternity. He had to become lower than the angels, meaning human, so He could die. And He underwent all the dread and the bitterness. Remember Christ in the garden. How did He look at this? Was He looking forward to this? He dreaded it. He dreaded it. But by doing this, by going through it, He won eternal glory for His human nature and for all those He came to save. By His death, He restored glory to mankind, and He restored men to paradise. Only those trusting in Him. And then in verse 10, we see that God, which is where we left off last week, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, is the first cause and the last end of everything. It was fitting, it was appropriate to God's character and His purposes that this be the way that men are redeemed by the suffering and death of God the Son in human flesh. It was fitting in bringing many sons to glory that the Father consecrate the Son to be our High Priest. How? Through sufferings. Through sufferings. We see in Romans 8 and saw it this past Wednesday. Verse 17, we must share in His sufferings. But our sufferings don't have any of this saving merit. His suffering was necessary for us to enter glory. And we're going to see in verse 17 this morning, His work as our high priest required, if He's to go on our behalf as our representative, which is what a priest does. If He was to do that, He was going to have to bring something, a sacrifice to God. And what it required was that He, as our high priest, offer Himself on the cross. It was a date set in eternity past. Priests bring offerings to God on behalf of the people. This priest offered himself for us. the great Puritan preacher and theologian, John Owen, said this. It became God, who is the supreme ruler, governor, and judge of all, that sin should be punished by the death of the sinner or of one who stands in his place. Therefore, if God were to bring many sons to glory, the pioneer, the author of their salvation, must undergo sufferings and death to make satisfaction for those sins. Nothing but undergoing the wrath of God could affect an end of sin. In answer to his prayer, this cup could not pass from him, and God remain righteous and just. If it be possible, let this cup pass. It couldn't. It was necessary that the Son, the unblemished One, die in His humanity. To raise humanity back to a place of glory, honor, and dominion. This was fitting for God, keeping with His character, that many sons might be brought to glory. And to do this, to consecrate Jesus as the one who could bring us into the heavenly tabernacle through sufferings. To free us, His brethren, from the power and dominion of sin and Satan. You see, men could not be given dominion over creation while we ourselves were under the dominion of sin. So the writer now turns, beginning in verse 11, to show both the necessity and the blessing of our Redeemer becoming one with us. He's established. He became one of us. He says this, For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one. Now NAS adds the word father here. I think the NIV adds the word family. One family. English Standard Version adds the word source. The one who gets it the most right, I believe, is the King James. Which doesn't add any words here. All from one. Some say we're all of one father. That's true. Some say we're all of one family. At this point that's true. But look at this. We're all from one, for which reason he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Brethren. John 15, 15. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing. I've called you friends. Now friends is an improvement on slaves. For all things I've heard from my Father I have made known to you. But now, he says, he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Brethren. John 20, 17, after he rose, what did he say to the women? Go and tell my brethren. So what do we have here? To sanctify says, the one who sanctifies, that's Christ here. And those who are sanctified, His brethren now. To sanctify means to consecrate, to set apart to some special use. It can also mean to purify, cleanse from the pollution of sin. And it can also mean to make more holy, to make more Christ-like. Here, the meaning is this. By His offering of Himself, Christ has set us apart to Himself. And the writer tells us that our consecrating high priest and those whom he consecrates, us, meaning we who've been redeemed, are all of one stock. Yes, we're of the same father because we're now redeemed. We're all in the same family now because of what he did. But in this chapter, the point is, the writer is emphasizing Jesus' solidarity with us. Christ is the Son of God by nature from all eternity. We are born sons of whom? Sons of Adam. And in Adam, all die. We can only become sons of God by adoption. through the new birth. Only if one is born again of the will of God, of the Spirit of God, does he become a son of God. And if one becomes a son of God, what else does he become? He becomes an heir, a joint heir, a fellow heir with Christ, who calls us brethren. Those whom He redeemed, those whom He has set apart, He's not ashamed to call them His brothers. His brothers. If this isn't a cause for rejoicing, I don't know what is. To be a son of God, a brother of Christ. As proof of this doctrine, the writer draws on these words that were recorded by David a thousand years earlier. Psalm 22, which we read this morning. He shows these words come from the mouth of the Son, speaking of His brethren and His Father. I will proclaim Your name to My brethren in the midst of the congregation. I will sing Your praise. John 17, 6 says this, I have manifested Your name to the men You have given Me on earth. Meaning, He had revealed God, who God really is, to His disciples. In His time on earth, even in the face of torture and death, Christ did what? He proclaimed the glory, the goodness, the grace, the mercy, and the love of God. And we are called to follow Him in this. That's what our worship, by the way, ought to be about. You know, it isn't about whether we like this melody or that song. That's just self-gratification, folks. When we simply sing some songs we like, who is our worship really about? This is what it's become in the church, I know. But worship is and must be the proclamation of the goodness, power, grace, mercy, and love of God. We've got to learn to become attached to the words we sing. True worship is for Him and for Him alone. And this is what Jesus did. I will proclaim Your name to My brethren. In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise. As He went to His death, He's manifesting and declaring the grace, goodness, and love of God. Why? So men come to know Him and be accepted by Him. I know the world's got that a little backwards. Muriel's telling everybody to accept Him when what we need is for Him to accept us. And He can only accept us and only will accept us if we come through the blood of Christ. But Christ, in the time of His greatest distress, misery, and trouble, exalted the glory of God. So in Psalm 22, verse 22, we saw the incarnate Son contemplating the agony of the cross and proclaiming the glory and the kingdom of God. And the author of Hebrews leaves no doubt here that Psalm 22 is rightly applied to Christ. Why would he have to trust in his father? It was because he was exposed to all of the human needs, wants, necessities, frailties that we have. If he had not been exposed to human necessities, He would have had no such need of any trust. Wouldn't have had to trust. But God the Son became man. And the weaknesses which we all have. Hunger, thirst, lack of the appreciation of others. He had it all. But He took them on willingly. We spend our lives trying to absolve ourselves of them. And the writer of Hebrews here recalls the words of Isaiah the prophet. These are really the words of Christ though. Isaiah chapter 8, verse 17, I will put my trust in him. Behold, I and the children whom God has given me. So as is the case with His brethren, the incarnate Son was brought to a place where He had to place His trust in the Father. Do we realize this? I suppose we tend to think, well, He's God and He really knows everything. And He understands how all of this is going to turn out. He was human as well. What did he have to trust? He had to trust that he was, after he went into that grave, he was going to come out of it. He went to his death in his humanity. He trusted that death was not the end. Guess who else has to trust in those very things? That's right. So the writer of Hebrews draws from these words of Isaiah, the children whom God has given me. Jesus speaks of them in the Gospel of John chapter 6, verse 37, All that the Father gives me will come to me. Verse 39, This is the will of Him who sent me, that of all He has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. John 10, 27, My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. I give eternal life to them. They'll never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hands. John 17, 1. Jesus spoke these things. And lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him... Here we are again. ...the children whom God has given Me, He may give eternal life. Now He calls us brethren. Brethren, I don't know how many times the question has been asked, why did God the Son have to become human? Couldn't God have really done it some other way? Couldn't He have simply given a command that we would be cleansed? Couldn't He have simply saved us by His Word? It's in Hebrews, though, that we find the answers to all these questions. Chapter 1 and the first half of chapter 2, we saw the Son as both prophet and king. But even being the supreme prophet and being king, that was not going to be enough to save sinful men. He had to be also our high priest. He had to be one anointed to bring something into that heavenly tabernacle. What was it? His blood. He had to bring His blood into the heavenly tabernacle to atone for the sins of His brethren. Well in verses 14 through 18, we see the reasons, the answers to this question. Why did the Son have to become human? The first reason He had to become human was so that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death. That is the devil. He came to overcome death. Until He went to that cross and came out of that tomb, death had not yet been overcome. He came to destroy the power and the works of the devil. Now Satan did not and does not possess the power of death in his nature. He gained it. How? By seducing Adam and Eve into rebellion against God. But Satan only has so much power as God permits. We see this, of course, in the story of Job. But God permitted Satan to tempt humanity, and God knew what the result would be. Adam rebelled against God's authority. As a result, Adam and all his descendants died spiritually and will die physically. Now the difference here is though this. All those in Christ will still die this natural death, but it won't be a penal death. It won't be a death that is the punishment for our sins. Christ took those upon Himself. And here's the other part of this. While Satan thought he was destroying the Son on the cross, the Son was destroying the only power Satan had. The power of death that came through sin was now taken away. Because Christ rose, all will be raised. So in putting on our nature, Christ made Himself capable of dying, which before that He wasn't capable of. And His death not only satisfied God's wrath for the sins of His brethren, by dying a physical death, He overcame death. That's why we live after we die. That's why we'll all be raised. And Calvin points out to us the destruction of the devil means. And I hope you know this. The devil cannot prevail against you. He can't. He still lives. He still attempts to destroy you. He still attempts to tempt you and draw you away from Christ. But he cannot prevail. John 12, 31, now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. The victory has been won. Calvin says this as well, still commenting on that passage. It's a great consolation to know that we have to do with an enemy who cannot prevail against us. He teaches us not only that the tyranny of Satan was abolished by Christ's death, but also that He Himself was so laid prostrate that no more account is to be made of Him than if He had never existed at all. The harm is gone. We're still in the fallen world. We're still called to do what we learned Wednesday night. To join in His sufferings. To share the gospel. To manifest the fruits of the Spirit. The verdict is in though. Game's over. Romans 8, 3 showed us that by His death in human flesh, what did He do? He condemned sin. He pronounced and executed a judgment on sin. And He freed His people from the power of sin and death over them. This work though, only benefits one group of people, His brethren, those who are of faith, the true sons of Abraham. It doesn't benefit the angels. And it doesn't benefit the unbeliever. Verse 15 describes the state of those who fear death and dread it because they look forward to death, but they don't have Christ. They don't know what to expect. Without Christ, death is but a curse. Without Christ, death is the end in their eyes. And so people, apart from Christ, live in this bondage to a fear of what? The unknown. Fear of what's uncertain. Why? Because what we learned in the early couple chapters of Romans, all men have some consciousness of right and wrong. And all have some sense that there will be a day of reckoning. And they don't know how it's going to turn out. You all have certainty who believe in this Word and in this Son. The unbeliever can see only the judgment of God before him. The Son has freed us from this fear, the writer tells us here. And third, he partook of flesh and blood to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Wrath of God poured out on him, for all of his brethren is satisfied. He aids only the seed of Abraham. Only humans can be saved, and it's only those humans who are the seed of Abraham. Well what's meant by that? Well look at Galatians 3, 7. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Verse 9. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. Abraham believed God, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. He doesn't do this for angels. He doesn't give help to angels. Angels can't be redeemed. But he does give help to those who are of the faith of Abraham. It's believers who receive the blessings of this wondrous incarnation. It's believers who receive the blessings of his humiliation, his suffering, and death. And the writer's object here in chapter 2 is to show us that in the incarnate Son, we have not only a Savior and a Redeemer, we have a brother. One of us, except without sin. And so he calls all of those who are of faith, who have placed their trust in him, his brethren. His brethren. He came to save brothers chosen in Him, when? Before the foundation of the world. To redeem us from the power and the dominion of sin. To cleanse us of our sin. To take the wrath of God for our sin. And to bring us to glory with Him as joint heirs of the glory that is His inheritance. This would be the work of a priest. And in order to be anointed as the priest who could do this and qualified to be our representative, he had to become human. He had to be one of us in order to stand as our representative in the presence of God for us. Verse 17, Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. In order to stand there before God and say, They're with me. And have that be of sufficient merit to bring us all in. He had to be one of us. He not only put on human flesh. Notice what he says. He had to be made like His brethren in all things. Those feelings, those affections, those needs which belong to all of us. Those miseries that belong to us. And yet without sin. All these blessings, folks, that we receive are the result of His taking on flesh. And you know, He didn't have to become human in order to know about grace and love and mercy. He is those things. Those are attributes of who He is. But He had to take on flesh to understand what it is to be one of us. These are enormous truths. He demonstrates this grace and love and mercy in becoming one of us. Romans 5.8, God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. in becoming a man. And this is really the point of the writer. He was able to demonstrate to us that he had become acquainted with what our lives are like by his own experience. That he'd become acquainted with our own miseries. And he showed us that he is merciful toward us and he's ready to help us still. So when evils pass, when we come upon troubles, we are assured he's gone through them as well. Ever suffer rejection? Not like him. Ever suffer torture? Not like him. He's experienced those same miseries in order that he might sympathize with us. That's what the writer says. And let us never doubt, folks, he's still with us. He didn't leave us. He will never leave us or forsake us. He didn't have a sin nature. That's the only thing that was different. That's why He could live a sinless life and resist temptation. Where does sin come from? It comes from our own evil desires. Look at James 1.14. Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Christ was human, but He didn't have this sin nature. And then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Our temptation comes not only from outside us, but it comes mainly from within us. His temptations came from without, but not from within. But he was tempted, verse 18, he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered. And so he's able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. If you are in temptation to sin, there's somebody ready to help you. And it's the greatest man who ever lived. The temptations of Matthew 4. Remember, Satan takes him out into the wilderness. Those were just a prelude to the temptation that he would endure and resist in the garden. When the question was, will he go and die for us? Will he take that suffering? He was tempted. What did he say? Father, if it's possible, is there some other way? But that cup could not pass. So this section, verses 9 through 18, it brings us into focus with the full and authentic reality of the humanity of Jesus. And that's what we must see here today. And the significance of His humanity for those whom He came to redeem. The central theme here has been the solidarity of the Son with His people. We know He's in union with the Father. He's also in union with us by His humanity. The divine Son became one with His people in order to die for us. To deliver us from enslavement to sin and Satan and death. And His death and His resurrection, overcoming death, opened the way for His brethren, those given to Him by His Father, to participate in the glory of God forever. And so this brings us to a close of the first major section of Hebrews. Verses 17 and 18, the writer has now begun to lead us into the main body of this epistle, which is going to focus on the doctrine of Jesus Christ as the high priest and sacrificial lamb. And as the mediator of a better covenant than the one that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. We already see that Jesus' priestly work on behalf of His people didn't end when He ascended. It continues on and will continue on until He returns to gather us to Himself for all eternity. But these first two chapters are extremely important for another reason. And it is this, they are more than sufficient to lay to rest some heresies that were prevalent in the church in the early centuries of the church. The Marcians, the Manichaeans, Arians, today the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, and the Muslims, and others. Some of whom denied Christ's divinity and some who denied that He was really a man. Those heresies are all laid to rest here in these first two chapters of Hebrews. And so as we come to the end of chapter 2, we have the answer to the question with which we began. Why did God the Son have to become man? He became like us so that we might become like Him. He came to where we are to take us back to where He came from. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that we might become sons of God. Heavenly Father, thank You for the glory that we find in this passage. Thank You for the glory that we find throughout Your Word. Thank You for the glory of Your Son. Thank You for His willingness to become as one with us in this human flesh. That we might become one with Him in all the glorious kingdom of heaven. Lord, let us receive this Word with joy and understanding. Let the prayers, Lord, that we have offered up to You this morning, petitions for the salvation of the lost, let them be granted. And may You stir us to a right response to Your grace, mercy, and love. In Christ's name,