Hebrews
Lesson 30 October 20, 2005
NKJ Psalm 46:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A
Song for Alamoth. God is our refuge
and strength, A very present help in trouble.
Hebrews 2:5 down through 3:6 focuses on the exposition
of the principle of the spiritual life that basically states that Jesus Christ
is the pioneer, the pathfinder. He is the one who set the course, the precedent
for the spiritual life for the Church Age. This is based in His humanity. The
humanity of Christ is a crucial doctrine that is often not understood in areas related
to the spiritual life. Often its focus is on the fact that He had to become a
man in order to go to the cross to die as our substitute. But in this section,
especially beginning in verse 10, there is the expansion of the idea that He is
our assistant and set the course for us in sanctification. The section started
off back in verse 5 and in verses 5 though 9 talks about the fact that Jesus
was made lower than the angels so that having gone through the process of
spiritual growth and then the cross He would be crowned with glory and honor so
that the path to the crown, the path to His ruling position was through the
path of learned obedience through the things He suffered. That path is the same
path that every believer follows and it prepares us in the same way to rule
with Jesus Christ. So that principle is laid down in those verses that talks
about the fact that He is over the angels and that the world to come is not
subject to angels but to man in ultimate fulfillment of man’s original destiny
and purpose outlined in Genesis 1:26-28.
Then beginning in verse 10 the author goes to the next
level saying that as Jesus Christ was matured through suffering. So we too are
matured through suffering.
NKJ Hebrews 2:11 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,
That is we all partake of the same nature. We are all
human beings. It is a reference to His true humanity.
In verse 12 there is a citation from Psalm 22:22.
NKJ Hebrews 2:12 saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of
the assembly I will sing praise to You."
NKJ Psalm 22:22 I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I
will praise You.
That quote we saw coming out of Psalm 22:22. It is a
prophetic, Messianic psalm that is quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross. The first 17 verses of Psalm 22 focus on what Jesus Christ went through
on the cross. The last few verses focus on praise to God for sustaining Him
while He was on the cross. The principle that the writer of Hebrews is drawing
from that is that in the same way that God completely sustained the Lord Jesus
Christ through all of His suffering, especially His greatest suffering that any
human being will ever go through, if God sustained Jesus Christ through all of
that He is the same one who sustains us in whatever we go through. Whether you
are dealing with trials of adversity or prosperity, no matter what the
situation may be, whether you are going through aggravation, whether you are
going through things that anger you, whether you are going through rejection or
financial trauma, whatever it may be, Jesus Christ has set the pattern for how
we go through those trials and how we handle them. It is based on trust in God. That is the thrust of the two
other quotations that come in verse 13 from Isaiah 8:17-18.
There is an extremely strong way of putting this in
the Greek.
Literal
translation: I have
put my trust in Him in the past with the result that I will always put my trust
in Him in the future.
It is a statement reflecting the solid foundation of
Christ’s trust in God. That’s the basis for His deliverance.
Then the author goes to another level in verse 14.
NKJ Hebrews 2:14 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,
There is an important word indicating that Jesus
Christ in the same manner shared in the flesh and blood in the same manner as
us emphasizing the true humanity that He took on at the incarnation. This is
foundational to this whole section. We call it the doctrine of the hypostatic
union. We’ll get into that a little more this evening. It is through that that
He destroyed the power of death on the cross. The greatest problem that we will
ever face is the sin penalty. The argument here is that if Jesus Christ solved
the greatest problem that you and I will ever face, then He can solve every
other problem that we face.
Then there is a conclusion in verse 16.
NKJ Hebrews 2:16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the
seed of Abraham.
Jesus Christ does not assist and help angels. That is
not His role. He gives assistance to the seed of Abraham.
We turned to Galatians 3 last time to show that the
term “seed of Abraham” refers to everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It’s the spiritual seed of Abraham. It is not talking about the Jews. Jews
are of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In order to be a Jew you have to
be a descendent of all three - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But if you are a believer,
spiritually you are of the seed of Abraham.
Then we come to what appears to be a conclusion in
verse 17. That’s where we are starting this evening.
NKJ Hebrews 2:17 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.
We had that same verbiage that has been stated again
and again. You would think that the Holy Spirit understood the principle of
repetition.
There are three major ideas in this verse. The first
is the issue related to the hypostatic union that Jesus Christ had to take on
true humanity. He had to be made like His brethren.
The second thing that we see is that this was for a
purpose that is to be a merciful and faithful high priest. That high priestly
role is focused in this verse on His being a propitiation for the sins of the
people.
So let’s start breaking it down a little bit to
understand the depth of this verse. First of all the initial phrase “therefore”
isn’t what we might expect if you know Greek. That is the word oun that is the normal word for drawing
a conclusion. It is the normal inferential word. This is the word hothen which is also used to infer a
conclusion as referring to a cause, a ground, or a motive for something. Since hothen is emphasizing a cause or ground for something, it isn’t so
much drawing a conclusion as much as it is stating the ground or the cause or
the reason for something that has already been said. So what was already said
was in verse 16. The hothen is not
drawing a conclusion as you would in a logical argument, but it is going to
state the ground for what has been stated or the reason why something that has
already been stated is so.
NKJ Hebrews 2:16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the
seed of Abraham.
This word used twice for giving aid is the Greek word epilambano which means to take someone
by the hand, to give them aid, to help them along the way, to take hold of
them, to give help, to give assistance. So it is part of the role of God the
Son to assist the believer in life today, not just the Holy Spirit.
Remember when you studied in John 14 and Jesus says
that He must go to the Father so that He can send what? Another comforter. The Greek word there is parakletos, one who comes alongside to
help. So Jesus is one comforter and the Holy Spirit is another comforter. They
have complementary roles in the process of the believer’s sanctification. That
is why Jesus is referred to back in verse 11 as He who sanctifies. He
ultimately positionally sanctifies us because we are identified with Him in His
death, burial and resurrection at the instant of faith alone in Christ alone. That
we refer to as positional sanctification. He is also involved through His high
priestly ministry in giving aid to believers on a day-to-day basis as we face
various forms of adversity.
He had to be made like the brethren.
NKJ Hebrews 2:17 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.
This is where we get into an interesting group of
words. The word that we find here in the Greek is the word homoioo. It is a little difficult for us to pronounce because if
you look at this word right here you have four vowels connected together. The first two vowels that are joined
together are in the English transliteration are an “o” and an “i”. In the Greek
it is an omicron and an iota. The last “o” is a long “o”. It is an omega. So it
is pronounced like a long “o” and the omicron is pronounced like ah”. It means
to make like or to become like. In relationship to the brethren, that is to
human beings, He had to be made like human beings. The emphasis being that He is
of the same essence as man. He is a true human. Now the reason I make that
point is because in the course of church history this word has had a special
place in understanding the whole concept of the hypostatic union – the
union of Christ’s deity and humanity.
The first place that this was hammered out in history
was at the Council of Nicea. This was in 325 AD. It has been called the Battle of
Diphthongs. A diphthong is a combination of two vowels pronounces as one. If
you look at the transliterations since most of you can’t read the Greek, you
will see that the difference is between two words - homoousias vs homoiousias.
It doesn’t look like there is a whole lot of difference there other than that
letter “i”. That is the iota. That
made all the difference in the world though theologically because that first
word would mean that the Lord Jesus Christ in reference to His deity, the word
we are looking at is homoioo is
related to His humanity. But, at Nicea they were trying to figure out how His
deity related to the Father. There was one group of theologians that said, “The
word we should use is homoousias
meaning He is of similar substance to the Father.”
Another group said, “No, He is fully God undiminished
deity so He is homoiousias.”
In the 18th century Edward Gibbon who wrote
“The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” and was basically anti-Christian (He
thought Christianity was the worst thing that ever happened in history.) said
that all they were arguing about was this silly little diphthong and it didn’t
make an iota worth of difference. That is where we got the origination of that
phrase that it doesn’t make an iota’s worth of difference. You didn’t know that
it had to do with doctrine. You see, you didn’t know that it had to do with
theology. It has to do with one of the most important doctrines of Scripture.
The Nicene Creed which some of you may have learned to
recite if you grew up in a church that was a little more high church where you
quoted creeds you may have recited this.
We believe in one God the Father all
Governing, creator of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father as only begotten, that is, from
the essence of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true
God, begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father, through whom all
things came into being, both in heaven and on earth; Who for us and for our
salvation came down and was incarnate becoming human. He suffered and on the
third day He rose, and ascended in to the heavens and He will come to judge
both the living and the dead.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit.
I think it is interesting that all of these creeds
going back to the earliest, the Apostle’s Creed, start with creation and the
Father.
Then the second paragraph defines the Son. They are
struggling with how to use human vocabulary to express the eternality of Jesus
Christ in His deity and His equality with the Father. So they described Him as
begotten, as only begotten, not born.
The word we were looking at was homoiousias. That last part ousias
means essence or being.
Begotten doesn’t mean born. It is a technical term to
describe that eternal relationship between the first person of the trinity and
the second person of the trinity. Jesus doesn’t become a Son in history; He is
always a Son. Therefore how do you describe that relationship? The Father is
always the Father. The Son is always the Son. So the term is eternal
begottenness.
That’s the word they had in the Greek, homoiousias. The Orthodox theologians
were victorious in the debate explaining that Jesus has to be identical in
deity to the Father. He also has to be identical in deity to the Son. I always
love 4th and 5th century because they hammered out what
you and I always seem to take for granted. That is, our understanding of the person
and work of Jesus Christ. The first question that they had to answer that they
answered at Nicea was, what was Jesus before He came? Before He came He was
eternal God. He was the same essence as God the Father - Light from Light and
True God from True God.
But then the question became after Nicea, what was
Jesus when He came? If Jesus was
God and eternal before He came, exactly what was He when He came? How to you
explain this union of deity and humanity? And so they had to wrestle with that.
They didn’t just say, “Oh. He was undiminished deity and true humanity united
in one person forever.” It took about a 150 years to get that figured out. In
the process they wound around through several things that they ultimately
discovered were heresy.
One of the first attempts was by a man named
Apollinaris. In his view he said that every human being has three components
– a body, a human soul, and a human spirit. When he comes to describing
how the eternal deity of the second person of the trinity was joined with man,
his solution was to say that He had a human body and his soul was divine (the
divine Logos was the term that they used) and He had a human spirit. The
problem with this is that is makes Jesus only partly human. He has a human body
and a human spirit but He has a divine soul. So He is not fully human and He is
not fully divine. That was rejected. It was declared heretical at the Council
of Constantinople in 381 AD. That was 56 years later that they condemned
Apollinaris. Apollinaris was straight at Nicea but he can’t quite figure out
how to explain the humanity and deity of Christ.
The next one up who tries was a guy named Nestorius. There
were a lot of Nestorian Christians who went east and took the gospel into India
and China in subsequent centuries. This was a major view that was held by many
different missionaries. It was dominant in a lot of areas even in Western
Europe up through the early Middle Ages. Nestorius almost sounds right. He
talks about the fact that Christ is fully God and fully human. He wasn’t fully
God or fully human with Apollinaris. But the way he describes it makes it sound
as if Christ has a divine nature and a human nature. He is a divine person and
a human person. So you have two natures and two persons and there is no true
union. Remember that the term we use is the hypostatic union. There is a union
of humanity and deity in one person. So Nestorius took his stab at it and in
431 that was declared heresy at the Council of Ephesus.
So one more guy comes up and takes his stab at it.
That’s Eutyches. He says you have a divine nature over here on one side and a
human nature over on the other side. They blend together in Jesus. He has two
natures that were stuck the Osterizer. It blends Him up and creates a third
nature. Jesus is now sort of a third being. He is not truly human. He is not truly
divine. He is just a mix. That was declared heretical at the Council of
Chalcedon, a suburb of Constantinople, in 451. This is how they wrote the
Chalcedonian Creed. Most of you didn’t grow up in churches where they recited
creeds like this but this is where we get our verbiage for defining the
hypostatic union. It comes right out of Chalcedon. This is one of the greatest
theological documents of all time.
We also teach that we apprehend this
one and only Christ Son, Lord, only begotten – in two natures; and we do
this without confusing the two natures. Without transmuting one nature into the
other without dividing them into two separate categories without contrasting
them according to area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not
nullified by the union. Instead, the properties of each nature are conserved
and both natures concur in one “person” and into one essence. They are not
divided or cut into two persons but are together the one and only and only
begotten Logos of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes you have heard people say that He did this
out of His deity and He did that out of His humanity. You’ve heard that kind of
talk. That makes it sound like there are two people. We have to be careful. There
are things that Jesus did such as when He wept at Lazarus’ grave that indicate
His true humanity. There are things that Jesus did when He changed the water
into wine that indicate He was undiminished deity. But, He doesn’t do something
from one side and something else from another side. That is almost Eutychianism
where you have two different persons because you split it so far apart. That is
what they are getting at there.
In other words nothing that happens on the divine side
nullifies any attributes of His humanity. Nothing in His humanity nullifies or
diminishes anything in His deity. Undiminished deity stays undiminished deity. True
humanity stays true humanity.
That will give you something to think about tonight
while you are trying to go to sleep.
Two natures and one person is the mystery of the
hypostatic union. That is your theology lesson for the night. That is how we
got our understanding of the hypostatic union in a nutshell going through 126
years of church history.
The whole concept is clearly taught in Philippians
2:5. Hebrews 2 and Philippians 2 along with and Colossians 2 are the three core
chapters that deal with the person of Christ.
NKJ Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
The thrust of what Paul says in Philippians 2 is not a
doctrinal discourse on theology. It is a discourse on humility. In order to
understand what true humility is in your life and my life, we have to
understand its model which is in the make up of the Lord Jesus Christ and His
assumption of humanity at the incarnation. That is the standard for defining
humility. If we are going to talk about humility, we have to start with the
incarnation Christ, not with an abstract concept of humility, not with going to
Webster’s’ Dictionary to see how the dictionary defines humility. You start
with Philippians 2.
NKJ Philippians 2:6
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it
robbery to be equal with God,
Now that first phrase “being” is a participle of the
Greek verb huparchon which should be
taken as a concessive participle. It is translated although or even though. Even
though He existed in the form of God, even though He is full deity, even though
He is sovereign God of the universe, even though He is the creator of all
things, even though He is the one to whom all obedience is to be addressed,
even though He is the one who owns everything, even though He is the to whom
all subservience and honor should go, even though He is fully God He didn’t
think that it was something to be held on to. That is the thrust of Paul’s
argument here.
The word form is the Greek word morphe. We use the term morph to indicate a change in something. It
has to do with the nature or essence of a thing.
Literally, He didn’t think deity was something to be
grasped after. What imagery do you have there? To grab for something. What was
going on in the Garden of Eden? The serpent came along to Eve and said, “Did
God say that you can’t eat from all the fruit in the garden?”
She said, “We can’t eat it or touch it.”
He said, “That’s not true. God doesn’t want you to be
like Him. So, go ahead and eat.”
So what Eve did and what Adam did was grab for deity. They
wanted to eat that apple so that they could be like God.
But Jesus even though He was fully God didn’t think it
was something to be held on to or grabbed on to.
So He emptied Himself. That is the Old King James
translation. It is the word is kenaoo.
This is where we get the famous kenosis passage. The emptying of Him doesn’t mean
that He gave anything up. It means that He added humanity to His deity.
Often I know you have heard an old definition that
goes way back. I think Dr. Walvoord has it defined this way in his book “Jesus
Christ Our Lord”. Others have used the definition that in the kenosis Jesus
Christ the second person of the trinity voluntarily gave up the independent use
of His attributes. It is a definition that every seminary student has memorized
for years and that many of us have heard over and over again. There is a flaw
in that because the implication is that when you say that He voluntarily
restricted the independent use of His attributes is that - did He ever use His
attributes independent of the Father? No, He never used His attributes
independently of the Father. He was always in complete sync with the Father. The
real issue in the kenosis is that Jesus added humanity so that He faced the
problems of life in the incarnation by relying not on His divine attributes but
by relying on the provisions that God gave Him that are the same provisions
that God gave to you and me. He is not facing the tests in the wilderness by
using His divine power to turn the stones into bread. He is not using His
divine power to handle various problems that were challenges to His personal
spiritual life. That doesn’t mean that He did all of His miracles through the
power of the Holy Spirit. He did some that way but others He did in His own
deity to demonstrate that He was God. He changed the water into wine. He raised
Lazarus from the dead. These were things that He did in His own divine power
but they were not done to handle the problems or adversities that He faced in
His spiritual life. They were used to demonstrate who He was. As the New King
James translates it…
NKJ Philippians 2:7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
It defines for us what kenosis is. It is not giving up
His deity. It is taking on humanity. It is adding true humanity to His eternal
undiminished deity. So He took on the form that is essence or nature of man. It
is the same word used in the previous verse to describe the essence of
deity. So you have the essence of
deity, the morphe of deity in verse 6
and the morphe of the bond servant in
verse 7.
He came in the likeness of men. What’s that word?
Likeness. Does it look familiar to you?
Homoioma. It is the noun form
of the verb that we see in Hebrews 2:17. This is the noun form. He came in the
likeness of humanity – anthropos, the human race. He has all the
attributes of humanity minus the sin nature because that is not what Adam had
as part of his original equipment. He comes as true humanity just like Adam was
originally created.
He humbled Himself. There is the same principle that
we are finding in Hebrews that He learned obedience by the things He suffered.
NKJ Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even
the death of the cross.
He placed Himself under the authority of God. He
became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He was
willing to go through all of that suffering, all of that heartache, all of that
punishment because that was God’s plan for man.
Now let’s go back to Hebrews 2:17.
NKJ Hebrews 2:17 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.
In order to be an aid to mankind, in order to be an
assistant in going through adversity and tests He had to be made like man.
In all things and in every area of His makeup He had
to be true humanity.
Now we have a purpose clause: “that He might be.” The
first principle is that He had to be made like His brethren so that He could be
our helper, our assistant. Being made like the brethren had a further purpose. That
was to be a high priest.
The verb there is the aorist middle subjunctive of the
Greek verb ginomai. It indicates becoming
something you were not. You have what they call two existential verbs in
Hebrew. It is a fancy grammatical term for verbs that have to do with
existence. They are words that have to do with being. Eimi has to do with I am. There is ginomia which has to do with becoming. Then there is huparcho that has to do with existence. This
word ginomai is the word that is used
of John the Baptist in John 1:4. There came to be a man named John. Ginomai is used in contrast to Jesus
Christ who always was. In the beginning was the word – eimi. But John came into existence. It is the difference between
the eternal creator nature of Jesus Christ by whom all things come into
existence according to John 1 versus the creature John the Baptist who comes
into being. Again this emphasizes His humanity. To be a high priest He had to
be true humanity, full humanity.
This introduces us to the doctrine and concept of the
high priesthood. What is a high priest? What does a high priest do? Let’s go through this to summarize the
doctrine of the high priesthood.
NKJ 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one
God and one Mediator between God and men, the
Man Christ Jesus,
He has
to partake of true humanity so that He can be the go-between, the mediator,
function as a high priest between the human race and God. The only priest that
is mentioned in the Old Testament before you get to the Aaronic priesthood in
the Mosaic Law is Melchizedek. Melchizedek demonstrates that there was a royal
priesthood early on, prior to the Mosaic Law.
There is a rigorous logical flow here. The word
translated propitiation which we come to here is the Greek word hilaskomai. That word is the word that
translates the Hebrew ‘mercy seat’ in the translation of the Old Testament. The
high priest makes atonement for God.
Now one more thing before we move into propitiation.
Jesus is to be like His brethren so He can be a harsh judge of mankind. Is that
what it says? No, it says a merciful and faithful high priest. Merciful brings
out the dimension of grace. Grace is undeserved favor or unmerited kindness. Mercy
is grace in action. Mercy is grace sort of ratcheted up and put into application
in certain situations. He becomes like His brethren (fully human) so that He
can be a merciful high priest and faithful high priest. The Greek word there is
pistos (not pistis) which emphasizes His faithfulness, His consistency, and His
constancy. He is immutable. The writer says that He is the same yesterday,
today and forever. We can always count on Him no matter what the problems or
challenges are that we face in life. We have to stop and take a deep breathe
and trust and rest in Jesus Christ because He has been there before us. He set
the pattern for how we are to respond to the outside pressure of adversity. This
is related to His high priestly role which is grounded in the doctrine of
propitiation which has to do with satisfying the righteousness and justice of
God. So we see that this is the basic problem that man has with God - or part
of the basic problem which is God’s character. God is a righteous and just
God.
NKJ Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
NKJ Psalm 7:9 Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, But establish the
just; For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
It is the justice of God that evaluates man. We have
to satisfy His justice.
NKJ Psalm 7:11 God is a just judge, And God
is angry with the wicked every day.
That is the application of His justice through His
righteousness to mankind.
NKJ Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your
face.
Where was God enthroned in the Old Testament? He was
enthroned between the cherubs according to the psalmist. Where does that exist?
The throne of God was viewed on the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant in
the Holy of Holies inside the tabernacle and later the temple. So here we have
David in Psalm 89 reflecting upon the fact that righteousness and justice are
the foundation of the throne. So you can take that and apply that to the mercy
seat.
The word for mercy seat is the Hebrew word kaporeth which means propitiatory or the
mercy seat. The mercy seat was located on the center of the lid of the Ark of
the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was a wooden box describe in Exodus 25:17-8.
NKJ Exodus 25:17 "You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a
half its width. 18 "And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of
hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.
They are looking down on the mercy seat. If you
convert the measurements into English it is roughly 45”x27”x 27”. It is a box
made of acacia wood overlaid in gold. It pictures the humanity and deity of
Christ in hypostatic union. The box itself contained the urn of manna which the
Jews rejected so it is an indication of rejection of God’s logistical grace. It
contained Aaron’s staff the one that was placed inside the tabernacle. It
sprouted leaves when the staffs of other leaders did not. So it is called
Aaron’s rod that budded. It speaks of the sin of the people when they rejected
Aaron’s priestly leadership. That’s inside the ark. Then there were the tablets
of the law that the people had broken. These three elements – the manna,
Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the Law - picture the transgression
or sin of the people. When the high priest would go into the holy place he
would place the blood from the lamb on the mercy seat. That is the picture of
the covering of sin. The cherubs that picture the righteousness and justice of
God as holiness look down and are satisfied by the sacrifice. This is a picture
of what Christ did on the cross. He is the sacrifice that satisfies the
righteousness and justice of God.
There are four key passages on propitiation in the New
Testament. One is the passage we are in and another is Romans 3:25.
NKJ Romans 3:25 whom God set forth as a
propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness,
because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously
committed,
“Who” is Jesus Christ.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness.
NKJ 1 John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and
not for ours only but also for the whole world.
In other words Christ propitiated the Father with
relation to the sins of the whole world but it isn’t applied unless you trust
Christ as your Savior.
NKJ 1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins.
Verse 17 of Hebrews said that He had to be made like
His brethren in order to be their assistant in verse 16. I keep going back to
verse 16. Verse 16 and 18 both talk about Christ’s assistance to us. What is in
the middle is an understanding that He had to be made like His brethren to be
so that He could go to the cross and be our mediator so that He could
propitiate the Father in relationship to our sins. Those three elements lay the
foundation for His being able to be our aide, our assistant.
Then we come to verse 18.
NKJ Hebrews 2:18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid
those who are tempted.
We went through the doctrine of testing last Thursday
night. We saw it again Tuesday night in relation to Abraham’s being tested by
God when he was commanded to take Isaac up Mt. Moriah. We have gone through
this extensively in the last couple of weeks that I am not going to do it
again. Testing is the means by which we apply doctrine that we have learned and
demonstrate what we learned and it becomes a testimony to man and the
angels.
The word here for aiding those who are tested is the
Greek word boetheo. It derives from
two root words, boe and theo. It has the idea of running when
you hear a cry or scream out for help. It came to mean to give assistance or
give help. Its primary synonym is antilambano
which is used for giving aid in verse 16. The writer of Hebrews is tying these
two concepts together. Because He was tested He is able to aid those who are
tested. Now that writer is going to move to another level of the development in
his argument and he is going to use that same word we saw in verse 17, hothen.
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
“Holy brethren” refers to believers.
We have a purpose and destiny.
So we are moving to an application. Because of this,
he is saying. I am setting the stage for next week. Because He entered into
hypostatic union, because He became a man, because He was matured through
suffering, because He is the one who sanctifies and we are the ones being
sanctified and are all united together, because He has conquered death, because
He is the high priest and can aid us and because of all these things,
consider.
The word here for consider here means to contemplate,
to concentrate on, to study in detail.
This is occupation with Christ. Because He has done
all these things everything is laid out from 2:5 through 2:18. We are called
upon to take time to think deeply and profoundly about the person and work of
Jesus Christ and how that ought to change the way we react and respond to the
problems and difficulties in life. Then he is going to develop that in
relationship to Moses in the next few verses before we get into the exhortation
section.
That is our set up. We have finished chapter two and are moving into chapter 3.