Christ Tasted Death For Everyone

CHRIST TASTED DEATH FOR EVERYONE

HEBREWS 2:9-11 OCTOBER 6, 2002

HEBREWS 2:9-11

9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

When we talk about salvation and our faith, we think of the sense of hearing because we know that faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Today we’re reminded that we use almost all of our senses that God gives us concerning our salvation. Today we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. We see the very body and blood of our Lord and Savior. We’re able to touch it and feel it. As our text points out, we see that Jesus tasted death, so you and I even taste of God’s salvation through the gifts of the senses that He gives us. We see His marvelous works and His wonderful grace just as the Psalm writer states: "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him"(PSALM 34:8). That’s what our text reminds us of this morning, that we take refuge in the Lord—that we taste and see that the Lord is good. You and I don’t have to taste death anymore. You and I will never taste hell because Christ has tasted death for everyone. We want to look at that word God has placed before us with the theme

CHRIST HAS TASTED DEATH FOR EVERYONE

I. As the perfect sacrifice

II. As our brothers’ keeper

For the next few weeks we are going to be looking at writings from the book of Hebrews. This letter was written because of the Judaizers of the day. The Judaizers were a group of legalists--we could call them in a sense, because they would like to go back to the Old Testament days. They liked the laws that God had given them. They liked the covenant God had made because they wanted to put the emphasis of salvation on themselves. It was a work-righteousness way of life for them to be saved. They didn’t have much use for Jesus because He came and said He had done everything. They didn’t have to do anything else to save themselves, because Christ had done it all.

I. As the perfect sacrifice

In today’s text, in this letter, we find the emphasis of Jesus as the Savior of the world. Over and over again, the writer states that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. Our text begins: ‘we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor…’ The Judaizers looked at Jesus as below the angels and that was it. The writer reminds them that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for a time. He took on flesh and blood, yet He was above the angels. After His death and resurrection, Jesus ascended back into heaven where He is now crowned with glory and honor. What did Jesus do when He was a little bit below the angels, when He had human flesh and blood? ‘We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.’ In other words, the writer to the Hebrews is saying Jesus fulfilled all of God’s law. Jesus fulfilled all of God’s commands and covenants because He tasted death for everyone. Everyone deserved eternal death, but now Jesus suffered death.

Remember the suffering that He went through as He was in Jerusalem, faced His accusers, then finally hung on the cross until He gave up His spirit to His heavenly Father. He did it so He would be the perfect sacrifice. We’re told in our text ‘it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.’ Jesus was not imperfect. But in respect to salvation, the world was made perfect by the sacrifice of Christ. The people in the Old Testament offered sacrifice after sacrifice. All those sacrifices did was to point ahead to the time that Christ would come and be the perfect sacrifice for the world. The salvation of the world was completed, sins were paid for.