Hebrews 2: 1 – 18
Messiah’s crown
1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? 5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? 7 You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 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, 12 saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” 13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” 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, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 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. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
Let me start off in asking you a question to consider. It is this –‘What would you do it this situation?’ While watching television a news flash interrupted all the TV shows. The message said that a meteor was heading to earth and was going to hit somewhere near Africa. It will cause a tsunami which will drive toward the east coast of America. So, again what would you do? For me I would immediately leave my home without packing anything and call my kids and tell them to head for the Pocono Mountains which are pretty much inland.
You remember Lot’s predicament as taught in the book of Genesis. He along with his wife and two daughters actually had to be physically taken out by angels in order to survive the coming destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah.
We are going to see in chapter 2 ‘A First Warning’ by the author to take heed to his words. – It will be followed by the revelation that This One Who Is Son Is now revealed as Jesus Who has united Himself with mankind through Being made lower than the angels and crowned as ‘True Man’ so that through suffering He might ‘Save’ all who believe making them His brothers and destroying the fear of death (2.1-18)
2.1 ‘Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest it be that we drift away.’
Therefore, because the things that we have heard have come to us, not on the authority of angels, but on the authority of the Son, we must (it is necessary to) take the more earnest heed to them, for otherwise the danger is that we may drift away from them, like a boat loses anchor and drifts from its moorings. That would indeed be a great loss when we consider the importance of the One who brought them.
Note that he speaks of ‘we’. He includes himself along with them because he wants to be identified with them and wants them to feel included within the whole church of Christ. He does not want them to feel that they have been selected out as especially weak.
Have you ever heard of the term, ‘Dead fish do not swim upstream’? In a way the term ‘Give the more earnest heed’ speaks of this condition. The statement contrasts with ‘neglect’ (verse 3). We cannot just mark time in the things of God. We either go on growing by giving determined consideration to the truths that we have heard, and to our response to them, or we begin to drift away because of neglect, for the tide is certainly against us. There is no standing still. We must go on. If we do not we face the fact that we will go backward. The term ‘backslider’ comes from this thought.
So, ‘The things that were heard’ is the message of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel in all its fullness. It is not enough just to believe one or two simple facts. We must enter ever more deeply into its truths, for they keep us close to Christ, and it is He and His promises which are our anchor and prevent us from drifting.
I had this godly young woman who uses to work with the ministry here. I would say that when you compare her to other young woman her age she stood out. I love her remarks to me. She said, ‘If one believes all the things about the Lord Jesus than why not be totally ‘in’ or committed to walking with Him. Isn’t that the truth!.
2.2 ‘For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward,’
For if the word that was spoken by angels proved true in what it said, which was that every failure to keep it and every disobedience to it would receive its just punishment, (that is, what it justly deserved as a result of breaking it), as it did, then those who have received an even greater word and who neglect it can certainly have no hope.
What happened to the Jews is for our education. If we do the same things they did we can be assured that we will reap the same consequences. Israel reaped what it sowed. It heard, it sowed disobedience, it reaped disaster. The Old Testament is packed with examples of those who transgressed and suffered punishment, even Moses. How much more then will the word spoken by the Son have such a result for those who disobey or neglect it?
We also need to take note that the author does not speak of ‘the Law’ but of ‘the word’, both softening its harshness and paralleling it with the word spoken by the Son. It is seen as a word from God (as it was) rather than a harsh law; as a resultant of salvation for those who would respond to His saving covenant. But they were destroyed by the very means that had been intended as a blessing. And observing the ‘word’ now from God is equally important. Failing to observe it can also only bring the same harsh consequences.
We next see the text state something unique -‘The word spoken through angels.’ Both Paul (Galatians 3.19) and Stephen (Acts 7.53) mention the part played by angels in the giving of the law, but the Old Testament is almost silent about it. All took place behind a cloud. Deuteronomy 33.2 and Psalm 68.17 provide what are references to angels as present at Sinai, but without amplifying them. The idea arose from recognition that God was so holy that He could not be dealt with by the people face to face, but that everything had to be mediated through angels.
Have you ever heard the words ‘Commission’ and ‘Omission’? ‘Commission is an error that occurs as a result of an action taken. Omission is something that has not been included or done: something that has been omitted. In a way we see the same in the descriptions of ‘every transgression and disobedience.’ The former word emphasizes more the sins done positively by breaking the Law, a crossing of the boundary, the latter the failure to obey, a falling short in obedience.
Another term we unfortunately are very familiar with is ‘payday is someday’. This truth is brought out in the remarks -‘Received a just recompense of reward.’ It was the sin that brought the punishment. Man was to receive the due reward for his sins. This was a necessity because of what God is, because of His aversion to all that is sin. The punishment was not arbitrary, but in accordance with the crime. It is just that when we consider it we underestimate the crime, often not realizing the consequences, while God does not.
2.3 ‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? Which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,’
That being so how can we hope to escape judgment if we neglect an even greater offering of salvation, ‘so great a great salvation’, such as is revealed in the words of the Son, Who Is a far more wonderful deliverance vehicle than anything the Old Testament could produce? If we neglect this new ‘word’ that was originally taught directly by the Lord Himself, and which we have heard confirmed to us by eyewitnesses, that is, by those who personally heard it and knew Him, what hope of escape from just punishment can we possibly have?
For to neglect a message is to treat it with contempt, but to neglect such a message delivered by such a Person is to be in total contempt of God Himself. This is in fact the great sin of the majority of the world. It is not that they reject the truth out of hand; it is that they simply do not bother with it. They neglect it. They often claim to honor Jesus but they disregard His word as ‘Lord’.
I want to share something more regarding the truth of our Holy Lord Jesus’ Sacrifice that produced for us - ‘So great a salvation.’ In considering its greatness we should consider certain factors.
• 1). The greatness of the Son Who achieved it (chapter 1).
• 2). The greatness of the judgment from which it rescues the sinner (10.27-31).
• 3). The greatness of the eternal future which is promised through it (11.10; 12.22-23).
• 4). The greatness of the Father’s love that has provided it (John 3.16; 1 John 4.9-10).
• 5). The greatness of the humiliation and suffering endured by the One Who obtained it. (verse 9; 12.2-3; Philippians 2.6-8; Isaiah 53).
Critics have argued that what we have in our Bibles is ‘hear say’. Yes it is. So why is that a problem? They try to insinuate that this awesome wisdom is made up. We see that our Precious Holy Spirit comes right out to put to bed this attack - ‘Having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard.’ Central to Christian truth is that its source is in Jesus. Only what is in conformity with His words can be accepted as ‘Gospel truth’. This was why Paul himself stressed that what he taught came directly from Him, and this was why the Apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit to later fully remember His teaching.
Much is often made of this verse as though it required that the writer had not himself heard the teaching of Jesus personally. But while the writer does use ‘we’ (emphasized, in contrast with those who were not Christians) he may well be using it rather loosely, signifying by it the group to which he was writing of which he saw himself a part, and continuing the use of ‘we’ with which he had begun the chapter. Thus he may simply be saying that while his readers had not heard it directly from the Lord, they, along with the whole church, had nevertheless heard it from eyewitnesses, from those who were actually there and heard His words, without necessarily saying anything about him.
For it was ‘the Lord’ Who spoke it, and reliable eyewitnesses confirmed it, as they all know, and the authority of it is therefore unquestioned, and its certainty assured. What hope then can there be for them if they neglect it, when it has such authority behind it?
2.4 ‘God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.’
Not only did the word come directly from the Son through impeccable witnesses, but God also Himself bore witness to it among them, through those very witnesses, providing a further witness which came by signs and miracles and by many revelations of power wrought by them and among them, and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to those who heeded Him in accordance with His will.
The witness was both from without, in outward manifestations, and from within, through gifts of the Spirit. He had thus given them every opportunity to heed it, and it had been as He Himself had determined. It had been directly in accordance with His will. He had wanted them to have full evidence of the truth that was being taught, and His assurance that He was behind it.
Our Lord Jesus had Himself given evidence of Who and What He was by ‘mighty works and wonders and signs’; by His control over nature, by turning water into wine, by stilling the storm, by multiplying bread, by raising the dead, by healing the sick, and by casting out evil spirits. We see this had continued on with the Apostles, and in the early church.
Signs, wonders, and manifold powers as mentioned in this verse bring to mind the miracles by which God at certain points in history confirmed His message to man at crucial times. Moses appeared before Pharaoh in a series of amazing signs and wonders at the time of the deliverance from Egypt, followed by Joshua on entry into Canaan; Elijah, followed by Elisha, was involved in a number of signs and miracles at a time when belief in God was at its lowest, and the coming of Jesus, followed by His disciples, was a further time of signs and miracles as the Gospel first began to spread. There is a clear pattern. But outside of those times miracles have been rare.
We should not therefore be surprised that after the early church had been established miracles became a rarer phenomenon. It follows the pattern of history. And it was also in full keeping with that pattern that the new revelation preached to people through the Lord Jesus and His Apostles should have been corroborated and confirmed in the beginning by certain signs and miracles.
But let me say with certainty that miracles still occur today. I have personally witnessed many awesome ones. Perhaps you have also experienced this mind blowing situation.
We are quickly approaching the fabrication of miracles which as the book of Revelation teaches lead many astray. We have God’s full word of truth in our Bibles. When we see sinners converted to saints we have the opportunity to witness miracles. Please remember that.
Having revealed the Glory of the Son and His Superiority to angels, the writer now develops the theme of how low He stooped in order to help mankind and what the result will be for those who respond to Him. For God did not choose out angels to be His assistants, He decided to choose out sinful men, paying for them a huge price that He might deliver them. The angels indeed have no great part to play in His plan. While they do in their own way minister to the heirs of salvation (1.14), they are very much in the background. The central players are our God, Jesus Christ and redeemed men. (So is the importance of angels thrust into the background as far as men are concerned)
2.5 ‘For not to angels did he subject the world to come, of which we speak.’
Let all consider that it was not to angels that God gave authority over ‘the world to come’, it was to the Lord and to these witnesses who received His word, those through whom these signs and wonders were done. When God decided to act it involved His Son and those men who were chosen by Him and had responded to Him. The angels had no part to play in it.
The statement ‘world to come’ here indicates ‘the world’ known from Scripture ‘to be coming’, and which had now arrived in the coming of Jesus and the establishing of the ‘worldwide’ Christian community, the sphere of the Kingdom of God, and is to be seen as including all that follows from it. It represents the new stage of God’s purposes in its totality. The old ‘world’ was passing. The new had come.
We read this amazing insight from our Holy Ruler in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 8, ‘When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples, according to the number of the angels of God.’
The idea is that once the nations were separated at Babel and languages became confused, angels took authority over the different sections into which the world of men was split. Man had lost his authority over creation. This is confirmed further in Daniel 10.20, which speaks of angelic beings such as "the prince of Persia" and "the prince of Greece," as having sway in those areas, and Daniel 10.21 and 12.1 which speak of Michael as "the great prince" who champions the people of Israel. Man had lost his dominion through sin, and was swayed by heavenly powers, although God kept a special watch on His own.
The result was that the ‘present world’ was seen as no longer under the sway of man but as under the sway of angelic forces, the majority of them seemingly evil. However, the ‘coming world’ (now come) is different. It is under the sway of the King and His disciples, and angels have no part in its rule. The kingdom of the Son of His love is in vivid contrast with the power of darkness.
2.6-8 ‘But one has somewhere testified, saying, “What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man, that you visit him?” You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands. You put all things in subjection under his feet.” ‘For in that He subjected all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him.’
The writer confirms his position by quoting Psalm 8.4-6 which states that God’s original intention was that the world would be ruled by man, who was made ‘only a little lower than what was heavenly (the Elohim – The Tri-unified Holy God)’, so that all on earth would be subjected to him. His plan was for great things for man. And he sees this as not only so in the past but as something yet to be realized.
Do you think that the author of this book got brain freeze when he did not know who wrote Psalm 8? He wrote - ‘But one has somewhere testified, saying.’ This did not mean that the writer did not know who had written it (the Psalmist), but was a way of stressing that what was spoken was of God. It was God Who in the final analysis was the author of Scripture, and the name or title of the testifier was of little importance.
‘What is man, that you are mindful of him? Or son of man, that you visit him?” This is spoken of mankind in general as descended from Adam.. It is a simple questioning as to man’s status in the whole scheme of God’s planning. It is asking ‘where does man stand in the order of priority?’, or hold within it the idea of man’s inferiority, ‘when you consider the heavens, what after all is man?’. But the overall emphasis is on the fact that God is mindful of man, and acts on his behalf even in his frailty, and intends for him ruler ship over creation.
Please write down and meditate on the words ‘Mindful -- visit--.’ God both has man in mind and acts on man’s behalf (visits him).
Man’s status is then declared. ‘Made a little lower than the angels, that is, of heavenly beings. So although frail man is the next step down from the heavenly, being lower than the angels, as regards earth, he is potentially ‘crowned with glory and honor’ and set over all living creation, so that all is to be in subjection under his feet. Man was made God’s crowning glory on earth. To be but a little lower than the angels was to be given great honor. It meant that in all creation as described in Genesis 1 man was supreme, first in line after the angels, after what was ‘heavenly’. He was thus, as regards the earth, the supreme lord of all. He was the one who was ‘crowned with glory and honor’, and, says the Psalmist, the one who will find all things put under his feet.
Indeed God did not intend to withhold anything from man. He intended to give him all, He would have omitted nothing. His purpose was to subject ‘all things’ to him. Man on earth was to be ‘lord of all’. Nothing was to be left which was not subject to him.
That was how it was in the beginning. Man was lord over all creation. But through his folly man had lost much of what he had. ‘All things’ became no longer subject to him. The earth was apportioned to angels. Man’s rule over living creatures and over the fruit of the world that God gave him, was partially lost. So now we no longer ‘continually see’ all things subjected to him, even though there are still traces of his onetime rule in that animals still cannot look him in the eye, some animals are domesticated and part of the earth is still cultivated. We love our pets.
Man’s final triumph still waits. There was not only to be a restoration, but exaltation. Our real destiny still lies before us. And this, he next points out, is to be through Jesus.
2.9 ‘But we behold Him who has been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, in order that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.’
Before looking at this verse in detail we must consider the phrase ‘crowned with glory and honor’ for it helps to determine the meaning of the whole passage, and is regularly misunderstood. Now the temptation, if we ignore the context, is undoubtedly to see it as signifying Christ’s resurrection and exaltation and then to try to fit around it the other phrases, which in truth then fit rather strangely. And that is done by most commentators. But that is totally to ignore the context. Reference to His exaltation, except in a secondary, inclusive way, is out of place here.
For had this been its meaning we might have expected the whole sentence to be constructed differently (as commentators tend to confirm by constantly switching it around), especially by so consummate an author as we have here, for the natural reading here is to see ‘crowned with glory and honor’ as leading on into ‘in order that by the grace of God He should taste death for everyone’, as though the one resulted in the other, as though the crowning preceded the suffering and was necessary for it, and if that is so it bars us seeing in it simply a direct reference to the resurrection and exaltation. Is there then any alternative, which actually avoids the manipulation of the verse required for that view?
We should note that the same words are also cited in verse 6. There they indicate that (as a result of his creation in ‘the image and likeness of the Elohim (or ‘Tri-Unity God’)’ (Genesis 1)) man was ‘crowned with glory and honor’ by being made the earthly lord of creation, so that all creation was subjected to him. This was what pinpointed what man was. He was placed there from the very beginning. He was ‘crowned with glory and honor’, with authority over all things. And it was from this exalted position that he fell, so that creation became no longer subject to him and only a small part, the domestic animals and the cultivated fields, still did his bidding. As fallen man he had become a king without a kingdom, He had been uncrowned as lord of God’s creation.
Now if we consider that, in order for our Lord Jesus to be fitted to be a substitution and perfect sacrifice for man, it was necessary for Him to become The ‘Perfect Man’, to become what man originally was, we will recognize that this required that He too in His lifetime be ‘crowned with glory and honor’ in relation to creation, so that as man He became overlord of creation, as man was, and man should be.
We also see that by His life in which He demonstrated His lordship over creation and superiority to angels. He was ‘with the wild beasts’ and angels ministered to Him (Mark 1.13), the evil spirits obeyed Him and were cast out (Mark 1.25-26), the water turned into wine at His will (John 2.1-11), the fish moved at His command (Luke 5.4-6; Matthew 17.27; John 21.6), the wind and waves did His bidding (Mark 4.39), the sea provided Him with a pathway through the storm (Mark 6.48), the storm ceased at His presence (6.51), the unbroken ass walked quietly into Jerusalem through noisy crowds, responsive to His hands (Mark 11.2, 7-9), the fig tree withered at His command (Mark 11.14, 20). Indeed He could have commanded the mountain to fall into the sea and it would have obeyed Him (Mark 11.23). All this emphasized the restoration of the crowning with glory and honor.
It was this over lordship of creation that revealed that He was perfect man as God had intended man to be, and it was this that made Him fitted to ‘taste death for everyone’, because it revealed that He was truly ‘the second man’, ‘the last Adam’, (1 Corinthians 15.45-47) man restored to what he should be. So was He seen as ‘crowned with glory and honor’ in His lifetime, as Man restored to his lost status, that status given by God from the beginning. And thus could it be that as perfect man He would offer Himself, the One for the many.
In these words lies explained the mystery of His suffering. When He came He was here as Lord of creation, all of which obeyed Him. He was declared to be crowned with glory and honor as God’s Son. Creation was under His sway. It was only man who was in rebellion and was antagonistic, and opposed His rule. It was thus man, guilty rebellious man, out of tune with creation, who brought about His sufferings and the sufferings of all who would follow Him, as they made clear their total rejection of what God is. From the world came glory (‘even the stones would cry out’ - Luke 19.40), from rebellious man, over watched by sinister angels, came persecution and suffering.
So as our Lord Jesus walked the world as Lord of Creation, crowned with glory and honor, He called men to come under the Heavenly Rule of God, to submit to Him even as nature submitted. And in their refusal and rejection, was made clear the need for Him to die. They were in rebellion against God’s purpose in creation, and only through His death on their behalf could a way be made for them back to God.
Nor should we overlook the fact that, with the exception of the crown of thorns, our Wonderful and Holy Lord Jesus Is never elsewhere depicted as undergoing a process of being crowned. He Is ever depicted as already being King (Matthew 2.2; 21.5; John 1.49), depicting Himself as such when He entered Jerusalem on an ass (John 12.13), depicting Himself as such to a cynical Pilate (John 18.37; Luke 23.3 compare 23.38) and in His parables (Matthew 18.23; 22.2). His message was that the Kingdom of God was here, and the implication He gave was that He was here as the king. He was here as God’s anointed (Luke 4.18-21; Acts 10.38).
I mentioned the crowing of our Holy Master with thorns. This physical crowning, was recognition that the over lordship was established and confirmed, as He went on to face His final sufferings. For a mock crown was placed on His head, and in that too He was in the eyes of Heaven crowned with glory and honor, and Pilate too confirmed in writing somewhat cynically that ‘this is the king of the Jews’ (Luke 19.38). For as He faced up to the suffering and death which was the direct result of man’s rebellion against God He faced it because He was the king, and because He was the true representative of what man should be, and because only man was rejecting Him as such. And He declared that He was to be glorified in that suffering too (John 12.23, 27-28). He was to face His death as He had faced His life, as the One Who was crowned with glory and honor, and Who was Himself receiving great glory as He crushed all the forces that were against Him.
This is especially brought out in the fourth Gospel where one of John’s aims was to bring out that in all the events that took place He was sovereign. The soldiers, for example, fell back before Him until He again spoke; and they let the Apostles go free because He commanded it (John 18.6-8). He was in charge of events, and they proceeded at His will. And all the Gospels essentially agree on the same, for Matthew’s Gospel tells us that twelve legions of angels waited to do His will and could have prevented all that happened, but did not do so because it was not His will (Matthew 26.53).
So the stress throughout this whole passage in Hebrews is not on His final exaltation, but on what He was when He came into the world lower than the angels, and on the necessity for His being prepared for what He had to face, and on the recognition that He was publicly acclaimed by God as the supreme Man Who did His will, and on the necessity for Him to face suffering as a result of man’s rebellion, because they no longer did His will.
So all this being said let me list the passage for easier reading in considering the passage as a whole.
‘But we behold him who has been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death.’ But look! Here Is One Who has been made man, and thus made a little lower than the angels, and Who has been declared to be God’s Son, and ‘crowned with glory and honor’ as man was at his first creation, as One Who has all things under Him. Here is One Who Is even now true representative man.’
A good question to be asked is, why was He made lower than the angels? It was because of the need for a sacrifice, ‘because of the suffering of death’, something that was required for man’s redemption. That is the very reason why He came as One ‘lower than the angels’, although in His case, because of Who He Is, the ‘making lower’ was a humiliation, not a privilege to rejoice in. The Psalmist could proclaim that man had been privileged to be made a little lower than the angels, but for this One that was a humiliation not a privilege, for He was the outshining of the glory of God, the Lord over all. And the purpose of it was simply in order that He might be able to fully identify with those He had come to save, that as representative man He might suffer death on all our behalf and in our place, that He might be able to become mankind’s saving sacrifice and our great High Priest. Without His lowering Himself to become man this could not have been.
The context supports this. For it was only through such humiliation, suffering and death, which followed His crowning with glory and honor as true man, that He could become the author, the source and worker out, of our salvation (verse 10; Isaiah 53; Mark 10.45), leading many sons to glory. It could only be through His becoming truly man and suffering as man, that, as the One Who in Himself represented all mankind, He could be ‘the second man’ and ‘the last Adam’ (1 Corinthians 15.45-47), The One Who could as man’s representative and substitute offer Himself as a ransom for many (Mark 10.45), making many to be accounted righteous (see Romans 5.12-21; Isaiah 53.11). The emphasis all through is on Christ’s perfect manhood, resulting from His choosing to humble Himself below the angels.
So as Adam had been the first man, representing all mankind, and had been ‘crowned with glory and honor’ but had then brought sin into the world, and had dragged man down from his status, so was Jesus also ‘crowned with glory and honor’ in His life on earth, as the second man, the sinless man, so that as such He might live triumphantly in this world as lord over creation, remaining free from sin, and thus be in a position to endure death for the sin of ‘everyone’, and restore all who would come to Him.
Here then was the full explanation of why the Lord of Glory became man, why He was seen in His humiliation as lower than the angels. It was not because He was so in Himself, but because He had in eternity chosen to humble Himself and become man, so that He could be in a position to die for us (Philippians 2.6-8). And it was as the sinless and representative man who had come into the world, that He was ‘crowned with glory and honor’, that is, was reinstated into the place that man had forfeited as lord of creation (verse 7), so that He could as their accepted representative, as lord of creation, die on man’s behalf.
Let me mention again the phrase, ‘Because of (through) the suffering of death.’ Why then was He made lower than the angels? It was in order that He might become truly mortal, as God made man, ‘because of the suffering of death’. That was why He had to do it. It was because of the necessity for a death for sin that would satisfy the requirements of a holy Law. There had to be a sufficient death, and there therefore had to be a humiliation of One Who could die that death and yet be sufficient to save the world. For the presence of sin in the world demanded death, and it had to be either the death of all of us, or the death of Another sufficient to bear it for us.
Why was it necessary for Him to die?, or better phrased as, ‘came in order to die’. In other men’s biographies their life is stressed, and death is but the end, but in the case of Jesus it is His death that takes the prime place. There had to be a death, and that necessity for death is emphasized. But it was only because He was truly made man, and that as man restored, that He could thus die, and so offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
In their superior existence angels are not mortal, and will not and cannot die, for they are heavenly beings. No angel or above could fulfill this requirement to die, even had they been sufficient for it. There was only One Who was Supreme enough to become lower than the angels and Who could do so. So, for Jesus, although He was the outshining of the Glory of God and the express ‘stamped out’ image of His substance, being made ‘lower than the angels’ was essential in order that He might be made truly mortal and suffer. And this was also why He had to receive on earth the ‘crowning with glory and honor’ which was man’s right through creation, but which had been previously forfeited, constituting Himself thus as ‘reinstated man’, able to suffer for mankind.
So here we ‘behold’ Him as ‘crowned with glory and honor’, firstly as representative, sinless, and reinstated man, revealing His lordship as man over creation, and fitted by what He was for the task of salvation, and secondly as triumphant, victorious man, defeating even the angels in achieving His victory through suffering. In His manhood He Is truly established as Lord over ‘all things’. And the purpose behind this humiliation and glorification through suffering was so that He might be fitted to ‘taste’ (experience to the full) death for everyone. That is, as restored Man He was to experience death to the full, to absorb it to the full, so that we who are His might not have to finally die, and He could only do this because He was ‘crowned with glory and honor’ as the last Adam. So central to His humiliation and exaltation as man was that as true representative man He would thus truly die. For it was finally through His death that He was able to become the perfect means of salvation.
‘We behold Him.’ That is, we behold Him as described by eyewitnesses, we behold Him in our hearts by faith, and we behold Him in the testimony by the Spirit through chosen men of God, as they speak of what He accomplished. We behold Him as we take heed and consider Him and receive Him within our hearts in responsive faith. As John said of those who walked with Him, ‘we behold His glory’ (John 1.14)
For while His death seemed to much of the world to be a pointless tragedy, in reality it was a triumph which brought Him great glory even while it was in process. For a brief while the powers of darkness thought that they had won. Angels shook their heads in perplexity. Disciples wept and felt ashamed. But the crown of thorns was the perfect revelation of what He was about to do. It was Messiah’s crown, and it led on to the cross and victory. It was the crown of His glory and honor which was now being manifested. Through His royal suffering He thrust off the principalities and powers of evil, making an open show of them and triumphing over them in the cross (Colossians 2.15), defeating them for ever so that although they retired to carry out their activities from ambush, they knew that their power was broken. For even in His death He was revealed as superior to the angels. Through it also He broke the power of sin to destroy men. Through it He took away the fear of death for those who are His own. And through it, as the crowned One, He bore the sin of many and was raised in the glory and honor with which He had been crowned.
So when He rose from the dead, and ascended to God, and took His place on God’s throne, He was not being ‘glorified’, He was not being crowned with glory and honor, He was rather manifesting the glory and honor (as the transfiguration had previously done) that was already His through His anointing by God, His glory as Lord of creation, and finally through the cross, the glory and honor which He had already achieved when He cried out ‘it is finished’ on the battlefield. His receiving of dominion (Daniel 7.13-14) was but the confirmation of His crowning during His life of warfare.
2.10 ‘For it became Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.’
The continual stress on the preparation of Jesus for His supreme task now continues. His crowning with the crown of glory and honor, received during His lifetime as He was ‘anointed’ and took His place as ‘the second man’ and received all the privileges of the first man before he fell, and was manifested at the transfiguration, and which He lived out in the midst of His suffering and endurance during His lifetime, and especially so in His last hours, was all part of the process of making Him ‘perfect through suffering’, perfect that is for what He had to achieve.
And it was that which enabled Him to accomplish the victory, and which depicted His fitness to be the Savior. For this way of suffering was the way which was ‘becoming’ to God, ‘becoming’, that is, in the eyes of men and angels once they recognize the significance of it all, and ‘becoming’ in terms of the requirements of the Law and of morality. For once men see the truth they recognize that there was no other way. It was through living and suffering at the hands of rebellious man as the true Man that He was made fit to be the perfect sacrifice, and to lead His own to glory through suffering, and it was through suffering that He bore our sins (Isaiah 53.3). And this tied in with what the Scriptures had said must be (Psalm 22; Isaiah 50; 53).
So when God ‘for Whom are all things’, as the Goal of Creation, and ‘through Whom are all things’, as the Architect and Upholder of Creation, sent forth Jesus as the ‘Author and Leader of men’s salvation’, in order that through Him He might bring many sons to glory, He made Him perfect for His task through suffering, because He was taking the place of rebellious man. It was ‘becoming’, because it was necessary in the nature of things - For He must be both the victor and the victim. The victor because He had to triumph in life over adversity and walk the pathway of obedience in order to be fitted to be the victim, and the victim because He then bore in Himself the sins of others, dying in their place, while at the same time still being the victor because through the offering of Himself He triumphed. Triumph could not result until the sacrifice was made fit, and the price of sin was paid. And this will be explained in more detail throughout the chapters to come.
So in order to bring about salvation for men it was necessary for Him to be equipped and made suitable (‘made perfect’), it was necessary for Him to take on Himself the qualities required. And this was accomplished by Him being made fully man and by Him suffering as a man. As He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself (12.3), as He was tempted in all points just as we are (4.15), as He was reviled (1 Peter 2.23) and persecuted (John 5.16; 15.20), so was He being prepared as the perfect sacrifice. And, as the final battle approached, so the sufferings multiplied. For only thus could He become the ‘author and leader’ of salvation, the One Who produced it, and researched it, and brought it about, and bestowed it, and would Himself lead us on to final salvation.
For God’s aim in all this was to bring ‘many sons’ to share in the glory that Jesus Himself had received, to restore them to what they once were, and more. As in one man many had sinned (Romans 5.12), so from One Man would come the many who would be righteous (Romans 5.19), many sons. And as in one man son ship with God was lost (Luke 3.38; Genesis 5.3), so from One only Son would come ‘many (adopted) sons’. And they, who had once been ‘crowned with glory and honor’ and had sadly forfeited it, would once again be crowned with glory and honor, sharing in His glory (John 17.22), and being reinstated, not only as lords of creation but as lords of all creations, and being enhanced as those who are more fully ‘crowned with glory and honor’ in Him. They would become His ‘brothers’, those whom He called to share with Him, Who was Himself the heir of all things (1.2), in those all things.
‘The author of their salvation’ means a leader, a prince (Acts 5.31), one blazing the way, a pioneer in faith (12.2), an author or source (Acts 3.15). Thus Jesus Is both the author of our salvation, and our leader in the process (so arose the translation ‘captain’) so that we may see a wider meaning as included. We need not limit it. A leader can fulfill all these functions both of initiating, making ready, and seeing through the whole of the work of salvation. He can be the one in overall control from start to finish.
Let us also take another look at the statement ‘Perfect through suffering.’ This is not referring to being made morally perfect, as though suffering had purged Him, for He was already that. It refers to His being made perfect and complete for the task that lay ahead, by being made truly man, by facing up to all that man had to face up to and overcoming it, by being crowned with glory and honor in His reinstatement as the lord of creation as man was originally intended to be, and by being ‘crowned with glory and honor’ with a crown of thorns and suffering as He faced up in death to all the power of sin and of the Enemy and his forces. Thus was He fitted for the task that was His.
2.11 ‘For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one, for which reason He Is not ashamed to call them brethren.’
The wonderful fact is that the One Who was to be their Sanctifier, setting them apart for God and making them holy, had Himself become one with those who were to be sanctified, had necessarily taken on like nature and had suffered along with them, and was therefore ready to call them brothers and sisters.
And as the Author of their salvation He is their Sanctifier (the ‘One Who is sanctifying’ - present participle - a continuing process of sanctifying more and more people to God as time goes on). He it Is Who through His death ‘sets them apart’ to God, and marks them off as His, providing for their ‘cleansing’ and fitness (1.3), so that they are presented as perfect before Him, perfecting forever those who ‘have been and therefore are sanctified’ (10.14).
‘Are all of one.’ And He is able to sanctify them through His sacrifice of Himself because He has Himself been made one with them through becoming man, and what is more, representative man. Thus could He incorporate into Himself those who have believed. They are in Christ, and He Is in them. They are all, as it were, of one ‘piece’, of one close-knit, united family conjoined in Him. They are one in Him. And this is why He is not ashamed to call them ‘brothers and sisters’. For all who believe are united with Him in the unity of His perfection and of His death and resurrection.
2.12 ‘Saying, “I will declare your name to my brethren, In the midst of the congregation will I sing your praise.”
And this can clearly be demonstrated from Scripture which is from Psalm 22.22, Isn’t it amazing that the number ‘2’ speaks of unity. Here we see this verse 22:22 as a unified (2) tri-unified blessed Holy Trinity (222), “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” For is the Psalm not said to be referring to the house of king David? No, it means more. It means when all believers are acknowledged as the brothers and sisters of the coming triumphant Greatest Davidic King, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and are gathered in triumph
2.13 ‘And again, “I will put my trust in him.” ‘And again, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given me.” ’
This quotation is from Isaiah 8.17; 12.2; Psalm 18.2; 2 Samuel 22.3. The idea is of complete trust and expectation, the trust of God’s true people in Him. Thus is He identified with His ‘brothers’.
If we take Isaiah 8.17 as the source then it may be seen as describing the closest possible relationship, as of a son to his father, with the Messiah superseding Isaiah (who was a ‘sign’ of the future of God’s people - 8.18) as the One Who, as God’s Son, looks to God, both on His own behalf and on behalf of His ‘family’.
What a remarkable thing was this, that the One Who shared the glory of the Father, should so lower Himself to be a servant, that He would share with mankind the need to look, in His humanness, to God, looking to Him and not to His own divine resources.
2.14 ‘Since then the children are sharers in (partake of in common) blood and flesh, He also Himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death He might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,’
So as these ‘children’ were are all ‘blood and flesh’, sharing human nature in common, it was necessary that He Who would be their Messiah-Deliverer should also become, voluntarily and deliberately, blood and flesh. He fully partook by choice of what they essentially were in their original state of innocence. He had to become fully man for the purpose. ‘Blood and flesh’ simply describes being a true human, as being made up of those constituents. Sin was not included for it was foreign to man in his perfect state. And His final purpose in this was in order that through death He might ‘bring to naught’, render powerless, the one who had the power of death, that is, the Devil.
We need to ask, how did the Devil have ‘the power of death’? One explanation is that death is the wages of sin (Romans 6.23), and here means eternal death. The power of death was thus affected by bringing men into sin. Once man sinned he became liable to death, permanent death. The Devil used this power when he tempted Eve to sin and dragged down Adam along with her. He continues to use the power of death by blinding men’s eyes to the truth of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4.3-4), and by constantly keeping men in trespasses and sins, and in the lusts of the flesh and of the mind (Ephesians 2.1-3). Those who are not in Christ ‘live in death’ (1 John 3.14).
Deaths power is brought to naught ‘through (His) death’, by means of Christ’s perfect sacrifice and provision of the means of forgiveness and sanctification before God. Once the benefit of that is received, man’s conscience for past ‘dead works’ is clear (9.14; 10.22). They have been borne by and put aside in Christ. He is delivered from eternal death which has become but ‘sleep’. Thus is the Devil rendered powerless for those who are in Christ (compare John 12.31; Colossians 2.15). He can deceive them no longer.
2.15 ‘And might deliver all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.’
The result is that for those ‘in Christ’ death is no longer fearful. It is the way to life, and no longer the way to eternal loss. Men are perpetually held in bondage by the fear of death, but those who are in Christ are freed from that fear because of their certain hope of eternal life. For those who are His, life can be lived freely. Death’s tyranny has gone. But, for those who are not in Christ, death is something to be avoided and feared. We all are aware that all men and women at one stage or another fear death.
2.16 ‘For truly not of angels does he lay hold with help, but he lays hold with help of the seed of Abraham.’
A now in majestic harmony the composer of this amazing truth now stresses the ones to whom help is given, who ‘are laid hold of in order to give them help’. The idea of the ‘help’ given is strong, as revealed by the word ‘laid hold with help’. He gives saving help, leading many sons to glory. And it is not angels that He thus seeks to help, it is the seed of Abraham.
Abraham as you know was the one called by God to leave the world for a land that our Great God would give him, dwelling in tents because he looked for his permanent inheritance from God. Out of fallen mankind he was especially chosen in order to bring ‘blessing’ to that world which he had left (Genesis 12.3), a blessing which would come through his true seed (Genesis 22.18). Thus are separated out to be given His help those who are to be blessed, those who are called out of the world and chosen by God to be the true seed of Abraham, His elect. It is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham (Galatians 3.7). So the seed of Abraham indicates all who have responded to, and are faithful to, God, those who are truly like Abraham and have left the world in order to seek God’s inheritance (11.8-10).
Thus the seed of Abraham were at all times seen as those who responded fully to the covenant, whether true born Israelite, or adopted covenanter. Paul sees this as occurring also when Gentiles who become Christians are grafted into the olive tree - Romans 11).
2.17 ‘For that reason it was an obligation to Him in all things to be made like to His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation (reconciliation through sacrifice) for the sins of the people.’
And because He would help the sons of Abraham He felt the obligation (the literal meaning of the verb) of being made like them, like ‘His brothers and sisters’, so that He might perform for them the most important of all functions, that of, as a true human being, acting on their behalf as High Priest so as to remove the barrier between them and God, the barrier which consisted of the sin that condemned them. Compare here 1.3 where He is said to have made purification for sins so satisfactorily that He was able to sit down, His priestly work accomplished.
The term ‘obligation’ speaks powerfully. His obligation was not to us but to His own nature and to God. It was a divine necessity driving Him on to the fulfilling of God’s purposes, a necessity to be true to Himself.
There is no more important function conceivable for the One Who would benefit mankind than that of acting as a successful mediator between man and God, and then of achieving the means by which what causes God’s aversion to man could be removed. This reaches to the center of man’s very deepest need. And both these are achieved by One Who acts to remove the consequences of sin and their effect on man’s relationship with God, so as to bring men back to God and within His covenant.
Propitiation involves the bringing about of the cessation of anger by the removal of its cause, that is, by the removal of the sin which is an essential part of fallen man, but which causes God’s aversion to man in his sin, an aversion revealed towards those who are still in their iniquity. And that is the duty of a High Priest. Yet none on earth could properly fulfill that function, for they are not sufficient, both because of their own sins, and because of what they are in themselves. They were therefore defective as mediators. They can function in a symbolic way but not in a genuinely effective way. Thus was it necessary to produce One Who Himself was perfect, and Who was without sin Who could function fully effectively.
The idea of our Lord Jesus as High Priest was briefly signified in 1.3 (having made purification for sins) where it goes along with His royal authority. It now suddenly comes in and is emphasized. And the foundation laid here is of the fact that it is as Man that He becomes High Priest. This was necessary for His ability to function successfully.
The One Who would fulfill this task must be both merciful and faithful. ‘Merciful’ because He has compassion on, and feels, on behalf of His people, and sympathizes deeply with their weakness and failure, and ‘faithful’ because of the necessity of His faithfully carrying out His function on their behalf. Alternately it might be describing the general qualification for a High Priest, being merciful and faithful in all his ways before God and man so that He is fit to be High Priest. Both are true. But the former may be seen as all important.
2.18 ‘For in that He himself has suffered being tempted, He Is able to succor those who are tempted.’
The reason that He can adequately fulfill this role is because as a human being He knows and has experienced the powers of temptation to human flesh, and the awfulness of being tested by intense persecution and the many troubles of life. He has suffered, being tempted and tested. Every day he felt the disturbances to the spirit caused by living in a sinful world, he knew its disappointments and sorrows, its physical pains and the frustrations of life.
He grew weary and sore, hungry and thirsty, and often longed for rest and comfort. He was argued with, lied to, falsely reproved, disliked and deceived by others. He knew to excess the temptations of the Devil, and constantly faced the opposition of men (compare 12.3), including sometimes even that of his own disciples. He was tested to the full. Thus He is able to bring to men understanding and help when they too are tested in the fires of persecution, or facing the desires of flesh and mind or the problems of a sinful world.
Let this be our confidence that He is able to provide all the help, sustenance, and enablement that we will ever need as we seek to serve Him.
So we may summarize the activity of the Son in exalting men above the angels as follows;
• 1). He was by His own consent made lower than the angels (verse 9), emptying Himself of His heavenly status of equality with God (Philippians 2.6-7), so that He might be truly man.
• 2). He was ‘crowned with glory and honor’, a way of saying that He, as the ‘second (representative) man’ and ‘the last Adam’ was given the status which had originally been Adam’s as lord of creation thus making Him a suitable sacrifice for sin for mankind (verse 9).
• 3). As such He ‘tasted death for every one’ who would believe, making purification for sins (verse 9; 1.3).
• 4). He was made the perfect leader through His sufferings so that He might lead many sons to glory (verse 10).
• 5). He did this partly by becoming the sanctifier of those many sons, through His sacrifice of Himself making them separate to God for a holy purpose, and pure before Him, uniting Himself with them so that He could call them ‘brothers and sisters’ (verse 10).
• 6). In the course of all this He became truly human that through His death He might bring Satan, the death dealer, to naught, delivering His own from the fear of death (verse 14).
• 7). He laid hold of the true seed of Abraham, those who believe and are accounted righteous, in order to be their Helper (verse 16).
• 8). And thus, having by His own choice become truly human like His ‘brothers’, He became a merciful and faithful High Priest on their behalf in order to ‘help’ them, enabling Him to make reconciliation for the sins of His people, to restore them to God, and to deal once and for all forever with the consequences of their sins (verse 17).
• 9). Thus did He, by becoming human and facing all men’s temptations and testing’s, become the One Who could come to the assistance of those who are tested in whatever way and under whatever circumstances (verse 18).
Do we have an Awesome and Great God, or what?
