Hebrews 2:10-18 "The Son and His Brothers"
Isaiah 8
Psalm 22
Sing verses 1-18 (six stanzas)
Psalm 22 is broken into two parts.
Verses 1-18 focus on the forsakenness of God's anointed.
Verses 19-31 focus on the deliverance of God's anointed.
The NT applies this Psalm directly to Jesus.
He is the one who cried out on the cross,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
The mockery at the cross echoes verses 7-8.
John's gospel focuses on how Jesus dried up "I thirst" (like in vv14-15),
and how blood and water poured out from Jesus' side.
Likewise, the soldiers divided his garments among them (like in v18).
The forsakenness that David had experienced (e.g., when Absalom usurped the kingdom)
was but a type and picture of that far greater forsakenness,
when our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God-
the who is the very radiance of the glory of God and the stamp of his substance-
hung on the cross and was made perfect through suffering.
The second half of the Psalm, however, is less well known.
Verses 19-31 turn from the suffering of the LORD's anointed,
to the deliverance of the LORD's anointed.
In these verses David pleads with God to come and rescue him.
You could sum these words up in one phrase:
"Into your hands I commit my spirit."
"Deliver my soul from the sword!"
"Save me from the mouth of the lion!"
But more importantly, notice what David says he will do when God saves him:
"I will tell of your name to my brothers;
In the midst of the congregation I will praise you."
Read v23-31 from the Psalter.
David says that when God rescues him from death,
then not only will Israel praise God,
but all the families of the earth.
Why?
Because "I will tell your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise."
Psalm 22 is not only a Psalm of the suffering Messiah,
it is a Psalm also of the triumphant Messiah-the delivered Messiah-
who now sings this Psalm to you as a witness to his glorious triumph.
And so let us sing the rest of Psalm 22, with Jesus.
Children,
what temptations do you face?
Do you ever snitch a cookie when Mom isn't looking?
Are you sometimes tempted to hit your brother?
Do you sometimes want to lie and say that your sister did it-
when you know full well that she didn't?
How are you tempted?
Maybe your temptations are more passive:
are you tempted to just "forget" that Mom told you to clean your room.
Or you know that you really should let your brother play that game,
but it's easier without him...
Was Jesus ever tempted like that?
We don't know all the details of Jesus' childhood,
but we do know that Jesus endured all the same sorts of temptations that we do.
"He had to be made like his brothers in every respect."
"He himself has suffered when tempted."
So Jesus has survived all these temptations, and so can you!
Is that how it works?
NO!!
That's not the point at all!
"Because he himself has suffered when tempted,
he is able to help those who are being tempted."
And what in particular was Jesus tempted to do?
Jesus was tempted to bow the knee to Satan,
to exalt himself-to take the route of pride and selfishness-
instead of the route of humility and service.
Remember that Hebrews has just called us to "hold fast" to what you have heard.
Do not forget the great salvation that God has given us in Christ!
When you are tempted to forget your God,
remember Jesus.
Because he is able to help!
That little lie that you told your mother-
maybe it wasn't a big issue.
It was just a little thing, right?
But in that moment when you lied,
you said, in effect, I don't want Jesus' help.
Hebrews 1 is all about how Jesus is greater than the angels
because he is the one through whom God created the ages,
the very radiance of the glory of God,
and because his inheritance is an eternal sonship,
in which he rules as king forever.
Hebrews 2 is all about how Jesus is greater than the angels
because he humbled himself, and became like us, lower than the angels.
He is exalted in his very humiliation.
1. The Son and the Children from the Scriptures (2:10-13)
Verse 10 opens by saying that "it is fitting"-in other words,
there is something appropriate about God making the champion of our salvation
perfect through suffering.
Why is it fitting for the founder (or champion) of our salvation
to be made perfect through suffering?
The apostle Paul often speaks of our union with Christ.
Hebrews starts by focusing on Christ's union with us.
Jesus must be like us in all things.
In order for him to be a faithful and merciful high priest he must be like us in all things.
And we suffer.
We were slaves to sin and death.
We were lost in misery, without hope and without light.
But God has had mercy upon us.
He has sent the champion of our salvation to be made perfect through suffering,
as he is identified with us in suffering,
so we will be identified with him in glory.
Because the purpose of the Son is to bring many sons to glory!
In verse 11 we are told that "he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin."
The word "sanctify" is the same word for "consecrate."
And given the fact that Hebrews is about to launch into
the most detailed discussion of the priesthood of Christ in the NT,
we might want to read it that way.
Our consecration-our being set apart for the service of God-
has the same root as Christ's.
That is why he is not ashamed to call them "brothers."
And then he quotes from Psalm 22
Psalm 22-the Psalm we just sang-the one that starts,
"My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?!"
The one that Jesus quotes from the cross!
There it was the cry of dereliction as the Son of God took upon himself our sin and guilt.
But Hebrews quotes from part two of that Psalm!
Here it is the victory Psalm.
Jesus calls us brothers because through his suffering he has consecrated us
as a new priesthood, a new humanity,
and in our midst, he sings the praises of his and our Father.
Jesus stands in our midst and declares God's name to us.
He reveals God's power to us through his word.
At the same time,
even in our midst he sings praise to God.
He is our song leader!
As we sing the praises of God, we are merely joining him in his praise of the Father.
Then, in verse 13, Hebrews quotes Isaiah 8.
In Isaiah 7-8 God reveals to Isaiah his purposes for the captivity of Israel by Assyria.
The northern kingdom of Israel will be carried away captive,
while the southern kingdom of Judah will be spared for a time.
And the signs of this are two sons: 1) "Immanuel."
"The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name, "Immanuel"
and 2) Maher-shalal-hashbaz which signified the destruction of Damascus and Samaria
before the Assyrians.
After hearing these tidings, Isaiah says,
"I will wait for the LORD who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob,
and I will trust in him.
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel
from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion."
The first quote is from Isaiah 8:17-"I will put my trust in him."
Why did Jesus sweat in Gethsemane?
Because he was human, and had to live by faith and not by sight.
He has fully identified with us, even in our life of dependence and faith in God.
His trust was in his Father,
as he said on the cross: "into your hands I commit my spirit."
The second quote is from Isaiah 8:18-"Behold, I and the children God has given me."
Isaiah had spoken these words regarding how he and his children were signs to Israel. Now Jesus speaks these words to show that he and his children (believers)
are signs and symbols to the nations.
2. The Son Made Like His Brothers (2:14-18)
All of this comes together then in verses 14-18.
The Son is bringing many sons to glory,
therefore, God made him perfect through suffering,
so that he might truly call us brothers.
"And since therefore, the children share in flesh and blood,
he himself likewise partook of the same things,
that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death,
that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death
were subject to lifelong slavery."
The purpose of the incarnation was the destruction of death and the devil.
Sin, death and the devil had dominion over us.
We were subject to lifelong slavery-bondage to the fear of death.
Death is a horrible curse.
Death is the entrance into the realm of God's wrath.
And sure, there were other ways that God could have defeated death.
God could have simply spoken the word
and the devil would have been cast into the lake of fire!
But there'd be one little problem:
we were under the fear of death.
If God destroyed sin, death and the devil simply by command,
he would destroy us as well.
No, the only way to destroy the one who has the power of death and rescue us,
was for the Son of God to partake of flesh and blood.
And so the eternal Son of God was made for a little while lower than the angels,
not to help angels-but to help the offspring of Abraham.
God remembered his covenant.
When Adam fell into death, God promised that he would provide a deliverer.
He chose Abraham to be the one through whom he would bring blessing to the nations.
"Through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed."
God has now fulfilled his promise.
The Son is greater than the angels because through his humiliation and suffering,
he has helped the offspring of Abraham.
3. The Son Helps His Brothers (2:10-18)
How does the Son help his brothers?
There are two words that Hebrews 2 uses-archegos and archierus
The first is in verse 10, translated "founder."
Founder is a bit wimpy.
Perhaps it would better translated "hero" or "champion."
Think of Hercules-he was often called "archegos"-this mighty warrior and deliverer.
The Son is the true "archegos"-the divine warrior and leader of mankind.
The idea of "founder" should be seen as "founder of the new humanity."
He is the champion of our salvation-the hero who delivers us from our enemies.
This is of course very much what the ancient world expected of a deliverer:
A hero, a champion, a mighty warrior-king who establishes a new people!
But this champion achieves his great triumph over death and the devil,
through the suffering of death.
And this is why Hebrews begins and ends this paragraph with an arch.
The Son is the great archegos-the great champion-
but he is the great champion-the founder of our salvation-
precisely because he is also the merciful and faithful high priest--
the archierus.
Indeed, notice that Hebrews says that
"He had to be made like his brothers in every respect [death included],
so that he become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God,
to make propitiation for the sins of the people."
By using these two "arch" words, Hebrews connects the kingly rule of Christ,
with the priestly sacrifice of Christ.
To put it simply,
the Son is greater than the angels because he became one of us,
and endured the suffering of death.
The Son is greater than the angels because he became the merciful and faithful high priest.
Before we conclude I want to point something out to you.
2:17-18 set forth the program for the rest of Hebrews.
Jesus faithfulness is explored in Hebrews 3-4
His compassion as high priest is dealt with in Hebrews 4-8
His propitiatory sacrifice is the theme of chapters 9-10
and his help to those who are tested is the focus of chapters 10-13
Because you are being tested.
When you walk out of the heavenly sanctuary today,
you will be tempted.
When you go home you will be tempted to ignore your wife,
to speak harshly to your children,
to gossip about your friends.
You will be tempted to lust after someone who is not your spouse,
to cheat on your income taxes,
and above all to just forget the message that you have heard-
to drift away from the champion of your salvation.
Hebrews calls you to hold fast.
There are times of great discouragement,
when you don't know how you are going to do what God has called you to do.
In those times the answer is not to "buck up" and just do what's right.
You'll never make it.
You need to see Jesus-
"crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death."
He has partaken of our flesh and blood,
he has endured temptation and suffering-not just to set an example
that you've got to "suck it up and imitate"
No, he has destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.
He has made propitiation for your sins-
that means that your sins are forgiven-the price has been paid!
He is able to help you.
The beauty of his help is that its not a matter of just a band-aid
or a quick fix.
The way that Jesus has helped you is not by making surface repairs on the exterior of your life.
Jesus has helped by destroying the one who has the power of death!
Jesus has helped you by removing you from the realm of bondage to the fear of death,
and bringing you into the realm of life by his Son.