There is a huge difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing him. For example, you might know all the details about the life of some celebrity but until you actually spend some time with him, talk with him and share some experiences with him, you can’t say that you know him.
The same is true when it comes to Jesus. The writer of Hebrews spends the entire first chapter explaining how superior Jesus is. He shares God’s being. He created the universe. He reigns forever. He rules with righteousness. He hates wickedness. He is superior to angels.
Frankly, it can be very hard to relate to all that. Jesus is so exalted that He can seem remote. In chapter 2 we are going to see another side of Jesus – we are going to see a person who shares our experience. And because He shares our experience, He can help us through our struggles. Verses 10 through 18 say, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” Again, “I will put my trust in him.” Again, “Behold, here I am with the children whom God has given me.” Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For most certainly, he doesn’t give help to angels, but he gives help to the seed of Abraham. Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.”
A lot of people have the notion that God’s rules are arbitrary and unjust. His standard of perfection is so high that nobody could ever live up to it. So God, through Jesus Christ, participated in our human weakness to take away the excuse. More than that, Jesus is the perfect Savior because He faced everything we do and overcame it.
We say that God, by definition, is perfect. Yet Jesus was not perfect as a Savior until He suffered. This does not mean that Jesus ever sinned. Chapter 4, verse 15 states explicitly that He did not sin. But He was not perfect in the sense that He could not identify with us; he could not really relate to our problems until He had faced them Himself. Since He suffered as we do, there is nothing from which He cannot save. Through His death He makes us holy and calls us His brothers. Verses 12 and 13 tell us four ways in which Jesus shows us how we should act as God’s children.
1) Jesus declares God’s name. In other words, He shows us who God is, how God thinks, what His desires and expectations are and what His character is like.
2) Jesus sings God’s praises. Some religions discourage singing or even ban it. The whole premise or proposition of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is superior. This is one of the ways He is superior – He nurtures the gift of song which God has put in us. And thus, in Him, we become more of what God intended us to be.
3) Another characteristic of Jesus is that He trusts. He relies on God to follow through on what He promised. This is one of the things which distinguishes Christianity from everything else. Other religions are based on doing good deeds. But in Christ we do not rely on our own goodness or our own efforts. Instead we trust God’s goodness and what He has promised.
4) Another thing which Jesus does is that He brings. He doesn’t appear before God by Himself. He also presents the children whom God has given Him. This speaks of evangelism – bringing others into the family. We need to be telling others that they can belong also.
There is another result of Jesus’ humanity. Not only did it make it possible for us to become part of the family, it also enabled Him to do away with mankind’s biggest problem.
Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, mankind has been searching for immortality. We are afraid of death. Death is far more than just growing old or being separated from our bodies. Immortality is far more than just having a body that does not wear out. Death really refers to being separated from God. Immortality is being with God – the source of life.
Here’s the importance of Jesus’ becoming a man, dying and rising from the dead. By breaking the bonds of death, Jesus destroyed the devil – the one who holds the power of death. How did He do this? Jesus tasted death for everyone. In other words, He took on Himself the death we ought to die – the separation we ought to experience. Because of this, death has no power over those who are in Christ. We no longer have to fear.
However, our sin, which is the cause of our death, doesn’t just disappear. Restitution has to be made. This is what Jesus’ death did. If we accept His payment, it pays our debt.
Making atonement for sin is the work of a priest. Verse 17 calls Jesus a priest and the book of Hebrews will elaborate on this concept in chapters 7 through 10. For now, the text draws our attention to another aspect of what Christ does for us.
Why did Jesus become a man? In order to become our Savior; in order to offer atonement for our sins; in order to help us, He had to become like we are. He had to clothe Himself with humanity to rescue us from our human frailties.
Verses 16 and 18 say that Jesus is there to help us. One reason He endured being in human form is to experience the same things we do so that he can help us through our struggles. Because He overcame, we have the hope that with His help we also can overcome.