Jesus, Our Brother and Priest

“In 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. Both 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 . . . For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest.”
Hebrews 2:10, 11, 17

There are only two families in the world. Do you belong to the right one? Either we are children of the devil or we belong to God’s family, headed by our representative Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 2:10-18 we discover the good news that for those in God’s family, Jesus is our brother, champion, and high priest.

At one time we all belonged to the family of the devil. As sinners, we were slaves to the devil, depravity, and death. Through God’s rich mercy, he brought us out of the domain of the devil and into the family of God. There are great privileges associated with God’s familytherefore, each of us must make sure we are in it.

God’s Good Plan for Man

The Lord says, “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11). When God created man, he gave him authority to rule all creation and dwell in God’s presence. This good plan of God did not come to fruition, as the author of Hebrews acknowledges: “Yet at present we do not see everything subject to man” (2:8).

Yet God did not change his mind concerning his eternal plan. Hebrews 2:5 tells us that the world to come is not subjected to angels but to the man Jesus and to all who belong to him. What Adam failed to do, the last Adam did for the members of the family that the Father gave him from all eternity. Hebrews 2:12-13 speaks of this family: “I will declare your name to my brothersin the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises . . . . Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

As a result of his perfect obedience to God’s will, Jesus was crowned with glory and honor, and all things have been made subject to him (Heb. 2:9). In spite of Adam’s sin, God’s purpose did not change. Human sin can never frustrate God’s eternal decree to bring many sons to glory (v. 10). Jesus Christ obeyed his Father and died on the cross for the sins of those whom the Father gave him. He opened up the way of eternal life for all who are called his brothers, even us who trust in him alone for righteousness and forgiveness of all our sins.

I. Our Sin Problem

Let us consider several points related to this passage. First, we must acknowledge that we have a serious sin problem. When Adam sinned against God, we sinned in Adam. The Bible says that all are born sinners, all have sinned, and all practice sin daily: “There is no one righteous, not even one . . . All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:10, 23).

Because we are unholy by nature, we needed someone else to make us holy. That someone is Jesus Christ: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down” (Heb. 1:3). We find this theme throughout the book of Hebrews: “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family (Heb. 2:11)”For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, that he might make atonement for our sins” (Heb. 2:17)”Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people” (Heb. 7:27)”Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself . . . . So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people” (Heb. 9:26, 28).

II. The Just Wrath of God

Because of our sin problem, God is justly angry with us: “The wrath of God is being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men” (Rom. 1:18). Sin makes us guilty and liable to punishment. This sin is totally pervasive, affecting our mind and every other aspect of our being.

III. The Wages of Sin Is Death

Sin results in death. God told Adam that he would die because of his sin (Gen. 2:17, 3:19). This was not God’s original plan. But the Bible clearly declares, “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Eze. 18:4) and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

The apostle Paul explains the connection between Adam’s sin and our death: “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Sickness, death, and judgment all are the results of sin. But there is good news for us: “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-22). There we see the two families. Adam’s family is now the family of the devil and deathChrist’s is the family of life.

Then we read, “The sting of death is sin” (1 Cor. 15:56). Death has a sting. When we ask people, “Are you ready to die?” they may say with a smile, “Yes, I know how to die. It is not a problem.” Such a person is lying.

The first death is physicalthe second death is eternal separation from the very presence of God. We read about the first death in Hebrews 9:27: “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Revelation 21:8 describes the second death: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”

IV. We Need a Kinsman-Redeemer

In Leviticus God introduced a substitutionary sacrificial system. We may not like the bloodshed, but we must marvel at God’s grace in accepting an innocent victim in place of those who are guilty and deserving of the death penalty.

Because we are sinners, we needed someone outside of us to help us out of our sin. The Bible speaks of a “kinsman-redeemer”-a close relative who is able, willing, and ready to help his needy family (Ruth 2:20). To help with our sin problem, our close relative must be perfect God and perfect man, one person in two natures. “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). Jesus Christ alone is perfect man and perfect God. Therefore, he alone can reconcile us to God.

Through Christ’s sacrifice we are brought into the family of God. From all eternity the Father has chosen a group of sinners to belong to his family: “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family” (Heb. 2:11). We have belonged to this family from all eternity: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:3-4).

In Hebrews 2:12 the writer speaks further of this familial relationship, quoting Psalm 22. It appears that Jesus himself meditated on this messianic psalm as he hung on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v.1). Then God hears the psalmist’s prayer, the darkness of the tunnel dispels, and the psalmist exults, “I will declare your name to my brothersin the congregation I will praise you” (v. 22). The psalmist is speaking of himself, but ultimately this refers to Jesus Christ and his church. Because we are Christ’s brothers, he has an obligation to redeem us from our degradation, death, and hell, and he has done it (v. 31).

V. God’s Eternal Plan

Then we are told, “Here am I and the children God has given me” (Heb. 2:13). This quote from Isaiah 8 originally referred to Isaiah and the remnant of Israel. Ultimately, it has to do with Jesus Christ and us, the children God has given him.

There is a pactum salutis, an eternal covenant of salvation, in which God chose certain people and gave them to his Son, that he may redeem them in the fullness of time by his death on the cross. Jesus is saying, “I will save them and give them eternal life.” We are the Father’s donation to the Son, our older brother who wants to take care of us. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).

Jesus referred to this eternal covenant throughout the gospel of John: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away . . . And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me” (6:37, 39)”My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (10:29)”For you granted [the Son] authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him . . . .I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. . . .I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. . . . Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (17:2, 6, 9, 24). God achieves his plan of “bringing many sons to glory” through Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:10).

Jesus had to become man so that he could redeem us by dying for our sins: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity . . . For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers” (Heb. 2:14, 17).

Hebrews 2:16 declares, “For surely it is not angels he helps but Abraham’s descendants.” The Greek word for “helps” means he grasps us and lifts us out of our trouble. Our elder brother does this for Abraham’s descendants, for us who believe in God as Abraham did.

In eternity the Son agreed to become our redeemer, our Boaz. Revelation 13:8 speaks of “the Lamb of God slain from the creation of the world.” He is our blood relative who has the right and responsibility to help us, and he is able and willing to do so. (PGM) The Immortal became mortal that he may bring life and immortality to us mortals. The transcendent Son became what he was not to identify with us: he wept, he slept, he hungered and thirsted, he experienced pain, he was troubled, and he was tempted in every way. He obeyed God fully and died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

The Hebrews writer says Jesus’ substitutionary death was an appropriate act of God: “In 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” (Heb. 2:10, italics added). The cross was not accidentalit was based on God’s wise, eternal plan. There was no other way for God to satisfy his justice and demonstrate love for sinners. God the Father, therefore, took the initiative to save us. All other ways of salvation are unfitting, human speculations. The way of the cross may be foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews, but to us who believe, it is the power of God unto salvation (cf. 1 Cor. 1:21-24, 30Rom. 3:255:88:322 Cor. 5:19).

VI. Our Merciful and Faithful High Priest

Jesus Christ is our merciful and faithful high priest who made propitiation for our sins (Heb. 2:17). Because of sin, the wrath of holy God is against us. How can we escape? Another must suffer what is due us. This one must be sinless, able to die.

The Son became man, entering history through the womb of Mary. Hebrews 2:14 says in the Greek that he who was not man entered humanity at a point in time. The eternal Son took upon himself human nature: “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). The Son was obligated to become our sinless high priest and victim because he belonged to this family from all eternity as our elder brother.

God promised to raise up a faithful high priest (1 Sam. 2:35) this priest came in the person of Christ. As a faithful high priest, he learned obedience and proved it through his suffering. Unlike Adam, who sinned in paradise, our brother Jesus, the last Adam, obeyed perfectly in a fallen world. He was tempted in every way like us, yet never yielded to temptation. Only the person who never yields to temptation knows its full power. Jesus alone experienced the full power of temptation. Therefore, he alone is able to help those who are being tempted.

Not only is Jesus our faithful high priest, but he is also merciful to miserable sinners like us. When the publican cried out for mercy, he went home justified. He showed mercy to the leper who came to him and said, “I know you are able to heal me but I do not know whether you are willing.” He showed mercy to blind Bartimaeus and to the Syro-Phoenician woman. He showed mercy to the thief on the cross, telling him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

In understanding the work of Christ as our high priest, consider what happened on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). The Aaronic priest first had to atone for his own sins by sprinkling blood on the mercy seat in the Holy of holies. He then killed a goat and sprinkled its blood on the mercy seat to make propitiation for the sins of the people. In this way, God’s wrath was turned away and the people’s sins were forgiven.

Jesus made atonement, not for his sins, but for ours. He did so, not by a beast but through himself as priest (Heb. 2:17), presenting himself as the perfect victim on the cross. By his shed blood, he turned God’s wrath away from us. All our sins have been punished in Jesus.

Know who you are. If you belong to God’s family, you are sons of glory. Paul says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). He also says that we have already been glorified in Christ, and are waiting for the fullness of it when Jesus comes again.

Why, then, should we fear? By his death on the cross, Jesus destroyed him who holds the power of death (Heb. 2: 4-15). He broke the devil’s power and set us free-we who are God’s children, who lived in fear of death all our lives. This is true liberation theology. Jesus Christ liberated us from the devil and from the fear of death. Death itself cannot separate us from God because one died for all and therefore all died.

The first purpose of the incarnation is to destroy the devil and break his power over us. The second is to remove our fear of death. Why do people become anxious and fearful? The root of all fear is fear of death. Suppose you go to the doctor and hear that you have cancer. You will suddenly see everything differently. But here we are told that the incarnation of Jesus Christ resulted in the destruction of the devil, who held the power of death over us. We were slaves of this fear all our lives, but the moment we trusted in Christ, we were set free.

Jesus spoke about this in Luke 11: “When a strong man fully armed guards his own house, his possessions are safe” (v. 21). The devil is the strong man. “But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils” (v. 22). Who is the stronger one? Jesus Christ, the perfectly obedient one, who bound Satan, destroyed his power, and set his slaves free.

This is illustrated in Isaiah 49, which is probably what Christ was alluding to in Luke 11: “Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says: ‘Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce. . . . Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob'” (Is. 49:24-26). The plunder is the people of God held captive by Satan.

Paul writes, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” As sinners, we are guilty of transgressing God’s law and subject to death. We needed someone to keep the law in our place. “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:56-57). Our champion David defeated our Goliath, dealing the deathblow to our depravity, death, and the devil. “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36).

You may ask, “Pastor, why do you say we are free? Don’t you know that the devil is still moving about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us?” Let me assure you, the devil cannot devour uswe have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by our faith in Christ. The Lord tells us, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7). We resist by trusting in the person and work of Christ. The devil is like a big, black, barking dog. But when we look carefully, we see that he is bound with a long iron chain tied to a huge iron stake. He can bark all he wants-he can even kill us-but he cannot harm us. What freedom!

Martin Luther said, “He who fears death or is not willing to die is not sufficiently Christian. As yet such people lack faith in the resurrection, and love this life more than the life to come” (quoted in A Commentary to the Epistle to the Hebrews by Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, [Grand Rapids, 1977: Eerdmans] 114). He who does not die willingly should not be called a Christian. We will surely die. I pray that we will love the Lord so that when he calls, we will go to be with him. He is bringing many sons to glory so that we can dwell with him forever in unspeakable joy. A true believer will agree with Paul, that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 5:6-8). Death has no sting for a believer. In fact, death is a promotion for a Christian. So Paul says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain . . . I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:21, 23).

VII. Help in Temptation

There is help for those who are being tempted. The church of the Hebrews was experiencing such severe trials that they were about to quit their faith in Christ and go back to Judaism. Here the writer says that Christ became incarnate to do away with our sins and to help us when we are tempted. “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Heb. 2:18). He goes with us through the tunnel of suffering and temptation and brings us out into the glorious sunshine of his presence.

Christ is able to help us because he was tempted like no other human being ever was. His temptation was unique and most powerful because it was a messianic temptation. Jesus was tempted most powerfully in every respect like us, and he withstood most powerfully all temptation. As a compassionate high priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmity, he understands us completely.

He is able to help because he himself was tempted. The word for help, boêtheô, comes from boê, to cry, and theô, to run. The idea is that he is able to run to the one who is crying, like parents run to help their child. The same word is used in Matthew 15:25 of the Syro-Phoenician woman whose daughter was demonized. She cried, “Lord, help me!” and he came to her aid.

If you are tempted, I urge you to memorize 1 Corinthians 10:13 and live in the light of it. It begins, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.” Only Jesus Christ has experienced temptation not common to man. We must not exaggerate and say our experience is unique. “God is faithful.” Our God can be relied upon. Every promise he made is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is our faithful and merciful high priest. “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” Our Sovereign God has control over everything, including the devil. “But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” In Ephesians 6 Paul exhorts, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. . . .Put on the full armor of God . . . .and after you have done everything, to stand” (vv. 10-13). We are to not yield to temptation. It takes great resolution to stand up under all testing conditions. With God’s help, we can stand. Paul writes, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13). It is in the present tense: “who continually infuses into me strength.” We receive this strength by faith, so that having done all, we will stand.