• Hebrews Outline:

• Chapter 1 Jesus is greater than the prophets and the angels.
• Chapter 2 Jesus' message is greater than the angel's.
• Chapter 3 Christ is greater than Moses

• Introduction & Review

We pick up our study of Hebrews in the midst of the author's instruction on Christ bringing many brothers to glory. The argument has gone like this; Man was originally made to have dominion over all things. At the fall, he gave up his ability to be a righteous ruler and we cannot see the evidence of his dominion. But, we can see Jesus who was made to be a man and was glorified by His obedience. His glorification means that those who are in Him, are glorified as well. Even though we can't see man exercising dominion today, we can see our brother, Jesus, ruling from the throne of God. This is our assurance of glory.

• Exposition

Hebrews 2:13-18

13 And again:

"I will put My trust in Him."

And again:

"Here am I and the children whom God has given Me."

• There are three places in the OT where the first quotation occurs but the second comes from Isaiah 8:18 which is the next verse after the third occurrence of the previous quotation which makes it very certain that they were both quoted from Isaiah.

• The author quotes two additional times to emphasize his prior point that Christ is not ashamed of the brethren, but primarily that He is like us in that Christ would trust the Father just as we should. In fact, if Christ trusted the Father how much more is it incumbent upon us to do the same?

• The second quotation confirms other Scripture that instruct that the Elect are those whom God has chosen and included in Christ. cf. John 6, John 10, John 17

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.

• To the extent that we are flesh and blood, Jesus also was flesh and blood. After a number of explicit statements of the deity of Christ, here we have an explicit claim to His full humanity. Jesus was not half human and half God; He was fully man and fully God. This was necessary in order for Him to represent us to the Father. He is the God-to-man mediator.

• There have been those who have explained away Jesus' suffering at the hands of the Jews by claiming that they weren't really trials for Him because He was God. God can endure anything, so the argument goes. . . but here we have the point made explicitly that Christ was fully human.

How is it that Satan held the power of death? Satan held the power to temp. The power of temptation and the weakness of the flesh produced sin which led to death. But Christ has secured the salvation of the elect and has rendered Satan powerless over them. This was accomplished in Christ not in us. We have no boldness in us before Satan in any way other than the obedience of Christ.

• The whole purpose in God becoming a man, was so that He could taste death. God could not die, but God incarnate could, and this was necessary in order for there to be a satisfactory atonement. In that death, Satan was destroyed either actually or ultimately. There is a school of thought that suggests that Satan as an entity has been literally destroyed by Christ's death and resurrection. It is also evident from other Scriptures that at least at the time of the writing of the books, Satan still existed. Satan's kingdom may still exist but at a minimum it lacks direction. cf. Colossians 2:15

16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

• Because Jesus was made to be the God-man, He is able to represent man to God and vice versa. Christ's atonement has no benefit for the Angels(except that they are probably seeing the wisdom of God).

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. (NKJV)

• It is a frequently asked question, "If Jesus was God, could He have really sinned; if not, then were His temptations real?" We are told here that, yes, Jesus was tempted just as we are. This means that the temptations are real. But the answer to the question is no, Jesus could not have sinned because the Scripture could not be broken. Paul says in 2 Cor. 5 that He who knew no sin became sin. This can be easily understood: suppose that you have a frail glass object. If you drop it, it will break. If you have a word from God that says the vase shall not be broken, will it break? No. Is that because the physical characteristics of the vase changed? No. It is because God is sovereign over all things and His word shall not be broken.

• Christ understands temptation better than we do in that He did not fall in any way. It is not those who fall into sin all the time who know the most about temptation. Rather, it is those who continually resist temptation who know more about the temptation. In this way, Christ understands our temptation perfectly, and He is our merciful High Priest.