Heb 2:13 | KingComments | STEP | . This section starts with a quotation in which the Manhood of the Messiah appears in a wonderful way. True manhood never becomes more apparent than in putting trust in God, no matter what the circumstances may be. It is a quotation from Isaiah ( ) who is determined to wait on the Lord persistently and to look forward to Him, while he is in the midst of a nation for which the Lord has hidden His face because of their sins. That trust characterized the Lord Jesus when He was on earth. This is the trust that the recipients of the letter – and you too – may have. What people were saying, mocking Him, when He hung on the cross, “He trusts in God” ( ), was the power of His life unto death. This trust in God is of fundamental importance in a situation in which still nothing appears from the realization of God’s plans and in which everything appears to be the opposite. Every opposition Christ faced on His way on earth could not take away His trust in God or even reduce it a little bit. In this He is your and my example. However, He is not only an example. He also connects us to Himself in this trust that He has in His God. He trusts that He and we, the children, will go through all the difficulties together and that we will arrive in the period of blessing and joy that we are looking for. This too is a quotation from Isaiah ( ). What Isaiah has said about himself and about his children the writer applies also to Christ and the remnant. “I and the children” indicates that Christ has connected Himself as Man to the children that God has given to Him. Here it is about the spiritual children of God in this time. They are connected to Christ. It is not about children of Christ or children of the Lord Jesus. The Bible never uses such expressions for believers. Here it is about the children of God who by Him are given to the Lord Jesus. Like in the way the children of Isaiah who, also in the meaning of their names, were a testimony to God’s faithfulness in the midst of God’s people, the believers of nowadays are in the midst of apostate Christianity on earth. This quotation contains a great encouragement. With a trust that is so typical of Him, He gives aid to all who are given to Him by God. He points at them and says, as it were, to God: ‘These are the children You have given Me. I will lead them safely through all difficulties and I will bring them where I am.’ . Before God could give them to the Lord Jesus, however, He had to become Man first. And not only that. If the Lord Jesus wanted us as children to be one with Him in His position before God, then it was necessary that He first made Himself one with us in our need. That’s why He partook of “blood and flesh”. The time before He became Man, He did not share in that, but He had to do that to be able to die. His death was necessary, because man was subjected to death. Due to the fall of man satan confiscated man and got leverage over him, a power that he exerts through death. The Lord Jesus came to put an end to that. Only death can eliminate death. A beautiful illustration you find in David who killed Goliath with his own sword ( ). It also had to be the death of a man to destroy death for men. The Man Christ did that. In that way the risen Christ gained “the keys of Hades and of Death” ( ), which means that He has full authority over them. . Through His triumph over death and by rendering powerless, or disabling, the devil, the Lord Jesus worked an awesome liberation. With liberation there is mention of an enemy who had a total control over you, in such a way that you yourself had no possible way to free yourself. By sowing fear of death, the devil made sure that men remained under his control. The devil always reigns by fear. Death is “the king of terrors” ( ). Concerning us, this fear has gone, for Christ has taken away the threat of that. Now death doesn’t scare us anymore. . The Lord Jesus has not come to earth to die for angels. His concern was “the descendant [or: seed] of Abraham”. Literally it means the company to whom this letter is addressed. They are not only physically the seed of Abraham, but they are also and in particular in a spiritual sense his children ( ). The latter are of course also the believers from the Gentiles ( ; ) and therefore God laid hold on you and saved you. He accepted you and you are His. . To be able to accept you and other countless people, the Lord Jesus “had to be made like His brethren”. That meant that He changed heaven for earth and came to live as Man in the midst of men and partook of their life. That was a tremendous humiliation for Him. And if you imagine that He took the lowest place among men ( ), He really went through whatever a person could possibly go through. No matter how bad a situation may possibly be, it is not unfamiliar to the Lord Jesus. In a perfect way He made Himself like the brethren. He has freed everyone who He calls His brethren, from the power of the devil. You saw that in . However, there were also sins that had to be reconciled. That is said at the end of . For both problems there was only one solution: death. To be able to die the Lord Jesus had to become Man. Through His death and resurrection He conquered death and him who had control over it, that is the devil, and made atonement for the sins of God’s people. Therefore He could justly be “a merciful and faithful high priest”. He is merciful with a view to the misery, the temptations and the afflictions in which you may find yourself. He sympathizes with you. He is also ‘faithful’. He is that to Himself and to His promises. He is focused on the goal and He will lead you there, right through all the hardships and misery. In all those things His concern is the “things pertaining to God”. He never does something for you that is apart from God. He sees your life in connection with God. As High Priest He is busy on your behalf, to help you that you may satisfy God in everything. First, He had to make atonement on earth as High Priest for the sins of His people. He did that and therefore God can deal with His people and can also be with them on earth. As long as His people are on earth, they need support and encouragement. Therefore the High Priest, when He accomplished His atoning work, is now seated in heaven to continually be the High Priest. To God everything is in order, the sins are reconciled, but there is still a way to go. With a view to that way the Lord Jesus is making efforts, so that God’s people will glorify God on that way instead of becoming unfaithful and thus forfeiting the blessing. . No one else can help His people the way He does. Before His death He lived a perfect life, in which He got to know all the afflictions and temptations that can happen to an individual. Whatever suffering you may possibly go through, He has suffered it ( ). Therefore He can sympathize with you and give you the help you need. That help pertains to the difficulties encountered by the faithful believer in doing God’s will. There is no believer who manages to achieve the final goal by his own strength. You need help, support, compassion, and the intercession of Someone Who knows the dangers of the journey and Who has overcome. It had to be Someone Who has persevered in the toughest afflictions and thus has suffered and therefore is able to sympathize with others. That Someone is the Lord Jesus. During His life on earth He experienced all weaknesses – not: sins, for He only dealt with them on the cross and only in the three hours of darkness ( ) – of being Man. He knows what it is to be a helpless baby and to be a child growing up. He knows what it is to be an adolescent and to be an adult. He knows what it is to be hungry and thirsty and to be tired and sad. He knows what it is not to be understood, to be despised, to be rejected, to be neglected and to be blasphemed. He knows what it is to suffer hardships and to die. He has gone through everything to be able to be your High Priest in heaven now. The temptations of the Lord Jesus in the wilderness are a beautiful example in this. He was tempted in earthly matters, in worldly matters and in religious matters ( ). He responded to all temptations, that the devil was trying on Him, with God’s Word. The Lord Jesus is engaged as High Priest in heaven in making you mindful with God’s Word when you have to cope with temptations from the devil. If you quote God’s Word, the devil will flee. Now read Hebrews 2:13-18 again. Reflection: What has the Lord Jesus ever done to be High Priest? In which things is He High Priest for you?

‏ Hebrews 2:13

Be Made Like the Brethren

Heb 2:13. This section starts with a quotation in which the Manhood of the Messiah appears in a wonderful way. True manhood never becomes more apparent than in putting trust in God, no matter what the circumstances may be. It is a quotation from Isaiah (Isa 8:17) who is determined to wait on the Lord persistently and to look forward to Him, while he is in the midst of a nation for which the Lord has hidden His face because of their sins. That trust characterized the Lord Jesus when He was on earth. This is the trust that the recipients of the letter – and you too – may have.

What people were saying, mocking Him, when He hung on the cross, “He trusts in God” (Mt 27:43), was the power of His life unto death. This trust in God is of fundamental importance in a situation in which still nothing appears from the realization of God’s plans and in which everything appears to be the opposite. Every opposition Christ faced on His way on earth could not take away His trust in God or even reduce it a little bit. In this He is your and my example.

However, He is not only an example. He also connects us to Himself in this trust that He has in His God. He trusts that He and we, the children, will go through all the difficulties together and that we will arrive in the period of blessing and joy that we are looking for. This too is a quotation from Isaiah (Isa 8:18). What Isaiah has said about himself and about his children the writer applies also to Christ and the remnant. “I and the children” indicates that Christ has connected Himself as Man to the children that God has given to Him. Here it is about the spiritual children of God in this time. They are connected to Christ.

It is not about children of Christ or children of the Lord Jesus. The Bible never uses such expressions for believers. Here it is about the children of God who by Him are given to the Lord Jesus. Like in the way the children of Isaiah who, also in the meaning of their names, were a testimony to God’s faithfulness in the midst of God’s people, the believers of nowadays are in the midst of apostate Christianity on earth.

This quotation contains a great encouragement. With a trust that is so typical of Him, He gives aid to all who are given to Him by God. He points at them and says, as it were, to God: ‘These are the children You have given Me. I will lead them safely through all difficulties and I will bring them where I am.’

Heb 2:14. Before God could give them to the Lord Jesus, however, He had to become Man first. And not only that. If the Lord Jesus wanted us as children to be one with Him in His position before God, then it was necessary that He first made Himself one with us in our need. That’s why He partook of “blood and flesh”. The time before He became Man, He did not share in that, but He had to do that to be able to die. His death was necessary, because man was subjected to death.

Due to the fall of man satan confiscated man and got leverage over him, a power that he exerts through death. The Lord Jesus came to put an end to that. Only death can eliminate death. A beautiful illustration you find in David who killed Goliath with his own sword (1Sam 17:51). It also had to be the death of a man to destroy death for men. The Man Christ did that. In that way the risen Christ gained “the keys of Hades and of Death” (Rev 1:18), which means that He has full authority over them.

Heb 2:15. Through His triumph over death and by rendering powerless, or disabling, the devil, the Lord Jesus worked an awesome liberation. With liberation there is mention of an enemy who had a total control over you, in such a way that you yourself had no possible way to free yourself. By sowing fear of death, the devil made sure that men remained under his control. The devil always reigns by fear. Death is “the king of terrors” (Job 18:14). Concerning us, this fear has gone, for Christ has taken away the threat of that. Now death doesn’t scare us anymore.

Heb 2:16. The Lord Jesus has not come to earth to die for angels. His concern was “the descendant [or: seed] of Abraham”. Literally it means the company to whom this letter is addressed. They are not only physically the seed of Abraham, but they are also and in particular in a spiritual sense his children (Jn 8:33-39). The latter are of course also the believers from the Gentiles (Gal 3:7-9; Rom 4:9-12) and therefore God laid hold on you and saved you. He accepted you and you are His.

Heb 2:17. To be able to accept you and other countless people, the Lord Jesus “had to be made like His brethren”. That meant that He changed heaven for earth and came to live as Man in the midst of men and partook of their life. That was a tremendous humiliation for Him. And if you imagine that He took the lowest place among men (Phil 2:5-8), He really went through whatever a person could possibly go through. No matter how bad a situation may possibly be, it is not unfamiliar to the Lord Jesus.

In a perfect way He made Himself like the brethren. He has freed everyone who He calls His brethren, from the power of the devil. You saw that in Heb 2:14. However, there were also sins that had to be reconciled. That is said at the end of Heb 2:17.

For both problems there was only one solution: death. To be able to die the Lord Jesus had to become Man. Through His death and resurrection He conquered death and him who had control over it, that is the devil, and made atonement for the sins of God’s people. Therefore He could justly be “a merciful and faithful high priest”. He is merciful with a view to the misery, the temptations and the afflictions in which you may find yourself. He sympathizes with you. He is also ‘faithful’. He is that to Himself and to His promises. He is focused on the goal and He will lead you there, right through all the hardships and misery.

In all those things His concern is the “things pertaining to God”. He never does something for you that is apart from God. He sees your life in connection with God. As High Priest He is busy on your behalf, to help you that you may satisfy God in everything.

First, He had to make atonement on earth as High Priest for the sins of His people. He did that and therefore God can deal with His people and can also be with them on earth. As long as His people are on earth, they need support and encouragement. Therefore the High Priest, when He accomplished His atoning work, is now seated in heaven to continually be the High Priest. To God everything is in order, the sins are reconciled, but there is still a way to go. With a view to that way the Lord Jesus is making efforts, so that God’s people will glorify God on that way instead of becoming unfaithful and thus forfeiting the blessing.

Heb 2:18. No one else can help His people the way He does. Before His death He lived a perfect life, in which He got to know all the afflictions and temptations that can happen to an individual. Whatever suffering you may possibly go through, He has suffered it (Isa 63:9). Therefore He can sympathize with you and give you the help you need. That help pertains to the difficulties encountered by the faithful believer in doing God’s will.

There is no believer who manages to achieve the final goal by his own strength. You need help, support, compassion, and the intercession of Someone Who knows the dangers of the journey and Who has overcome. It had to be Someone Who has persevered in the toughest afflictions and thus has suffered and therefore is able to sympathize with others. That Someone is the Lord Jesus.

During His life on earth He experienced all weaknesses – not: sins, for He only dealt with them on the cross and only in the three hours of darkness (1Pet 2:24) – of being Man. He knows what it is to be a helpless baby and to be a child growing up. He knows what it is to be an adolescent and to be an adult. He knows what it is to be hungry and thirsty and to be tired and sad. He knows what it is not to be understood, to be despised, to be rejected, to be neglected and to be blasphemed. He knows what it is to suffer hardships and to die. He has gone through everything to be able to be your High Priest in heaven now.

The temptations of the Lord Jesus in the wilderness are a beautiful example in this. He was tempted in earthly matters, in worldly matters and in religious matters (Lk 4:1-12). He responded to all temptations, that the devil was trying on Him, with God’s Word. The Lord Jesus is engaged as High Priest in heaven in making you mindful with God’s Word when you have to cope with temptations from the devil. If you quote God’s Word, the devil will flee.

Now read Hebrews 2:13-18 again.

Reflection: What has the Lord Jesus ever done to be High Priest? In which things is He High Priest for you?