Grace Fellowship 11/19/06 Infinitely Superior, but Made Like His Brethren, Pt. 2 Heb 2:10-12
Let's begin today by reading our text together, found in Hebrews 2:10-18.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You." And again: "I will put My trust in Him." And again: "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me." 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, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 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. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2:10-18, NKJV).
In these verses, we are talking about fundamental, theological concepts. Sanctification, glorification, propitiation. The words alone are enough to turn most people's brains off.
Bringing many sons to glory IS the sanctification of which he speaks in verse 11. Sanctification and glorification and salvation are virtually equivalent terms in this context. The glorification of the elect is their separation from the world to Heaven. We are sanctified FOR Heaven and for glory. We're sanctified FROM the world and condemnation. We are sanctified FOR Heaven and FROM the world BY the blood of Jesus Christ.
The One who performs this separation of His brethren is the same One who has suffered as they have in a world of sin and temptation, in the realms of death and the devil. In the act of fellowshipping with them in their suffering, and in the specific act of suffering death for them, the Father has perfected Christ as the Savior of the many sons He delivers.
Consequently, as a fellow-sufferer, the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call those for whom He has suffered His brethren. The many sons he is bringing to glory are His brothers and sisters. Christ identifies with us as such. He said as much through the Psalmist in Psalm 22:22. Please turn there.
I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. (Psalms 22:22, NKJV).
OK, so there it is. There's the verse that the writer of Hebrews 2:12 claims is attributable to Jesus Christ. How does he know that? Because it comes from Psalm 22. According to F.F. Bruce, this quotation "is taken from a psalm in which no Christian of the first century would have failed to recognize Christ as the speaker."1 Why does he say that? Among other reasons, because of verse 1:
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? (Psalms 22:1, NKJV).
Charles Spurgeon said, "This is beyond all others THE PSALM OF THE CROSS. It may have been actually repeated word by word by our Lord when hanging on the tree; We should read reverently, putting off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there be holy ground anywhere in Scripture it is in this Psalm." 2
We said last week one device the New Testament writers used was this habit of quoting a verse or two from Old Testament passages with which Jewish readers would have been very familiar. When the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 22:22, the context of the entire psalm is carried to their minds with that one verse. Exactly what is that context? What do his readers think when he quotes this one verse? To help us grasp the setting of that psalm, and possibly the thinking of first century Jewish Christians, I'd like to read again from Spurgeon and his comments on verse 1:
"'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' This was the startling cry of Golgotha: 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.' The Jews mocked, but the angels adored when Jesus cried this exceeding bitter cry. Nailed to the tree we behold our great Redeemer in extremities, and what see we? Having ears to hear let us hear, and having eyes to see let us see! Let us gaze with holy wonder, and mark the flashes of light amid the awful darkness of that midday midnight. First, our Lord's faith beams forth and deserves our reverent imitation; he keeps his hold upon his God with both hands and cries twice,"
"'My God, my God!' The spirit of adoption was strong within the suffering Son of Man, and he felt no doubt about his interest in his God. Oh that we could imitate this cleaving to an afflicting God! Nor does the sufferer distrust the power of God to sustain him, for the title used -- "El" -- signifies strength, and is the name of the Mighty God. He knows the Lord to be the all sufficient support and succour of his spirit, and therefore appeals to him in the agony of grief, but not in the misery of doubt. He would fain know why he is left, he raises that question and repeats it, but neither the power nor the faithfulness of God does he mistrust. What an enquiry is this before us!"
"'Why hast thou forsaken me?' We must lay the emphasis on every word of this saddest of all utterances.
- "Why?" what is the great cause of such a strange fact as for God to leave his own Son at such a time and in such a plight? There was no cause in him, why then was he deserted?
- "Hast:" it is done, and the Saviour is feeling its dread effect as he asks the question; it is surely true, but how mysterious! It was no [mere] threatening of forsaking which made the great Surety cry aloud, he [actually] endured that forsaking in very deed.
- "Thou:" I can understand why traitorous Judas and timid Peter should be gone, but thou, my God, my faithful friend, how canst thou leave me? This is worst of all, yea, worse than all put together. Hell itself has for its fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God.
- "Forsaken:" if thou hadst chastened I might bear it, for thy face would shine; but to forsake me utterly, ah! why is this?
- "Me:" thine innocent, obedient, suffering Son, why leavest thou me to perish?
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A sight of self seen by penitence, and of Jesus on the cross seen by faith will best expound this question. Jesus is forsaken because our sins had separated between us and our God."
"Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring [or "groaning"]?" The Man of Sorrows had prayed until his speech failed him, and he could only utter moanings and groanings as men do in severe sicknesses, like the roarings of a wounded animal. To what extremity of grief was our Master driven? What strong crying and tears were those which made him too hoarse for speech! What must have been his anguish to find his own beloved and trusted Father standing afar off, and neither granting help nor apparently hearing prayer! This was good cause to make him "roar." Yet there was reason for all this which those who rest in Jesus as their Substitute well know." 3
Sadly, we do not often meditate upon the things we read in Scripture and so we are seldom moved by even the most moving of passages. I thank the Lord for men like Spurgeon who help us see beneath the surface and feel the intent of Scripture. Now that we understand some of the emotion of Psalm 22, let's continue reading, to verse 21.
O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!" But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God. Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion's mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me. (Psalms 22:2-21, NKJV).
When the writer of Hebrews speaks of the suffering of Christ as a man like us, he is not talking about the lack of hot and cold running water and indoor plumbing. He's not even talking about the fact that the Son of God had to be born in a pitiful barn because there was no room for Him in the inn. He is talking about the suffering that comes with the fear of death. This is suffering that comes from confrontation with the power of the Devil. This is the kind of suffering that is inflicted by the wickedness of evil men. But even more than all that, Christ's primary source of His suffering was from the fear of being utterly cut off from God, forsaken by His Father, which He understood more clearly, and anticipated with more dread than any man who ever walked on this earth.
But He was made perfect through this suffering. Christ became the perfect deliverer, the perfect High Priest for those He came to save. Through His suffering FOR his people, He became identified WITH His people. Therefore, He is not ashamed to call us His brethren. Having seen His own deliverance by the hand of His Father, He has become the captain of our salvation. Now listen to the rest of the psalm, Psalm 22:22-31.
I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the LORD'S, And He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive. A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this. (Psalms 22:22-31, NKJV).
The main point that is being made in Hebrews 2 is that Jesus Christ calls those for whom He has suffered all these things, His brethren. Jesus died for His brothers and sisters.
Therefore … let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV).
That future joy which Jesus anticipated by means of the cross is seen in Psalm 22, when He would worship His Father in the midst of the assembly, among all of His brethren, with His church. So we ask the question again, How shall anyone escape who neglects so great a salvation as this? And for those of us who belong to Him, let us be careful not to take this salvation and this Savior for granted.
1 Bruce, F.F. NICNT - The Epistle to the Hebrews; Eerdmans, 1964; p.45.
2 Spurgeon, C.H. TheTreasury of David - Volume 1; Thomas Nelson Publishers (Old Time Gospel Hour Edition), n.d.; p. 324.
3 Ibid., p. 325.