Jesus – a little lower
Introduction
pressure is a funny thing, at least in the sense that it can make you do funny things. For some, it’s the pressure of public speaking, which they say is one of the single greatest fears of many people, and which can lead to otherwise intelligent and articulate people sounding like kids – this last week has been Synod week, the meeting of 800 representatives of the Anglican churches around Sydney, and we’ve seen some of that. For others, it’s the far more serious current pressure of the financial tightrope, so that people who would never otherwise consider lying or cheating, find themselves establishing all sorts of creative justifications for doing exactly that, all on the basis of ‘I’ll pay it back later’.
There is a pressure that we all live with, more or less consciously – the pressure that one day, God willing for all of us decades away and at peace in our beds surrounded by devoted and devastated family, we will all die. It’s so common, statistically an absolutely sure bet, and yet to varying degrees, it’s so painful a thought that we find it hard to live with, and so as a culture we bury it – put people close to death away from us in hospitals and nursing homes, avoid staring at death by making sure the coffin is screwed shut tight, and move on quickly, determined to make the most of life while we can. Pressure can do funny things to us.
• the first readers of the letter to the Hebrews were people under pressure – Christians in trouble, a people hard pressed, but they had endured in the past – they were no strangers to this – they had been Heb. 10:33 publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and had stood alongside those so treated. 34 They had compassion for those who were in prison, and they cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. They had stood fast, in fact nearly to the point of shedding their blood, but the persecution they faced was limited.
• but now perhaps it has intensified even further, or perhaps they have just gotten tired of the struggle – you may know the feeling – and so unknown author writes to these unnamed and un-located recipients to encourage them – to inspire them to lift their drooping hands and strengthen their weak knees, and make straight paths for their feet, so they run again – and as we’ve looked at over the last couple of weeks, the way he starts is to tell them a story which provides the outline of his first main point over the first two chapters. And telling this story is designed lift their eyes to the biggest, widest perspective of them all, to recapture a sense of what the whole show is about, the purpose of creation, why did God bother with it all, and when it went wrong, why didn’t he just wipe it all out, and what their lives are about.
It’s the story of Psalm 8, which the author quotes at length in chapter 2
Psa. 8:1 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
Psa. 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
Psa. 8:5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Psa. 8:9 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
1. Heb 2.5–9: Crowned, Because of the Suffering of His Death
• last week we looked at the first of the great twin affirmations of that Psalm, crowned with honour and glory, and saw how the author spelt that out in terms of another Psalm, Ps 110, which is the focus of ch 1 – the chapter starts with that Psalm and ends with it – see it at the end of v. 3 – that Jesus is now far above the angels, seated at the right hand of glory, with his enemies being made nothing more than his footstool
But there is another side to Ps 8, which brings in the first half of the great twin affirmations in the prologue – you see, there’s a prior to being crowned with glory and honour, a prior to sitting at the right hand of God with all things under your feet – it’s being made lower than the angels. If the end point is being superior to the angels, along the way there is a stage, a phase where that Son, now named as Jesus for the first time, was not superior, on the contrary he was inferior.
What’s more it’s not as though these two things, being made lower, and being crowned with glory and honour, are simply coincidences, unrelated by happy circumstances. On the contrary, you see what it says in vv. 8b–9: read them
Heb. 2:8” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
• I think you have here the most sensational understatement in all the Bible – here is the vision for humanity, crowned with glory and honour, with all things under our feet – and the author says, “As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them” – you can say that again – I can’t even get my dogs, who love me with a pure doggie devotion, to do what I want them to do – I open the front door, and they go racing down the street totally ignoring my stern commanding voice, “inside”. No, we don’t see everything in subjection to them, to us – that is certainly true – but we do see Jesus – there is one place where there is no failure of authority, no sin, no mortality, where the future is present, where death and chaos and pain have no place at all – it is in the human person and body of Jesus, now crowned with glory and honor.
• and the crucial point here is that he is crowned because of the suffering of death. The relationship is causal – because of his suffering, being made a little lower than the angles, he is crowned; because he made purification for sins he sat down at the right hand, because he humbled himself to death, even death on a cross, therefore he was also highly exalted and given the name that is above every name.
But notice that the relationship also goes the other way – not only does the suffering have implications for the crowing, but the crowning also has implications for the suffering – read it without the subordinate clauses – he is crowned so that he might taste death for everyone. That he is crowned means that his death is not just a death for himself, but a death for everyone. And how this works is then explained in the next couple of paragraphs.
2. Because he Was Made a Little Lower than the Angels (Heb 2.10–18)
a) Heb 2.10–16: The One Who Sanctifies
i) principle: the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified ‘are of one’
• what is this idea of tasting death for everyone. Well it relates to the goal God has, which is not just for one person, the son of man, but in fact has to do with the whole human race, or what is called in v. 10 ‘many children (literally sons)’ – he wants to bring them to glory, crown them with glory and honour, bring them into his presence, perhaps not at the right hand, but close, as well.
• but there is a problem, and it is the problem of holiness. Now one of the big issues in Hebrews is breaking out of our normal legal and judicial ways of thinking about salvation, in terms of laws, punishment, judgment, justification and all that – perfectly excellent way of thinking, but not what’s going on is Hebrews. Here we are not in the law court, we are in the temple, and this arena has a whole different set of principles and rules and assumptions and ways of working. And the place to start is the problem of holiness, God’s holiness, and our un-holiness. And that problem requires fixing, and the kind of fix that is needed is sanctification – which makes sense, comes from 2 Latin words – sancta, as in holy and ficare as in make – make holy, like sacrifice, sacra – sacred, and ficere.
• and when it comes to sanctification, there is a crucial principle, one which governs a lot of the thought of Hebrews – the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of one, literally, which you see in the footnote – the translators have filled out the thought, and supplied a missing word, but may not be helpful – the idea is that for something or someone to sanctify, make holy, make acceptable, clean someone else, they have be of the same stuff, the same type of thing. Let me give you a not very good example – sometimes I find myself talking to young adults about childbirth – you know, they’re kind of curious, and so I fill them in. But for some reason, it just doesn’t carry a great deal of conviction with them, and they laugh at me, especially when Catriona starts throwing things at me – you see, to have credibility in talking about childbirth, you need to be one with other childbirth-ers, a woman who has been there and done that, and I guess it’s true that that’s not me – you get the idea, to do the job, have to be of one thing. And it’s the same with the even more significant issue of making someone holy, sanctifying them.
And so the conclusion is drawn in v. 14 – read it.
Heb. 2:14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things,
He shared the same things, and that is crucial if he is to sanctify us; or again, in v. 17 Jesus had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect.
And the consequence of this principle, and the fact that it was implemented, is that Jesus calls us brothers and sisters, the children God has given him, which is precisely the fulfillment of Scripture, vv. 11b–13:
Heb 2.11b For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”
Make sure you get this, won’t you – hear it loud and clear – Jesus went all the way, and became like you and I in every respect, shared flesh and blood, weakness and frailty. There is nothing you experience that he doesn’t know about from the inside – no fear, no sadness, no frustration, no struggle, no broken dream or lost hope, no disappointment or tragedy – he shared it all, utterly with us.
b) the content of this sanctifying work – so that he might destroy, and free – how?
What then is the outcome of his sharing these same things, the content of the sanctification? Remember, the goal is to bring many children to glory, and he does this through death, v. 14b:
so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
It is that through death he destroys the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and frees those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. Destroy one and free others through his own death.
• remember, don’t think court, think temple – what is the power of death that the devil has, why are we afraid of death? That power derives from the fact that after death we come into the presence of God, and if we come to death sinful and unclean into the presence of the holy God, we will be rejected and dismissed, and there is nothing more terrifying than that.
• you see, death comes out of the blue and disrupts, ruptures, doesn’t it – some time ago, heard that one of Catriona’s veterinary colleagues had died suddenly over the weekend, went to hospital and simply never came out – unbelievable – she was 25, , and when something like that happens, it feels just a little bit closer –and suddenly realise that death is not just a waiting thing at the end of a very long tunnel, but an enemy, a snatcher who will take opportunity when it presents itself – but no fear with this one.
• the power of death that the devil has is sin; sin, and the pollution that it creates, unholiness, dirt, which cannot stand in the presence of God, and so what needs to happen is that that sin must be dealt with, wiped away, so that the sinner is made pure, able to stand in the presence of God, a child brought to glory.
3. Heb 2.17–18: A Merciful and Faithful High Priest, past and present
i) the past work of the priest – make atonement
Which is exactly what Jesus in his death achieved, a death made possible because he shared flesh and blood which is what you need in order to be able to die. You see it in the summary verses at the end of the chapter, vv. 17–18 – read them:
Heb 2.17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
You see the way that sin is dealt with, and so children enabled to be brought to glory – there is a past action, making a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people – Jesus gave himself as the offering, the peace offering, the gift which makes it up to God, the offering of his life which you and I could not offer.
ii) the present work of the priest – help those who are being tested
But there is also a present action, being able to help those who are being tested, tempted; what’s more, this is no ordinary help – you see, from where does that help come – from the right hand of God, where Jesus is now seated, the pioneer of our salvation, the one who goes first and blazes the trail in which we can follow.
Do you see the two of them, the past action of atonement and the present action of helping? As such, Jesus is for us a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, and the rest of the book is spent expanding on this description.
Conclusion: You Have a Priest!
There are still ways in which I fear death, mainly to do with the process of dying, and the recognition that that can be horrifically painful – but there is an end to that. But I can say that I am not held in slavery by the fear of death – it doesn’t operate on me, this fear, as the kind of hovering specter which drives my life, ever present, ever haunting, the thing which I spend my time trying to escape, purchasing ever more intensely, demanding every one of life’s experiences now, because yo only have one life to live. Actually, in Christ, with Christ as your high priest who has made atonement for sin and is seated at the right hand of God a merciful and faithful high priest, you have two lives to live, so you don’t need to be desperate about this one. No, because of the past work of Jesus, my faithful and merciful high priest who shared flesh and blood, like me in every respect, has begun the process of bring me to glory.
But that’s not all, incredible as it is. Often think of Jesus as the one who took our punishment, and then went home, kind of retired, once his work here was done. I want to ask the question – is Jesus still on the job? Yes, and it is the idea of High Priest that brings the two aspects together – past on the cross, present in heaven at the right hand of God, able to help us. What he begun he will finish, and so as precisely that same high priest, as precisely that one who was like us in every respect, so he knows what our sufferings and testing and temptation are like from the inside, and so he is able to help us, right now – he sees what happens for you, right now, this day, this week; he prays for you, interceding before the Father, knowing you and knowing the Father, and so his prayers are powerful and effective right now; he gives you grace in your time of need right now. And that means that when you go through the hard times, and pain and difficulty and frustration seem endless, you may not know much about what’s going on, but one thing you do know – it’s not because God is against you; it’s never because God is against you, because your high priest is still on the job, giving you help from the throne of grace.
You see, he is the one crowned with glory and honour, the firstfruits of the dead, the one bit of all the universe that is free from death and sin, seated at the right hand of God; and that is because he is the one who became a little lower than the angels, and made purification for sins as a great High Priest. This is your Jesus – nothing in all the world would be worth swapping for this one; nothing in all the world would make it worth abandoning this one – whatever the struggles and pressures and temptations, lift your hands for the fight, and strengthen your knees for the race.
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