Jesus became a man in order to bring many sons to glory and deliver His people from Satan and the fear of death!
Why did Jesus Become a Man? Pt. 2
Hebrews 2:10-16
Hebrews chapter two gives us the answer to the question, “Why did Jesus become a man?” In verses 5-9 we are told that God’s original intention for man was to rule this world. Adam was given the task of stewarding this world for God’s glory. He was told to rule over all the animal creation and subdue it. However, when he submitted to the devil’s temptations, he lost the ability to rule this world for God. Instead, the earth was put under a curse, and man fell into a place where he came under the dominion of sin. Instead of ruling over the world, he was ruled by sin and Satan.
However, Jesus Christ came into the world, lived a perfect and holy life in this sin-cursed fallen world, died for sins, rose from the grave, and ascended back to heaven as a forerunner for us. And when we put our faith in Him, we are united to Him in such a way that what He accomplished is put to our account. Notice verse 9, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
Notice that Jesus was made for a little while lower than the angels. But that “little while” has passed. Jesus was made lower than the angels when He voluntarily agreed to take on human flesh and live in this sin-cursed world. But now that He has rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and has sat down at the Father’s right hand, He is no longer lower than the angels. He is now in the place and position where all of His followers will soon come – to a place of glory and honor. Ultimately this is speaking about our eternal future on the New Earth after Christ returns.
So the first answer to the question, “Why did Jesus become a man?” is to enable believers to rule in the world to come.
Now, there are four other reasons given to us in Hebrews chapter two. We will look at two reasons today, and two next week.
1. So that He could bring many sons to glory (2:10-13)
I want you to notice that all through this passage, there is a certain group of people in mind.
2:10 “many sons being brought to glory”
2:11 “those who are sanctified”
2:11 “brethren”
2:13 “the children whom God has given Me”
2:14 “the children who share in flesh and blood”
2:16 “the descendant of Abraham”
All of these expressions are describing born again believers in Jesus Christ. And notice from verse 13 that these “children” or “believers” were given to Jesus. Does the Bible talk about a group of people who were given to Jesus? Yes, in the gospel of John, they are mentioned many times.
Jn. 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out.”
Jn. 6:39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
Jn. 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Jn. 17:6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”
Jn. 17:9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours”
Jn. 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
Well, just who are these people the Father gave to Jesus? They are God’s elect. The Father chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world. He then gave them to Jesus. Jesus was charged to come into the world to save them and bring them to glory. These are the many sons that Jesus will bring to glory.
Notice verse 13, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.” Jesus will say these words to the Father when He returns and He separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right, and then He will go over and stand with them. He will then point to the sheep, and He will say to His Father, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.” Look Father, they are all here. I have not lost a single one. They are all here. No one has snatched them out of My hand. They are with Me so that they can see My glory.
What did Jesus have to do in order to bring them to glory?
- He had to be the author of their salvation (2:10). “Salvation” is the key word. Jesus needs to save us. He needs to rescue us from eternal judgment. How does He do this?
2:9 “because of the suffering of death”; “He might taste death for everyone”. In order to save these sons and bring them to glory, Jesus must suffer and die for them. He must die for their sins, bear their punishment and absorb the wrath of God on their behalf. What does Jesus need to do to bring us to glory? He needs to save us! We are all under the condemnation and wrath of God and must be delivered by the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The fact that Jesus is the “author” of their salvation, tells us that He is the Designer and Executor of our salvation. An author of a book chooses the characters and the plot of the entire story. Since Jesus is the author of our salvation we know that He designed our salvation, and then went on to complete it. We do not contribute to our salvation by our efforts, performance or works. Jesus completed it all by Himself. We receive the benefits of salvation by trusting Him and His work.
- He had to sanctify His people (2:11). Our salvation is more than being justified before God through faith. It is more than having a right standing with God, and being declared righteous because the righteousness of Christ is put to our account. It also includes being sanctified (being set apart from sin to God). Once a person is justified, he is indwelt by the Spirit who begins to progressively sanctify him. Day by day by day, the Spirit of Christ enables the believer to recognize, confess, and turn from sin in order to be fashioned into the image of Jesus Christ. Justification and sanctification are two distinct things, but they can never be separated. In other words, it is impossible to find a justified believer who is not also being sanctified. These two works of God always go together. A man is justified in an instant, but he is sanctified throughout his entire life. Someone has said, “Sanctification is becoming in practice what you already are in position.” Positionally, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. Because that is true, the Holy Spirit works in us to actually make us righteous in how we live out the Christian life.
- He had to become their brother (2:11-13). Jesus had to fully identify with us. He had to become one of us. Jesus could not remain aloof in heaven and save us. He had to enter our world, become a human being, become our brother, in order to redeem us. If Jesus had never become a man, He could not call us His brethren. But verse 11 says, “He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Now, that is an amazing thought. There are plenty of reasons for Jesus to be ashamed to call us brethren. We are sinful, have evil motives, and rebel against God far too often. But He is not ashamed to call us His brethren? Why not?
“For both He who sanctifies (Jesus) and those who are sanctified (believers) are all from one Father. Notice that the word “Father” is in italics, meaning that word was not in the original. It has been supplied by the translators of the NASB to help us make sense of the sentence. But it is not inspired. Other translations say “one source, one family, one origin, as well as one father.” So, what is the meaning? Both Christ and believers share something in common that makes it possible for Jesus call us His brethren. What is that thing we have in common with Him? I believe it is our common humanity. Jesus became a real human being like us. We share a common human nature. His, to be sure, is absolutely holy, while ours is infected with sin. But we both possess a human nature just the same.
So, in order for Jesus to bring many sons to glory He had to:
- Become a human being
- Suffer and die to save them
- Sanctify them and make them ready for eternal glory
2. So that He could free believers from the fear of death (2:14-16)
According to verse 14, why did Jesus become a man? Why did He partake of flesh and blood? Because the children did! In order to bring the children, the sons, to glory, He had to become one of them. It was a man who sinned and brought death into the world. Therefore, it would not be just for God to send an angel to bear the penalty for man’s sins. No, a man must become the sinner’s Substitute.
2:14 “that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil” How is it that the devil had the power of death? Think about it for a moment. The devil, through his deception and temptation, was able to introduce sin into the world. The wages of sin is death. So, by introducing sin into the world, he also brought in death. So, through his temptation of our first parents, Satan has been able to bring about the death of every person! Death is inevitable – one billion out of one billion all die. And the reason they all die is because of sin. If we had no sin, we would not die.
However, Jesus has rendered the devil powerless. How so? Because our death does not separate us from God, like it will for unbelievers. Instead, our death ushers us into the very presence of God Almighty. Through death, Jesus made an end of sin and brought in everlasting righteousness. He satisfied the justice and wrath of God on account of sin. He removed the condemnation the believer was under by bearing his own sins in His body on the tree. Jesus has transformed us from enemies into friends. He has reconciled us in His fleshly body through death. The devil is powerless to destroy us through death, because death simply brings us to God to dwell in His presence forever. The devil cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2:15 “And might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” This verse tells us that believers were subject to slavery all their lives through fear of death. The reason why death is fearful to people is because there is a God. Romans 1 says that all people in their heart of hearts know there is a God. God has made it obvious to them through creation. And if there is a God, then they must stand before Him, and given an account of their lives, and then He will pass sentence on them, and either cast them into Hell, or welcome them into His eternal heaven. And this foreboding of what will happen after death causes death to be terrifying to people and keeps them subject to slavery all their lives.
So, how did Jesus free believers from the fear of death? He conquered sin in His death, and He conquered death in His resurrection. Death could not hold Him. The grave could not chain Him. Jesus rose victorious over death, and promises that the very same thing will happen for all of those who are in Him. If you are united to Christ by faith, His victory over death will be your victory. Jesus said in Jn. 14:19 “Because I live, you will live also.”
2:16 “For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.” The word for “help” is “to take hold of” or “to seize.” It pictures the person who reaches out a hand to pull someone out of quicksand, or catch someone about to fall over a cliff. What kind of help does Jesus not give to angels. Well, the context is speaking about Jesus’ saving help. The whole context is speaking of His suffering, death in order to give salvation and bring many sons to glory. However, Jesus does not do this for the angels.
When angels sinned against God, Jesus did not assume the nature of angels and die for them. There is no plan of redemption for fallen angels. They are doomed without any possibility of escape.
“The descendant of Abraham”. This could refer to all of the physical descendants of Abraham, but that meaning misses the mark. That would tell us that salvation has only been provided for ethnic Israelites, and we know that salvation has been offered to the entire world.
In the New Testament, the seed or descendants of Abraham are those who have the same faith as Abraham.
Galatians 3:7,29 “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham… And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Therefore, this verse is telling us that although God did not provide salvation for fallen angels, He does provide saving help to believers in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Let’s sum up now. Jesus became a man
- To enable believers to rule in the world to come
- To bring many sons to glory
- To free those sons from the fear of death
Let’s reflect on those two final truths for a moment.
- To bring many sons to glory. Do you ever worry that although you have believed in Jesus Christ, you will miss heaven at last? Do you fear that you are just not good enough? When you think of God’s Final Judgment, are you filled with anxiety? One of the reasons people are fearful that they will never make it to glory is because they look inward at their own flawed and sinful heart, or they look at their life, and they know that they miss the mark. However, that is where you definitely do NOT want to look! Where should a believer look? To Christ alone!
This passage says that God is being many sons to glory. Who is bringing who? God is bringing sons. God is in charge of this whole operation, from beginning to end. Christ is the Captain, the Leader, and we are simply following Him to glory. He is our Forerunner. He has entered heaven first, and we will follow Him there. Christ alone accomplished salvation. His work is finished. No other works need to be added to His to make our salvation effective. We do not work, but rest in His work. We believe. We trust. He does all.
Remember the Old Testament story of the children of Israel who were bitten by deadly serpents? They cried out to Moses, who cried to God. God told him to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and hold it up high. Whenever one of the sons of Israel were bitten, they were commanded to look to the bronze serpent on the pole, and when they looked they were healed. God did not command them to look inward at their own hearts. He didn’t tell them to get busy making a healing serum to drink. He commanded them to look.
My friends, as long as you are looking anywhere else than to Jesus Christ you will suffer from fear and worry related to the Final Judgment.
The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:9 “that I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…”
“Cast your deadly doing down, down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, gloriously complete.” Put no trust in yourself, but trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Romans 9:33 says “He who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
Christ is bringing many sons to glory, and He will not fail in that mission!
- To free the sons from the fear of death. My friends, there is absolutely no reason a believer should fear death. It is true that the wages of sin is death, but Christ was paid those wages. He received the death sentence because our sins were laid upon Him. He died and then rose again to once and for all defeat death for all who are in Him.
Most of the world fears death, because they know there is a God, and He will sentence them to Heaven or Hell. But the believer knows that Christ has already born his Hell sentence. Jesus has rendered the devil powerless to hold us captive to sin and death. Death for the Christian is no longer terrifying. Rather it is the gateway to Paradise!
Why did Jesus become a man?
In order to bring many sons to glory. If Jesus remained in heaven, we would all be doomed to eternal Hell. The only way for us to come to glory, is if Jesus left glory, and then led us back there with Him.
In order to free us from the fear of death. If Jesus did not come and die and rise again, we would all still be slaves to the fear of death. We would have no confidence, no assurance of everlasting life with God. But now, those fears are gone, because has become a man, risen from the dead, and promises eternal life to all who trust Him.
My assignment for those of you who struggle with assurance: every time you begin to worry or become fearful about Judgment Day, stop and remember what you know to be true about Christ. Remind yourself that He has born all your sin, and risen victorious over the grave. Remind yourself that His promise that all who believe in Him have eternal life. Remind yourself, that His work is completed, and therefore it is sinful to trust your own works in addition to His (kind of like adding a mustache to the Mona Lisa to improve it!) Preach the gospel to yourself until you believe His promises!
Let’s pray.
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