About this sermon
Hebrews 2 presents Jesus as the older brother of his people. He shared in flesh and blood to make them his siblings. Through death he destroyed the devil, who held the power of death, and freed those enslaved by fear of it. He sanctifies them, bringing them to God and making them holy, and he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Made like them in every respect, he became a merciful and faithful high priest who made propitiation for their sins, and because he suffered when tempted, he can help his people in their temptations.
Sermon transcript
If you would please turn in your Bibles, we’ll be reading from Hebrews chapter 2 verses 10 through 18, that’s found on page 1188 in your pew Bible. Here now from God’s Word, Hebrews chapter 2, starting in verse 10. I will tell of your name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise, and again I will put my trust in him, and again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. You may be seated. Let’s pray. Our Father in Heaven, we would ask that you would give us your Spirit. We need your Spirit to open your Word to us, to make us alive to it. We know that your Word is living and active, but we need your Spirit to apply it to us, so that we would have ears to hear and eyes to see what you have for us in your Word. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Well, the sermon title this morning is The Ultimate Older Brother.
Do you have an older brother? Many of us probably have a love-hate relationship with our older brother. In my case, I am the older brother. In Jewish culture, it was most common for the oldest brother to receive 50% of the inheritance of his father, and the other half to be divided among the rest of the siblings. I haven’t discussed that with my dad yet, but we’ll see. But this was because the oldest brother was tasked with carrying on the family name. While we don’t have the same practice in our American culture regarding inheritance, the older brother still plays a special role in our families. Who can remember their big brother? Being the oldest among my siblings, I didn’t have anyone directly in my family to play that role for me. Instead, I was that role in my siblings’ lives.
I can still remember when I only had four or five of my ten siblings, and I was between eight and ten, and somehow my siblings had gotten the idea that sitting next to Isaiah was preferable above all things. I still don’t know how this period lasted as long as it did, but my mom’s eventual solution to quell the fights that would break out was to assign numbers on dice to seating arrangements at breakfast. We had four bar stools, and one of the morning rituals was for each sibling to roll a die to determine where you would sit at breakfast, each number corresponding to one of the four bar stools. This way, God would decide who got to sit next to Isaiah. I don’t remember how long this went on, but I think it was at least a couple of months.
My main memory is being embarrassed about all the fuss of which I was the source. I think all of us crave that older brother relationship. It’s a special peer-mentoring relationship that really can’t be found anywhere else. In my case, I had defined it throughout my life in older brothers that were not members of my immediate family. In some instances, a brother who’s younger can fulfill that role for a sister. But regardless, there’s a hole that we have in our hearts for that older brother. It’s not quite in the father role, but still he serves as a protector, example, guide, and companion in a way that no one else can. Our passage this morning is saying that Jesus ultimately fulfills this role in our lives as believers. So the outline we have this morning in our passage, I want to look in two main areas.
First, Jesus is our ultimate older brother, and we’ll see three points underneath that. With Jesus suffered to make us his siblings, Jesus unites us to God and makes us holy. And Jesus is proud to call us his brothers. And then in the second half, we’ll see that Jesus as our ultimate older brother, he gives us three things. It gives us freedom from fear, freedom from wrath, and freedom from facing temptation alone. First, we see that Jesus is our ultimate older brother. We see in our passage that Jesus is our ultimate older brother. It says in verse 10 that God’s plan is to bring many sons to glory. Now we should just clarify this two-fold reality that it’s speaking of. By using the word son, the Bible’s not intending to exclude women or daughters. But at the same time, there is a sense in which son was the one who received the inheritance to carry on the family name.
We both, men and women, are said to be sons of God in the sense that we receive the inheritance and the name of God in salvation. So that’s what we mean when we speak of many sons to glory. Now as Jesus is our older brother, first we see that he suffered to make us his siblings. We have to keep in mind the reason the book of Hebrews was written. A few weeks ago, we considered the exhortation not to drift away or neglect salvation. Later in Hebrews, we’re going to see repeated calls to hold fast, to not give in to doubt and discouragement. So the book of Hebrews was written for Christians who were in danger of being discouraged, losing hope, giving up when following Christ was hard. We’ve already seen that the first strategy of the book of the author of Hebrews is to set forth the glory and magnificence of Jesus as the word of God and everything else that’s said about him in chapter one.
We also saw last week how Jesus fulfills the destiny of humankind that they had lost by their sin. And as we finish out here in chapter two, we’re presented with another angle of attack on that doubt and discouragement that we might face. What could be more discouraging than thinking that you’re going through hardships alone? To this day, the most effective form of punishment is solitary confinement. So often when we encounter difficult situations and circumstances, one of the most discouraging thoughts is that we’re perhaps the only one going through this. No one else has encountered this particular difficulty before, and no one else is going through it now. Whether it’s true or not, our minds can tend to go inward. We can isolate ourselves in our thoughts, think that nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. All these talk about Jesus being exalted above the angels and even in verse nine, crowned with glory and honor, could leave us with the impression that Jesus is distant from our pain.
But the writer of Hebrews wants to dispel that idea right away. Jesus, who was crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, was made complete through suffering. Look at verse 10, for it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Now let me head off any misunderstandings that we might have from this word perfect. The Greek word comes from the root telos, which is translated as perfect here, but sometimes could be translated as complete in other places. So when we see the word perfect here, we shouldn’t mainly think of it as sinless, but as complete. Jesus was already sinless. He didn’t become more sinless by suffering.
Now the English word perfect has this nuance to it, which is the reason it’s perfectly fine translation. We just need to make sure that we don’t misunderstand it in a different direction. So when it says God the Father, in verse 10, that made Jesus perfect through suffering, it’s not saying that Jesus was lacking anything as God, but that as his incarnational atonement for our sins was made complete by his suffering like and with us. Peter and Paul have a lot to say in the New Testament about how we must suffer with Christ as believers. And the writer of Hebrews will get to that later in this book. But here he wants to start off by pointing out that Christ suffers with us. We don’t really need to be told that life is hard, that things are difficult.
What Hebrews wants to show us here in verse 10 is that it’s fitting since we suffer that we have an older brother who’s gone through everything that we are going through as well. But the gospel is not merely that when you hurt, Jesus hurts too. When you hurt, Jesus hurts too. Misery loves company, but we need something more. And that’s why number two, Jesus unites us to God. Jesus as our older brother unites us to God and makes us holy. Look at verse 11. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have one source, or we might say are of one. This is very important. Some commentaries suggest that the one source mentioned is intended to reference Adam. But I think the logic of the passage better supports the idea that God the Father is the source of those who are sanctified.
Our brotherhood to Jesus is not inherent to our being human, but the fact that we have a new common father. If we look in John chapter 20, verse 17, we see Jesus speaking to Mary. Jesus has resurrected, John 20, 17, and he says to Mary, Jesus said to Mary, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Remember that none of the disciples there were Jesus’ literal brothers, not even his stepbrothers. Yet by his death and resurrection, he designates them as his brothers based on their common father, my Father and your Father. And secondly, we should notice that this word sanctify in our text in Hebrews has two senses.
It means to make holy. Now there is a definitive or a one-time sense and also a progressive sense. Now most of the time when we use the word sanctification today, we’re thinking of it in its progressive sense. We’re becoming more and more holy. By that we mean that we are matching God’s perfect sinlessness more and more closely. But sanctification also has a definitive meaning. For instance, the tabernacle, the temple and the priests were set apart as holy for their service to God. They weren’t becoming more and more holy over time. It was definitive. And this is also a valid way to speak of believers. One of the most common ways to address believers in the New Testament letters is to call them saints, which literally just means holy ones. Believers have been definitively set apart from the world for a holy purpose, even though our hearts and lives do not yet fully conform to the perfect sinlessness of God.
We’re still saints. We’re still set apart. We have one common father with our older brother, Jesus. But then this brings us to the next thing in verse 11 that is said. The second sentence in verse 11, that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. So number three, we see as our older brother, Jesus is proud to call us his brothers. Now, in typical fashion by the writer of Hebrews, the wording is actually in the negative. He is not ashamed to call us brothers. Now, this is a rhetorical device called the totus, which is a type of understatement. It’s often used for when what is being said is too wonderful to adequately be expressed by words. Instead of reaching up for words which will ultimately fall short, a writer or speaker will instead reach down, intentionally saying less than he means.
I might say that a groom was not unhappy on his wedding day or that a certain blonde toddler in our church does not have a small amount of energy. Jesus is not some solemn or proud older brother doing his best to distance himself from us or criticize us for our association with him. He’s not embarrassed by filthy origins, our weak resolve, our repeated failures or our outright shameful activity. There are no black sheep in Jesus’ family. He’s proud to identify us as his brothers. It’s no wonder that Hebrews uses understatement. It really sounds too good to be true. If we didn’t have clear scriptural teaching supporting such a claim, we might be inclined to doubt it. We might be able to imagine Jesus suffering for our sins, giving us peace with God and even promising us a mansion in heaven, but still wanting to keep his distance.
If he gets too close, we might contaminate him. We might taint his record or reputation. But the reality is just the opposite. All over the Gospels, we see Jesus touching people who were unclean. And what happened? Did Jesus become unclean or did the unclean become clean by touching Jesus? When Jesus touches the unclean, they become clean. That’s the way it works. It’s a one-way relationship. I don’t know if you ever noticed, but whenever you buy a bag of coffee at the store, you might notice a little round plastic piece on the bag with two little holes. Those two holes are a one-way air valve to keep the coffee fresh. The air can only go out. This lets the lovely coffee smell out and keeps new air from getting in and making the coffee stale. No matter how much you squeeze the bag or blow on it, the air is only going one direction.
Jesus has a one-way holiness valve. When we get too close to him with our sinful selves, instead of him getting contaminated, we get clean. We get holy. You don’t need to worry about making Jesus tired or dirty or depressed by bringing him your mess. No matter how many problems you bring him, no matter how many times a day you come to him, you’ll find you never become less holy. He never becomes less holy. You only become more holy. Don’t ever try to protect Jesus from your problems. And next, this leads us to the second half of our passage, in which we see that three things, as Jesus, as our older brother, gives us. See, Jesus, as our ultimate older brother, he gives us freedom from fear, he gives us freedom from wrath, and he gives us freedom from facing temptation alone.
First, freedom from fear. We see this in verses 14 and 15. It says, Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. Now as a quick side note, I’ve preached a sermon on this passage back in June, so you can look that up, but I’m not going to dive deeply into this verse here. But notice the focus in these verses on fear. Jesus took on flesh and blood, a human nature just like his brothers, so that he could die in order to deliver us from the lifelong slavery of fear. Not to deliver us from death, but from the fear of it.
Fear is a universal experience, but it’s difficult to define, because it can come from both real and imagined danger, but it can even arise in non-dangerous situations like public speaking or failing a test. While we often think of fear arising from a situation, it originates in us, as demonstrated by the fact that it arises in both real and imagined danger. I was always afraid of the dark growing up, but as soon as I had someone with me, things didn’t seem so scary. But when I was alone, it seemed like anything could happen out there. When we’re together, my wife will sometimes grab my arm or my hand if a noise startles us. There’s something comforting about having that strong arm, strong hand to hold onto, that caused many of us to gravitate towards a big brother growing up.
So take a look at verse 16 of our passage. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Now I find this sentence very interesting, because of this word that’s translated, helps. It’s not the same word that shows up two verses later in verse 18 in the Greek. We find the Greek word from verse 16. Instead we find another occurrence in Hebrews 8 verse 9. If you turn over a few more pages to Hebrews 8 verse 9, you find this word showing up where it says, On the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This Greek word translated helps here, it can also carry the sense of took them by the hand. Helps is a perfectly fine translation, but I think we can miss the word picture that comes across when we understand the Greek word.
I believe the writer chose this word because he wanted to convey that image of a big brother grabbing your hand, making you feel safe. God says he leads Israel by the hand out of Egypt, and in this verse we see it is not angels that he takes by the hand, but is his brothers. He helps the offspring of Abraham. Jesus doesn’t save angels from the fear of death. He grabs, takes by the hand his brothers and his sisters and leads them right through the valley of the shadow of death. Notice also the reference to Abraham. He doesn’t say Adam, because he doesn’t save all of Adam’s children inherently from death, but he takes the hand of those who believe in him. He made a covenant with Abraham and all those who are his children by faith.
This was a covenant, the covenant that he made with Abraham though was not just to take away fear, but also to take away wrath, which is what we see in the next verse. Number two, we see that as Jesus’ older brother, he gives us freedom from wrath. Look at verse 17. The word propitiation means to take away wrath. Adam and his children have sinned. Instead of being called children of God, they are by nature children of wrath, as it says in Ephesians 2-3. Now there are some cultures in Africa and Asia in which the oldest brother is given the role of priest for his family. While those cultures, they worship pagan deities, but Christ serves as the true high priest for his family, for all those who are believers. Cultural Christianity likes the idea of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, but there’s often an aversion to speaking about wrath, the wrath of God due to us for sin.
But the writer of Hebrews here doesn’t flinch from speaking of our greatest need for a second. Christ didn’t come just to identify with us, experience our pain, offer us a hug and an understanding nod. He does do all those things, but his most important identification with us is as our sin substitute. The role of a priest is to be a mediator between God and man. The priests in the line of Aaron fulfilled one essential qualification. They were fully human and part of the people of Israel. In a similar way, Christ had to become fully one of us, made like his brothers in every respect. And of course, God could not participate in sin himself, so Christ as God did not take on sin as a sinner. But instead he took on our sin and suffered the wrath of God for our sin in our place, says he made propitiation for the sins of the people.
Now the term says might become a merciful and faithful high priest. That term faithful in regard to a high priest, it doesn’t occur often. In fact, one of the few times we find it is in the passage we read earlier, 1 Samuel chapter 2, particularly verse 35. When God promises, I will raise up for myself a faithful high priest who shall do all that is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house and he will go in and out before my anointed forever. Believers are that house that God promised to build for his faithful high priest, Jesus. Now I don’t know if any of you were this generous, but my wife can recall a practice in her household in which growing up a very benevolent sibling could volunteer to suffer spankings that were due to another sibling.
Some of them amazingly took up that offer. I don’t think I would if it was offered in our family. But this is what Jesus, our older brother, who saves us from fear, does by taking away the wrath of God due to us for sin. With Christ as our older brother, we’re no longer children of wrath with the penalty for sin hanging over our heads. We’re children of God’s blessing and his pleasure. And now finally, as we close out our passage, the writer wants us to see one final benefit that our older brother Christ gives us. So number three, Christ as our older brother gives us freedom from facing temptation alone. Look at verse 18. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. I think the reason that the writer ends with this reason is because it touches on our most felt need.
We do need freedom from fear and freedom from wrath. But when we’re in the throes of temptation, those needs can sometimes feel quite distant. And I think sometimes we can think that Christ is distant from those needs, that we’re all alone facing temptation ourself. How could Christ, whose God, truly have felt and suffered temptation like we have? And yet we’re assured here in verse 18 that he has suffered when tempted. He is able to help those who are being tempted. We sometimes think that the better a person is, the less they understand about temptation. But I think that C.S. Lewis helpfully explains why that’s actually not the case. C.S. Lewis wrote, No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means.
This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. This is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life, always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. And Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.
The writer of Hebrews wants to leave us with this important knowledge that if Christ is your older brother, you’ll never face temptation alone. One of the biggest lies that the devil will tell you is that you’re on your own. Christ saved you, but now it’s completely up to you to not mess up what Christ did for you. It’s a lie from the devil. He wants you to feel distant from Christ because as soon as he can convince you that you’re on your own, it’s only a matter of time before you fall big time. You and I are no match for the devil in our own strength. He’s been tempting people for thousands of years. You need help from someone who’s got more wisdom and more power than the father of lies, the God of this world, the ancient serpent from a bold, the accuser of the brothers, all names that the Bible speaks of the devil.
You need an older brother. You need the ultimate older brother who’s gone ahead and experienced every temptation that you will face, but instead of falling to it, beat it. The writer of Hebrews began our passage in verse 10, looking at how Christ completed his work through suffering and ended in verse 18 by reminding us that that suffering included temptation, the same temptations that you and I are going through. And rather than being ashamed of his role, Christ is proud to call you his brother. When through faith, through him, by faith you share that same Holy Father that he does. He became human to be your big brother, your ultimate big brother, and take you by the hand every step of the way in this life, even right through the scary valley of the shadow of death and into the glory that awaits.
Amen. Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you have sent your Son to truly be one of us, to claim us as brothers, as sons of God. We thank you that you have not despised our estate, but you have been proud to come down and suffer for our sake to identify with us that you might bring us to glory. Lord, we ask that you would give us eyes to see, hearts to believe, and that we would walk by faith, united to the Son of God. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.
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