I reckon there is nothing like having a big brother. It’s not your parents, who are a generation removed from your situation. Your big brother has had to survive in today’s world. They are going through life a bit ahead of you, learning everything that will become immediately relevant to you. When you want to drive, they already can. When you want a girlfriend, they’ve already got one. They can teach you, protect you, and look after you.
I am a big brother. But I would have loved to have had a big brother of my own, a young man a few years ahead of me, my own flesh and blood, who had already worked out how to navigate a world full of problems, and helped me do so; if you’re a man, someone who could show you what it was to be a man; if you’re a woman, having a man who loves you in a brotherly way, by protecting you and looking after you. Someone who might keep us from tumbling into a pit of our own stupidity, and pick me up when I fall.
It’s the beautiful sentiment that sits behind this song, 'He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Brother' by B Scott and B Russell, performed by ‘the Hollies’.
Don’t we want someone like that? Who will put his big strong arm around us and say, ‘I know where you’ve been and where you’re going, because I’ve been there myself and come out the other side. I will make sure you will be alright, too’.
Hebrews says we have such a big brother. Who is one of us, our own flesh and blood, who is a bit ahead of us, who has our best interests at heart, who will help us navigate a world full of pitfalls, and who will be there for us as our brother: Jesus Christ. He is not ashamed to call us ‘brothers’. Including you girls, you are his brothers, too, because you are his co-heirs.
Last week we saw that Jesus is the best, most perfect revelation of God. Jesus is the very image and exact picture of God, because he is God the Son. He made all things, upholds all things, and inherits all things. The Old Covenant came through angels, but Jesus is bigger and better than any angel. For Jesus is God the Son himself, whose throne will last forever and ever.
But Jesus also became a little lower than the angels for a little while. Jesus is infinitely higher than the angels because he is God. But Jesus also became man. And humans do not have the physical power or glory that the angels do.
When we look at ourselves, we see part glory and part ruin. We’re about to see all these young, fit, wonderful athletes at the Olympic games. They can run, jump, swim, lift weights, spin and twirl. Yet, this is only a snapshot for a brief period of time. They are magnificent…. now. But soon they will be like the rest of us.
Remember Carl Lewis, that magnificent US athlete, who went to 5 Olympics and won 9 Gold Medals? He now has arthritis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis.
Remember Florence Griffith Joyner, who still holds the World Record for the 100 and 200 metre sprint for women, after 24 years? She died in 1998 of an epileptic fit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Griffith-Joyner.
We are magnificent, but only briefly. We are supermen, but only in our dreams.
Think of Christopher Reeve. Recently I saw parts of the Superman movies when they came on TV. Christopher Reeve visually is a cut about the rest. The rest of the cast look so 1980s, but not him. He looks timeless, and so ridiculously handsome.
But the reality is, that as magnificent looking as he was, he wasn’t really superman. In real life, he fell off a horse and became a quadriplaegic. And now he has died. All that magnificence gone. That is the tragic irony.
Don’t we wish there was a real superman, who fights for truth, justice, and, well, perhaps not the American Way, but for God’s Way? Who cares properly and wisely for God’s world? We want a superman?
And Psalm 8 says that we had one. Our Superman was Adam as God originally made him. Adam was created as the super-man. God put him above all his creation: the moon, the stars, the animals, the birds, the fish. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 7:
You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honour and put everything under his feet. (NIV)
Here is Man as God created him. A little lower than the angels[1] in power for a little while, though not ultimately, because in the end, we will judge angels (1 Corinthians 5:3). Indeed, as far as the earth is concerned, not much less than God, because he is made in God's image, ruling over the rest of God’s created order. Man is crowned king, with everything under his feet.
Then why do young surfers get eaten by sharks off West Australia? Why does the Eco Warrior, Steve Irwin, get killed by the sting ray he is trying to protect? Why do 500 asylum seekers, made in God's image also, drown at sea trying to get to Australia? And why do the ones who have the blessing of having got here, die on our roads, or of cancer, heart attacks, strokes. And if we receive the blessedness of growing old, we die of winter ills. And all of us get eaten by fire or worms in the end, unless Jesus comes back first.
If creation is under our feet, sometimes it’s a trapdoor. At any moment it will swing open to consume us.
Human rule over creation is a wrestle. And we beat creation back for a while. But creation gets us in the end. To dust we return.
Because Psalm 8 reflects Man as God created him to be, but not as man is now. Because of our sin, we die.
The author of the Hebrews observes this tension. Chapter 2 verse 8:
In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at the present we do not see everything subject to him. (NIV)
The world is not properly subject to us. It is like an unruly, disobedient, ungrateful teenager, that tells us to get stuffed, and then bites us. And the author of the Hebrews recognizes this tension.
Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. (NIV)
'At present…': very important words. Because, in verse 5, there is a world to come. Our salvation consists of a future world God is bringing in. And that future world will not to be subjected to angels. It will be subjected to Jesus Christ, the Son of Man to be worshipped by all nations and peoples, and even angels (Daniel 7:13-14). And this coming world will be ruled by him and his brothers, those children he takes to himself to share his inheritance with.
And do you know, the future world has come into the present? Because the future man has come and gone back and will return. And did this new Adam, Jesus, the future man, rule over creation? Yes. Verse 9:
But we see Jesus…
When Jesus came to earth, the fish willingly jumped into fishing nets for him. The wind and the waves were obedient before him. Both angels and demons did his bidding. Sickness and death fled with his touch and his word. The stars announced his birth, the sun hid it’s face at his death. At last we saw the works of God's fingers in the service of the Son of Man, as they should be.
Jesus is Adam as he was meant to be, sinless, holy, in right relationship with God, and so ruling over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and everything the God made.
Yet he died. And that fact has not escaped the Author to the Hebrews. Verse 9 again:
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour, because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (NIV)
Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for a little while. Not just in his incarnation but also in his suffering and death. Jesus did not just become human, but dead human. That's a lot lower than the angels. But it was only for a little while. Lower than the angels for a little time. 33 years in his incarnation, and 3 days and nights in his death Why? Verse 9 again.
So that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (NIV)
Jesus’ death is for us. So Jesus' death takes the sting out of death for us. Yes, unless Jesus’ returns first, we will die. But he takes the terror out of death for us. For Jesus’ experience of death was wholly for our benefit, So that our death is simply the doorway to eternal life. Jesus’ death gives an opportunity for everyone. It shows God’s grace to everyone, for God makes a gracious offer to everyone. And anyone who trusts in Jesus can benefit from his tasting death for everyone.
We so much want someone to understand us. To know what it’s like to be us and stand in our shoes for a while.
And that is what we have. For we have Jesus our big brother, who says of each believer. ‘He’s not heavy… He’s my brother’. Verses 10 to 11:
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. (NIV)
God is bringing many sons to glory. That’s you and me, believers in Christ. We are not merely servants in God's house, as Moses was: we are sons. Even you ladies, because as sons, you are heirs.
Jesus makes us brothers. For he is the author of our salvation. The word translated by the NIV as ‘author’ means ‘leader’, ‘pioneer’, ‘he who is first’, ‘he who stays at the head’. We might say ‘big brother’ (compare Hebrews 12:2; Acts 3:15; 5:31). Jesus is the author of our salvation. Jesus had to do something his little brothers couldn’t do for themselves. And at the same time , Jesus is at the head of a column of pilgrims, leading them on the path to eternal glory.
Jesus was ‘made perfect through suffering’. Jesus’ ‘perfection’, ‘completion’ or ‘maturity’ (Hebrews 5:8-9; 7:28; 12:2) doesn’t mean Jesus was morally imperfect. Jesus wasn’t sinful, and then as a result of suffering became perfect. Jesus was always without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Rather, Jesus became perfectly qualified for the task God had given him. And that required his suffering. Jesus completely prepared himself to perform the task we need him to perform. Because Jesus had to become our eternal and immortal Mediator, Representative and High Priest before his Father. He must ever live to intercede for us. And so that Jesus Christ could perform this office, Jesus had to become human; he had to take on ‘flesh and blood’; he had to be tempted; he had to suffer and die for our sins; and he had to rise from the dead overpowering death. Only this way could Jesus become an indestructible high priest for us.
So Jesus, to represent us, has to be one of us. He must have solidarity with his people. The Son brings many sons to glory (Hebrews 1:2; 2:10). We children share the same family. The pioneer ploughs the path and takes us by the hand to lead us to heaven[2].
They say that blood is thicker than water. And Jesus is our flesh and blood, one with us. And he is not ashamed of us. You might be ashamed of yourself for what you have done. But because of our salvation through faith and his atoning death and resurrection, Jesus is not. He owns us as his brothers. His not ashamed of us because he tasted death for us.
So far the Author to the Hebrew has observed three things. First, Jesus shared our humanity. Second, Jesus experienced death for us. And third Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God as King.
This is how Jesus Christ, our big brother won our salvation for the world to come. By his incarnation, death and resurrection, he is bringing many sons to glory, become the author of our salvation and has now tasted death for everyone.
But in chapter 2 verses 14 and 15, the author of Hebrews says Jesus has defeated death and the devil, and so set us free from the devil and our fear of death.
How did the Son destroy the devil and his power? How did his plan to become human, die and rise for us work to overthrow the devil?
Well, this is how.
After becoming human, Jesus died for our sins. The Author to the Hebrews has so far said this in a few different ways. Jesus provided purification for sins (1:3). Jesus through his suffering makes men holy (2:10-11). Jesus made atonement (or propitiation) for the sins of the people (3:17).
What does the devil have to do with this? Well, the devil cannot accuse us anymore. The devil's modus operandi, his mode of operations, is this. First, he lies and deceives and tempts us to sin. ‘Go on, you want to sin, you know you do.’ And then, second, after we’ve sinned, the devil says, 'See, you suck, you’re disgusting, you’re sinful, you deserve to be sent to hell.' So first he tempts us to sin and then accuses and condemns us for our sin. He’s is the worst backstabbing, hypocritical murderous traitor known to man.
Jesus defeats the devil by removing the grounds of the devil’s accusation against us. Jesus by his atonement, by his propitiation, which is his sacrificial death on the cross, has made us holy. Christ has sanctified us by his death. This is not the process by which we are made more and more holy in this life as we put to death sins and live God’s way. Rather, Jesus wins for us what theologians call 'definitive sanctification', by which we are washed and cleansed and set apart from our sins for God by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is what God has done for us, not what God is doing in us. So now, because of Jesus’ death, by faith we are washed and cleansed and sanctified in God’s sight.
And so our sins are dealt with. ‘What sins?’, says God. 'I remember your sins no more.' They are removed, we are separated from them, so that we are now dedicated to God’s service.
So the devil’s got no dirt on us any more. We’ve got Teflon on, instead of Velcro. The devil’s accusations don’t stick anymore. So his power as the accuser of the brethren, is gone.
Second, Jesus rose again defeating death. He submitted to death, and once death had swallowed him whole, he smashed a whole through death and emerged alive out the other end. Death could not swallow Jesus because he was sinless.
Ever since Adam, humans have looked at death as the wages of our sin. We die because we sin. And we rightly fear it, because death is punishment. It is not just the process of death, the pain, the loss of everything, of which we are afraid. But also, deep down, we know that worse awaits us after death because of our sin. For it is destined for man to die once, and after that face judgment. And God is a consuming fire. And so what awaits us after death is a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume God’s enemies (10:27)
But Jesus defeated death. And having removed our liability to hellfire, we need not fear death. God is not our wrathful judge who will punish us his enemies. Rather, we are of the same family as Jesus (Hebrews 2:11). We are family, my brothers and sisters and me. We are the children God has given Jesus (Hebrews 2:13). Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers. Jesus is our leading brother, the pioneer and author of our salvation, and we are his brothers. We are sons of God because of the Son of God. So now in Christ God is our loving heavenly father, not a consuming fire.
So we are no longer in slavery through our fear of death. Suffering and death is the way Jesus went home to his Father. And now he is at the right hand of God ruling the world until everything is brought into subjection to him And suffering and death is the way we go to Jesus our Brother and God our Father.
Big brothers survive driving tests, HSCs, universities, TAFEs, jobs, getting married, having kids, growing old. Mostly they seem to survive, despite everything. Hey, maybe we can get through it too! And our big brother Jesus went through death, and emerged the other side. And he says to us, ‘Don’t worry. It’s not too hard now! By the grace of God I’ve tasted death for everyone. And I came out the other side. The same will happen to you. And I will be on the other side, on your side.
Death has lost it’s power over us, and with it, the accuser, the slanderer, the devil.
And now Jesus will help us deal with the devil’s temptations. He knows the pain of temptation. Because Jesus took everything the devil could throw at him. For 40 days and 40 nights, the devil with all his cunning tried to tempt Jesus into sinning. And Jesus, weakened through his extreme fast, did not yield a millimeter. And at the end of it, Jesus came through, and the devil failed. And God our Father and the Risen Jesus, who made us, sustain us, purified us, cleansed us, and know us better than we know ourselves say to us. I will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. And when you are tempted, I will provide you a way out so that you can stand up under it.
So friends, what are we to do? We are to ‘fix our thoughts on Jesus’, our brother. We are to hold on to our courage, and not depart from Jesus. We are to trust him and therefore face death and the devil as defeated foes. We are not to return to the fear of death and the devil. And we are to think of God as our Father, Jesus as our Brother, and the church as Family.
Let’s pray.
[1]In verse 5, the word translated ‘heavenly beings’ (NIV) is literally ‘God’ or ‘gods’ in the Masoretic (Hebrew) Text. As a result, the LXX (Septuagint; Gk translation c 200 BC) translated it ‘angels’. Hebrews picks up the LXX translation. Psalm 8:4-6 initially refers to Adam as a commentary on Genesis 1:26-28. However, it is also a ‘Messianic Psalm’, in that it refers to a future coming Messiah (compare Jesus’ use of the ‘Son of Man’ title). Therefore, it talks about the coming of the ‘ultimate man’, the Messiah, who will be ‘crowned with glory and honour’ and has ‘everything put under his feet’.
[2] Hebrews 2:16 ‘takes hold of’; cf Hebrews 8:9. The word translated ‘took hold of’ by the hand to lead Israel from Egypt in 8:9 is the same word translated ‘helps’ in 2:16.