This morning we’re continuing in our study of the Book of Hebrews… specifically Hebrews 2:10-18…a book that was written primarily to a group of Jewish converts who were suffering hardship and persecution because of their faith in Jesus.
When talking about suffering and persecution it’s important to remember that the idea that God achieves divine purposes through suffering can be taken in directions that is theologically problematic.
Could preach a whole series on suffering…there’s no shortage of people wanting you to know why God allows suffering…persecution…tragedies… everybody has an answer to justify why things are the way they are.
Read a man’s response to why his young daughter died of a cerebral hemorrhage: he accepted this as God’s will and plan…terrible theology…it’s terrible logic.
There’s always the temptation to assign sudden unexplainable suffering to the judgement of God or ‘it must have been God’s will for their lives.’
When people are unable to accept the reality that death happens…when they can’t cope with death especially if it was meaningless it’s easier to accept it if we can put an explanation for it…because honestly…humanly speaking…at times there is no reason or logic for why things happen.
As a pastor I can go into the whole theological discussion that sin ultimately results in death…that all have sinned and therefore everyone will at some time die…people hurting are not interested in my seminary answer.
They want to know the why and because there is no logical explanation, they produce one…people can live with an exclamation mark behind what has happened…but not a question mark…for many…a bad reason is better than no
reason at all.
Read a story about a man whose family member died in a car accident…he came to the conclusion that God was punishing him for not going to church…
TWO THINGS:
ONE…God does not punish Christians…there is a difference between discipline/chastisement…and punishment. They are not the same…problem is people want to lump discipline and punishment under one term: suffering.
Suffering and discipline are not the same thing.
We are tempted to believe that suffering is a punishment for sin but the Bible is clear that the amount of suffering a person endures is not proportional to their sin…if it was you’d be in a whole lot worse shape that you are now…Christians need to know and accept that God has a purpose in all our sufferings.
There are a couple reasons why God does permit suffering, maybe even causing it because He has a purpose that has nothing to do with discipline…then why?
1. Show God’s Glory
In John 9, Jesus encounters a man who has been blind from birth. The disciples ask Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?”
‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him’.
2. Bring Us Closer to God
It’s easy to become complacent in our relationship with God…suffering helps us to lean on God and improves our character…sometimes suffering is for this reason rather than as the result of any poor choices.
3. A Result of Following Christ
Here is the case of these Hebrew Christians. They are suffering as a result of their faith…John 15:18, Jesus says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” Christians face discrimination, persecution, and even death for their faith. In this case, the bad things that happen are because the Christian is doing something right.
BUT in the end…the Bible doesn’t give us any specific reasonsfor sufferings so in many cases it’s hard to put a reason for it.
Suffering is normal in a fallen world…the reality is the world is broken and we can see the effects of that brokenness all around us…the most obvious effect is death.
Many people—including Christians, adopt a distorted view of God and suffering …that God is out to wreck people’s lives…this is why we need to have an accurate theology of suffering.
Here’s the meaning and promise of Hebrews 2:10-18…the incarnate, crucified, and glorified Jesus is with us…to help us in everything that we go through, even when it makes no sense to us.
God gets credited for things He doesn’t do…and He gets blamed for things He doesn’t do
In the case of the Hebrews they were under intense pressure to turn away from Christ and return to Judaism to avoid further persecution not only from the Jews…the government… but from family as well.
For the past couple weeks, we have been looking at what the author has to say regarding Jesus’ supremacy over every other created thing…which is one part of the universal theme in Hebrews…His once-and-for-all sacrifice of taking away the sins of the world is superior to Old Testament animal sacrifices and rituals.
Beginning in [14] the author begins to make the defense for why Jesus is superior to angels.
[Heb. 2:10-18] uses a collage of images to show Jesus’ superiority…there are four pictures in this collage:
First, it pictures Jesus as the pioneer of salvation (2:10)
In the Greek the phrase “founder of their salvation” ἀρχηγὸν τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν is difficult to translate…it’s translated a number of different ways depending on which translation you’re reading from:
…pioneer of their salvation (NIV)
…a perfect leader (NLT)
…author of their salvation (NASB)
…captain of their salvation (KJV)
The phrase carries the idea of Christ being our trailblazer, and our model…this analogy is seen throughout the New Testament [1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1; Col. 1:18].
Second picture is Jesus as our brother (2:12-13).
The image here is like when you’re a child and you have older siblings and they’re preparing to hang out with their friends and you want to come along …the result can be embarrassing to your older brother or sister who want nothing to do with having you around.
Jesus says…that’s not the case with Me… ‘He is not ashamed to call them brethren.’ [11]
Third picture is Jesus as a liberator (2:14-16).
Starting in [14] the author now introduces the ‘therefore’ statement…two times in the second chapter the writer uses the word ‘therefore’ …and as you know any time you see the word ‘therefore’ in Scripture always ask yourself ‘what is it there for’ …a word that is used extensively in the New Testament …with over 500 occurrences.
In the previous verses the writer of Hebrews explained that the Messiah could not be an angel because angels cannot experience human suffering so they can’t be an example for people to follow.
BUT…as a man Jesus therefore is able to do exactly that:
14Therefore since the children share in flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 Therefore He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people—He might make propitiation for the sins of the people— (NIV) 18Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
Want to talk about the word ‘propitiation’ …in Scripture there are a lot of words that are confusing to understand…redemption / sanctification / justification / regeneration / glorification / reconciliation / ordination / atonement / propitiation
Often times we gloss over these words because of not understanding the importance of the word in the context in which it is used…[v17] says:
To make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Propitiation…a word that is used only four three times [Rom 3:25; 1Jn 2:2; 4:10; Heb 2:17] in the entire New Testament… in the Greek it’s just one-word (ἱλάσκομαι) but it takes four words to translate into English… ‘to make propitiation for.’
Here’s the importance of propitiation…reconciliation is between God and us…it’s the restoration of friendly relations.
Propitiation is solely from God…it carries the idea of appeasing or pacifying God’s wrath toward the sinner…God Himself has provided the only means through which His wrath can be appeased…Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.
For those who recognize the name Jonathan Edwards he preached a sermon in 1741 that has become one of the most popular sermons in American history… “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.
The preaching of this sermon was so convicting that it became the single catalyst for the First Great Awakening…aseries of Christian revivals that sweptacrossBritain and the thirteen North American colonies in the 1700s.
In this sermon Edwards paints a picture of God that is so angry at sin, and those that live in it, that He stands at the ready to cast men into hell at any moment should they continue down the path they are currently on.
That’s contrary to many in the church today…people not accepting the idea that when people sin they arouse the wrath of God [Rom. 1:18] …and actually become enemies of God [Rom. 5:10].
As result of the fall…there are three kinds of death: …spiritual death…physical death…and the second death…through Jesus’ death He rendered Satan who has the power of death powerless …and in doing so freed us from the slavery and fear of death.
That’s the significance and truth contained in [v 17] that cannot be over-emphasized.
God in the Person of the eternal Son became a man…sharing in our mortal, human make-up of flesh and blood…if Jesus had not become a man…by becoming mortal with human flesh and blood…our redemption would not have been possible.
The fourth picture is Jesus as the high priest (2:17-18).
Hebrews punctuates the idea that God has favored mankind above the angels… that is why Scripture says…He does not give help to angels [16] because angels are not human, they are unable to suffer temptations in the same way we do, that’s why angels are unable to make propitiation for the sins of people.
Christianity is the only faith that has a Savior, everything else relies on the good works of the follower.
[v 17] presents the reason why Jesus had to become human…why He had to be made like His brethren in all things [17] …only in His humanity could Jesus experience the same things normal people do.
Because He himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able
to help those who are being tempted (Hebrews 2:18).
There are many differences between Christianity and every other religion in the world. But the main difference and the thing that makes Christianity far superior to anything else is Jesus.
No other religion offers consolation such as this…Jesus stepped out of His home in heaven and into humanity to redeem mankind from the power of sin that held us captive.
He underwent suffering and temptation in this world which is a benefit to us…
TWO WAYS
ONE…because He has endured the same suffering…trials…and temptations… He is able to help those who are enduring the same things…He is equipped and able to empathize (or, feel what we feel) when we suffer in this world…because He too suffered.
TWO… [v. 10-18] offers four ways that ‘He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.’ [18] …these verses are looking at four different types of people and their needs:
…People in need of a future
…People in need of belonging
…People held captive by powers beyond themselves
…People who are sinners in need of atonement
Depending on your translation the word in [18] might be translated as ‘aid’ or ‘help’ …the meaning in the Greek has a much stronger flavor than the English.
The word ‘aid’ or ‘help’ in the Greek implies a deeper and more meaningful type of aid…the ideas of comfort and rescue are bound up in this word.
In the Greek we see Jesus’ response in coming to the aid during times of temptation…and to the aid of those four types of people I just mentioned.
It’s like describing the way a parent would soothe a crying child by providing exactly what is needed…Jesus doesn’t merely aid or help us when we are tempted …He offers us all of the comfort and support we could ever need.
Everything goes back to [10] He is the perfect author of salvation through suffering…His suffering and death was the only way to restore people into a relationship to God.
This verse is both wonderful and troublesome. It is wonderful because we are told that God is going to bring many sons to glory…in the Greek word ‘son’ can also be anyone sharing the same nature as their Father.
These 18 verses are a glimpse of the marvelous hopes we have in Christ…God: 1) going to absolve us for our sins …2) grant us eternal life…3) we are going to be glorified…we are going to become radiant reflections of God Himself.