The Messiah Made Like Unto His Brethren

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Hebrews 2:17
Psalters: 261, 235, 304, 243
  1. The meaning.
    1. Our text is speaking about God’s Son (1:3; 2:9,10).
    2. He is made like unto His “brethren.”
      1. Striking because these are, in themselves, not brethren.
      2. But God in predestination gave these these to Christ (John 17:2) as brethren of the Son (Rom. 8:29).
    3. So Jesus became a Jew, like them in all things.
      1. He took on Himself their flesh and blood, becoming essentially like them with their nature.
      2. The text emphasizes His likeness with the seed of Abraham because it adds: “in all things.”
  2. Such identification was necessary because of what He had to do: become the faithful High Priest.
    1. The High Priest must do things as the chief servant of God in the house of God.
      1. The “things pertaining to God” are the things which are toward God (10).
      2. He had to build the spiritual temple of God, the covenant, the kingdom of God in heaven.
    2. Also the High Priest must make reconciliation for the sins of the people (N.B. THE people).
      1. To reconcile is to expiate sin, to blot them out, to take their guilt away.
      2. To do this His suffering must be an act of obedience and love by the nature which sinned.
  3. A faithful High Priest must, above all things, be merciful.
    1. Mercy implies love, a love which delivers one out of greatest misery and gives joy and happiness.
    2. If Christ is to take on Himself the responsibility for His brethren, He must be like them.
    3. He is faithful in that He remained constant and true to the relationship with His brethren.
    4. Thus He, as your High Priest, comes out of the temple with a blessing: Go in peace, your sins are forgiven you.