Philippians 2:1; Gospel Comfort

10/22 Philippians 2:1; Gospel Comfort; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20231022_philippians-2_1.mp3

Therefore [οὖν]

Paul begins chapter 2 (remember, there were no chapter breaks in the original); with ‘therefore’, this connects back to his main exhortation in chapter 1:27 that they live as citizens in full unity;

Philippians 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

We know this is his connection because picks up this same exhortation to unity in verse 2; be of the same mind, have the same love; he exhorts them to full Christian unity. But he starts by grounding their unity in a reflection on the gospel. He invites them to contemplate the benefits of the gospel, to savor together the good news which binds them together.

If Any [Εἴ τις]

He uses four ‘if’ statements, not implying that there is any doubt about the truth of the statements, but inviting them (and us) to reflect on our experience of these truths. It will be well worth our time to reflect on the benefits we have in Christ.

‘If any encouragement in Christ.’ These statements lack any verb; they are rapid-fire compressed statements each of which ought to elicit a response of joy from every believer, but the cumulative effect of all of them cascading together compels us to worship.

Encouragement [παράκλησις]

If any encouragement in Christ; the word translated ‘encouragement’ is [παράκλησις], from the root ‘to call alongside’; it can mean comfort, encouragement, or exhortation. In John 14-16, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as another Comforter or Helper, the Exhorter or Encourager. Jesus himself had been with them to exhort and encourage them, and he promises the Spirit will be with you, whose job it is to teach and to remind of the truth about Jesus.

Jesus himself is called the Helper or Advocate in 1 John 2 in the sense of a legal defense with the Father, the one who satisfies the wrath of God against our sins.

In Acts 9:31 the church was built up and multiplied because it was walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were listening to the exhortation and encouragement of the Spirit. Paul in Romans 15 points us to the encouragement of the Scritpures.

Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s encouragement throught the Spirit and through the Scriptures results in unity and harmony in the body with the goal of glorifying God together.

2 Corinthians tells us that the God of all comfort comforts us in all our affliction. God himself comes alongside us in our sufferings as we abound in Christ’s sufferings.

2 Thessalonians pairs comfort with hope, and being comforted with being established;

2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Comfort or exhortation to stand firm rooted in God’s love; permanent comfort paired with the good hope that comes from grace; comfort that results in good works and good words.

The author of Hebrews anchors strong encouragement in the objective truth of God’s word.

Hebrews 6:17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

This is no fuzzy intangible emotional support that makes us feel nice inside; this is real rock solid truth to stand on, objective encouragement and comfort to fortify and support us.

In Christ [ἐν Χριστῷ]

Where do we find this encouragement? It is located in a person. Do you find any encouragement, any comfort in Christ? Is there any specific comfort that you find in Christ?

Let me encourage you with some of the truths that are in Christ:

-Redemption is in Christ Jesus (Rom.3:24)

-We are alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom.6:11)

-Eternal life is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom.6:23)

-There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom.8:1)

-We are set free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Rom.8:2)

-The inseparable love of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom.8:39)

-We are one body in Christ (Rom.12:5)

-We are sanctified in Christ Jesus (1Cor.1:2)

-Grace is given to us in Christ Jesus (1Cor.1:4)

-Because of God’s choice we are in Christ Jesus; Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1Cor.1:30)

-We are a new creation in Christ (2Cor.5:17)

-We are reconciled to God in Christ (2Cor.5:19)

-We have freedom in Christ Jesus (Gal.2:4)

-We are justified in Christ (Gal.2:17)

-We are sons of God in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:26)

-We are one in Christ (Gal.3:28)

-We are faithful in Christ Jesus (Eph.1:1)

-We are blessed in Christ with every blessing (Eph.1:3)

-The immeasurable riches of God’s grace in kindness are toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:7)

-We are God’s masterpiece created in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:10)

-We have been brought near in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:13)

-We are fellow heirs, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Eph.3:6)

-God forgave us in Christ (Eph.4:32)

-We are saints in Christ Jesus (Phil.1:1; 4:21)

-God’s peace guards us in Christ Jesus (Phil.4:7)

-God’s supply of his riches in glory come to us in Christ Jesus (Phil.4:19)

-Our maturity is in Christ (Col.1:28)

-Grace, faith and love are in Christ Jesus (1Tim.1:14; 2Tim.1:13; 2:1)

-The promise of life is in Christ Jesus (2Tim.1:1)

-God’s purpose and grace have been given to us in Christ Jesus (2Tim.1:9)

-Salvation is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory (2Tim.2:10)
These are some of the benefits we have in Christ. How do we come to be in Christ? In chapter 3, Paul says knowing Christ, gaining Christ, being found in Christ means counting his own righteousness as worthless and receiving God’s righteousness by believing in Christ, trusting in Christ (Phil.3:7-9).

At the end of chapter 1 he said that their courage in the face of persecution was a sign of their salvation. They had courage because they were en-couraged in Christ.

Do you find any encouragement in Christ?

If Any Comfort of Love [εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης]

Any comfort of love? This word ‘comfort’ is similar to the word translated ‘encouragement’ and they overlap in meaning; in fact they are found several times together. In John 11, after Lazarus’ death, the Jews sought to console Mary and Martha.

In 1 Thessalonians we find the two words together;

1 Thessalonians 2:12 we exhorted [παρακαλοῦντες] each one of you and encouraged [παραμυθούμενοι] you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Exhort translates the word for encouragement; encourage translates this word for comfort or consolation. Encouragement or exhortation, comfort or consolation, and charging were different means of spurring the believers on to walk worth of God, to live lives consistent with the gospel. Both these words show up again in 1 Thessalonians 5;

1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge [παρακαλοῦμεν] you, brothers, admonish [νουθετεῖτε] the idle, encourage [παραμυθεῖσθε] the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Paul is urging or encouraging (that’s the first word – encourage) the believers to encourage (that’s the second word -comfort or console). It is the fainthearted who need comfort and consolation.

These two things are two of the goals of prophetic gifting. In 1 Corinthians 14, prophecy is defined as ‘speaking to people for their upbuilding and encouragement (or exhortation -that’s our first word) and consolation’ (that’s our second word).

Both of these words have a strengthening role, and both have an element of coming alongside to help.

Do you find any comfort or consolation from love? Whose love?

1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. …19 We love because he first loved us.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Galatians 2:20 …I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Have you received any consolation or comfort from God’s love?

If Any Fellowship of Spirit [εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος]

Any fellowship of Spirit? Paul used this word ‘fellowship’ back in 1:5 when he expressed his gratitude for their partnership in the gospel. As we saw there, this koinonia fellowship is a rich relational word that can mean fellowship, communion, participation, partnership. Fellowship means having things in common;

1 John 1:3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. … 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is the Holy Spirit who makes us one, creates fellowship with God and with one another.

1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Have you experienced any fellowship with the Holy Spirit, any fellowship with God and with others created by the Spirit?

If Any Affection and Sympathy? [εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί]

Any affections and sympathies? Paul had used this first word already:

Philippians 1:8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

This is a visceral emotionally potent word; it literally refers to guts or bowels, a gut-wrenching emotion in the pit of your stomach. Paul expresses his own emotions as a longing with the affections of Jesus. We see this word several times in the gospels when Jesus was moved with compassion or pity;

Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion [εσπλαγχνισθη] for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Bowels of mercies. Paul exhorts the believers in Colossae:

Colossians 3:12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts [σπλαγχνα οικτιρμου], kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

Put on compassionate hearts; literally bowels of mercy. Mercy or pity is something God extends to sinners who deserve only his wrath. Paul invites us to respond appropriately to the good news of the multiplied mercies of God.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

In 2 Corinthians he points to God as the origin of all mercy;

2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort [παρακλησεως],

A Plea for Unity

Are you a recipient of God’s tender mercies? Do you enjoy fellowship from the Holy Spirit? Have you received comfort from God’s love? Do you find any encouragement in Christ?

He specifically mentions Christ and the Spirit; he doesn’t mention the Father, however we know that love is from God (1Jn.4:7), that God is love (1Jn.4:16), that God loved in this way, that he gave his only Son (Jn.3:16). We know that YHWH is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex.34:6).

When you are reminded of these truths, what does this do in your soul? Paul’s desire is in line with Jesus’ own desire

John 17:11 …Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. …21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you… 22 …that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Philippians 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Meditate on these gospel truths and allow them to shape in you a heart for gospel unity.

***

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

Theology of the Incarnation: Humanity

12/15/13 Theology of the Incarnation; Humanity; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20131215_incarnation-humanity.mp3

We are taking a few weeks to stand in wonder at the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to know him, to know who he is, to know all that we can about him, so that we can worship him rightly. We are looking at probably the greatest mystery the universe has ever known, the theology of the incarnation, that God became a man. Last time we looked at the full deity of Jesus, that he always existed as God, fully possessing all the characteristics of God, equal to the Father and in perfect fellowship with his Father for all eternity. We saw Jesus as Creator of all that is, the divine Word who spoke everything into existence. We saw Jesus the omnipotent one, to whom all of nature and even the demonic hordes must bow, the sovereign one. Jesus, immortal, who has the power of life in himself, Jesus, all-knowing and unlimited by space and time. Jesus, the Son, sharing all the characteristics and attributes of deity with his Father, equally worthy to be worshiped with his Father.

Outline

Today we are going to look at Jesus in his humanity, and next week at how these two natures, humanity and deity, are united in one person forever. I want to warn you that these three messages go together and each one is incomplete without the others. Focusing on the divine nature of Christ to the neglect or dismissal of his true humanity is one of the earliest heresies of the Christian church. The Apostle John wrote:

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.

There were many in the early church who attempted to deny the full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. John calls them deceivers and against Christ. The early creeds put it this way: ‘Jesus …very God of very God, …who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, …and was made man’ (Nicea, 381). In order for Jesus sacrifice to be of infinite value to save us, he must be fully God. In order for Jesus to legitimately be our substitute he must be fully human. A savior not quite God is a bridge broken at the farther end; while a savior not quite man is a bridge broken at the nearer end (H.G.C.Moule, F.F.Bruce). The church fathers put it this way ‘remaining what he was, he became what he was not’. The Son of God, continuing in undiminished deity, became what he had never been before, a real human being. This is what the bible teaches.

The Supernatural Conception

John’s gospel tells us that the Word who was, who existed in the beginning with his Father, the Word who existed as God,

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word, the eternal I AM who had always existed became something he had never been before. He became flesh [σάρξ]. The invisible God became carnal, God who is spirit became embodied.

John tells us that the Word who became flesh is the only Son from the Father. We know Jesus as the Son of God, but that title is open to misinterpretation. The Jews expected a merely human messiah, and Greek mythology told of occasions where one of their many gods would come down and have relations with a mortal and produce superhuman offspring. John is careful to make it clear that Jesus does not fit into either of these categories. Jesus is not merely human, he is the self-existent God who created everything who became man. Neither is he some hybrid half-god half-man produced by an illicit relationship. He had always existed as God and this one, the eternal Son, has now become also fully human. Jesus is one of a kind, the only one who pre-existed with the Father. This one, really truly became flesh. He didn’t just appear in the form of a human, as angels sometimes do, he really truly became genuinely irreversibly human.

The angel Gabriel said it this way to Mary:

Luke 1:31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

You will conceive in your womb; that is how all babies are normally conceived. With a placenta and an umbilical cord, cells dividing, DNA replicating, organs and limbs developing. Morning sickness. Stretch marks. Movement. You will bear a son; not an alien, a baby boy. Birthed in the normal natural way. Labor pains, contractions, water breaking, umbilical cord cut, messy. The song is wrong; ‘no crying he makes’. With that first gulp of oxygen from this planet his lungs begin to function. He cried. He nursed. He burped. Spit up. Long sleepless nights. Messy diapers (or swaddling cloths).

Mary’s question was one of biology and morality.

Luke 1:34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God.

Mary’s question is ‘how will this be since I have not known a man? She understood what precedes conception, and for conception to take place, there has to be a father. This is the miracle. No human father would be involved. Her morality would remain intact. The Holy Spirit of God would supernaturally place the divine seed inside of her.

Matthew’s gospel records it this way:

Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew’s gospel, it is Joseph that has the questions. Mary is pregnant. He naturally assumes the worst.

Matthew 1:20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

He is assured that her purity is intact. The origin of this child is supernatural. The Word became flesh. But everything else about this child is as normal and natural as any other child. The birth is inconvenient. The timing is inopportune. The circumstances are terrible. The visitors were probably an awkward intrusion.

Natural Development

They had him circumcised on the eighth day (Lk.2:21), which tells us that he came with all the standard equipment that every other baby boy is born with. And I’m sure he cried then.

Luke tells us that his growth and development was normal and natural human development.

Luke 2:40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

He nursed. He had to be fed. He rolled over. He began to crawl. He stood up. He took his first step. He learned to eat. He learned to walk. He learned his aleph-bet. He was taught to be quiet in church. He was taught to read the Torah. He learned how to relate to other people. He learned how to relate to God. He had to grow up just like every other boy had to grow up. There was only one unique difference with Jesus. He never once sinned. In everything he pleased his heavenly Father. He got left behind in Jerusalem when he was 12. He was submissive to his parents.

Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Doctor Luke tells us that he developed intellectually, physically, spiritually and socially like every other human. The Quran and the non-biblical Infancy Gospel of Thomas have the boy Jesus doing mischievous miracles, cursing, healing, and breathing life into clay birds. But this clearly contradicts the historically reliable biblical accounts. When Jesus changed over 100 gallons of water into fine wine at the wedding in Cana, we are told this was the first of his signs (Jn.2:11). When he returned to his hometown of Nazareth claiming to be the fulfillment of Scripture, those who saw him grow up took offense at him.

Matthew 13:54 and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

Jesus was so normal, so ordinary, so familiar, so human, that his own townspeople refused to believe that he was anything more than a mere man.

Human Limitations

We see Jesus in the gospels as fully human. He thought, felt and acted in a fully human way. His human body was subject to the same limitations that we all have.

Jesus had an ordinary human mind. As we have seen, Jesus learned. He increased in wisdom. He asked questions in order to find out information he didn’t know. When a woman touched him in the crowd, he asked “who touched my garments?”. In conversation with a demon-possessed boy’s father, he asked “how long has this been happening to him?” In response to questions about the timing of the end of the age, Jesus said:

Mark 13:32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Jesus had ordinary human emotions. In John 11, we are told:

John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

At the death of his friend, not only did Jesus ask “where have you laid him?” but it says:

John 11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. … 35 Jesus wept.

When Jesus predicted that one of his own disciples would betray him, it says “Jesus was troubled in his spirit” (Jn.13:21). Looking toward the cross, he said “now is my soul very sorrowful, even to death” and he begged his Father to remove the cup from him (Mk.14:34-35). Luke tells us:

Luke 22:43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

From the cross, Jesus cried out:“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt.27:46).

Jesus had an ordinary human body. At the beginning of Matthew, we are told

Matthew 4:2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

And after the temptation, Jesus was so physically weak we are told:

Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well and asked her for a drink, it describes his physical condition this way:

John 4:6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

In Matthew 8, Jesus was so exhausted from a day of ministry that he was sleeping right through a great storm. After his scourging, Jesus was apparently so weak that the Roman soldiers compelled a man named Simon to carry his cross for him.

Jesus’ body was real. And he really died a violent human death of public execution. John tells us after his death,

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

Real physical human blood. Real physical human death. In a real physical human body. Mark tells us:

Mark 15:44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

A Roman centurion verified the real physical death of Jesus. His dead physical human body was taken down from the cross, wrapped in linen and laid in a tomb. The women came Sunday morning with spices to anoint the dead body of Jesus (Mk.16:1), because they fully expected that his body like any other dead physical body would begin to decompose and stink.

When Jesus presented himself alive to his followers, he made a point to demonstrate that he was really bodily physically there.

Luke 24:36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.

Providentially, Thomas was absent from this first appearance of the risen Jesus to his disciples. Thomas refused to believe unless he could handle real evidence.

John 20:26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

Jesus ascended bodily, physically into heaven, where he is now bodily, physically seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. He promised that he would bodily, physically return to this earth.

The Importance of His True Humanity

Why is this so important? Why do the gospel writers give so much evidence to demonstrate that Jesus was really truly human? According to the Apostle John, the true humanity of Jesus is essential to Christianity.

Substitution

The author of Hebrews gives us several reasons.

Hebrews 2:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

God the Son took on human flesh so that he could experience human death as a legitimate substitute for sinful humans. In order to die in the place of humans, he had to be himself human.

Hebrews 10:4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

Animal sacrifices could never take away sin, because animals are not human, created in the image of God. Jesus took on a human body so that he could substitute himself for us.

Hebrews 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

Jesus partook of flesh and blood so that he could destroy the consequences of sin, death, by dying. He did not become an angel to rescue angels. He became human to rescue humans.

Hebrews 2:17 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.

He had to (notice the language of necessity); he had to be made like his brothers in every respect (being sort of human or partially human would not be adequate; he had to be fully human); he had to be made like his brothers in every respect in order to carry out his role as our great high Priest making propitiation for sin. To bear the wrath of God against the sins of mankind, he had to be a man.

Sympathy

The next verse gives another reason he became a man.

Hebrews 2:18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Jesus really truly experienced temptation, so we can go to him for help when we are tempted.

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Because Jesus in every respect has been tempted as we are, we can confidently come to him to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Obedience

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 calls Christ the last Adam or the second man. Where Adam was placed in paradise with all of his needs met and he disobeyed, Jesus, driven into the wilderness and literally starving to death, fully obeyed his Father. He lived his whole life in perfect obedience. He was even obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Paul says in Romans 5:

Romans 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Because of Jesus’ perfect obedience as a man to his Father, his perfect righteousness as our substitute now makes us righteous.

Mediator

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

For Jesus to truly mediate and be the spokesman both for God and for men, he must be both fully God and fully man.

The old creed says it this way: (would you say it with me?)

[We believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made;
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org