Here the inspired writer of the Epistle, using the word "we" and associating himself with those whom he addresses, warns them against the danger of slipping away from those things which they had heard. They were the things which began to be spoken by the Lord Himself, and were afterwards confirmed to others by those who heard Him. Everything depends on the dignity and glory of the One who speaks. There was a special danger that the Hebrew Christians should look back to the system they had left, but this is most important for us also, for there is always a tendency to slip back; and we can only go on steadily in the Christian course in so far as we are fed by the Word of God, and Christ is livingly the object before the heart. This great salvation was not only first spoken by the Lord, confirmed to us by those who heard Him, but it was borne witness to by God by the various miracles and signs done in the power of the Holy Ghost. At the beginning of the Christian dispensation God was pleased to accredit the testimony of the Apostles by these outward marks and evidences of the truth of their mission.
Now it is a wonderful fact for us to consider that God always had men in view: He passed by angels and took up men. Our Lord Himself did not take angelic nature, but He became man—and He will retain this nature forever. And so the Apostle says, the millennial earth will not be subjected to angels, but to men. For this he quotes Psalm 8, where we learn that everything is to be subjected to man in the person of the Son of Man, that is Christ, who deigned to become man. This is a remarkable and interesting Psalm, part of which has been already fulfilled and part of which remains to be yet fulfilled. For Christ has already been made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honor; but all things have not yet been put under His feet. The Lord Himself refers to this at the end of John 1. Nathanael had just owned Him as Son of God and King of Israel according to Psalm 2; but the Lord in His answer carries Him on to Psalm 8, where, as Son of Man, He would be, on earth, the subject of the ministry of angels. But, while awaiting the millennial day of displayed glory, we see Jesus now by faith, crowned with glory and honor. "By the grace of God" He tasted death for every man. Let us note this expression. He did not taste death because of anything in Himself, for He was absolutely and wholly without sin in every way: it was in pure grace, for others. In chapter 1, Christ is viewed more especially as God; in chapter 2 as man; and there are various reasons here given why He became man. First, it "became" God—His glory required it—because there must be a sacrifice adequate to meet all His holy and just demands. And so it became Him, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the leader of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Needless to say, Christ was always perfect in Himself; but having taken up the cause of sinners, He must go through everything that God's glory demanded with regard to sin, cost what it might. And for Him the path lay right on through all the sufferings of the cross until He was the perfect Savior in resurrection. And having accomplished all, He brings His people into a place of wonderful nearness and blessing. For He, the Sanctifier, and we, the sanctified, are all "of one." It is not here a question of progress in sanctification, of being more sanctified today than a year ago, for example: though it be quite true in its place that the Christian should be more set apart to God each day. But in Hebrews 2, the writer is speaking of Christians as those who are absolutely sanctified or set apart to God. The words "of one" are a little peculiar, and the meaning is more to be apprehended by faith than explained in words. While Christ is absolutely without sin, and so infinitely above us, yet He deigns to bring these sanctified ones into the same position and place of privilege in which He is before God—He brings them into the place of children and members of the same family. And so we have the quotation from Psalm 22, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren: in the midst of the church will I sing praise onto Thee." In the Psalm, these words follow immediately after His death is brought in.
When the extreme point of suffering is reached—the "horns of the unicorns"—then He is "heard" in resurrection; and at once He adds, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren..." What wonderful grace! The moment He is heard in resurrection He owns them as His brethren, declares the Father's name, and leads their praises in the midst of the assembly. Is it not deplorable that many in the present day who have looked to Christ as the Savior have not even the certainty of their soul's salvation, and know little or nothing of the blessed relationship of children in the enjoyment of the Father's love? Yet in the very next quotation in our chapter, from Isaiah 8:17-1817And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. (Isaiah 8:17‑18), they are owned as children whom God has given Him.
And because these children were "partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." Now Scripture always carefully guards against supposing that Christ in any way participated in the evil nature which we possess as children of Adam—He partook of flesh and blood, was truly Man; but His was a holy nature, in no way tainted with sin. And because He was truly man, as well as God, and absolutely without sin Himself, His death could be efficacious as a sacrifice for sin. At the Fall, sin had come into the world, and with it, death; and Satan, who wielded the power of death, had got a kind of foothold on account of sin. Death is that which no man has ever been able to stand against; it was an unstormed fortress of the enemy's power, and man was held in bondage through fear of it. But Christ, having become man, has gone down into death, met and overcome Satan in the last stronghold of his power, and so set free those who through fear of death were held captive all the lifetime. In Revelation 1, we read that Christ has the keys of "[Hades] and of death." The "keys" signify authority: so that not one of His people can enter the unseen world and the domain of death without His permission; and as soon as His resurrection "shout" is heard they will come forth clothed in bodies of glory like His own.
The Lord Jesus did not take angels by the hand so as to help them—no, He took up men. From eternity God always had men in view. Christ took up "the seed of Abraham": and we know the true seed were the elect remnant, who had faith as Abraham had. He was "made like unto His brethren": this primarily refers to the company of elect Jews just referred to; though in principle it applies to us also. And then the last reason here given why He became man was in order that He might "make [propitiation] for the sins of the people." Sin had to be atoned for, for God was absolutely holy. In the type of old, on the great day of atonement, once in each year, the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, before and on the throne, in the presence of God. In Christ, the antitype far surpasses the type; for He entered heaven with His own blood, which is of infinite value and eternal efficacy before God. Having, then, laid the basis for every blessing in His work of propitiation, He is able to help those who are in trial. Being a man and having passed through this world with all its trials and sorrows—having suffered; meeting all the reproach and scorn of men; He is able to succor those who are tempted. With Him there was nothing within to answer to the temptation presented from without: He never for a moment yielded: on the contrary the very presentation of temptation caused suffering to His holy soul. But Jesus felt all as only a heart filled with infinite love and tender compassion could feel; and He is therefore perfectly qualified to sympathize with and to succor those who are tempted.