16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 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.

Just to review real quick, in this last section of Hebrews 2 (verses 10-18), we’ve been looking at Five effects of Jesus’ death. 

When we zoom in on the death of Christ, what did it really accomplish? 

(And personally, I’m glad we ended up breaking this section up instead of knocking it all out in one week. Because, really slowing down and looking at each one of these, has given me a greater understanding and appreciation for the cross. And I pray it’s been doing the same for you as well, and will do the same again this morning.)

But so far, we’ve covered that:

Through his death Jesus:

1. Adopted us into God’s family

2. Destroyed the devil 

3. Delivered us from the fear of death

And today we’ll look at one more which is:

1. He became our high priest

Jesus as our high priest, is a concept that the author will continue to expand on at length in the chapters ahead.

As a matter of fact he uses this special title for Jesus 17 times throughout the book! 

It’s literally mentioned in every chapter starting here, then all the way through chapter 10!

So this won’t be the last time we talk about this. There are many different facets of his priesthood that we’ll uncover in the weeks to come.

But today, I just want to lay a foundation for what it even means.

Because frankly it’s not something we commonly associate with Christ in our day to day.

When you pray, you might often thank him for being our provider (maybe even daily during meals), for being our protector, or savior of course… But my guess is, you don't usually just jump straight to “Thank you Jesus for being my high priest.”

For some of you when I say priest your mind starts picturing some guy in a black and white robe…

So what really is a high priest? Why do we need one?

These verses will give us some answers, but in short, if we didn’t have a high priest, if we didn’t have a representative… it’d be as if we were standing before God the judge with a record of all our sin and no attorney. 

Understanding how Jesus functions as our high priest is at the core of the gospel message. 

So this morning I hope to de-mystify it a bit for you and on top of that I hope this does become an aspect of Jesus that we think about often and really cherish.

So let’s jump into it starting with verse 16.

16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 

Okay, here we go again. The author is back on the angel thing. So let me jog your memories.

Remember, we read back in Ch.2, that angels were the messengers of the old covenant. 

The Hebrew audience would’ve held them in high esteem.

Like Jacob said a few weeks ago, in their minds, the chain of command would’ve been something like:  God - Angels - Moses - Israel

And the author already argued “You can’t demote Jesus down to anything less than God!” 

• He is the exact imprint of the nature of God (V3)

• He is far superior to the angels. (V4) 

• He is at the top of the chain!

... But also, for our sake, he came to the bottom of the chain. (as we saw in 2:9)  

… who for a little while was made lower than the angels. – The incarnation.

He was God. He was man. 

The author has already explained this, so why bring this up again now? 

It’s fitting because (again the theme of the morning) he’s about to introduce Jesus as our high priest. And there was a criteria for that according to chapter 5, namely:

 In order to be a high priest, you had to be human! (Shocking I know)

Hebrews 5:1-2 For every high priest chosen from among men (not angels)  is appointed  to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 

So as obvious as it may seem: To be the representative of humanity, you need to be human.

It reminds me of the old phrase: “It takes one to know one.”

In order for Jesus to be our high priest, in order for him to truly understand the weakness of the human race… he had to become a part of it.

It wouldn’t have been sufficient for Him to just drop down a level, to that of an angel, because angels can’t represent humans. They’re different creatures. 

AND… it wasn’t the plan for Jesus to become the representative of angels. 

Which again is why it says:

16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 

Jesus didn’t become an angel to represent angels, he became a human to represent humans.

And which humans more specifically? … it says:

“He helps the offspring of Abraham.”

Who is that again? Does that mean Jesus only helps the biological descendants of Abraham?

No, this phrase isn’t just a reference to national Israel, but anyone who puts their faith in Jesus. 

Just using the terms from this section, he’s talking about:

• The adopted sons (v10) 

• Those who are sanctified (v11)

• The “brothers” (v12) 

• The children God has given him (v13)

The children of Abraham are children by faith not ethnicity.

The apostle Paul clarifies this in Galatians 3:6-9

6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 

(I love that detail, this was the plan all along since back in Genesis 12:3) 

9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Not to hammer this point too long but, Romans 4:9-11 is another good cross reference on the subject if you want to jot that down or check it out later.

I will mention though on a serious note, this is still a conditional statement! 

It doesn’t say that He helps all humans, always. 

The opportunity to be a son of Abraham is without distinction but not without exception. 

Meaning it doesn’t matter your race or ethnicity, the invitation to have Jesus as your high priest is available to all.

BUT it only applies to those who put their trust in Jesus for salvation. 

IF you reject Christ’s payment for your sin on the cross, THEN he does not stand as your representative before God.

Which I believe is the scariest position you can be in.

We’ll get a glimpse into why that is in verse 17, so let’s continue.

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest 

Again, we already covered that he had to become a man, but now it adds “in every respect.” 

He became like us in every way but without sin of course. 

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.

What makes Jesus a MERCIFUL high priest is that he knows first hand how it feels to go through what we go through.

Some people argue that Jesus still can't completely sympathize with us because he never actually sinned…

I like the way C.S. Lewis responds to that he said:

Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later…and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means

He was tempted

He felt emotions  – “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) 

He felt pain

Which enables him to act mercifully towards us.

You should find great comfort this morning in the fact that your high priest knows how it feels. 

Moving on it says:

… and faithful high priest in the service of God,

Here’s a SHIFT! So far it’s been all about how Jesus became like us, and is merciful to us, But God the father must be considered. There are two parties involved here.

A high priest represents man to God.

So in what way did Jesus serve God the father as a faithful high priest?!

He made  propitiation for the sins of the people. 

Propitiation: To appease God’s wrath and turn it to favor. (2x)

So what God wants in all this is a restored relationship with his people. The problem is, because he’s perfectly just, he has no choice but to store up wrath towards our sin.

 If he let evil off the hook, he wouldn’t be just.

So Jesus’ role towards God the father was to appease His wrath.

I just want to pause and say it’s heartbreaking to think about how many people are oblivious to the wrath of God.

It’s heartbreaking how we as believers grow cold to the fact that people all around us, who don’t have Jesus, are under the wrath of God.

The reality is clear in:

Romans 2:5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

This is why having Jesus as our high priest is so vital! 

Because the way the bible portrays it, we are all standing guilty before God, who is full of wrath. 

And we either have Jesus standing in the gap saying “wait, wait, he’s mine!” Or we don't.

This is why, every year, throughout the OT (before the cross), God demanded the high priests to sacrifice a bull for their sin and a goat for the sin of the nation, in order to show them that a penalty must be paid.

 But all the while none of these fully appeased God. Each sacrifice only served as a temporary covering.

Hebrews 10:1-4  1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near…4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

But you know who does? As John the baptist famously identified him… 

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

But removing the sins of the whole world came at a great cost.

In the garden of Gethsemane as Jesus was sweating blood, he begged, “Father let this cup pass from me.” 

And then a few moments later rebuked Peter who had drawn his sword saying “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” John 18:11

What was in the cup? The cup represented the wrath of God. 

Not only did Jesus endure the cross in a physical sense but he also bore the wrath of God almighty. The wrath that I deserved and that you deserved. 

But instead, our high priest didn’t just make an offering, He became the offering!… As the once for all sacrifice that completely appeased God’s wrath.

Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

I hope it’s clear now why you need Jesus as your high priest. 

And I hope you can further appreciate:

• How he became like us, in order to represent us.

• How He understands our temptation, and has mercy on us.

• How He gave himself up for us, to appease the wrath of God that we deserved.

And I lovingly want to remind you once more, that He only does this for the offspring of Abraham. 

This great mediator only represents those who recognize their sin and call out to him for saving.

If you haven’t done that yet there's nothing stopping you from crying out to him right now as we worship.

Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”