Hebrews: The New Covenant Administration of Christ Max A Forsythe (c) Anno Domini 2002

From the Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Presbyterian Church in America

“For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.  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.  For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted”

Introduction:  In the grand scheme of Tolkien’s Middle Earth there is no specific savior.  Certainly there are the seven wizards, one of which is Gandalf the Grey, who like the other “messengers” have a job to do in moving the providential events along towards a blessed and happy ending.  But even given the “resurrection” theme of Gandalf’s “remaking” as the White Wizard  the essential character leaves him still little more than a sentient being with magical powers.  J.R.R. Tolkien like his contemporary story teller C.S. Lewis was very careful to clarify his characters as distinct in their “Christ like” characteristics.  Aslan, the true Lion King in Lewis’ Tales of Narnia is as close as you get to the person and role of our Messiah and Lord of all the earth:  Jesus Christ.

So given these cultural concepts that should littler more than entertain, let us put even these excellent fairy tales behind and go on to take the first verse in our passage seriously:  “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 

John Brown has gone on for pages on end concerning these verses and those that we considered last week.  Listen to what he has to say concerning the verse we just read, the sixteenth:  “The meaning of these words, as they stand in our English version, is sufficiently obvious. …This is an important truth, but it does not appear to me to be the truth intended by the inspired writer.”

Now before we continue with his argument, we must consider the variant reading allowed by the notes on verse sixteen in The New Geneva Study Bible where we read this translation:  “for indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.”  In the place of the words “give aid” it is entirely possible to read “takes on” or “lays hold of,” as of “taking on” human nature in the incarnation.  Either way, the point is that the sort of incarnation described in verse fourteen is determined by the sort of creatures whom God will to save.  These are human beings, and the eternal Word must be incarnated as a human being.  “The Word became flesh” (John 1: 14).

Listen to the implications as noted by John Brown:  “There is something very striking in the language.  They are lost  in themselves, hopelessly lost; they are rushing forward to destruction; they are falling into hell.  But He stretches forth the arm of omnipotent grace; he ‘apprehends’ them, to use a parallel expression of the Apostle … and having laid hold of them, He will never never quit His grasp.  ‘I lay down My life for the sheep.’  ‘I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand.’”

There is something really truly beautiful in this “apprehension” which we can learn from an oft quoted example used by James Kennedy.  He tells a story about our “capture” in this context.  Suppose there are five young men plotting to rob a gas station, and since you are standing just around the corner  you hear it all.  When they begin to run across the street, you step out and tackle the last one  just to keep him from committing the crime.  Your choice in the example of which to catch may be completely random or based upon the chance of who is slowest or smallest?  God’s elective choice is differently gauged however, and we have next to no information to realize how or why He chooses whom He will elect for salvation.  Yet the truth of the matter is that some of us have been “laid hold of” or “apprehended” for life with Him, while others have not!

John Brown reminds us “what an overwhelming subject of contemplation is this!  He is not the Saviour of angels, but of the elect family of man.  We are lost in astonishment when we allow our minds to rest on the number and dignity of those whom He does not lay hold of, and the comparative as well as real vileness of those of whom He does take hold.”

Development:  “Therefore” begins verse seventeen, and in this word John Owen sees “an important illative expression” to prove the necessity of prior teachings that only one born human might be able by self-sacrifice to satisfy the judicial necessity of human death being required for the sins of all men F.F. Bruce leads us on to the implications in the rest of verse seventeen.  And that is to the priestly work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “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.”

“Having thus emphasized our Lord’s solidarity with His brethren, our author now introduces that particular aspect of His solidarity with them which he is specially concerned to expound  His high-priestly ministry on their behalf.  Any priest must be one with those whom he represents before God.  … In order to serve them in this capacity, [Christ] was obliged to become completely like His brethren …  He suffered with them and for them and through His sufferings was made perfect  qualified in every way to be their high priest.”

The high priestly office here is not one of inheritance, since Jesus was from the line of David and not that of Aaron.  However, like the shadowy Melchizedek in the Old Covenant, Jesus is our High Priest just because He is and is to be rightly recognized as such.  John the Baptist came from the priestly line and rightfully pointed to the One whose sandals he was unworthy to tie.

F.F. Bruce again informs us of this awesome mantle of spiritual power:  “How can sinners approach the holiness of God, either personally or through a representative?  They can come to Him with confidence only if their sin has been dealt with.  And this above all else makes Jesus so incomparable a high priest and representative of His people; not only is He sinless Himself, and therefore entitled to enter the presence of God on His own account, but He has dealt effectively with His people’s sins, and can therefore enter the presence of God on their account also.”

Even though I once had the honor and privilege of being named to the “Goldfinger Squad” at Fort Knox  I am not qualified to tell you if there truly is in fact any gold locked up in the vault there.  For that you need some one with access to the vault and who is able to testify that there is indeed precious metal in those underground safes.  Only government employees of a high rank or representatives of the Executive, Legislative and Supreme Court branches of our government can approve themselves or representatives to go in and look around.

The High Priest alone, under the Hebrew economy  was alone allowed to enter the Holy of Holies and then only once a year and before he could do that there was a specific sacrificial system that allowed him to present himself before the God of all the earth.

Jesus, not only has the correct office, and the personal sacrificial offering, but also the familial connections to stand before His Father in heaven and by the personal price paid for our ransom from sin, He has made the sacrifice, or propitiation for us, so that we do indeed have the promise of eternal life in the presence of the Triune God of heaven and earth.

Application:  And here is the evidence for the precious hope that has been given to us:  “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted”
Sin, as we all know is an ongoing fact of life for us  even having given ourselves into His care.  Try as hard as we might, perfection in sanctification is always illusive until that great day when the Lord finally appears and we are transformed to our eternal home.  Do we really realize the temptations that He faced?  Humanly speaking  we all are content to accept bargains of every sort in the market place.  F.F. Bruce reminds us that when Christ “endured keen trials and temptations Himself, not only the trials incidental to our human lot, but those subtle temptations which attended His messianic calling.  Time and again the temptation came to Him from many directions to choose some less costly way of fulfilling that calling than the way of suffering and death.”

But, he resisted as the New Covenant of grace reports and did indeed “set His face like flint” to do all that was set out before Him.  He remained perfectly obedient to the will of the Father.  And by being so obedient, His hard service was accepted in the place of our own eternal death and destruction.

In closing, there are three things that John Owen notes for our own well being. 

First, he tells us that we “need strength to withstand [our] temptations so that [we] are not overcome by them.”  The Lord does indeed know our every weakness, and while at lesser points we fret and moan  want and desire, the spiritual grace of growing in faith and knowledge strengthens our hearts against the power of sin.

Second, we need the consolation of Christ to strengthen our spirits.  The word consolation here means the ongoing presence of the Spirit of Christ in the midst of our soul, person and daily life to point us on the upward way and keep us from really doing everything we might think of.

Third, we need deliverance from the temptations themselves.  This means that in time, those younger, wilder years recede not only by natural maturity but also by the power and grace of the Savior who has become the focus of our lives day in and day out.

My last parabolic example is simple, I hope.  When I was little, I had a small collection of rocks that I used to set up the desert scenery for my miniature cowboys and soldiers.  One of those rocks would balance on top of another and give the impression of the natural formations seen on post cards and in the movies.  Years later, I discovered that my favorite rock was actually an Indian artifact and was worth on the open market almost $1,500 because of its rarity!  I no longer play with rocks, for many reasons!  But this one in particular I keep locked up in a safe place because I now realize how valuable it really is.

If in the context of our studies together you finally realize how precious your redemption is and the great cost paid for it  perhaps you will take the great gift more seriously and treat the Savior of your soul with more respect and gratitude.  This is the purpose of our Apostle’s arguments in this great and awesome book: to heighten your knowledge of the price paid for your redemption and to make you understand the seriousness of Christ’s calling.  May you so take note!  Amen.