Study 10

JESUS THE MAN

Hebrews 2:14-18

J.I. Packer said, “God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”

When we speak of the incarnation we are speaking of the great truth that Jesus became man. Throughout Hebrews chapter two we have been reminded that Jesus became man. In Hebrews 2:6 the question is asked, “What is man…that thou visitest him?” The visit that the writer speaks of is when Jesus came to this earth and became man.

Hebrews 2:9 says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.” Again, the writer is reminding us that Jesus became man.

Now in verses 14-18, the writer talks about the purpose behind Jesus becoming man, and what it meant to both Jesus and us that He became man.

Fulton Oursler said, “God, who had fashioned time and space in a clockwork of billions of suns and stars and moons, in the form of his beloved Son became a human being like ourselves.”

Why did Jesus become man? What did it mean for Jesus and to Jesus to become man? What does it mean for us that He became man? Let’s look at verses 14-18 and find the answers to these questions.

First, notice with me what:

1. WHAT HE ASSUMED AS MAN

In verse 14 we read, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.” The writer is telling us that when Jesus became man assumed the nature of man. He did not become someone that was similar to man or merely came appearing to be man. He actually became man.

He was at all times God, yet He was man. He became the God-man, wholly God, yet wholly man. As a man He assumed our human nature. As we look closer we see that the writer of Hebrews speaks of:

A) A Nature Common to Man

The Bible states “children are partakers of flesh and blood” (2:14). The word “children” is sometimes used to speak of an infant, at other times in reference to an immature Christian. In this case it is used in reference to the human race.

The word “partakers” speaks of something all as members of the human race share with one another. The word speaks of fellowship, communion, or partnership.

I once heard someone say that fellowship is two fellows in the same ship. When it comes to “flesh and blood” we are all in the same ship. In this area we are all partners. Flesh and blood is something that each of us share and have in common.

Now, our looks are different. Some have brown eyes, other blue or green. Some have brown hair, some black, some blonde, some red, and some have no hair. There are some who would be classified as pretty or handsome, and some that would classified differently, if you know what I mean. I heard about a fellow who was so ugly that when he was born they put tinted windows on his incubator. I must admit that I have seen a few that were so ugly they would make onions cry.

Our personalities are different. Some are bashful and shy while others are outgoing and uninhibited. Some are quiet and some don’t know the meaning of being quiet. Some are fun to be around and others can turn an evening into what seems eternity. Some are thoughtful and kind, while others are self-centered and selfish.

Our backgrounds are different. Some grew up in loving homes while others never knew the meaning of a home. Some grew up in the city, while others grew up in the country. Some had everything they wanted, while others were fortunate to have anything. Some were made to work, while others never had to lift a finger. Some grew up in the South and some were less fortunate and grew up in the North. Amen! Some were reared in Church and some rarely attended. Some had parents that were strict and set certain rules in the home, while others were allowed to do whatever they wanted to do.

There are a lot of areas in which we are different and there are things that are different about each of us. Some have college degrees while others are like Jethro Bodine only has a six-grade education. But there is one thing we all share—we are flesh and blood. We are all “partakers of flesh and blood.”

The writer also speaks of:

B) A Nature Chosen for Man

Verse 14 not only speaks of what we all share, but adds that Jesus took upon Himself the same nature. It declares that Jesus “likewise took part of the same.” The word “took” is a word that speaks of taking hold of something that is not naturally one’s own kind.

We by nature are flesh and blood. Jesus was not by nature flesh and blood. His was a divine nature. Ours is an earthly nature, His, an eternal nature. He was God, we are man. He was divine, we are human. However, when He became man He chose to take to Himself a nature that was not His. He chose a nature of flesh and blood. He chose to become a man for man. He became one of us that He might die for us.

When He “took” upon Himself our human nature, He willingly assumed the nature that we all share. He willingly chose to add to Himself that He did not possess. It was an act whereby God became man.

The words “that through death” indicate the reason He took upon Himself our human nature. He became a man that He might die as a man. He became a man that He might die a substitutionary death, meaning that He died in our place.

In Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, there is the grave of a Civil War soldier. The stone bears the date of his birth and death and then these words: "Abraham Lincoln's substitute." In the woe and anguish of the war, realizing that thousands upon thousands were falling in his place on the field of battle, Lincoln chose to honor one particular soldier as his substitute and make him a symbol, as it were, of the fact that the soldiers who perished in battle were dying that others might live.

The Lord Jesus “likewise took part of the same” that He might die in the place of others.

Secondly, we not see what He assumed as man, but also:

2. WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED AS MAN

As a man what did He do? What was accomplished by His taking on Himself flesh and blood? The writer of Hebrews connects His death to our death. The word “death” is used three times in verses 14-15. By taking on Himself our human nature he dealt with:

A) The Dominion of Death

In verse 14 the writer speaks of “the power of death.” The word “power” speaks of the strength or dominion of death. The power of death speaks of how each of us was a captive or slave to death. We were under the power of death.

The Bible tells us that death is the fruit of sin. In Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Sin is the cause of death in three forms. When death passed upon all men through Adam and Eve it brought death physically, spiritually, and eternally.

First, sin is the cause of physical death. Each of us has an appointment with the grave. We will die one day. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed unto me once to die.”

Secondly, sin is the cause of spiritual death. Spiritual death is a separation from God. Men are sinners; therefore they are separated from a holy God. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:5 that before we were saved “we were dead in trespasses and sins.” Being dead in sin is to be spiritually dead—separated from God.

The ultimate result of sin is eternal death. Eternal death is an eternal separation from God. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 that we have been “delivered from the wrath to come.” That wrath is expressed in an eternity lost without God in hell.

These results of death express the power or dominion of death over the human race. The writer of Hebrews tells us that it is a power that Satan possesses over the human race. Sin is what gives Satan power over us, and death as the fruit of sin, is that power by which Satan enslaves and controls the souls of men.

However, as a man, and through His death on the cross, Jesus broke the power of death and Satan’s dominion over us. We read that “through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (2:14). The word “destroy” means “to render inoperative.” Obviously, Satan has not been completely destroyed or totally put out of business. He is still at work enslaving men. The evidence is all around us.

When Jesus died, He conquered death through His resurrection from the dead, thereby conquering the power and dominion that death held over the human race. That’s why Paul rejoiced and declared in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” The power of death and death as a Satan’s means of controlling us has been rendered inoperative. It no longer has power over us for in Christ Jesus we are given eternal life.

Furthermore, the writer speaks of:

B) The Dread of Death

In verse 15 he speaks of the “fear of death.” There is no doubt nothing is more terrifying to the human race than dying. The king of terrors is death.

R. Kent Hughes writes: “The fact of death—and for the most the fear of death—is a relentless reality. The more our minds struggle to escape it, the more it comes against us. The more we fear it, the more dreadful it becomes. Those who try to forget have their memories filled with it. Those who try to shun it meet nothing else…Indeed, the fear of death is endemic to the human race. It keeps dogging man’s steps whether he ignores it or turns and attempts to stare it down.”

Novelist Somerset Maugham, in the last chapter of his memoirs, A Traveller in Romance, Maugham wrote: “There are moments when I have so palpitating an eagerness for death that I could fly to it as to the arms of a lover.... I am drunk with the thought of it. It seems to me to offer me the final and absolute freedom.... There are indeed days when I feel that I have done everything too often, known too many people, read too many books, seen too many pictures, statues, churches and fine houses, and listened to too much music. I neither believe in immortality nor desire it. I should like to die quietly and painlessly, and I am content to be assured that with my last breath my soul, with its aspirations and its weaknesses, will dissolve into nothingness.”

Maugham boasted that death caused him no fear. However, his nephew Robin Maugham, who wrote of it in the April 9, 1978 London Times, described the last hours of his life. He wrote: “The following afternoon, I found Willie reclining on a sofa, peering through his spectacles at a Bible which had very large print. He looked horribly wizened, and his face was grim. ‘I've been reading the Bible you gave me... and I've come across the quotation: 'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' I must tell you, my dear Robin, that the text used to hang opposite my bed when I was a child.... Of course, it's all a lot of bunk. But the thought is quite interesting all the same.’ That evening, in the drawing room after dinner, Willie flung himself down onto the sofa. ‘Oh, Robin, I'm so tired...." He gave a gulp and buried his head in his hands.... Willie looked up and his grip tightened on my hands. He was staring towards the floor. His face was contorted with fear, and he was trembling violently. Willie's face was ashen as he stared in horror ahead of him. Suddenly, he began to shriek. ‘Go away!’ he cried. ‘I'm not ready.... I'm not dead yet.... I'm not dead yet, I tell you....’ His high-pitched terror-struck voice seemed to echo from wall to wall. I looked round, but the room was empty as before.”

The writer of Hebrews tells us that the human race “were all their lifetime subject to bondage,” or in other words, the fear of death enslaves the human race all their life; even those who boast they have no fear of death.

However, Jesus has delivered those who have eternal life from the fear of death. Those that are saved have nothing to fear about death. Death for a Christian is not some step into a dark unknown. We do not have to fear eternity and what lies ahead.

R. Kent Hughes says there five reasons why death is feared:

1)  The fear of pain. There is a fear of the pain that sometimes comes with death.

2)  The fear of separation from what we know and from the ones we love.

3)  The fear of the unknown.

4)  The fear of non-being.

5)  The fear of everlasting punishment.

However, those who have eternal life through Jesus Christ have delivered from all such fears. Even if there is pain in death, we are not alone. He is with us. Death may separate from those we love, but we will be together again. Eternity is not an unknown or a state of non-being. We will live with Christ and we will be as much alive as we have ever been. And, there is a heaven awaiting us, not hell.

Jesus as a man has destroyed the dominion of death and delivered us from the dread of death.