HEBREWS 2:16

The Bible says in Hebrews 2:16, “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” In a way this verse compares angels to the human race. Jesus did not become an angel. He became a man. Mankind is highly honored in that Christ took upon Himself the same form that we have. How well are you representing that honor? Jesus could have come as an angel, but He did not. He came as a man. Notice that this verse says that Jesus “took on him the seed of Abraham.” To describe the fact that Jesus became a man, the Holy Spirit could have just as easily have said that Jesus took upon him the seed of Adam, but He did not. There is a message in the phrase “the seed of Abraham.” The message is that Jesus did not come just to be any man: Jesus came to be the Promised Man. God made a promise to Abraham. The great promise was expressed several times to Abraham about his “seed.” The Bible says in Genesis 17:19, “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” God always keeps His promises. Jesus is “the seed of Abraham.”

Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises made in the Old Testament about the Messiah. He came as a man in order to save mankind. Hebrews 2:17 says about His coming to the earth as a man, “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, and to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” It is very important for you and me that the words “merciful and faithful” are used together concerning Christ. Jesus is merciful. He does not want to punish sin: He wants to forgive sin. He will forgive sin because He is merciful. And Jesus will always forgive sin because He is faithful. No one ever needs to wonder, “Will Jesus be merciful to me this time?” Jesus will always be merciful.

Jesus came to the earth and took upon Himself the form of a man. Jesus fulfilled the promise made to Abraham. And we are told in Hebrews 2:16 that Jesus performed the duties of the high priest. Jesus was the last high priest. Jesus did something that no other high priest could ever do. Other priests on a yearly basis did sacrifice for sin, but it was only symbolic and they had to do it year after year. Jesus did the real thing with His sacrifice on the cross, and Jesus was sacrificed once forever. Jesus made “reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Jesus satisfied the just demand for punishment from a holy God. That is why we can be given eternal life freely through Christ. Jesus paid the price for our sins. Therefore, we do not have to suffer for them.

Jesus is merciful because it is in the nature of God to be merciful. The fact that Jesus lived on this earth as a man, helps us to realize that He is merciful. He suffered the same temptations that we suffer. He fasted forty days and forty nights and was tempted of the devil in the wilderness. He sweat great drops of blood and He surrendered His will to the will of the Father. Hebrews 2:18 says, “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.” This verse says that Jesus “suffered being tempted.” Temptation can be something that causes suffering. In order to avoid temptation a person must deny himself. A person must say “no” to something that looks desirable and pleasing. Because Jesus experienced these things Himself, we know that He understands what we must go through. He also knows that our feet are made of clay and that we are very weak. Jesus said to His twelve apostles, “O ye of little faith.”

Hebrews 2:18 says that Jesus is “able to succor them that are tempted.” The word that is translated “succor” means “to help.” Jesus is able to help those that are tempted. It means to help in the sense of responding to a cry for help. “Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved.” “Call upon me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” Jesus will respond to our cries both before we are tempted and after. Before we are tempted we can cry out to Him, and He will deliver us from temptation. After we are tempted we can cry out to Him and be forgiven if we fail.

The Bible says in Hebrews 3:1, “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.” This verse tells us two things concerning who we are, and it tells us two things concerning Jesus. We are holy and we have taken hold of a heavenly calling. In order to become holy, we had to be called. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” When a human being is called of God for salvation, that calling comes from heaven. That is why it is called a “heavenly calling.” God reaches down and communicates with a human being and draws that person to Christ. Once a person responds positively to the calling, that person becomes born-again through faith in Christ. You also become one of the “holy brethren.” You are a brother: a member of God’s family. You are holy because God says that you are.

Once we respond to the heavenly calling, our thoughts should center around Jesus our Savior. Jesus is called “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.” An apostle is “one who is sent.” Jesus was sent by the Father. The high priest is the one who makes sacrifice for the people as a mediator between God and man. Jesus is our High Priest because He made sacrifice for sins once for all. Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.” The word “profession” means “confession.” And the word “confession” means to agree with God. It means literally to say the same thing that God says. The truth is that Jesus came from the Father. The truth is that Jesus is the last priest, and that He made sacrifice for sins. Those who give agreement to these truths about Christ are the true believers.

In the next verse Jesus is compared to Moses. Hebrews 3:2 says, “Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.” Notice that it says that Moses was faithful in his “house.” Your house is where you live. Your house refers to your life. You live your life wherever you are, whether in the street or in a field or in a building. God has things for you to do and a way for you to act wherever you go. Your “house” represents your responsibilities and calling. Moses was called to bring the law. Jesus was called to bring grace. It says about Jesus that He was “faithful to him that appointed him.” The Father made a human body for Christ. Jesus entered that body in the womb of Mary at the conception, and Jesus went on to live that human life the way that life ought to be lived: fulfilling the will of the Father.

The Holy Spirit does not want anyone to take the comparison between Moses and Christ too far. Moses was only a human being like the rest of us. Jesus was God in the flesh. In order to make this point the Bible says in Hebrews 3:3-4, “For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.” This verse says clearly that Jesus is God and that Jesus created all things. When you hear the first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” you should think of Jesus.

The Bible says in Hebrews 3:5-6, “And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” This verse is saying that Christ is greater than Moses because Moses was only a servant in the house that was given to him, but Jesus was the owner of the house. The book of Hebrews is continuing with the theme that it started with in chapter one. It has shown that Jesus Christ is superior to the prophets, to the angels, to the high priest, and to Moses.

The last several verses have spoken of a “house,” but Hebrews 3:6 makes it clear that the Bible is not talking about a building. It is using the word “house” symbolically. It says, “whose house are we.” This theme is found all through the New Testament. A physical building is never mentioned in the New Testament in reference to the establishing or pursuing of true Christianity. The kingdom of God is made up of people. It is not made of buildings. The sad condition of organized Christianity over the centuries has been the fact that too many people associate Christianity with a building: a church building of one sort or another. Of course, there is nothing wrong with having church buildings to gather in, but true Christianity is not made up of church buildings. It is made up of people: “whose house are we.”

The last part of Hebrews 3:6 says that we are to be considered God’s house only if we meet two conditions. We must “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” The word that is translated “hold fast” means to retain something and to keep holding on to something. It emphasizes individual responsibility after becoming a Christian. Do you have confidence in the Lord? You can lose that confidence unless you make an effort to keep hold of it. The word that is translated “confidence” is usually translated as “boldness” or “boldly” in the New Testament because the word has to do with confidence in speech. The kind of confidence in speech that Hebrews 3:6 is referring to is speech towards the Lord: prayer. If you know that the Lord has forgiven you and that He loves you, then you can speak to Him confidently. But there is a certain effort that you must make in order to hold fast to that confidence in Him. You definitely need some specific Bible verses that are promises about God’s forgiveness for you and Christ’s love for you. A good Bible verse to think about each day in regards to forgiveness is First John 1:9. It says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” A good Bible verse to think about each day in regards to His love for us is John 3:16 that says, “For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We need to hold fast to our confidence in Christ, and we also need to hold fast to “the rejoicing of the hope.” This means to have rejoicing that is based upon the hope that Christ has given about the resurrection from the dead. Rejoicing is an important part of being a true Christian. It is not always easy to hold fast to rejoicing. Sorrows and troubles and difficulties will come our way. The world will press down upon us. We must make an effort to remember what is important and to always be thankful for our salvation. That is why it is important to learn to be thankful for all things: the bad as well as the good. It is also important to remember the great promises and to see the good that will surely come in all circumstances. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Hebrews 3:6 says that we should “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” A Christian should always have his mind on the judgment: the day when we leave this earth and give an account to our Savior for the things done in our lives. We are in a contest that involves attacks against faith and hope. The big question is not only how much faith and hope do you have now. The question is: how much faith and hope in Christ will you have at the end? The Apostle Paul said at the end of his life in Second Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

___________________________________________________