JESUS OUR BROTHER

JESUS OUR BROTHER
Heb 2:10-18
"So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." (v.11).

THE ARGUMENT FROM 2:5 TILL THE end of the chapter is to show that Jesus became man. He was "made a little lower than the angels", i.e. man (v.7,9), and He shared in our humanity (v.14). This was absolutely necessary if He was to qualify to act as our representative, our high priest.

Firstly, as man, He died. In His death, He dealt a fatal blow to death. By His death, he destroyed the one who holds the power of death, the devil (v.14). It is known in fire-fighting that sometimes a blaze may be put out by setting off an explosion to snuff out the fire. As fire puts out fire, so Jesus' death took the sting out of our death (I Cor 15.55). The devil holds us to ransom because of our sin. Now that our sin is paid for by Jesus' death, we are free from our adversary's stranglehold.

At one time or another in our life, we will have occasion to ponder our own death. The statistical fact that one out of one dies will grip us sooner or later. The thought of death is never pleasant and may give rise to many fears about the thereafter. The Christian need not fear death. He knows that Jesus had conquered death.

Secondly, in becoming man, Jesus suffered human pain and temptation. As such, He is able to understand and help those who are tempted. Some of us may be struggling with the most tormenting temptations and we wonder whether the Lord knows how we feel.

Does Jesus care when I've tried and failed
To resist some temptation strong;
When for my deep grief I find no relief
Though my tears flow all the night long?

O yes, He cares! Someone once said that since Jesus never yielded to a temptation, He does not really know what it means to resist one. This is not true. It is supremely more difficult to resist a temptation without giving in, than to fight a temptation and then yield. Jesus, unlike us, had faced the full force of temptation, precisely because He had never yielded. All of the temptations we face put together could never match His. He had gone through the worst of it, and is eminently able to sustain us in any raw struggle of ours against sin.

Since Jesus is man, he is our brother. He stands with us in life, helping us in our temptations. He stands with us through death. What do we have to fear?

How well do I know Jesus, my brother in life and death?