Why Did Jesus Have to Be Made Like Us?
We are going through a series based on the book of Hebrews. The main theme of the book is that Jesus is better in every way over angels, prophets, mediators, and the old covenant.
In today’s message we are going to focus on the fact that Jesus had to take human form and some of the reasons why this was necessary and crucial to accomplish his mission.
God cannot die, but when Jesus became a man, he took on himself the limitations of our humanity. As a man, Jesus can die, just like the rest of us. More specifically, he can offer his whole body as sacrifice and die in our place.
Also, as a man, he can be an intermediary, a mediator between God and man; because he is a man, he can represent men before God, as our High Priest, and he can do the tasks of a priest on our behalf. He can, for instance, make propitiation for our sins.
But even more, because he became a man, he can relate to us and understand our weaknesses. He is able to help us when we are struggling and being tempted, because he himself was tempted like us, although he never sinned.
That is why he had to be made like us, and become a man: as a man he can die in our place, as a man he can be our representative before God, and as a man he can relate to us and help us.
All these reasons why he had to be made like us are presented in today’s text, Hebrews 2:14-18. Let’s read the passage. Please open your Bibles in Hebrews 2:14-18
14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 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. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
[Let’s pray]
The Bible, and more specifically the New Testament, presents many reasons why Jesus had to be made like us.
But today we will concentrate on Hebrews 2:14-18 and present three reasons why Jesus had to be made like us.
Jesus had to be made like us so that he might:
- Defeat death for us (v. 14-15)
- Become our high priest (v. 16-17)
- Help us in temptation (v. 18)
We are going to take those three reasons one at a time and explain each in more detail as we walk through the text. Let’s start with reason #1. Jesus had to be made like us:
1. To defeat death for us (2:14-15)
Jesus partook of flesh and blood, just like us, so that he could die as man and defeat death and the devil by dying at the cross. Let’s elaborate on this idea.
Read with me the beginning of verse 14
We all share in flesh and blood
14a: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood”
As the children of God we share in flesh and blood. We are human beings. We are not angels or supermen. We are made of flesh and blood. Although our bodies are wonderfully made, we break, we bleed, we get sick, and we all eventually die. There is no way around it. Our earthly bodies of flesh and blood are finite, and that is evident from the moment we are born. We are very fragile. As babies we are needy and dependent on others to grow and survive. Later we become stronger and more independent for a while, but eventually we stop growing and later in life we become fragile again, until we finally expire. We all share in flesh and blood.
Jesus partakes of our humanity
14b “he himself likewise partook of the same things”
Now, Jesus, in order to become our brother, like us, he had to partake of the same things, that is flesh and blood. This is a mind-blowing truth. That Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the trinity, the eternal Word became flesh, took human form and dwelt among us. He was conceived and grew in his mother’s womb until he was ready and then he entered the world. The eternal God, the heir of all things, through whom the world was created, he was born as a baby, like you and me! He cried, he got hungry, cold and uncomfortable, he partook of the same things, flesh and blood. Why?
Jesus came to destroy the Devil
14c: “That … he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil”
Jesus partook of flesh and blood, he became a man, so that he might destroy the devil!
The devil is the enemy of God and our enemy. He opposes God and he wants us to join him.
From the beginning, the Devil deceitfully tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God. He questioned what God had told them in Genesis 3: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Eve replied, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the Devil said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.”
So the woman took the fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband. And so sin was introduced into the good world God had created, and human beings started a journey of pain, violence, sickness, hopelessness and death.
The devil did not want their good, he deceived them and led them away from God’s goodness, and introduced sin and death into the world. The devil has the power of death, there is no life in him whatsoever, and yet he makes people believe they can find pleasure, meaning and life apart from God. He is a liar, a deceiver and if you follow his ways you will find nothing but death, for he is the one who has the power of death! He is powerful and deceitful and leads many to death.
But praise be to God who loved us and sent his Son Jesus as a man, so he might destroy the one who has the power of death, the Devil!
Now, how exactly does Jesus destroy the Devil and defeat death for us?
Jesus defeats the Devil through death
14c “that through death he might destroy… the devil”
Now this is another head-scratching truth of God’s plan that we can marvel at. The devil is the one who has the power of death, he introduced death into God’s world and God destroys the devil through death! Death is defeated through death! How can this be? That the devil has the power of death and yet he is defeated through death? Jesus defeated the prince of death by dying on the cross!
But how is death overcome by the death of Jesus?
By nature, we are objects of the just wrath of God because of our rebellion against him. We want to be our own god and live independent of the true God. Instead of finding life in him we find death apart from him. Not only are we spiritually dead in the present time, but also a gloomy, horrible eternal death awaits all of us. This is terrible news!
But this is the good news! Jesus, the Son of God, took human form and shared in flesh and blood with us. He became a man so he can live among us, live like us, bleed like us, and die like us. As God he could not die, so he came in flesh and blood, so he could die in our place. He was made like us in every way, but he did not sin, he lived a perfect life, and yet he died on a cross like a criminal in our place, paying our sin, dying our death, so we may live. At the cross he overcame our death and eternal damnation by dying in our place, by paying our debt in full so we may go free. Through his death he defeated and destroyed the one who has the power of death.
O death, where is your victory? Where is your sting? Death is swallowed up in the victory of the cross!
Jesus delivered us from lifelong slavery
15 “And deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery”
Because of our fear of death, our intimidation, our allegiance to death, we are slaves by nature. We are indeed subject to lifelong slavery. We are born as slaves, we are captives and prisoners, unable to get free.
And we do not even know it. We think we are free and we have the liberty to make choices for ourselves. But just as alcoholics or drug addicts think they are not enslaved by their addiction, while in reality they are unable to break free on their own, in an analogous way, we are trapped, we are captive, we are prisoners, unable to free ourselves. But Jesus took human form, and through his death, he broke our chains and shackles and delivered us from lifelong slavery. We are not in fear of death anymore, but we are free to worship the King with gladness and joy.
Through his death Jesus delivered us from a lifelong slavery.
That concludes reason #1 on why Jesus had to be made like us, so he can die our death to deliver us and to destroy the devil.
Now reason #2 why Jesus had to be made like us. He had to be made like us
2. To become our High Priest (2:16-17)
Jesus helps the sons of Abraham, not angels
16: “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham”
Jesus did not come to save, deliver and help angels or spiritual beings, he did not take the form of an angel, he took human form, he came to help and save human beings, not angels. But not all human beings. Specifically, he helps the offspring of Abraham, that is the descendants of Abraham.
Now you may be wondering, but I am not a descendant of Abraham, I am not part of his offspring.
Galatians 3:6-7 “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”
If you put your faith in Jesus, that faith makes you a son of Abraham and recipient, beneficiary of the promises made to him.
Jesus became a man to help you who by faith are part of Abraham’s offspring.
Jesus is the High Priest between God and man
17a “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”
Because Jesus came to help humans and not angels, in order for him to become our brother, he had to be made like us, his brothers, in every respect. He had to take human form so he might become our High Priest, that is a mediator between God and us.
In the Old Testament, a high priest was appointed from among men to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He was a mediator between the holy God and sinful men. He was a human representative appointed by God to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, so the infinite God can have a relationship with sinful people.
Now, in order for Jesus to be a representative of humans before God, he himself had to be a man, he had to be made like us in every respect. However, what is fundamentally different about Jesus is that he is fully man, and can represent men, but he is also fully God and sinless. So he is superior to any former High Priest, he is our eternal, sinless, High Priest, he is the God-man appointed by the Father to be our High Priest forever.
Jesus had to be made like his brothers, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest
Since Jesus came as a man, he can relate to men in very practical ways, he is aware of our weaknesses and infirmities and therefore he can be a merciful, compassionate high priest.
I was using an internet tool for Greek on biblehub.com and this is how it defined “merciful”:
“Merciful” describes an active disposition of compassion that moves to relieve the misery of others. It is never mere sentiment; it is love in motion
Jesus as man can relate intimately to our human miseries and have that compassionate predisposition as our merciful High Priest, his mercy is an expression of his love in motion.
Not only is he merciful, he is also our faithful high priest. This faithfulness points to his obedience, allegiance and loyalty towards God. As a man, Jesus demonstrated his unwavering obedience and loyalty to his Father, and this qualified him as our perfectly faithful high priest.
Jesus makes propitiation for our sins
17b “to make propitiation for the sins of the people”
As you may recall, one of the tasks of the high priest in the Old Testament was to offer sacrifices to make propitiation for the sins of the people of Israel.
Sin was the reason why propitiation was necessary. Sin against God raised his just anger, a wrath capable of consuming, incinerating the sinners. In order to placate that wrath, in order to pacify God, regular sacrifices were necessary. The high priest regularly offered animal sacrifices, shedding their blood, as a sobering picture of the seriousness of sin. Sin against God deserves death. The people kept sinning against God, so the high priest had to continually offer sacrifices so the people would survive. The wrath of God was temporarily placated and partially satisfied by the death of a substitute. The animals were killed in place of the sinners.
As our high priest, Jesus makes propitiation for our sins. But he does it in a way that goes far beyond what a typical high priest would do in the old covenant. Not only did he offer a substitutionary sacrifice, he offered himself as that substitutionary sacrifice. He shed his own blood to satisfy, placate and appease the wrath of God. And he did it once and forever. It was not a lamb he offered for our sin. He took human form, he had to be made like us in every respect, so that he may offer his own life, his own body, his own blood as the perfect and immaculate sacrifice. He is our high priest and he is the lamb who was slain.
His offering of himself fully satisfied the justice of God once and forever. So there is no more need for future sacrifices. If you put your faith in Jesus as your savior, as your high priest, as your perfect sacrifice, the wrath of God against all your sins is placated once and forever, so there is no more need of subsequent sacrifices. You are forgiven, you are declared righteous and just before God forever. You can live confident, glad, grateful, relieved that your debt was paid in full because your merciful and faithful high priest made propitiation for your sins once and for eternity!
That is reason #2. Jesus had to be made like us to become our mediator high priest and offer himself to propitiate our sins.
And finally, reason #3: Jesus had to be made like us
3. To help us in temptation (2:18)
18 “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted”
This must be one of the sweetest comforts for anyone who suffers, to know that Jesus had to be made like us so that we would know that he understands what we are going through, that he can sympathize with us, that in his flesh he has experienced similar pain, suffering, loneliness, weariness, and disappointment.
I am reading a book on suffering and one of the chapters tells the story of a teenage boy who had an accident where he was terribly burned. At the hospital, he refused to be visited by friends who wanted to cheer him up. He begged his mother to just let him die. One day someone knocked at the door, and when the mom opened it, there was a stranger with hideous scars all over his face. The mom immediately slammed the door, but the son actually asked her to let him in. The boy was willing to hear from this man, for he knew he could relate to him. And the stranger was able to convince the boy that there was reason to live.
Sufferers want to be ministered to by people who have suffered.
Did that happen to you? When you are going through a difficult season and perhaps you get frustrated when trying to explain what is going on, but people do not seem to understand your struggle. But it is very different when someone shares a similar experience, they know how you feel, and they can comfort and help you in very special and effective ways.
Jesus is not an untouchable, far away deity, who always ruled from a far away throne, unable to understand the difficulties of human life, the pain, and misery that sin and death have brought to this fallen world.
He partakes of the same things, flesh and blood, he became like us, he was born just like us. He experienced our infirmities, so he understands. Our savior, our high priest, gets our suffering, and he is able to help, aid, and strengthen the ones who are suffering and being tempted, for he himself suffered when tempted.
Do you feel abandoned and unjustly mistreated? Jesus experienced the pain of feeling abandoned and alone, he was horribly and unjustly mistreated, so he can relate to you. Do you feel like life is hard and it turned out not to be the way you expected it to be? Do you feel like Satan is tempting you and wants to destroy you? Do you feel sick, hungry, tearful, weak, weary, rejected? Jesus experienced all of those, he experienced suffering and pain, he bled, he cried, he died! He understands, he knows, he can relate and sympathize, since he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help all those who are suffering and being tempted, he can help, comfort, and strengthen you, in the midst of your temptation, suffering and troubles.
So these are the three reasons why Jesus had to be made like us in every respect, so that he might:
- Defeat death for us, by destroying through death the one who has the power of death, the Devil, and delivering us from a lifelong slavery.
- Become our merciful and faithful high priest, to make propitiation for our sins, presenting his own body as a perfect atoning and propitiatory sacrifice so that we would never experience the wrath of God ourselves, he took that wrath in our place.
- And be made like us so he can help us and comfort us in our suffering and temptations