Bible Reading - Hebrews 2

Now it's been announced the reading is in Hebrews chapter 2 this morning and you'll notice that on your announcement sheet it will say commencing at verse 8 however I have communicated with the brethren this week and they've allowed me to read the chapter and would likely start as about verse number we'll come into verse number seven really for seven maybe even verse five simply for the sake of connection and I trust that in this reading this morning I'm reminded of the scripture that says give place unto this man and that's not this man or any of these men but it's the man that is under our consideration this morning the man Christ Jesus and if he has given his rightful place and he increases this morning then you and I are going to rightly decrease he must increase that I must decrease Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number 1 therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast in every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing the witness both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles the gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will for under the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak but one in a certain place testified saying what is man and you'll be reminded as your margins likely show it that this is psalm 8 that he is referring to here but one in a certain place testified saying what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visiteth him thou mayst him a little lower than the angels thou crounced him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands thou has put all things in subjection under his feet for that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put under him but now we see not all things put under him and now there is a break in verse number 9 notice it says we see not at the end of verse number 8 but it says in verse 9 the opening words are but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified or all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call him brethren saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren noticed them brethren now it's my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee and again I will put my trust in him and again behold I and the children which God hath given me for as much thin as the children are partakers of flesh and blood that would be better rendered blood and flesh he also like himself likewise took part in the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil and deliver them who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage for verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham wherefore in all things that behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and a faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succor them that are tempted now obviously I haven't the time nor am I going to take it to review the epistle or the previous chapter but just give you some contrast and comparisons with chapter 1 with chapter 2 will certainly help in the reading in chapter 1 obviously it is taken up with his deity when we come to chapter 2 it is his humanity as we'll consider this morning and chapter 1 it's really the Ark of the Covenant is the gold that is in mind when we come to chapter 2 let me suggest to you that what is his humanity it is the acacia wood now I doubt your pens going to keep up with me this morning you can try I likely I'm going to repeat this there are going to be CDs available if you feel they're worth that and if you really get stuck I can email you my outlines you let me know chapter 1 there's something that's always and that is the Sun eternally in chapter 2 there's two things that he became that he never was before he became dead and he became a real man and that's the consideration of what we're looking at this morning it's interesting but in chapter 2 it opens with God speaks in Sun then of course we come later in the chapter is God is speaks about his son and then of course he speaks to the Sun it's interesting but verse 1 and 2 the fact the first four verses in chapter 1 and chapter 2 are very very similar as they introduce us to this one who we see this morning Jesus and and obviously the Lord Jesus God spoke previously and he spoke partially but now he speaks perfectly and personally and that is of course in Sun it's interesting but Job would say that I've linked this you may not see it or appreciate that way but Job said God speaketh once ye twice yet man perceiveth it not in a dream in the vision of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men then he opened up their ears that he may seal their instruction they may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man I have no difficulty seeing the two ways in which God has spoken in law and in Sun it's interesting that the diverse ways in which he spoke because he did speak to men in dreams he didn't speak to them in visions we think of Jeremiah and we think of other prophets in different passages that he spoke to in dreams so when we also look at the chapter just to give it a very simple division and and I I didn't print off an outline I really don't do that often unless I'm requested to do it because really you print off an outline and just as soon as I sit down it gets the permanent wave and we just kind of continue on as we like so we might as well do that anyhow but if you want to divide it it's an easy way to remember it at least this way I've divided it verses 1 to 4 we have a message to be heard and to be heeded a message to be heard and to be heeded here he is Lord and we ought to give the more earnest heed when we come to verses 5 to 9 it is a man that is seen not only seen but he's a man that is saluted and here of course it is Jesus but we see Jesus verse 10 to verse 15 it is a mandate and that is to be sanctified and secured here he is the captain and in bringing many sons unto glory when we get to verse 16 of verse number 18 it is a man to suffer and to succor he is high priest a merciful and a faithful high priest so of course we have the warnings as to the the neglect of this great salvation and and really is most would understand that have read the chapter of the epistle much it's leading up obviously to the provider and the secure of this great salvation let me suggest that in this context it is referring to believers it is referring to Hebrew believers that were in danger of forsaking of turning back whether it was under the influence of others of what they were but going back to their past these reminding of the danger of that but I don't think brethren we have time to discuss much in the early for parts of the chapter the earlier four verses I think we'll just come right into the reading at verse number 6 verse number 5 if you like and we'll proceed from there to the end of the chapter and I'm going to appreciate your help and if questions are asked from the body of the audience we'll try and just maybe repeat them so everybody can hear there's nothing more frustrating in a Bible reading than if you can't hear so we'll try to keep our voices up and that would go to not too many a brother these two brother here sitting beside me I know that when you're speaking you feel like you're shouting in my ear but keep your voices up or I may have to ask you to do that so everybody can hear so we'll commence at verse number 5 and and proceed with God's help to the end of the chapter brother Murray you've given us three sections of the chapter would it help if we said that in chapter 1 you have also three sections you begin with the contrasts of revelation it's followed by seven characteristics of deity and then seven quotations of supremacy of the person of Christ this chapter I like your readings that you've given us but in verses 4 1 to 4 would you see Christ as the prophet he's here upon earth the spokesman in the next little section would you see Christ as the king crowned with glory and honor and in the third section it's Christ as the priest so he's prophet priest and king or in the chapter rather because of the subject he is prophet king and priest very good brother appreciate that in the first two chapters of Hebrews it reminds me of the two great pillars in Solomon's temple the first one was Jason which means he shall establish and that's what we have in chapter 1 the second pillar was called Boaz the kinsman Redeemer so that's what we see in chapter 2 and of course we know that the Jewish mind could not think of a man greater than an angel but they shows that the prophets and I would take it that what they prophesied is what we have listed in chapter 1 the fragmentary things about the Lord but he's building them all up to show that there's a man that's greater than angels but then in chapter 2 he's greater than any man this isn't original I don't know where I got it but someone has said in the first part of chapter 2 you have a man and a mountain that's Moses that gave the law but the Lord is greater than Moses and then you have a man in the garden that's Adam and then later on you have a man in a valley which would remind us of David going in to defeat the one who had the power of death and then you have a man in a tent that would be Aaron and the Lord greater than all these wonderful persons. Brother Murray will you allow me to suggest that this is the first of four warnings that the writer whoever he was gives us in the epistle. Five.

Four or five. He warns not to turn what they have heard not to turn away from it. Then in chapter 3 he reminds them not to harden their hearts.

Then when you come over to chapter 6 he's telling them again not to go back but to go on. When you come into chapter 10 he says if they have heard the truth if they continue willfully sinning there's no salvation for them. Right.

And the fifth one would be chapter 12. Chapter 12. Okay where he says see that you turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.

So our brother McCullough is right. He said there's four or five warnings that are given to us and this is the first one that we're considering here. I'm thinking you're going to want to get to the priesthood of Christ fairly quickly here.

In your reading I noticed you missed one little word. I'm sure you didn't do it on purpose. But at the end of verse 8 there is a little three letter word.

Y-E-T. Yet. There are three viewpoints here.

Psalm 8 is quoted and we might remind our hearts that in the quotation of Psalm 8, David's words as it is here, it is a picture of man in the innocence of the Garden of Eden before sin comes in. The viewpoint of what God intended when you look at Psalm 8, what God intended in Adam. Then the writer here makes reference to the world to come.

That'll be the millennial realm which we see not yet. It's coming yet. So we have what God intended in the past, what God will bring in in the future, but today we don't see either of those three, those two things, but we see Jesus.

We're not yet come to verse number 8. We'll come back to verse number 5. Then we'll come to verse number 8. That's going to help us. Verse number 5, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. And I the world to come here is the millennial Earth.

For satisfying that we'll come to verse number 6, because we don't want to get too long before we get to our brother's verse here, verse 8. We appreciate that Brother Gordon. One in a certain place testified. I would suggest to you that verse 6-7 likely to the end of the word feet at the beginning of verse number 8 is a direct quotation or indirect quotation, if you like of the eighth psalm.

And I take it that he is referring to Adam. And I take it that he is referring to Adam here. He says, one in a certain place does by what this man that thou art mindful of him, that's Adam.

Now some have difficulty with the son of man. I take that that is Adam's descendants. To take something else in there, I think, would be difficult.

That thou visitest him. Thou maced him a little lower than the angels. Thou croused him with glory and honor and didst set him over the works of thy hands.

So brethren, we appreciate your help. So what he's saying, brother, just a small observation there in verse five. The world to come, it's not the age to come.

No, that's right. But it's the habitable world. So it's relating to the creation.

I was going to say, Murray, so that Adam here is given sovereignty, dominion over creation. But that was forfeited by his sin in the garden. They're showing that angels aren't going to rule.

So the Lord had to become a man, just as Adam was a man. He was the first man. The Lord was the second.

And when you get the second man, it's always to replace. The second's always to replace the first. That's right.

Brother Scott. Just a quick question, comment. With the quotation of Psalm 8 here, would this not show us that Psalm 8 didn't just have Adam in mind? It's looking further, thinking of the words of Romans, where Adam was made.

He's a figure of Christ to come. That's right. So we're seeing it in all its fullness now in the millennial reign.

So just to come back to Brother William's comment, you see this more than just the millennial scene in verse number five? No, not so much just the millennial age, but relating specifically to the creation. So it's this objection of that creation under man is the point. The millennial will be the complement of all that God intended in creation.

Man with dominion. And in this case, it'll be, of course, the second man. It'll be the Lord Jesus.

OK, we'll move to verse number seven. Thou may'st him a little lower than the angels. And I take it that man was liable to death, and that in that sense, one of the senses, at least he was made a little lower than the angels.

And that was for a little time, wasn't it, Murray? For a little while. Lower than the angels. I would hardly think so, brother.

Verse seven, we're talking about Psalm 8, aren't we? Yeah. Yeah. In what sense was Adam crowned with glory and honor? Psalm 8, verse 7 here.

I take it that in the sense that he was set over the dominion of which had been created. And I think that that's the sense of which he was crowned, which angels weren't. Do you have something else on that? No, just clarifying that for what's to come.

OK, good. So he was sovereign. That's right.

But just to the comment there, for a little, verse 7, isn't that a reference to state, not time? Because it's applied to Adam. We're talking here, brethren, of Psalm 8, which is Adam before sin. That's right.

That's it. Yeah. So it's Adam before death.

That's right. It's Adam in his perfection and innocence and all that God intended in Adam. That's what was there then.

That's not what we see today. That's not what we will see in the future. That's why, but, we see Jesus.

So I wouldn't personally, I wouldn't bring death into Psalm 8 at all, because sin is not in Psalm 8, you see? But Adam, as made a physical human being, is lower in state than the angelic realm. But, Brother Murray, just going back to a comment you made about Psalm 8, son of man, you referred that particularly to the offspring of Adam. Yes.

Are you saying that, then, in the sense that that was what God intended the offspring of Adam to be? Because I would suggest that any son of Adam was never crowned with glory and honor because of sin. Yeah. I just, I see, I know these brethren maybe just don't see death in here, but I think that I do see death in here.

I do understand, too, that what we're speaking of is Adam in the original. And can I say it like this? In God's ideal, but we're looking at it in the actual. But I still see in Psalm 8 that the sons of men are his descendants, or what would come after.

OK. And then the leap in Psalm 8, prophetically, is looking to, it's messianic, looking to the coming Messiah. Yeah, obviously, to the, as we often say, the second Adam or the last man.

OK. Brother Larry? No? Brother Joel? It seems to me that the crown that he's speaking about here is, of course, a typhanus. It is really a crown that is associated with position and dominion in relation to his rule and reign.

That's why the same word is used in relation to Christ down in verse 9. So it's not the idea of victory so much, but it's the idea of a position that has been endowed. And he's been given that and associated with that as a sense of glory and honor. He had that position over creation.

I think, Murray, it would be correct to say that man was king over creation from Psalm 8. What is man? That's frail, mortal man. But at the end of the verse, he speaks about the son of man. That's a different word.

That's man from the earth. That's right. There are six words in the New Testament that are used for man.

And son of man here is son of Adam. Son of Adam. That's why the issue, yeah.

But I agree with Brother Murray here. We're looking at man as God put him in the garden, and God's goodness to mankind and all God's intention. And we keep in mind sin has come in and ruined all of that.

So as I said earlier, we don't see what God intended. We don't yet see what God will bring. But we see Jesus.

There are three pictures distinctly given to us of Adam in our New Testament. And we're considering here in Hebrews 2 it is Adam in the sense of dominion. When we get to Romans chapter 5, Adam in his disobedience.

Of course, we come to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. It is Adam in dust and death. So now in the latter part, but now we see not.

That's in a broad sense, not all things put under him. And we don't. But in contrast to that, but we see Jesus.

Now I take that, verse number 9, the first part. I know some are going to differ with me, but it's presently. But we see Jesus, who was made in the past a little lower than angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.

Now the big question, Murray. When was he crowned with glory and honor? Well, that's why we have you here to answer that. I can help you out on that.

Well, you know the discussion on it. Some think he was crowned with glory and honor when he was here as a man. Psalm 8 would substantiate that.

Some think he wasn't crowned with glory and honor until he went back to heaven. And my humble opinion is that he was crowned with glory and honor both here and now. That could keep you safe, brother.

I think that that's, if you take the verse as it is, crowned with glory and honor. And then it comes in that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. So in the sequence, I kind of agree with that thought.

But it's not all that important. I know that there were other great kingdoms. Nebuchadnezzar was put over, had dominion over the, what was it, the beasts of the air and the fowl, beasts of the field and the fowl of the air, but not the fish of the sea.

But the Lord had dominion over all. He could sit on the colt whereon never had man sat. And he could tell them where the fish were.

And he could also tell them when the rooster was going to crow. Adam's dominion was even more so than Nebuchadnezzar's, because Adam did have control over those. But Nebuchadnezzar, as brother Alavris pointed out, did not have control over the fish.

And I would suggest something I've enjoyed personally, and then we'll get, I know the street's getting busy down here, I can see it coming. There was a sense, now you may part a little company with me, there's a glory from Hebrews chapter one that was associated with his death. Can I suggest to you, there's a sense in which he was, there was a glory and honor crown conferred upon him as he, by his God, was given the sole right to die for man, to taste death for man.

Yeah, there are two statements of the Lord Jesus there in verse nine. And those two statements are followed by two reasons. So you have, he was made a little lower than the angel.

And you have crowned with glory and honor. Those are the two statements. Now notice the reasons that follow each statement.

He was made a little lower than the angels, why? For the suffering of death. He is crowned with glory and honor, why? That he, by the grace of God, should taste death for everything, all creation, not just man. Exactly.

So the crown with glory and honor has got to relate to the creation. So as the Lord was here on earth, he walked on the water, he calmed the storm, he had dominion over this creation. And in that respect, he was like Adam who had dominion and Adam was crowned with glory and honor.

The flow of the chapter, of course, Brother Eric said both points are true. You can see the glory and honor in the life of the Lord Jesus, you can see it currently in the Lord Jesus. But the flow of the chapter and the thing that should touch our hearts this morning is that the one who is supremely higher than all of the angelic beings, that's chapter one, for a little while took a position lower than the angels, as our brother William said, for those two reasons.

The flow here is adding into chapter, into verse 10, where of course, he will be seen as a man on earth, qualified to be the priest in glory. This is the emphasis of verse nine, following verse eight, that in a scene of dissolution, a scene of degeneration, where sin has brought its effect, we look around our world today and one would wonder, is this ever gonna be changed? Is there ever gonna be restoration? The eye of faith says, but we see Jesus. And it's the first time you have his name of humanity in the epistle, reminding us of a crowned man who was once here, who was ascended to glory and is the evidence to the eye of faith that these conditions will be realized in the coming day.

See, we must definitely distinguish, and I think this is helpful, in any epistle like this, statements that are made concerning the Lord Jesus, we must definitely distinguish between what is said of him in his essential being and his official character, okay? And what he is positionally and what he is personally, always distinguish between those two and it'll help you, I think, in your understanding. So it's that he, into verse nine, whereat, brethren, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man, or it is really, the word that is given there is to experience, referring to obviously his cup, what he called the crown, the crown of thorns, and then his crown, so he tasted death for every man, it was experienced it for every man. Larry, why is the grace of God mentioned at this point here? Well, I would take it that it is in contrast to Adam, in contrast to our death, we die under the government of God, okay? Hebrews 9, 27, Romans 5, 12, but his death was in the grace of God.

He did not have to die. There's no sin that he had to die for. Did you have something, Larry, you want? That's good, that's good.

It's all showing, isn't it, that he had to become a man. That's right. Adam was seen on the earth.

The Lord has been seen, I think, on the earth, crowned with glory and honor. So it's God's grace. They couldn't understand why a man could be greater than an angel, but he's shown him he had to be a man, and that's the reason, and it's all because of God's grace that he come into the world to taste death for every man or every thing.

So again, Brother Murray, when we think of chapter one, this supreme one who is the very image of the invisible God, if we think of the Lord Jesus as to who he is in glory, obviously he could not die. We think of angelic beings that the Jewish people put in such a high pedestal. Angels can't die.

But the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory, infinitely higher than the angels, became for a little while lower than the angels that he might die, that he might go to the cross. And I appreciate, too, Brother Joel mentioned about the first time that we have the name Jesus. Interesting, it is the lowly name, the name linked with his humanity.

But it is the first time also we have the word perfect, made perfect, sanctified. The first time that we have it, the succor. It's interesting in the contrast just as with what Brother Williams has just said.

You know, when you think of Adam, he really wanted to go higher. If he, in listening to the voice of the serpent in the garden, he shall be as God's. There must have been something there that wanted him to go higher.

But when it came to the Lord Jesus, he was the one that would go lower. And yet would be made higher than all. Brother Murray, in verse number nine, why wouldn't it say for death? Why would it add suffering of death? Is there something there we should be noticing? At the, in the middle there, you say? Right in the middle of verse nine.

For the suffering of death. For the suffering. Suffering, yeah.

Or by, as your marginal would give it, by the suffering of death. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, by the suffering of death, I think would be a better rendering there. Yeah, no, no, no, you're missing my point.

Why wouldn't it just say death? Why does it add in suffering of death? Because it's heading towards priesthood and he's perfected by suffering. Very good. And he's going to be the priest currently on behalf of suffering people.

That's how the chapter will end. That's what I was thinking. So are we, to make a distinction here now, are we talking suffering prior to the cross, suffering in his life, or are we only talking suffering and sacrifice? No, that's verse 10.

Yeah. The sufferings, you get plural there in verse 10. Yes.

That would be preparing for priesthood. But in verse nine, you're looking at the death of the cross. But I was enjoying the thought of suffering of death brings you to Psalm 22.

Deliver my soul, my darling from the power. So even though the Lord Jesus knew he was going to die, let us never think that it was like, oh, whatever, I'm going to die. No, it was real.

There were real sufferings. And he felt it, right? So just thinking suffering of death, like you say, there were other sufferings through his life, but death had to come about if ever there's going to be the fullness of redemption. That's right.

Not just for man and his sin, but as Brother William was pointing out earlier, all things, the whole created realm. And if he's going to redeem men and redeem an earth to be inhabited of men, it must be death because it's all subject to it. Exactly.

And more than that, Murray, Luke says in his gospel, the last chapter, it behooved Christ to suffer, not only that, to rise again from the dead. So the cross work, the resurrection is all involved. Right, right.

And that's why when we come to the end, I don't want to labor it, but let me just mention it. We come to the end of verse nine, he would taste death for every man. Now, as I understand, that is not plural, that is singular.

Everything. Okay, everything. But when we come to 2 Corinthians chapter five, it is Christ died for all men.

Romans chapter, or 1 Timothy chapter two, he is a ransom for all men. So, but here it really is in the singular that he tastes death for each individual. I'm just going to add, and I don't want to make this controversy dragged out, but this idea of suffering death, then for the redemption of all things, or everything rather, I still like to link that to the crowning.

Because, and I say this reverently, the Lord Jesus would not reign millennially on this earth until death. That's right. So there's a sense that there's going to be recognition as in his position because of what he suffered as well.

Yes. Except that. Go ahead.

Better move on, Murray. Yep. Worst story.

That's okay, I'm moving ahead. All right. If he tasted death for every man, as our brother has been saying, now, Brother Murray, you'll likely want to get into this.

The next verse is going to mention sons. A little later, we're going to have the word brethren. A little later, we're going to have the word children.

And each one of these will carry a different thought with it. But now we're becoming more selective, aren't we? That's right. It's not for every man, it's for a particular group.

Right. And could I just suggest in a very simple way, when we're thinking of sons, in my own mind, it is a fatherly word. So there's a new relationship here.

And really, it looks to the future, okay? The son was the heir, that was something coming. When we think of children, I think of a family word, and that's looking at the present, okay, as children. Sons, I think, is looking more to the future with the heirship.

Brethren, I think of fellowship. And that really is looking back to the past that we're brought into a fellowship of thanksgiving and trust because of the great triumph that was made as a result of his death. Now, some others maybe have some things on the brethren, the sons, and the children.

Brother Murray, it's sons in relation to salvation, isn't it? Captain of their salvation. It's going to be brethren in relation to their sanctification. Christ is the captain in relation to salvation.

Christ is the sanctifier in relation. And it's the priesthood that's the subject here. That's right.

Then when we come to the third word, children, it's going to be based upon three quotations that our brother will get into from the Old Testament. And now it's witness that's in view. And of course, Christ was the great witness, and Christians, the children here, are the witness of the current time, that time then as well as today.

Very good. Go ahead. Brother, would it be good to say who the hymn in verse 10 refers to, the fourth word, for it was fitting or became hymn? I take that the hymn is God.

Amen. OK? Did you have? OK. Could we suggest, too, Murray, that in verse 10, the sons here, it's the term that emphasizes the idea of maturity, dignity, character.

They're bearing the character of the one. So they're the inheritors. That's right.

The one that are going to come into glory in that millennial reign with Him. Yeah. That's why I think, I appreciate this, too, it links it with the future.

So salvation in the book of Hebrews, if I get it right, is always in the future. It's the thought of salvation and its completeness. And in chapter 1, it shows us that Christ is the eternal Son.

Before He even made the worlds, whom He hath appointed heir of all things. Before He made the worlds, He was the eternal Son. He was the heir.

And now we have those that are going to be co-heirs with Him, or joint heirs. Maybe that's not more in Ephesians, but still, it's salvation that's going to make Him perfect. Got to do with His priesthood.

He's going to be able to save to the uttermost, chapter 7 says. We sometimes preach that in the gospel, from the uttermost to the guttermost, but that's not what it's saying. He's able to save us right through the wilderness journey, bring us right to the very end.

What about the expression, captain of their salvation? What's the word captain? That seems an unusual word here. Yes. Go ahead.

Chief leader. Chief leader. File leader.

That's the word that's used four times in the New Testament. Each son of Christ, so it's captain. Someone suggested it carries the thought of a pioneer.

And who are they? They're the ones that go ahead. That's right. They go ahead of all others.

That's the character of our Lord Jesus. Back to the middle of the verse. The sons are obviously not yet brought onto glory.

No. The sons are still in the realm of sufferings down here. The Lord Jesus has already gone through that.

He's the file leader. He's gone before. And he's going to bring those many sons onto glory.

And the fact that he has gone that way, it qualifies him as our high priest of Secherus now in this realm of sufferings. Brother Murray, when you think of a captain, you think of a conflict. So he's obviously speaking about cross work.

Later on, he's going to speak about Christ as the author, the originator of our salvation. But this is Calvary. So it's pointing, again, to the fact that to be a leader of men, he had to be a man.

That's right. Yeah. And I think it should be pointed out that he was as much a man as I am, but he certainly wasn't such a man as I am.

He had to be a man in order to die, but he had to be more than a man in order to put away our sins. Senator Link here, as he's referring, of course, to the priesthood of Christ, that Aaron, of course, was constituted the high priest of the people because he had passed through the sufferings of the people as well in Egypt. And the Lord is there in a position and able to represent his people before God and to support and to succor them.

He's the one who has passed through sufferings here below, ahead of us. He has known the experiences of life, the pathway of faith. We come to that in chapter 12 again.

Right. The joy that was set before him. He endured the cross, despised the shame, sat down now at the right hand of God.

I appreciate you bringing that in, Brother Joel, because that is so true. Aaron has to be brought in here, seen as he suffered, and that was what fitted him as the priest. If we follow those three terms again, bringing sons to glory, the sons here, of course, are brothers and sisters.

It's a future thing, but bringing sons to glory, the sons here will be believers linked with the eternal son. Sonship is the beautiful view, but that's heaven in view. Now we're going to get to the word brethren.

That's the priesthood in view. Then we're going to get to the children. That's back to earth.

That's witness. That's in view. So with regard to the captain of their salvation, perfect, that'll be further developed in chapter 5. And as our brethren have been saying, Aaron in the Old Testament was one that went through the Egyptian experience.

He knew what the people had gone through. So he was qualified to be the priest to represent them before God. So the Lord Jesus has come down.

We see a glimpse of it here, further developed and in chapter 5, that he's the suffering man of earth, and he knows all about the things that you and I will go through, tempted in all points like as we are, apart from sin. I think it should be seen, too, that in verse 9, it is suffering singular. Verse 9, obviously referring to Calvary.

But I take that in verse number 10, at the end of verse number 10, when it comes to sufferings plural, it goes broader, wider than Calvary, includes the sufferings of his life. Culminating at the cross. That's right.

Very good. Perfect through suffering. Isn't the Lord Jesus already perfect? That's right.

Completion. It's the fulfillment, the thought of the completion of his work. But it's looking at it as a man, though, which is leading to the priest, right? My priest? Yeah, it's a priestly work.

Experiencing what we experience so he can relate to us. Can we just emphasize again, Brother Murray, that when it says the Lord Jesus made perfect, there is absolutely nothing out of place or wrong with the Lord Jesus. But to be a priest, he must experience what the people experience.

And so the Lord Jesus has come from the glory, walked as a man among us upon earth, and gone through all the persecutions and the difficulties and the trials of earth so he knows what you and I can face. He knows all about it. The only distinction is we suffer from sin, and he never did.

That's the difference. And I think, too, it's good to understand that what we're considering here does not maybe so much refer to Christ personally, but the particular office that he fills. Amen.

That's right. Any other man, a president comes into an office in this country, that office gives that man what he never had before. But when Christ comes into that office, he gave that office what it never had before.

That's what Christ did. Amen. OK.

He learned obedience by the things that he suffered. He was always obedient, but he learned the cost of obedience. And I was thinking in verse 10, and it became him.

And later on, such a high priest became us. Absolutely suitable for us. So he had to become a man.

And that's emphasized again in the fact that he's not ashamed to call them brethren. That's right. So that expression at the end of verse 10, if you didn't have that expression, you couldn't have verse 18.

Being tempted, he's now able to fully suffer myself. So, Murray, you would say, too, that sufferings is the means by which he became this completion. In other words, because of Calvary, the one who was the captain, he became perfect.

That's right. Not in the sense that, as our brother Gordon has said, nothing about him was imperfect. No.

But it brought into completion the purposes of God for us. Exactly. Brother Murray, in the next verse, when it says all of one, wouldn't that clear up the discussion we're into right now? And it's good to point out, brother, it does not say one, but of one.

Yes. OK. Would you think, brother, that refers to the mercy seat when he speaks about all of one? Mercy that had been provided, we've been brought into the good of it.

Yeah. Because there's a contrast, isn't there, between Hebrews and Romans? In Romans, we're looking really at the righteousness of God, the righteousness that's associated with his person, his office. But here it is the holiness.

So it obviously takes us even beyond that. But all of one, surely that means that he was like us. Amen.

All he became flesh, not sinful flesh, of course. No, right. But so he's not ashamed to call us brethren.

He became just like us. Is it not emphasizing the truth of sanctified humanity before God? That's what he has brought the sons to, and that's what he is himself. So in that sense, they are of one.

They are sanctified humanity before God. So the he in verse 11 now, you're speaking of the Lord Jesus. I would take that.

Yes, yes. And linking it with the high priest that we have later in the chapter. Brother, we've got to move to verse 12.

Sorry, Gordon. Quick one. Just in relation to the he of verse 11, though, all of one, again, it's priesthood that's coming here, isn't that? So he that sanctifies, I would take it, first of all, it refers to the priest.

Exactly. Not necessarily the Lord Jesus just yet, but the priest of the Old Testament had to be, who did the sanctifying, had to be linked with the people that he sanctified. And so here the Lord Jesus has to become man in relation to those that he sanctified.

That's right. So all of one is one body, one essence. Christ had to become a man of earth and face the sufferings of earth to be sympathized with the people that he represents.

So Darwin's translation says all of one company. That's the priesthood. It's good to keep in our minds that when we're considering Hebrews, we are always in the sanctuary.

Okay. When we go to see him in Romans, a very similar language, it's in the loquat. But here it is the sanctuary.

Now, brother, we're going to move you on to verse number 12, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. And there we have the third of these three descriptions that we've been given in the midst of the church. I will sing praise unto thee.

Now, brother, I was going to suggest, brother, the Lord will be the director of praise in the great congregation from Psalm 22. So this is a millennial scene. The redeemed that will praise him, the Lord will direct the praise.

That's right. Right. Let me just say at the end of verse number 11, I'm violating my own law, but not ashamed to call them brethren.

It's interesting that when Joseph's brethren come before him, he could have said, smelled them, and said, the shepherds? No, not at all. But notice what happens there because of who they are. So here are those made right before him.

And for this cause, he is not ashamed to call them brethren. They're all of one. So he's not ashamed to call them brethren.

He calls us his brothers. The implication is that we're one and the same. We're all in the same thing.

We don't call him brother, but he calls us brother. He's come down, you see. Brother Murray, we have three quotations from the Old Testament.

Just quickly, it's lovely to notice where these come from. Now, you'll all spot that verse 12 comes out of Psalm 22. Can I ask you where in Psalm 22? It's after the sufferings of Calvary.

The next quotation is Psalm 18. So Psalm 22 is the death of Christ. Psalm 18 is quoted next.

What on earth is Psalm 18? Psalm 18 is David's great psalm of deliverance when his enemies had been defeated. Then the next quotation comes right out of Isaiah chapter 8, where Isaiah takes two sons, faces an ungodly king, and gives them a twofold message that destruction is coming, but God is going to preserve the remnant. Now, what have we got here? We've got a quotation that comes from the second part of Psalm 22.

The crosswork is behind. It's a millennial scene, as our brother has said. Praise in the congregation.

Christ is linked with the delivered ones. Psalm 18, then deliverance is behind us. We're going to see it again, of course.

Deliver them through fear of death. But then the children represent a twofold message. I suggest the children here, by the way, would be New Testament believers, as our brother Murray has said.

Christians of that day had a twofold message to the Jewish world. Destruction is coming. AD 70 is around the corner.

That's right. But there's deliverance and there's God's people. That's what the Christians represent.

Interesting to me, Murray, that the disciples were never called brethren until after the resurrection. That's right. Very good.

That's what he's talking about here. Just a wonderful verse there, verse 12. I will sing.

Now, I know we all appreciate our song leaders, but can you imagine that coming day when Christ stands in the midst of all the redeemed and he starts to sing, our singing links to joy and the swell of that song that just starts to rise and rise and he's singing with us to God. That's right. It's a tremendous picture.

The beginning of that verse there, too, Scott, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. Well, in a sense, he's declared the name of God unto us now. We enjoy that.

But in that coming day in all its fullness, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. The unfolding of the character of God in Christ Jesus to us. And you link that to verse 13.

I will put my trust. He's always going to be the trusting man. That's right.

Throughout the millennial, throughout the new heavens and the new earth, always a perfect man, fully confident in his God, leading us, showing us the example, right? Yep. And at the end of the verse, he says, I am the children which God has given me. And so he has arrived at that moment.

Now we're going to come to verse 14, brethren, because I have to watch that clock. Could we say, Murray, that the Lord sang on both sides of Calvary? Very good. That's amazing.

You know, before he went to the cross, he sang with the disciples and then afterwards. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. And the truth of that satisfaction is with a song.

So we'll come to verse 14. For much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, something that I had absolutely no choice in, and you didn't either, he also likewise himself took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. So we're at verse 14.

He had to be like us to be our high priest, but he had to be unlike us to be our advocate. That's right. Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

So we notice we're back to the word children. It's sons in glory, it's brethren and priesthood, but it's sons in witness here upon earth. Would children also suggest a new order of things, a new generation? Yes.

New past, you know, but there's something new that's coming in. And maybe, of course, maybe I'm going into some other epistles, but death brings that in. That's right.

There's something new. Someone has said that every time a child is born, it's really an advertisement that life has to go on. And so that's the thought here is children is the thought.

Yes. And actually the term children here isn't the word that emphasizes one that's born. No.

But one that can be trained. Trained. So that's what chapter 12 is all about when it talks about chastening or disciplining, training them to be like sons, so that when we come into glory, there'll be a tremendous reflection of him who went before.

That's right. Distinction between partakers and took part is important. Yes.

I would suggest that when he speaks about the children being partakers of blood and flesh or flesh and blood, humanity, that we had no existence apart from that. No. Man had no existence apart from being born and brought in this world.

But he had an existence. That's right. He was for eternity, but he voluntarily took part for the accomplishment of a purpose.

That's right. Like us apart from sin, but it might be a kinsman redeemer. Very good.

I think it's important, Murray, to notice it says he took part of the same. The Lord only took upon him flesh. The blood was the result of supernatural conception.

This was incarnation. He took upon him flesh and then he was born. Right.

And I think it's good to point out, too, that just that our brethren have alluded to it, just putting it together, you know, his deity never had a beginning and his humanity, which we have in chapter two, will never have an ending. And, you know, if we're able and if we're ever to be able to be made like him, he had to be made more like us. So as Brother Jewel is pointing out, he literally had to take a hold of humanity and come into those conditions.

Brother, in what sense did the Lord Jesus destroy him who had the power of death? That is the devil. Would you think, brother, that he is really telling us that the devil's own weapon became the instrument of his own execution? OK, now we find that death will exist even after the death will exist after the devil is even in the lake of fire. So there's a sense in which it goes beyond that.

I think, Murray, the idea is he he nullified the power of Satan. He destroyed death and hell in the grave and he destroyed the power of the enemy. And in the coming day, we'll be able to say, oh, death, where is thy victory? Very good.

Yes. In other words, by his dying, here's what it did for us. And Brother McCullough has already referred to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Not only did it take the sting out of it, but it turned death no longer as a penalty, but as a passage. OK, so no longer penalized because of sin. But my death will be simply, that's 1 Corinthians chapter 15 again, a passage through to the next.

Brother Murray, in Revelation 1, the Lord Jesus would say to John the apostle, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and of death. And like a David who went into the valley to meet the giant. You remember when the battle was over, the giant was dead and David had two things.

He had the sword of Goliath that terrified the people. That's right. And he had the head of Goliath.

The monster is gone. When we go to 1 Corinthians 15, Brother Eric, I will leave it for a future day. I think the apostles bring it to today.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Christ has gone into death and come out from among the dead. He's defeated death. He's taken the very instrument that Satan used to terrify.

And as believers, we need have no fear of death. Absent from the body is present with the Lord. Very good.

Good. Verse number 16, we want to come to Brethren for verily took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. And it is really the sense in which he took it by the hand, the seed of Abraham as such and not the nature of angels, but he, and then of course it leads up to him in his final work and verse 17, but we'll consider 16 briefly.

Just quickly, Brother Murray, why not the seed of Adam? Well, I had thought that the seed of Abraham really would take us on to the future inheritance. The seed of Adam, of course, is that which brought me to death and to his termination. Is it not the children of faith and the faith aspect? Glacians three, you're thinking of? Yes.

In the gospels who we read of the, but it's a case, not a child of Adam or son of Adam and so on. And the man in Abraham's bosom, I think it shows that they were like their father. They believed God, the people of faith, God, the Lord didn't take hold of angels.

If he'd had, he would have become an angel to lift them up, but he took hold of the seat of Abraham so that he might lift up the family of the faithful. Do you have some more of that, Brother Gordon? Our reading is in the letter to the Hebrews and the Hebrews were so proud of the fact that they were related to Abraham. But as our brother had been giving you these allusions to Luke and Zacchaeus and so on, the seed of Abraham, of course, means the faithful ones, the righteous ones, that's believers of that day.

And it's telling the nation, look, you're not a child of Abraham if you don't know Christ. Right. Verse 17, we're going to just one quick comment.

It is quick. I don't think we should lose sight of this, that when the angels did sin, God never lifted a finger. And mankind, which is lower than angels, we sinned, he sent his son.

Just keep that in. I think that's very important to see that. Okay.

Verse 17, I think that we have in the chapter three expressions really of his incarnation. Verse nine, a little lower than the angels. Verse 14, likewise took part of the same.

Now we come to verse 17, it behooved him to be made like unto us his brethren, showing us the qualities, of course, of the priest before the people. An apostle would represent God to the people, but as a priest, he represents the people to God. Yeah.

So we're back to the term brethren because it's priesthood that's in view, isn't it? That's right. That's right. So he certainly was merciful to us.

And we read again in the book that he was faithful to God and all his house. That's right. And I think most are aware of the fact that the reconciliation really is the word for propitiation for the sins of the people here at the end of verse number 17.

It's nice to notice that reconciliation in the Bible, of course, has to do with people. There can be no such thing as sins reconciled. So it's, as our brother said, propitiation.

It's the same word here that would be found in Luke 18 with the, you remember the public and said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. There are six words in the New Testament that have to do with propitiation. They actually come in three pairs, but this one here will be found two times.

So it's nice that the idea of the mercy seat is brought in with the great high priest. So your mind is going back to the day of atonement, Leviticus 16, and here's the ultimate great high priest. Propitiation for sins is the concept, is it not, that God is absolutely satisfied in relation to the work of Calvary.

God is satisfied in what his son did when he suffered at Calvary. The issue of sin has been taken care of. And there's a savior that not only died upon the cross, but he's now in the glory.

Excuse me, I'm not sure where that fellow is that mentioned something about a question or a contribution from the audience. I'm not sure where he is, but this street's been very busy. I'm like a cop at an intersection.

Is somebody out there got something like to help or contribute here? There's one thing, Murray, I think we should note that he made propitiation on the cross. That's right. And the reason I emphasize that, you might have read or even we had brethren, earlier brethren, that spoke about the Lord taking his blood into the actual sanctuary.

Not at all. No. So if you read that, just discard it.

That's right. He made propitiation. You can't make the types all just fit every little bit, but it was on the cross that he made propitiation for the sins of the people.

Amen. Brother Stu? So there's a sense that his work as a priest didn't commence at the ascension, but it was the work of a priest on the cross in offering. The Lord did many priestly works when he was here, but officially, I would say he entered into it in heaven because it was in the power of an endless life.

It must have been after Calvary. And that is well put, that there were certainly priestly acts that he did, but officially, if we want to use that term, was really what he entered into heaven. Isaiah 53 says he made intercession for the transgressors.

That's Calvary. That's right. Very good.

In what sense, verse 18, just to clarify, in what sense was he being tempted? Well, I would take it that for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's able to succor them that are tempted. I hadn't thought there was any sense in which we could limit that temptation. I think it would include what took place in the garden.

It would be, I don't know if you had something more specific in your mind, Brother William. It would be him being tested. He's not being enticed to sin.

That's right. And tested to prove that he couldn't, not to see if he could. But it's the sense that he went through the trials of life, his trials, so that he now can sympathize with us who go through the trials of life.

The word suffered is an intense, it indicates it's an event that has passed, but it has permanent results. So that that is a memory that never will be forgotten. Excuse me.

We haven't given Brother Webber here a chance to say amen even. Did you have something, Brother Roy? Okay. He said his amen.

So the Lord, he entered into our position, but not into our state. That's right. And he was tested so that he can succor.

That's what you have here. The first part of Hebrews is a priesthood from God toward man, and then it changes and it takes man into the sanctuary. So he's able to succor them that are tempted.

Chapter four, he's able to sympathize with us in our weakness, and then he's able to save to the uttermost to bring us right through. Yes, he is able. That's right.

Very good. Appreciate your help very much, brethren. Lovely, workable brethren this morning.

I appreciate the help of you all in case I don't get opportunity to express that. I'm going to close in prayer, then our brother will make the necessary announcements after that. Okay.