Sermon Tone Analysis

Imagine that one of your friends comes to you and tells you that he is planning a big vacation to go see the Grand Canyon.

He tells you that this was his dream since he was a little kid after watching westerns and cowboys.

You get excited for him and in the conversation, you will probably ask if he is going to fly or drive.

His answer to your astonishment is “I am going to walk”.

After you recover from speechlessness, you won’t know what to say to your friend besides are you out of your mind?

Have you lost your marbles?

He continues to say that he can do it on his own, it will take 600 hours of walking, about 100 days if he walks 6 hours a day.

But what about your supplies and luggage?

Won’t it cost more?

At some point you will say to him, you do know that a car or an airplane is able to take you there, right?

He will say no, I can do it on my own if I get tired I can take a bike, it will take only 200 hours.

In exasperation, you might repeat to him you do know a car or airplane is able to take you there.

Trying to live this life on our own is like trying to walk to the Grand Canyon.

It is ludicrous, expensive and just plain absurd.

Yet we do it all too often.

God is reminding us in this passage that Jesus is able to help us.

This is God’s message to us this morning.

Jesus wants to help us, we will be crazy to try to live life otherwise.

Chapter 2 of Hebrews ends with verses 17-18, where the author presents a conclusion of the argument that started in v10.

Why did Jesus have to be made like us in every respect?

This seems almost as crazy as walking to the Grand Canyon.

But, when we look at the previous verses, we can see that the author already presented several answers to the same question.

V9 says that Jesus became a man so that Jesus tasted death in our place

V10 says that Jesus became a man so he would bring many sons to glory

V11-13 says that Jesus became a man so he would be our sanctifier, and he is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters

V14 says that Jesus became a man so that he might destroy the devil

V15 says that Jesus became a man so that He might deliver us from the fear of death

V16 says that Jesus became a man so that He would help us

Now in V17, the author summarizes all this by saying that Jesus became a man so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Here in v 17 is the first time in the book of Hebrews that the word high priest is mentioned in this letter.

This theme, Jesus our high priest, is a prevalent theme in the letter to the Hebrews, there was already an allusion to it in Heb 1:3.

In chapters 4 through 8 the author of Hebrews explains in detail the priesthood of Jesus.

Therefore, we will be looking at this much deeper in the months ahead.

For now we should understand why the author of Hebrews talks about Jesus as the high priest here.

He is answering the question: why did Jesus have to be made like his brothers in every respect?

Why did Jesus have to become a man?

His answer is found with this reference Jesus made “propitiation for the sins of the people” and to become a faithful and merciful high priest.

V17 doesn’t just say that Jesus is a high priest, it says that Jesus is a merciful and faithful high priest.

We can understand why it mentions merciful, because he partook of our flesh and blood, so He can fully sympathize with our weakness and struggles.

He is a merciful high priest, even though He is God, He took the punishment for our sin, He knows what is like to be a human being and He is merciful to us.

Here in Hebrews after talking about Jesus the faithful and merciful high priest the author goes on to talk about God’s house.

Just like the prophecy in 1 Sam about the coming of the great faithful priest.

1 Sam 2:35 “And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind.

And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.”

This prophecy was given to Eli the priest.

God was rejecting Him as a priest because He honored his two sons more than God and allow them to profane God’s temple.

God was cutting down his house and establishing another priest in his place, this was partially fulfilled by Samuel the priest, the one that anointed David king later.

However, the prophesy talks about this priest going in and out forever.

Samuel died and his sons were not as righteous as Samuel.

Therefore, this prophecy in 1 Sam 2 was talking about a priest that was going to come and live forever.

Thus, when the author of Hebrews talks about Jesus the faithful priest, he is pointing out that Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy.

That Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.

Jesus is not only faithful, but He is also a merciful high priest who made propitiation for sins.

When it says to make propitiation for sins, it is a deeply important concept.

Here the Greek word used can either mean to make ‘expiation’ or ‘propitiation’.

The difference between “expiation” and “propitiation” is subtle but important.

“Expiation” signifies the cancellation of sin while “propitiation” gives the idea of turning away the wrath of God.

There is an extensive discussion among Greek experts on which is the best translation.

I won’t bore you with all the linguistic discussion and just point to the fact that the preferred translation is propitiation and not expiation because that was the concept that this word represented in other writing most often in first-century Greek.

The word propitiation is a word that is associated with the wrath of God.

Scripture consistently teaches that the wrath of God is over sin.

We could say that the consequence of sin is the wrath of God.

For the consequence of sin is death.

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Christ takes the wrath of God away from us when we repent and put our trust in His sacrifice.

Rom 3:26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

God is both the just and the justifier.

Jesus is both the high priest and the sacrifice.

Back to our initial analogy of walking instead of flying to the Grand Canyon.

The author is saying that Jesus is not just the airplane, but also that He is the fuel and the power that allows the airplane to fly.

I know this is not a perfect analogy, but Jesus is both the gift and the giver, the intermediary and the means for intermediation.

Meaning if you don’t have Jesus, you have nothing, literally nothing.

The author of Hebrews after talking about these amazing truths about Jesus was compelled to give us a practical application.

He says:

I want you to notice a slight change in the phrase.

In v 16 the author says that Jesus helps us.

Here in v18, it is slightly different it says Jesus is able to help us.

The author could have said only that Jesus helps us, but he is emphatic on the aspect that Jesus not only does help but Jesus is able to help us.

Meaning we should run to Him because He is more than able to help us.

God is asking us to consider Jesus’ ability to help us, not only that He does help us, but to ponder the amazing fact that Jesus, who is the Son of God who has the stars in His hands, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on High, to whom everything is subjected now and forever.

This Jesus, who is being worshiped and exalted with honor and glory by the angels.

He is able to help us.

He is not too busy.

We are not below getting His help.

In fact, the author just spent time telling us we are worthy of His help.

He considers us His brothers and sisters, we are sons of God, not by our own merit, but by Christ’s work.

We are co-heirs with Christ, we could not have given greater honor to be called sons of God.

Why is he able to help us?

Because He partook of our flesh and blood, lived the boring, “common” unexpected “regular” life on earth, as we saw last week.

Then for the years of His public ministry, He had to deal with those that opposed Him, those that followed Him and never seem to understand Him.

Then after He was betrayed, Jesus was abandoned by all his followers, and then finally alone He took the wrath of God for our sin on the cross.

Because of all of this he is able to help us.

Therefore, we should run to Him to ask for His help, to hold our hand, to take hold of us, and to lead us in His presence.

But as we look at this verse again I want you to notice that this verse also says because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

It seems that temptation is a big theme here in this verse.

It says that Jesus suffered when tempted.

Here is a question we can consider, was Jesus truly tempted?

Why do I ask this question?

Some incorrectly will say that Jesus was not truly tempted because He as the Son of God was not able to sin.

What some are saying is that Jesus’ temptations were not real because He was not able to sin.