Hebrews 2: Great Descent

The letter to the Hebrews is just that, a letter written specifically to Jewish Christ-followers.  That’s why the Psalms are quoted so often; the readers were all familiar with them.  When it was written, midway through the first century, Jesus had been gone for decades and some of these Jewish Christ-followers were having second thoughts.  That’s why we read repeated warnings like the one in the opening paragraph of chapter two. The letter explores all the ways Jesus is superior to people a Jew would revere, people like Abraham and Moses and the high priest. 

In chapter one the letter unpacks the ways Jesus is superior to angels – maybe not a big deal to us, but a very big deal to a first century Jew.   Jesus, it says, is the very one through whom the Father made the universe, the one who is even now sustaining all things through by power of his word, the one to whom the Father says, “Your throne, O God, will last forever.”  It’s an exalted picture of a distant, glorious being.

Then comes chapter two.

Here Jesus is brought low. He’s made lower than angels.  He learns death.  He experiences temptation.  He suffers.  And because he suffered, he’s uniquely equipped to help.  He not only pays for sin through his death – he does that and it’s huge, bigger than we can grasp, but there’s more here.  He gets it.  He understands.  He knows.  In every way but one he was just like us.  And so he gets what it’s like to be weary or hungry, to feel helpless or afraid, to face temptation or death.  Because he suffered like us, he’s able to help us in our sufferings. 

In the hard times, he’s not some distant, glorious being, he’s one of us.

As we approach the close of this six-month tour of scripture, think about all the times, all the ways God has tried to tell us this one thing. 

In the hard times, he’s not some distant, glorious being, he’s one of us.

– Paul Abbott