Hebrews 2:16
8 December 2024
For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Let me begin by reading the verse we're going to be focusing on this afternoon from another translation, from the Authorised Version, Hebrews 2:16. 'For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.' He took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Now this afternoon in what we're going to be unpacking and delving into is Old Testament doctrine of God's covenant with Abraham, and the application that it has for a physical people, and also the everlasting impact that it has for a spiritual people wrought by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just so that we are clear, what we're going to be unpacking is certainly going to be very teaching heavy, because we're going to be establishing a doctrinal argument that is of great importance for us to understand in even our study in the book of Hebrews.
So every time we do this, because we will do this from time to time to different levels of extents depending on the passage verse we're dealing with, what we're going to be building as we work through verses like this is a clearer picture that from Genesis to Revelation, Christ has always been the plan and the purpose. This was decreed from before the foundations of the earth, all of it. Abraham wasn't random, Israel wasn't lucky, and neither are we, because as we see in this verse in Hebrews 2:16, it says that Christ has taken on the seed of Abraham, and what this means is if we are in Christ, then we are Abraham's seed, because Christ has taken this on.
Now, this is going to be a difficult argument to unpack, and we're going to be going to many scripture verses in order to build this argument, because possibly for some, reading this verse, you're maybe wondering, well, what's this seed of Abraham language all about? Well, that is the question that we're going to be tackling. What does it mean for Christ to take on the seed of Abraham? That's what we're going to be answering. So if you're not sure at this point, then may it be by God's grace as we work through that there will be greater clarity as the argument is built.
Now, the first thing that we're going to do, before we deal with Abraham and the offspring language, first of all, we need to be clear about this phrase, took on. This is the reason, primarily, I've made reference to the Authorised Version, because in the ESV, it says, helps. Now, that's a bad translation, okay? I've had plenty of time bashing the ESV, well, this is one of these. 'For surely it's not the angel that he helps.' No, no, no. We're not dealing with helping, we're dealing with taking on. He took it on. So I'm not suggesting you're scoring out words, but you can certainly make a note, took on is a much more accurate way of understanding this verse, because that helps us to grasp more the weight of this meaning.
When this word took on, it basically means that he takes possession of, and we see Jesus literally doing this, this taking possession of, at certain points in the Gospels. For example, this same phrase is used when he takes on, he takes possession of Peter, who is sinking in the water in Matthew 14:31. We also see it when he takes the blind man by the hand in Mark 8:23, the same word of taking on, and this word is also significant because it is helping us to see what Jesus has done in becoming a man, and notice a contrast that's given in this verse. It says that he hasn't taken on the nature of angels, but he has taken on the seed of Abraham.
Now probably nobody, maybe not many people here, has considered that this is yet another very important argument for why Jesus has died for only a distinct elect people, and not for everyone. Now where would I get that from Hebrews 2:16? Well it is by the fact that he is taking on the form of man, and not the form of angels. What's one of the biggest pushbacks that people give to the teaching from Scripture that Christ died for his chosen people, and not every people and all people in this world? Well they say, well it's not fair that Christ would come for some and not everyone. Well here's the question from Hebrews 2:16. Why has he not come for the fallen angels? Because note, if we're saying, well there are some who are destined for hell, yes that is true, and we see that including of the angelic realm, which is of a higher realm. They are in a hopeless state, and Jesus hasn't even taken on their form. So the fallen angels are in their state of condemnation, but what we have here in this verse is that Jesus has graciously and mercifully come in the form of man.
So this is important to see, that distinction between he's not taking on the form, the nature of angels, but he is taking on, and now we come to the specific term, the seed of Abraham. Or the verse in ESV says offspring, that word's not so bad. So offspring of Abraham, seed of Abraham, either or. But this is the picture now that we need to start to unpack. What does it mean then for Jesus including himself in human flesh, becoming a man? What does it mean specifically here that he's taking on the seed of Abraham?
Now this phrase, seed of Abraham, first of all, it can mean two different things. It could mean the natural seed, and it could mean the spiritual seed. And in Hebrews 2:16, it is clearly speaking of the spiritual seed, which is God becoming a man, becoming a Jew in the line of Israel, and taking the form of Abraham's seed. And this is our link, and this is the argument we now need to build. The language of Abraham and seed in relation to Jesus takes us all the way back to Abraham, and this means that Jesus Christ all the way to Abraham, there is something directly linked.
So again, if anyone ever says, well, the Old Testament, that's not really relevant stuff now. No, it is directly relevant, and it is essential to understand the picture that is being built, which takes us to the Lord Jesus Christ, and there are many ways in which, through the Old Testament, it is pointing forward, it is leading to, it is about Jesus Christ, and this line of Abraham is one such of these.
So now we're going to go to some scripture verses in the Old Testament to start to work out what this means. So turn with me first to Genesis chapter 12. We're going to read the opening three verses. This is where, in the book of Genesis, in the word of God, we are introduced to Abraham, at this point called Abram. Genesis 12:1-3 reads: 'Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."'
Now this is the beginning of the argument. This is God calling Abram, and we see that He makes a promise. In verse 2 He says He will make Abram a great nation. That great nation is going to be Israel. We have that in our mind, there's a promise made to Abram that there is going to be a great nation, that will be Israel, and Israel will be significant, crucially, throughout the Old Testament. But also notice what God says at the end of verse 3, where He says, regarding 'I will bless those who bless you, I'll curse those who curse,' and then we read, 'and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' So we've already got a specific, immediate, physical thing in view with regards to a great nation, Israel, but there's also the promise of all the families being blessed, and at this point we're wondering, all families, how, where, what's this going to be about?
So let's now go to Genesis 17:4-7 reads: 'Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.'
Now, as we look at this passage, which is a passage about the physical marking of Israel's identity as belonging to God, being God's people, namely the mark of circumcision, look at the language of this covenant promise, and it is a promise, verse 4, of Abram being the father of a multitude of nations. So this is where we have to have in view at this point. There's a promise of something physical that is going to be established, but there is also something spiritual being promised, something that is being described as eternal. We've got this multitude of nations language, but notice in verse 7, it is going to be an everlasting covenant that will be established. An everlasting covenant is going to be established.
So we've got these two things going on here, and if we can just turn to Genesis chapter 22 and verse 18, we see this even more clearly with regards to how this everlasting covenant is going to be established through Abraham. Genesis 22:18 reads: 'And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.'
Now notice what is being introduced here in this verse, 'in your offspring,' in your offspring. Now who is the offspring, who is the seed of Abraham? This is the question we should have in mind, and first of all we would say, well, that's Isaac is it not? We've seen that Abraham is a boy that he shouldn't have had in disobedience to the Lord, namely Ishmael, then he has the boy that has been promised by God with Sarah, which is Isaac. The boy who was to be sacrificed, but the Lord spared him. We contrast that now with the promise of one who will not be spared, and this is the offspring or more accurately the seed which is being promised in Genesis 22:18, and that seed is Jesus Christ.
Now one point to make about this singular use of the term seed or offspring, we know that Abraham will have many seeds, many offspring if you like, but when it comes to the spiritual everlasting covenant in its fulfilment, it will come through one man, one seed, and that is Jesus Christ, and this is the contrast we need to have in view. On the one line, there is a physical promise that Abraham will have many offspring, namely he will have a son, Isaac, and Isaac will have the two sons, Esau and Jacob, and Jacob will be continuing this line, who will then have 12 sons, which will be the 12 tribes of Israel, and this will take us through to the establishing of Israel's history, which takes us to Exodus and the coming of Moses and all that happens thereafter. That is the physical nation that will be established through Abraham's offspring, but also we have the spiritual seed, which is promised, which is to come, and that is Christ.
If you can turn with me now to Galatians chapter 3, where this point is made even more crystal clear, Galatians 3:16 reads: 'Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ.' That is a key verse, brothers and sisters, for seeing the plan and purpose of Jesus Christ in this Abrahamic covenant. Yes, there is something very specific. There is a sacred blessing to Israel. They are a distinct and set apart people. Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and so on, but what we have to understand about the Old Testament history is that they would not, in their physical identity and by their own religious good works, be able to fulfil the requirements of God's holy and moral law, because this is what is revealed. As God establishes these covenants with Abraham, with Moses, with David, it is establishing God's blessing to a select people, and He commands of them to obey His voice. Time and time and time again, they do not obey His voice. This is why the ultimate purpose and destination of these covenants being established was the coming of Jesus Christ. It was Him taking on the seed of Abraham. This is singular, and it is spiritually transformative.
One thing we are going to do before we unpack how this is so significant in the New Testament is to go to Matthew chapter 1. I contemplated one way or the other whether to do this, and because it is December, I thought, well, let's do it. We are going to read the genealogy of Matthew 1. Now, reading the Bible is never a waste of time, as we can certainly give a hearty amen to, but the reason we are going to be focusing on this is just to see clearly where this offspring language does have still a physical significance. It is the spiritual seed which is crucial, but even what we know of the physical line of Abraham, it takes us to Christ, so that there is no disconnect here whatsoever. It is not that this spiritual seed has got nothing to do with Abraham's line. No, it has a direct application.
Let's just read this briefly. Matthew 1:1-16 reads:
'The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.'
Now this is worth following because we see that from Genesis 12 to Matthew 1, what God has designed perfectly has been through this physical line will come the spiritual seed of Abraham, and that is Jesus Christ. And let's turn now to Romans chapter 9 to understand the significance then of Jesus taking on this spiritual seed. What we've established so far is that there is a physical offspring of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on, and this takes us to the establishing of Israel as a physical people in the time of the old covenant, but now we come to the time of the new covenant, and we're certainly seeing from the word of God, Jesus takes on this spiritual seed, but what's significant about it? What changes then, if anything?
And this is where we come to Romans 9:6-8, which reads: 'But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.'
Now here we have a distinction being given. It is a distinction between Israel and Israel. It is a distinction between the physical people of Israel and the spiritual people of Israel. Now what do we mean by that? Well here we come to the different offspring directions here, because in this verse, verse 6, Paul is writing, not all who are descended from Israel, that is physical Israel, belong to Israel, which is spiritual Israel. So now in the New Testament, in the New Covenant, we have a distinction being given. There are two references to Israel. So how are we to make sense of this?
Well, we come to verse 7, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but 'through Isaac shall your offspring be named.' If anyone wants to make an argument for dispensationalism, again, this sermon is dispelling that notion because the very fact of Jesus Christ taking on the seed of Abraham and this being a plan in the time of the Old Covenant is leading to this spiritual purpose and fulfilment because Paul is writing here, not all the children of Abraham are his offspring. Well, clearly that's not the physical case because they are physically his offspring. It's making that distinction between the physical people of Israel and the spiritual people, which is the church, because the people who are made up of this spiritual reality are those who are born again, who are of faith in Jesus Christ. That's why he says in verse 8, 'this means that it is not the children of the flesh,' physical Israel, 'who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.' How can you be considered an offspring of Abraham? How could this ever be applied to us? Physically, we're from a different country. We don't have a direct genealogical line to Abraham. How can this be possible? It can be possible because Jesus Christ has taken the seed of Abraham. That's how it can be possible because we are in Christ. We belong to Christ and now the emphasis, the significance is not on a physical marked people in a set place and time. It is a spiritual people which is made up of different tribes, ethnicities around the world and that is those who are of faith in Jesus Christ.
Turn with me now to Galatians chapter 3. Remember the question that we're addressing here this afternoon, namely what does it mean for Jesus to take on the seed of Abraham? And we're now beginning to answer this question because we've seen the significance of this physical line, the physical offspring of Abraham, now we're beginning to see the spiritual significance of this offspring. First of all, let's read Galatians 3:7 which says, 'Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.' Those of faith. So see what the distinction is, what the marker is. Those of faith who are the sons of Abraham, namely a spiritual people which is the church of Jesus Christ and since we've had a go at dispensationalism, let's also have a go at infant baptism. This is also a key argument as to why we would not be baptising infants because it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
Now let's go to Galatians 3 from verse 23 to the end of the chapter to see this argument being drawn out even more in relation to Hebrews 2:16. Galatians 3:23-29 reads: 'Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.'
Now especially in the context of the building of this argument that we worked through here this afternoon, this passage should really start to be putting more pieces together. When we see here before faith came, namely before this time of the new covenant when we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, note the condition of Israel, the physical offspring of Abraham. What is their condition? They are held captive under the law. They are imprisoned. But at the same time the law, even though it is described as the ministry of death in 2 Corinthians 3, it is described here as our guardian because it reveals the truth of who God is and the reason why it can be written in such a positive way is because Christ would come. Christ was going to come and we have a massive problem, every one of us before the law, because the law condemns us. There is no one righteous, no not one. And any hope in any physical identity to a specific people, whether it be Israel in Judaism or whether it be within Sharia law in Islam or whether it be through some mystical region somewhere else in the world, we can be sure and clear that the one true living God condemns anyone and everyone in whatever religion this may be because we are all sinners before the living God and the law holds us captive. But then we have one for whom there is justification by faith, the one who took on the seed of Abraham, this spiritual seed which is Jesus Christ where this eternal everlasting covenant promised in Genesis 17, remember back then we were wondering, well what's that all about? This is what it's all about, us right here, we are the recipients, we have been blessed by this everlasting covenant and it is all because of Jesus Christ that we now can be called sons of God through faith, verse 26 and even more explicit to our verse, verse 29, we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Where is the link between you sitting here tonight and Abraham many centuries ago in this region in the book of Genesis? The answer is Jesus Christ. This is why in Genesis 3:15 it says, 'I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.' Again, we've got this language of offspring, of seed, with two different focuses here. Christ has come for a specific purpose, for a specific people, a spiritual people. We are this offspring of Abraham, and it is made possible, it is made the reality tonight by your faith in Jesus Christ. You can be and are declared the offspring of Abraham, sons of Abraham, by your faith in Jesus Christ who took on the seed of Abraham. This was the plan and purpose in the time of Abraham's life and before the foundations of the earth. This is what God has ordained, and this is again why the devil is defeated. Zechariah 3:2 says, 'And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"' Because Jesus is that plan. Jesus is that hope. He is the one who will take on this offspring because only Jesus could redeem us, His people, from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13), by being the substitute in our place.
This point of becoming our substitute in our place is what we will unpack when we resume in Hebrews 2:17 at the beginning of next year. But here tonight, what we see contained in this verse is a glorious nugget of biblical doctrine of the significance of the Old Testament in relation to the New. The significance of the Abrahamic covenant to you here tonight is all centred upon Christ. Because as we've said, Christ is not the afterthought, He is not the plan B, He's not trying to make the best of the mess Israel made of things. No, it was always driven and headed to this destination that the Lord Jesus Christ would take on the seed of Abraham. This is a spiritual and everlasting reality for you here tonight, Church of Jesus Christ. We go from the significance of a physical people belonging to Abraham to now a spiritual people. Yes, there is still that belonging to Abraham, but it is crucially because we belong to Jesus Christ. Therefore, in another way, yet another argument that's being established in Hebrews chapter 2 regarding the significance of the incarnation, the significance of Jesus coming to this earth, it is significant because God has made His covenant with the patriarchs, and that covenant will reach its absolute and everlasting fulfilment by the spiritual seed of Jesus Christ taking it on for us, now His people through faith in His blood shed for us. This is the glory of the gospel being unpacked in even greater depth from Genesis to Revelation, it is all about Jesus Christ.