Hebrews 2:17
12 January 2025
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.
So, as we come now to this subject of the propitiation of the sins of the people, here in Hebrews 2:17, we are very much coming to the glorious climax of what has been the first big overarching argument that has been established in the book of Hebrews, namely, dealing with the superiority of Christ to that of the angels.
But more specifically, in this section here, from around about verse 10 or even verse 5 to the rest of the chapter in Hebrews 2, there is more of an explicit focus on establishing who the Lord Jesus Christ is in becoming a man, in coming to identify with mankind.
And in these weeks where we've been working through these verses, we have been unpacking the glorious doctrine of the Incarnation, who Jesus Christ is in clothing Himself in human flesh.
Now, brothers and sisters, the significance and the weight of what we have been unpacking is something that, as we've gone deeper into this doctrine, we should be increasingly having a deeper sense of appreciation of the magnificence and the wonder of Christ becoming a man and indwelling among us.
So much so, based on verses like Hebrews 2:11, when we see the impact of He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified, namely Christ and His elect, all having one source, namely, that oneness that we have because of who Christ is, this is how significant it is that we're sitting here tonight having a togetherness, having a unity not only with one another but with Almighty God. And this is possible because of who Jesus is.
So we have a oneness, we have a togetherness with each other, with God. And it is because of Christ, because He has become a man. And when we come now to verse 17, we finally come to the how, how He does it. So far, in verses 10 to 16 especially, we've been dealing with the who, who Christ is in becoming a man.
Now, in verse 17, we come more explicitly to how He does this, how He secures this, how we can have this oneness, and the weight of this in terms of understanding the very gospel we believe in, is the depth of teaching that we seek to unpack in the book of Hebrews.
Because if, for example, someone was to come to you to give a defence of your faith, to explain the gospel, you would hopefully be able to articulate well, there is one true living God, the God of the Bible, that we are sinners before this God. This is our fallen condition. And Christ has come to this earth. He died on the cross to save sinners, and those who repent and believe will be saved by the grace of God.
Understanding, unpacking, explaining the gospel. So we grasp this, we grasp the truth of the gospel. But what we're now doing in working through a book like Hebrews, and at the pace we're working through the book of Hebrews, is trying to scrape the very bottom of every aspect of the ounce of the treasure in a book like this, to then be able to, with greater depth, with greater theological conviction, understand the depths and the complexities of the very gospel we believe in.
If there's anything, anything at all that you, sitting here as a Christian, should want to know with greater depth, greater clarity in terms of conviction, then it is surely the gospel that you believe in.
This is the time that we need to spend as students of the Word of God. It isn't simply acceptable to say, well, as long as you believe the gospel. We don't want to get too heavy on this stuff. Why not? Why wouldn't we want to? Wouldn't we want to have an even deeper understanding of complex doctrine like what we have here in Hebrews chapter two, to have a deepening knowledge and then, for example, to be able to even more be equipped in our evangelism, be all the more spurred in the way by which we pray, have all the more a greater hunger to then come to the Word of God again and again, seeking to know more of who this God is that we worship and the glorious gospel that we proclaim and adorn.
And this is with Hebrews chapter 2:17. We have the significance then of the how Christ has done it. Who He is, is God coming to this earth as a man, clothing Himself in human flesh. And because of this, we come then to see how He can save sinners like us.
So we come then to this verse, Hebrews 2:17. Let me just read this again before we unpack it.
"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."
So we begin here with this, therefore, the therefore linking to what has been established up until now. So let me just briefly go through what we've seen in these verses, because we've already introduced it.
The therefore, He—that is, Jesus—in becoming a man, He brings many sons to glory. Verse 10. He is the captain of our salvation. Verse 10. He is the sanctifier, the One who sets us apart. That's verse 11. He calls us His brothers, and He is not ashamed to do so. Verse 11. He sings praise before His people and presents us before God. That's verses 12 and 13. He defeats the devil. Verse 14. He defeats death. Verse 15. He has come to help the offspring of Abraham, the fulfilment of the covenant promises of the Old Testament. That's verse 16.
And so, this therefore of verse 17 is that therefore based on all of these things that have been described up until now as to who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And it then goes on to say here in verse 17, therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in every respect. He had to be made like His brothers in every respect.
And this opening part of verse 17 is summarising the argument that has already been established. If we've been working our way through Hebrews 2 and following what the author has been establishing, we already have established, and by the grace of God understood, yes, He had to be made like His brothers, like us in every respect. This is how it had to be. If we're going to get to the how can Christ save us? First of all, we need to clarify and be clear in our minds theologically: Jesus had to become like us in every respect. And we've literally dealt with this in a specific way back when we were in verse 14 when we dealt with that opening part which says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things."
And so what makes this incredible to behold and to state, emphasise, teach, and magnify these truths again and again, is that Jesus Christ, the radiance of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3), rich in divine splendour, is the one true living God, and He has come to us, us people on this earth, mankind made from the dust of the ground in God's image, now distorted in sin.
Christ has come to where we are, clothing Himself in the human flesh that we have, like us, as it says, in every respect where He took on what we have physically in the way by which He lived, even in the limitations of being a man on this earth, with regards to His need of sleep and eating and all of the aspects of living as a man. He took on our physical condition. He was like us in every respect. But as we've already identified and unpacked, He did not take on our moral condition. And we must emphasise this.
When He came as a man on this earth, He did not cease to be God. He is eternally truly God. He is divine. And therefore, though He came absolutely as a man like us, He does not have the fallen sinful condition that we have.
And this is where we come to remember the miraculous conception, the virgin birth, the means by which we understand Christ as fully God, and yet also in coming as a man, He is therefore without sin. So with this, He's like us in every respect.
If we just note Hebrews 4:15, it says that He is “One who in every respect has been tempted as we are,” but it identifies it in clear language, “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15b). Christ without sin. He comes in human flesh, He takes upon Himself our physical condition as a man, but He does not take on our moral condition.
Now, within these parameters, with this foundation set up, Christ is then ready to live on this earth as One who will live like us under the law of God. Jesus Christ, living on this earth, He is under the law. He is accountable to the law of God as living as a man on this earth, as we are.
And we know what the law demands, and we know what we are in relation to this law. God's law is His perfect holy moral standard. And we, every single one of us, we fall short of God's holy law. We fall short of His glory. We are in a fallen and sinful and totally depraved condition. And this further emphasises why it is then significant that God Himself would come and enter into this world, this fallen world, and live and be like us in every respect.
This is significant, brothers and sisters. And it goes on to then describe how He has come, to be the means by which we are saved, because it goes on to say so that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God.
Now, at first glance, when I was reading this and thinking about trying to get this verse done in one sermon, I felt overwhelmed about the prospect when I read this part of the verse. But then I remembered, hang on a second, we've got many chapters later in the book of Hebrews that will deal with the subject of the priesthood. So we don't need to be getting stuck into the depth of that tonight.
So if you're thinking, wow, we hardly dealt with this part of Hebrews 2:17, let me just identify the end of chapter four into chapter five, and then chapter seven all the way to chapter ten go into much greater depth on the subject of the priesthood. So you will be getting many sermons on this. So this is, if you like, just a very brief taster.
Because our focus will be more on the end of this verse, but we're not bypassing this entirely. It is important in the context of the how Christ saves us as sinners.
So a few things to say about this before we get to the last part of the verse. First of all, when it says He has become a merciful and faithful High Priest, this word merciful, to be, to have mercy, is to not give what we deserve.
So if God is merciful, He is not giving you what you deserve. What do we deserve? Well, we know what we deserve as sinners and the punishment and consequences of our sin. But God is merciful. The only reason that anyone could have the hope of not spending eternity in hell is because God is merciful. And we can praise God for that. So He is merciful.
And we then also see that He is a faithful High Priest in the service of God. Now just briefly on this, because like we've noted, there's so much that can be unpacked. The Old Testament deals so much with the subject of the priesthood because of God's perfect holy standard, and because it would be through priests, holy and set apart men who would be the means by which sacrifices would be given to be the expiation and the propitiation for sin.
The word expiation will be dealt with in more explicit ways when we deal specifically with the priesthood. But this is to do with the covering of sin, the dealing with the taking away of sin. And animal sacrifices were consistently given for that means, and also, as we're going to find, for the propitiation of sins. So we've got high priests who have a very important role, and they have that role to bring these sacrifices before God.
Now, in one particular example in Genesis 22, Abraham is preparing to sacrifice his own son. And eventually a sacrifice is given, which is a ram, which is suitable to be a sacrifice in its place as a means of appeasing God's righteous wrath.
When we come to the new covenant, the time of Jesus coming to this earth, the situation has changed dramatically and gloriously because now there are no longer earthly high priests who are required to make sacrifices for sins. And the reason is because Jesus Christ has now become not only the High Priest, but He also will be the sacrifice itself. He is fulfilling all of it.
He will be the High Priest, and He will be the sacrifice for sin.
Now just take a moment and think about how significant and incredible this is. With all of these examples in the Old Testament, we've got high priests and all of the rituals that they need to go through in terms of preparing them to be then in the presence of God and what is required of these sacrifices that they are to bring. Christ is fulfilling it all. He is doing it all.
This is what the book of Hebrews is dealing with when it says and summarises and introduces us to Christ becoming a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God.
This is what Christ has come to do. Now, as we've noted, this is just a very, very brief introduction to one of the most glorious arguments that's established in the book of Hebrews. But it's important to note this because understanding Jesus is the High Priest, Jesus is the sacrifice. This then becomes a necessary introduction to how He saves us from our sins.
And this is where we come to dwell on the last part of our verse: “To make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Now, this word to propitiate means to appease or satisfy the wrath or the righteous anger of Almighty God. So let me repeat this definition. To propitiate is to appease or to satisfy the wrath, the righteous anger of Almighty God.
This introduces us to a crucial part of being able to articulate, explain and understand the gospel. If we don't grasp this point and understand that our God is a God of justice and a God of righteous anger, then we cannot fully understand the gospel that we have in the Word of God.
So let me just give this example in the context of when churches are proclaiming the gospel today, and maybe they're doing their altar call bit at the end of a sermon. Where does the righteous anger of the living God fit in with the proclamation of that gospel message?
This is important, brothers and sisters. It's important because grasping who this God is and the fact that we have sinned against this God is the very foundation of understanding our condition to then grasp why Christ has come and what He has come to do.
This subject of the righteous anger of God is not God having an overreaction to some of the naughty things that we've done. No, this is the most holy God, and He must be true to His perfect standard of righteousness. He must uphold His justice and anything that falls short of that, which is us in our sin, God must be righteously angry before our sin. This is right, it is just. And if it is not the case, God is not true to who He is. That's how serious this is. God is righteously just and therefore righteously angry before your sin.
This is a doctrinal foundation that we must grasp in order to understand the doctrine of propitiation and to understand the gospel. And this is why, throughout the Old Testament again, which is what the book of Hebrews consistently deals with, the need for sacrifices to be given before these altars as a means of worship, but also as a means of addressing sin is because our holy God demands it.
Our holy God cannot simply say, oh, well, because you're Israel or because you're the Church, I'll just forget about some of my attributes. I'm not really that cross, forget my justice. That is not the God of the Bible. And often, even though Gospel presentations wouldn't say it that way, that's effectively what they mean when they ignore or bypass the crucial attributes of God and therefore what the Gospel truly is.
Our God is righteously angry before sin. And this is why, first of all, in the Old Testament, sacrifices are given. Let me give you some examples, just briefly, so that we can see:
Deuteronomy 21:8: "Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom You have redeemed. And do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their guilt be atoned for." What's the cry for the people of Israel? That God would accept what has been given, namely the sacrifice. Why? Because God's justice demands it. He is righteously angry before the sin of Israel.
Psalm 65:13: "When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions."
And one more: Psalm 79:9: "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for Your name's sake."
What is Israel dependent upon? They're dependent upon God accepting what is given before His eyes. And this is therefore a cry appealing to the God of justice, being the God of mercy.
Where we're sitting here this evening, our only hope is that God will be merciful to us. And the means by which He can be merciful and not just forgo, ignore His justice is only found in Jesus Christ.
This is where the wrath of God and the mercy of God meet. And it is found in the glory of propitiation being made for the sins of His people.
And this is where we come now to unpack the specifics of this doctrine of propitiation. Let's first of all remind ourselves of the beginning of verse 17, when it says He had to be like His brothers in every respect. If there's one who is going to make propitiation for sin, and just remember the definition—to appease, to satisfy God's righteous anger, to appease, to satisfy His wrath—there needs to be one who is like us.
And this is something established in Leviticus 25:25, which says, "If your brother becomes poor and sells parts of his property, then his nearest Redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold." There's a principle, and we see this more clearly in the Book of Ruth, where the closest relative can become this kinsman redeemer. Here, it's talking about property or possession, but in the context of salvation, we are that possession. The one who is closest to us is the God who has come to this earth to become like us in every respect; the Lord Jesus Christ has become our Kinsman Redeemer.
So with everything that's being established here in Hebrews 2, verses 10 to 16, it's building that argument to help us to understand, yes, Jesus is this One. He is the One who can do this. He is the One who will fulfil this. He is the One who is going to make propitiation for our sins.
And specifically then, how? How can He do this? How can Jesus appease the righteous wrath of God?
Let's remember how serious this is. What's your standing before the God of justice? Guilty. Every single day of your life, sin after sin after sin, what you've committed in deed, what you've committed in thought, who you are by your very nature, you are guilty in your sin. Full stop.
How can that change? Well, now we come to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is. He is one without sin. He is one who can stand in perfect righteousness in who He is. So there is hope with who He is.
But how can there be hope for us? Because unlike Christ, we are unrighteous, we are undeserving, we are unworthy. We stand before the justice of God and we are condemned in our sin.
Well, let's remember, in Christ, being like us in every respect, He did not take on our moral condition.
Let's also remember another thing. We've established here even this afternoon that He came to live under the law. And what did the Lord Jesus Christ do and secure that we certainly cannot for a single day of our lives? He secured that which is perfect. He perfectly upheld the law. There is no sin in Him. The law in no way can condemn Him.
So what is He ready to become as our merciful and faithful High Priest? He is ready to become the sacrifice for our sins.
Again, think back: what was required in the time of the Old Testament? Sacrifice for sin. Sacrifices that were to be brought as a means of taking away the sins of the people, as a means of covering, in that context, their sin, and as a means of satisfying God's righteous anger. That's what's being established in the time of the Old Covenant.
But what is also established in the Old Covenant is that these sacrifices that are being given need to be done again and again and again and again. Because, yes, they are a means of covering the sins of Israel for that period of time, but they do not eternally remove the sins of anyone.
But they do point forward and give us a picture of the One who will, and that's Christ.
So this takes us to the point of incarnation, life, and now death.
When we come to the end of the accounts in the Gospels and we follow this picture of the Lord Jesus Christ carrying that cross all the way to Golgotha, being nailed to that cross, and the physical torment and hardships that He faced, the emotional abandonment, the ridicule and the scorn that He faced.
What is the Lord Jesus Christ doing at this time in history which will change the landscape of history eternally, as the Lord has decreed it?
Well, on those hours at Calvary, as we come to the very message of the Gospel, the message of Jesus Christ dying for our sins.
What is He dying for? It is your sins. And how can He do this? How He can do this is because He is that perfect sacrifice. And therefore, the sins of His people are what He will bear.
Your sin, Christian, here tonight, is what Christ would bear on that tree. Your sin is what He would bear. Let's take this in and understand. It had to be this way if any of us could be sitting here tonight with any hope, because God is righteously angry.
This is His wrath, which you and I, we deserve to face. And what we deserve to face is eternal punishment for our sin. Now, eternal punishment is hell. And hell is so serious, it is so severe because it is eternity under the weight of God's righteous anger.
That is why hell is so serious and so horrifying. It is under the weight of God's righteous anger. Now think of the weight of that picture. Then come to the picture of the cross and Christ languishing there at Calvary. And what happens in those hours as Jesus Christ is bearing the sins of His people? Well, we have a picture of literal darkness that comes upon the land. And that literal darkness is God's righteous anger, the righteous anger that you deserve to face for all eternity in hell.
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is bearing that. He is facing that for you on that cross. And that's the Gospel. And this is propitiation for the sins of His people. Because what Christ is doing, as He is facing the righteous anger of the Father, He is dealing with the sins of His people. Literally, they are being transferred to His account in order that they be eternally put away. Only He could do this. And what He would have to face by doing this is God's righteous anger.
Because He is the perfect sinless One. He is the One who is able to take our sin upon Himself. And because He is perfect, He is without sin or blemish. He becomes that sweet-smelling aroma. He eternally satisfies the wrath of God.
It is appeased, it is propitiated because He and only Christ could do this. And He has done it. He has faced what we deserve to face. He has taken upon Himself our sin and the punishment that we deserve to face. And this is the Gospel.
And understand also that this is very specific for us, the Church. The Bible is explicitly clear that Christ came for His bride. This is not something that Christ has done for everyone. How can it possibly be? Christ has not satisfied the righteous anger of God for those who will end up in hell. So if there is a Gospel message that's saying this is for everyone and those who decide will go to heaven. That is not the Gospel. The Gospel is that Christ has satisfied the righteous anger of God for His people. And that's us. That's us.
Because He is a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God. And this is how He has made propitiation for our sins.
And how did we come to know and believe this? Why are you sitting here this evening believing and adorning the glorious Gospel of Christ's substitution in our place? This doctrine of substitutionary atonement in bringing sinful man and the living God into this glorious fellowship and embrace, all because of what He has done. How have we come to believe this? It is by the grace of God and the Spirit of God regenerating the hearts of the totally depraved who He has called mercifully and gloriously.
If you have come in repentance and saving faith in Jesus Christ, this is because God has mercifully chosen you and saved you. And if even here this evening, you are sitting here tonight and you know I'm a sinner before God, I'm undeserving and I'm unworthy. How can I be saved? Repent and believe the Gospel.
And if you repent and believe the Gospel, then this is the glorious truth that Christ died for you and that it is a work of the Spirit of God that has convicted you of your sin and has brought you to your knees, metaphorically and literally, in faith in Christ. Because what Christ has secured is the salvation of sinners. A text we looked at a few months ago in 2 Corinthians 5:21. It says, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
Notice this glorious exchange where the sins of His people, the Church, are credited to Christ's account on that cross, He is literally dying for our sins. And what do we mercifully receive? Christ's righteousness. That is how you can stand before the most holy God and be declared justified. That is the only reason: Christ's saving work on the cross, His cleansing blood, which has been shed for your sins.
We have a picture of Christ as a sacrifice for sinners. So He's dying on the cross bearing your sin. You, the elect of God, He is bearing your sin. He satisfies the wrath of God. This is the propitiation for our sins. He then is buried in a tomb. And because He is the sinless, perfect, glorious One, He overcomes the grave. He defeats the devil, He defeats death. As we see in verses 14 to 15, He rises victorious from the grave. He is the risen and exalted Lord. He is the One who is seated on the throne, as we see at the beginning of Hebrews chapter one. He is the One who today reigns and rules over all. And we now stand as the Church of Jesus Christ, our faith in Christ and Christ alone.
And how can we not stand guilty before God? Because of Christ, because of the Gospel, you stand in your sin guilty. But then the righteous Judge sees our merciful and faithful High Priest, Jesus Christ, and He has paid that penalty. He has paid the debt that you owe.
He's paid it all. He has removed your sin. And now you stand upon what? Christ's righteousness!
That is how you know and can be secure, eternally secure in your salvation, because you know it is nothing of yourself. And it is all because of Christ's finished and completed work. And that is the Gospel.
That is your glorious and eternal hope here this evening because of Christ. As we are contemplating and studying and unpacking the magnitude of the Book of Hebrews, we have come to this point where it is giving us the how Christ can die for our sins, how Christ can save us from our sins. This is how, by becoming that sacrifice, that substitute in our place. It is why, as we're going to see later in later chapters, His blood literally cleanses us. It is why His life literally is our hope and our righteousness. Because by His life, by His death, by His resurrection, you stand before the living God and you know that the sword of justice that you deserve to face, Christ faced it on the cross. And now you stand without guilt, set free, saved by Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel and the glorious doctrine of propitiation, that God's righteous anger has been satisfied by Christ. And Christ alone is at the very heart of the hope of the Gospel and the very hope of the salvation that you have in him and him alone.