CHAPTER VIII
“IN ALL THINGS LIKE”
It should be particularly noted that in the
first and second chapters of Hebrews the thought and discussion concerning the
person of Christ is especially as to nature and substance. In Phil. 2:5-8 there
is presented the thought of Christ’s relationship to God and to man, especially
as to nature and form. Thus: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God: but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled
Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phil.
2:5-8, and R.V.
When Jesus emptied
Himself He became man: and God was revealed in the Man. When Jesus emptied
Himself, on the one side man appeared, and on the other side God appeared. Thus
in Him God and man meet in peace and become one: “for He is our peace, who hath
made both [God and man] one, … having abolished in His flesh the enmity, … to
make in Himself of twain [God and man] one new man, so making peace.” (Eph.
2:14, 15).
He who was in the
form of God took the form of man. He who was equal with God became equal with
man. He who was Creator and Lord, became creature and servant. He who was in
the likeness of God, was made in the likeness of men. He who was God, and
Spirit, was made man, and flesh. John 1:1, 14.
Joh 1:1 In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:14 And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Nor is this true
only as to form: it is true as to substance. For, Christ was like God in the
sense of being of the nature, in very substance, of God. He was made in the
likeness of men, in the sense of being like men, in the nature and very
substance of men. Christ was God. He became man. And when He became man, He was
man as really as He was God. He became man in order that He might redeem man.
He came to man where man is, to bring man to Him where He was and is. And in
order to redeem man from what man is, He was made what man is:—
Man is flesh. Gen.
6:3; John 3:6.
Gen 6:3 And
the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Joh 3:6 That
which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.
“And the Word was
made flesh.” John 1:14; Heb. 2:14.
Heb 2:14
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil
Man is under the
law. Rom. 3:19.
Rom 3:19 Now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before God.
Christ was “made
under the law.” Gal. 4:4.
Gal 4:4 But
when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law
Man is under the
curse. Gal. 3:10; Zech. 5:1-4. “Christ was made a curse.”
Gal 3:10 For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them.
Zec 5:1 Then I
turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
Zec 5:2 And he
said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length
thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
Zec 5:3 Then
said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole
earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according
to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to
it.
Zec 5:4 I will
bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of
the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it
shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof
and the stones thereof.
Gal. 3:13.
Gal 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:
for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree
Man is sold under sin (Rom. 7:14) and laden
with iniquity. Isa. 1:4.
Rom 7:14 For
we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Isa 1:4 Ah
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that
are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of
Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
And “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all.” Isa. 53:6.
Isa 53:6 All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Man is “a body of
sin.” Rom. 6:6.
Rom 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
And God “hath made
Him to be sin.” 2 Cor. 5:21.
2Co 5:21 For
he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.
Thus, literally, “in
all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.”
Heb_2:17
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to
make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Yet it must never be
forgotten, it must be borne in mind and heart constantly and forever, that in
none of this as to man, the flesh, sin, and the curse was Christ ever of
Himself or of His own original nature or fault. All this He “was made.”
“He took upon Him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”
And in all this
Christ was “made” what, before, He was not, in order that the man might be made
now and forever what he is not.
Christ was the Son
of God. He became the Son of man that the sons of men might become the sons of
God.
Gal. 4:4; 1 John
3:1.
1Jn 3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him
not.
Christ was Spirit. 1
Cor. 15:45.
1Co 15:45 And
so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was
made a quickening spirit.
He became flesh in order that man, who is
flesh, might become spirit. John 3:6; Rom. 8:8-10.
Joh 3:6 That
which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.
Rom 8:8 So
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 But ye
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell
in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:10 And
if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness.
Christ, who was
altogether of the divine nature, was made partaker of human nature in order
that we who are altogether of the human nature “might be partakers of the
divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4.
2Pe 1:4
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these
ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that
is in the world through lust.
Christ, who knew no sin, was made to be sin,
even the sinfulness of man, in order that we, who knew no righteousness, might
be made righteousness, even the righteousness of God. And as the righteousness
of God, which, in Christ, the man is made, is real righteousness, so the sin of
men, which Christ was made in the flesh, was real sin. As certainly as our
sins, when upon us, are real sins to us, so certainly, when these sins were
laid upon Him, they became real sins to Him. As certainly as guilt attaches to
these sins, and to us because of them, when they are upon us, so certainly this
guilt attached to these same sins of ours and to Him because of them, when they
were laid upon Him.
As the sense of
condemnation and discouragement of our sins was real to us when these sins of
ours were upon us, so certainly this same sense of condemnation and
discouragement because of the guilt of these sins was realized by Him when
these sins of ours were laid upon Him.
Thus the guilt, the
condemnation, the discouragement of the knowledge of sin were His—were a fact
in His conscious experience—as really as they were ever such in the life of any
sinner that was ever on earth. And this awful truth brings to every sinful soul
in the world the glorious truth that “the righteousness of God,” and the rest,
the peace, and the joy, of that righteousness, are a fact in the conscious
experience of the believer in Jesus in this world, as really as they are in the
life of any saint who was ever in heaven.
He who knew the height of the righteousness of
God, acquired also the knowledge of the depth of the sins of men. He knows the
awfulness of the depths of the sins of men, as well as He knows the glory of
the heights of the righteousness of God. And by this “His knowledge shall My
righteous Servant justify many.” Isa. 53:11. By this His knowledge He is able
to deliver every sinner from the lowest depths of sin and lift him to the
highest height of righteousness, even the very righteousness of God. Made “in
all things” like unto us, He was in all points like as we are. So fully was
this so that He could say, even as we must say the same truth, “I can of Mine
own self do nothing.” John 5:30.
Of Him this was so
entirely true that, in the weakness and infirmity of the flesh,—ours which He
took—He was as is the man who is without God and without Christ. For it is only
without Him that men can do nothing. With Him and through Him, it is written:
“I can do all things.” But of those who are without Him it is written: “Without
Me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5. Therefore, when of Himself He said, “I can of
Mine own self do nothing,” this makes it certain forever that in the
flesh,—because of our infirmities which He took; because of our sinfulness,
hereditary and actual, which was laid upon Him and imparted to Him;—He was of
Himself in that flesh exactly as is the man who, in the infirmity of the flesh,
is laden with sins, actual and hereditary, and who is without God. And standing
thus weak, laden with sins and helpless as we are, in divine faith He
exclaimed, “I will put My trust in Him.” Heb. 2:13.
He came to “seek and
to save that which was lost.” And in saving the lost, He came to the lost where
we are. He put Himself among the lost. “He was numbered with the
transgressors.” He was “made to be sin.” And from the standpoint of the
weakness and infirmity of the lost, He trusted in God, that He would deliver
Him and save Him.
Laden with the sins
of the world; and tempted in all points like as we are, He hoped in God and
trusted in God to save Him from all those sins and to keep Him from sinning.
Ps. 69:1-21; 71:1-20; 22:1-22; 31:1-5.
And this is the
faith of Jesus: this is the point where the faith of Jesus reaches lost, sinful
man to help him. For thus it has been demonstrated to the very fulness of
perfection, that there is no man in the wide world for whom there is not hope
in God, no one so lost that he can not be saved by trusting God in this faith
of Jesus.
And this faith of
Jesus, by which in the place of the lost, He hoped in God and trusted God for
salvation from sin and power to keep from sinning,—this victory of His it is
that has brought to every man in the world divine faith by which every man can
hope in God and trust in God and can find the power of God to deliver him from
sin and to keep him from sinning. That faith which He exercised and by which He
obtained the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil— that faith is
His free gift to every lost man in the world. And thus “this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith;” and this is the faith of which He
is the Author and Finisher. This is the faith of Jesus that is given to men.
This is the faith of Jesus that must be received by men in order for them to be
saved. This is the faith of Jesus which, now in this time of the Third Angel’s
Message, must be received and kept by those who will be saved from the worship
of the “beast and his image,” and enabled to keep the commandments of God. This
is the faith of Jesus referred to in the closing words of the Third Angel’s
Message: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus.” And now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: “We have
SUCH an High Priest.” All that we have thus found in the first and second
chapters of Hebrews is the essential foundation and preliminary of His high
priesthood. For “in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His
brethren, that [so that, in order that] He might be a merciful and faithful
High Priest in 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.” Heb. 2:17, 18.
The Consecrated Way
— Alonzo Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment