Sermon Text: Hebrews 2:10–18
Preacher: Pastor Brian Sauvé
The Accuser & The Advocate
While you’re turning there, I’d like to take a minute to look back over our shoulder and make sure we remember the flow of the book of Hebrews so far, the place in the argument we are stepping into.
The author would have us see the supremacy of Jesus over all of his competitors and rivals, as well as over all of his servants. To that end, we have seen that when you’re looking at Jesus, you’re seeing God incarnate.
He is greater than angels, the creator of all things and the one for whom all things are created. He is not only supreme over creation as Creator, but as Redeemer, the one who died and behold, who is alive forevermore, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
And so, the first four verses of chapter two concluded, it would be sheer insanity to neglect his salvation, to count anything as greater or higher or more worthy of our worship or allegiance than this glorious Jesus.
Then as the flow of the argument for Jesus’ supremacy continued in that second chapter, we see that his glory is the glory of the God-Man, that God intends to reconstitute a New Humanity in Christ, to put all of creation under the feet of this New Humanity as his proxy-kings, manifesting his glorious image through his people on earth. So the supremacy of Jesus is partly that through him, God intends to do nothing less than to redeem, restore, and bring all things to glory.
Now what is astonishing, and we began to see this last week and now will see in greater detail in our section today, is the means through which Jesus accomplishes this restoration, redemption, and rule of all things.
He is a King subduing his enemies, yet he will do so not through steel and sword. He is a Conqueror, yet he will not conquer through visible might.
He wins the world and the cosmic throne by dying. He conquers, redeems, restores, and rules, astonishingly, through suffering. Look with me at verse 10,
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,
“I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again,
“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 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. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
-Hebrews 2:10-18
A Fit Suffering
Here’s the main point that we need to make it our business to understand: The suffering of Jesus was fitting for its fruit. The suffering of Jesus was fitting for its fruit.
There’s this big thing that Jesus does through his suffering, that the passage says it was fitting for him to do—what is that? Verse 10 tells us: “… it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
The argument of verse 10 is that the travesty of Jesus’ suffering was fitting, because through that suffering, mankind in Christ was brought to glory. What glory? What does that mean?
To answer that question, we should actually start by seeing the glory that mankind fell from.
There’s this famous verse in Romans 3, that you have probably quoted many times, where Paul tells us that all of mankind has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And it’s really easy to not stop and think about what that means.
Because he doesn’t just say that sin is failing to uphold the law of God—which of course it is; sin is lawbreaking—but that it is also a failure to ascend to the proper glory, right? There is a glory that we have fallen short of.
What is that glory that we have fallen short of? What does it look like to fall short of this glory? It looks like what the God said through the prophet Jeremiah,
“Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD,
For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.”-Jeremiah 2:12–13
Mankind fell short of glory and falls short of glory by doing exactly what it is that the author of Hebrews has already told us in the first four verses of chapter two not to do—prefer anything over God. Consider anything greater than Christ, that is, neglecting the great salvation of God.
What sin fundamentally is is a preference for inferior glories, behaving as if anything rivals the glory and goodness of God in Christ.
Vindication, Restoration, Destruction
So what verse 10 tells us is that through the suffering of Christ, God brings many sons to the glory that they have fallen from. But the text doesn’t just tell us that Jesus’ suffering does this, but also how it does this: Jesus’ suffering accomplished vindication, restoration, and destruction.
1. Vindication: Through his suffering, Jesus is vindicated as the perfect man, the head of a New Humanity.
2. Restoration: Through his suffering, Jesus restores a New Humanity, reconstituted in himself.
3. Destruction: Through his suffering, Jesus defeats, destroys, disarms, and deposes the devil by taking away his power to accuse.
Let’s look at each of these in turn, starting with…
1. Vindication: Through suffering, Jesus is vindicated as the perfect man (10).
Verse 10,
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
-Hebrews 2:10
Through his suffering, Jesus is vindicated as the perfect man. Now, maybe the language of verse 10 trips you up—what does it mean the God made Jesus perfect through suffering?
We’ve already come across this kind of “becoming” language in Hebrews 1:4, where the author told us that after Jesus made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, “…having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
That language can be confusing, right? It maybe sounds to you like the author of Hebrews is teaching that Jesus isn’t God, since God can’t really “become” anything. Let’s take a minute to understand this, because it’s crucial to understanding the Bible: What God is, he is. God is unchanging.
He is maximally perfect, totally beyond improvement. So yes, God in his essence can’t become. He is, as he revealed himself to Moses, the I AM, meaning at the core of God is perfect being, pure and unwavering and un-contingent existence.
In this way, God is in his own category; everything else exists contingently, meaning any other thing with existence possesses that existence dependently. We and all things exist on the condition that God exists; he upholds all things by the word of his power.
So when the Scriptures tell us that Jesus is exalted, or is made the heir of something he previously was not heir of, or that he became superior to angels, or that he was made perfect through suffering—what are we to think?
This is the key to understanding this language: It is always given in reference to Jesus’ ministry and mission as the incarnate Lord, not as to his divine essence. Or to put it maybe in a simpler sentence: This language refers to what Jesus accomplished as the God-Man, emphasis on the humanity of Jesus.
In his humanity, by accomplishing his mission to suffer to save many sons for glory, Jesus was made perfect in some sense. Obviously, if we read the rest of Hebrews, this isn’t saying that Jesus was sinful before this—the letter is emphatic that Jesus is sinless.
So what is going on? Jesus is here being vindicated as the perfect Man, the Second Adam, the new head of a New Humanity. The language of perfection in the Bible isn’t always a reference to moral perfection; it’s often a reference to something being complete, whole, or finished.
Through his suffering, Jesus’ perfection was proved; it was vindicated. Jesus was shown to be worthy of what the first head of the hold humanity was unworthy. So the suffering showed Jesus’ perfection in the flesh was a tested and vindicated perfection. This is why later in the book, in in Hebrews 5:8–9, we’ll be told that Jesus “…learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.”
What does this mean? It means that Jesus is consecrated through his suffering to sit in the office of firstborn of a new, perfected humanity. Number two, Jesus suffering accomplished restoration…
2. Restoration: Through suffering, Jesus creates a New Humanity (10–13).
Verse 10–13,
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,
“I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again,
“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
-Hebrews 2:10–13
I want you to look at that word “founder” in verse 10. It’s actually a very difficult word to translate from Greek to English, because we don’t have a word that perfectly corresponds to it. It means at the same time someone who is the source or the initiator of a thing and a leader, captain, commander, or ruler.
You understand how both senses of the word are manifest in Jesus—that he is both the initiating source of our salvation and the commanding captain of that salvation—when you understand that this whole context in Hebrews 2 wants us to see Jesus as the head of a New Humanity that is renewed by union to himself.
He is, as Paul says in Colossians 1, “the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
There it is: Jesus is the founder and the captain of our salvation, the head of a New Humanity reconstitute in Christ. Remember Psalm 8 from last week? Tiny man was made ruler of all creation, but fell. However, in Christ, our second and perfect Adam, he is brought back to the glory he was made for.
And he did this through suffering; as Paul said, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Verse 11 tells us that God brings us to this glory through total sanctification, that is, by holistic setting apart of his people from justification to glorification.
“For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.”
-Hebrews 2:11a
Literally in Greek, the praise is that he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are “…all of one.” What does that mean? It means, in light of the context of Hebrews 2 and the Psalm it quotes, that Jesus who sanctifies us and the humanity he sanctifies are one—we share in a common humanity.
Jesus sanctifies a new humanity—and “sanctification” here isn’t talking about the gradual sanctification of a believer, but the whole work of their salvation, as in Hebrews 10:14, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified”—by becoming one with us, becoming a perfect Man, and then bringing mankind up to the glory we had fallen short of.
John Owen helps us understand how that works by pointing to the sacrificial logic of the Old Testament, where you would offer the first fruits of a thing to the Lord in order to make the whole of that thing holy. So you would offer the first fruits of the meat, or the dough, and that would make the whole thing holy. So Jesus is the first-fruits of humanity, offered to make a new, holy humanity.
He was crowned with glory through his death, burial, and resurrection, his suffering; and now we find that he brought many sons to that same glory through that suffering.
So that’s some high theology, but what does it mean? It means this: Jesus died to bring you to glory. Consider that! To glory. Do you want glory? Do you want your life to be weighted with a ponderous, substantial, weighty goodness? Do you want to, as the Psalms sing of, be given the feet of deer and set up on high places? Do you want to conquer and see victory and taste the joy of the conqueror?
Do you want to taste immortality? Do you want your life to have ultimate meaning and purpose and value? Do you want to be for something, and then find that you have been used to accomplish that which you are for? Then come to Christ in faith, and be restored to the purpose for which you were made—the weighty goodness of a Creature created to reflect his glory in creation.
Jesus suffered to restore a New Humanity.
3. Destruction: Through suffering, Jesus defeats, destroys, disarms, and deposes the devil (14–18).
Look at verse 14, and as we read it, I’m going to see if we can follow the logic of the passage,
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things…”
Since the humanity Jesus came to save is flesh and blood, he himself took on flesh and blood to save them. Why did he need flesh and blood?
“…that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death,”
He needed flesh and blood because those flesh and blood, fallen humans had incurred the penalty of suffering and death. They needed someone to stand in their place who could take that penalty. Jesus did that. He took on a body that could die, and then he did die on the cross.
And as he did that, he did something else: He destroyed the power of the devil:
“…through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
The death of Christ deposed the devil. More on this in a moment, but for now, see how his death did that—by taking away the power of accusation before God:
“For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 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. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Jesus took away the weapon the devil had, accusation, by bearing the wrath of God for our sin. That’s what it means that he made propitiation for the sins of the people: Propitiation, a wrath-bearing, wrath-absorbing sacrifice.
Ok, this is one of those truths that just massively excites me. This truth is precious to me, and I want it to be precious to you, too. One of the great themes of the New Testament is that when Jesus suffered and died on the cross, he disarmed the demonic rulers and authorities, and that when he rose from the dead, he deposed the devil from the heavens and replaced the Accuser with an Advocate, with a sympathetic High Priest.
Let me read two of these passages for you:
“Now [speaking of his impending crucifixion] is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
-John 12:31–32
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
-Colossians 2:13–15
What these verses tell us is that the incarnation, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ disarmed Satan, destroyed his power, and put him to open shame. What was the power that was taken away from him? Our text in verse 14 called it “the power of death.” What is that?
It is this: That before the cross disarmed him, Satan could wield our guilt like a weapon. He could stand before the throne of God and relentlessly accuse us—and even be totally correct in his moral assessment! Remember Job? How the devil accused him before the throne of God? But guess what: The cross cast him out of heaven. John sees this in symbolic form in Revelation 12,
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”
-Revelation 12:7–11
The Accuser has been cast out! Jesus cast him out by destroying his one weapon, which was our absolute guilt before God. Jesus paid the debt: Who can accuse any longer. Nobody.
Now, there is not a prosecutor in heaven, accusing us before God, but a sympathetic High Priest, defending us. As Douglas Wilson wrote, “When the defender of sinners was vindicated on earth in the resurrection, the accuser of sinners was deposed in the heavens … The resurrection of Jesus was the death of accusation in the heavenly places.”
Do you know what this means, friends? It means that nobody, not even the devil himself, can bring a charge against God’s elect. As Paul writes in Romans 8:32–34,
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
-Romans 8:32–34
So the enemy may come with his fiery darts of accusation—darts which often have the names of our various sins and transgressions carved in the shaft—but we can take up the shield of faith, as Ephesians 6:16 urges us, and extinguish them.
And how do you lift that shield of faith? How does faith fight him, extinguish his arrows? Faith believes the gospel. Faith believes what has been accomplished in the heavens and pleads that its realities might come down to earth. Faith looks and sees our great Advocate standing where the Accuser no longer can.
This is No Begrudging Salvation
So let me leave you with this, because this is probably the most astonishing part of this whole thing to me: God does none of this begrudgingly.
Jesus does not lay his life down for you, he does not suffer and bleed and drink down the wrath of God for sin and die for you with even one particle of resentment. He is eager to save. He is not halfhearted in this salvation. I mean, just listen to the language of the text:
“I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
“Because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those whoa re being tempted.”
None of that is begrudging. God is not looking down on you, church, and holding his nose. He delights in you, because he sees you in Christ. He is patiently and totally committed to bringing you to glory.
Jesus suffered freely and willingly to deliver you, sanctify you, and set you on a trajectory towards infinite glory—and in all of it he calls us brothers! Can you fathom that? Can you believe that? God. God the Son looks at you and says, “My brother!”
Astonishing! The Father loves you, and he is not wavering in his love for you even as we daily waver in our love for him.
When your heart accuses you, when your heart looks at your sin and says, “That’s done it. God is furious with you.” Tell your heart: The Accuser has been deposed in the heavens, and I have rather a great and sympathetic high priest, bringing me to glory.”