HE CAN HELP. Hebrews 2:18. He came and took hold of us to help us and was made like us. He fully understood what it was like to be one of us. In His manhood, Christ shared in the same by His incarnation. We fell into sin and death because of sin, which is the result. This was removed from us by His death. The suffering of death [v.9] refers to Calvary. Being made perfect through suffering [v.10] refers to His sufferings in His life as a man. Christ has restored human dominion by becoming a man.
The sufferings of Christ included temptation. He never succumbed or surrendered in any way to sin because there was nothing in His perfect nature that responded to the allure of sin. However, in His human body, He knew what physical temptations held when one is tired, hungry, and thirsty. The temptations Satan used were actually proofs that the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ was not compromised in any way. He answered every test with the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ was tempted in human ways so He could help those who are tempted to turn away from God's revealed will, which is found in the Bible, and to return to what they had previously left behind. The Hebrew believers were being tempted to add to the message of salvation by grace the works of the law, the ordinances of men, religious rituals, the worship of angels, and various forms of Judaism.
We can trust Christ to help us during times of suffering and temptation. His strength is genuine and complete for us when we are weak. His patient endurance through His own suffering encourages us to be patient, even when we do not, and may never, understand why we suffer. Our Lord has experienced the full spectrum of suffering and human emotions that we go through. We can read about this in Psalm 69. The difference in His temptations lies in the results – His temptations never led to sin.
Our merciful and faithful High Priest is making intercession for us at the right hand of God. It is marvelous to consider that when Immanuel, God with us, was here on earth, He was tempted. He who loved righteousness and hated iniquity suffered by being in the presence of evil all the time He was here. He lived in poverty but was rich in grace; He worked in difficult situations but always pleased the Father. He often had no comfortable place to sleep, but He gives rest to those who come to Him in faith. He lived and worked as a humble man among sinful people, having to listen to their words and witness their evil deeds. This would have caused His holy soul to suffer in ways beyond our understanding and capacity to grasp.
Now, as our High Priest, He takes charge of our spiritual life with constant help in every temptation we face. We must trust Him who opened the way to God for us to keep us in fellowship with Him, with His unfailing and ceaseless presence before the throne of God. His humanity reassures us of His sympathy and unfailing love, making victory possible when we are tempted.
Our part is to trust Him. His compassion and faithfulness on our behalf are constant. The conscious awareness of the presence of our Lord Jesus with us is the secret to a full, joyful, and abundant life while we live right here in this sinful world. His grace is sufficient to meet our needs; His strength is more than enough to compensate for our weaknesses.
His goodness surpasses our evil; His perfection more than compensates for our imperfection. He came into this world to save us, and He will keep us until we reach home. Therefore, we can rest confidently in Him alone. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. We place our confidence, joy, and hope in Him. He has promised to keep us until the end when conflict, temptation, and suffering cease. He is faithful and is the one who promised never to leave us or forsake us, and we can trust that He will do what He said.
In summarizing the message of the chapter that teaches us the Superiority of the Son of Man over angels. Dominion has been withheld from angels and given to men. But dominion was lost by men because of their will to sin against God. However, by the grace of God and the willingness of our Lord Jesus to take upon Himself the form of a man, dominion was regained by Jesus, even though it meant that dominion was reached through His humiliation.
There were four reasons for His humanity: Glory of God [v.10]. He was “Qualified through sufferings.” Secondly, that He might destroy the works of the devil [v.14]. Thirdly, that He would make propitiation for the sins of the people [v.17]. Lastly, that He might have the capacity for the priesthood [v.18], which makes it possible for us to approach God.