Our Superior Brother

The sermon text will be Hebrews 2:10-18.

The letter to the Hebrews focuses on the superiority of Christ, the Son of God. The author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, draws numerous contrasts between the Older Covenant and the Newer Covenant to show his audience that Jesus fulfills all the promises of the Older Covenant. The first main contrast in the letter is between Jesus and angels. The author demonstrates that Jesus is superior because he is the Son and not merely a created being. Jesus is also superior because he came to accomplish the work of salvation, a work that no angel could do. And it is precisely this work of salvation that the writer now focuses on in chapter 2 as he explains the necessity of the incarnation. Why the God-man? The writer explains that this was a part of God’s plan from the beginning in order to redeem a people for his own possession. According to this plan, the Son could not take on a partial human nature, but he had to become like us in every way, yet without sin, in order to redeem us and bring us into his family. As a result of his obedience for us, we can call him our Shepherd, Savior, Brother, and Friend.