Let us commence our service this
afternoon by singing together hymn number 559. The tune is
Arncliffe, 529. I'll read the first two verses and we'll commence
singing at verse three. The works of God proclaim the
greatness of his power. Jehovah is his name. The saints
his name adore. All creatures are at his control. He rules and reigns from pole
to pole. Such is omnipotence and such
is justice too. A world he drowns at once except
a very few. He sends his millions down to
hell and yet is just. and holy still. Hymn 559. Commence
singing at verse three. All is peace, all is love, In
our God is His grace. Mercy and justice in our grave,
? Which they were built in praise of Jesus ? ? That I am mindly free ? ? I am
prepared of death ? As yet unbinding we are on the Saviour's hand. But in this way the Lord did show
God is almighty, how could it? Justice achieved its goal, the
way of Father Christ. That's my concern of God, my
God of God, God's God. Oh, I'll live with thy God for
ever, No sweating in the drying ground. Justice for faiths ever. The Lord, the kingdom, and ?
Shed o'er this wide open land ? ? Spoke the cause of man ?
? Heroes and triumphs o'er the land ? ? And ever lift them ?
? As we today ? ? Here I with my mercy ? ? The Lord
is praised with thee ? Great is his love to me, and all pleasure
to see. He's great. Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. in the prophecy of Zachariah,
chapter 13. Zachariah's prophecy, chapter
13. In that day there shall be a
fountain opened in the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And it shall come
to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut
off the names of the idols out of the land, they shall no more
be remembered, and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean
spirit to pass out of the land. And it shall come to pass that
when any shall yet prophesy when his father and his mother that
begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live, for thou
speakest lies in the name of the Lord. And his father and
his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the prophets shall be ashamed, every one of his
vision, when he hath prophesied, neither shall they wear a rough
garment to deceit. But he shall say, I am no prophet,
I am a husbandman, for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
And one shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands?
Then he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house
of my friends. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little
ones. And it shall come to pass that
in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut
off and die, but the third shall be left therein, and I will bring
the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver
is refined, and I will try them as gold is tried. They shall
call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, it is my people,
and they shall say, the Lord is my God. May the Lord bless
that portion of his own precious word and grant unto us a spirit
of real prayer. Gracious, merciful, and eternal
God, all we do desire to bow before thy great majesty. We
do desire to worship thee in spirit and in truth. And we do
desire that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love
of God our Father and the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit
may rest and abide upon us, that we may be led and taught and
guided and directed by thee in this service. And as we gather
around the table of the Lord, may the spirit of the Lord be
upon us. both preacher and hearer, that
we may truly remember Thee, dear Lord Jesus, what Thou hast done,
what Thou hast accomplished, what Thou hast fulfilled. Gracious
Lord, we bow before Thee in thankfulness for all that Thou hast done for
Thy people to deliver them from sin and from Satan's power. We thank thee, Lord Jesus, that
thou hast fulfilled and honoured and magnified the law of God
that we could never do. Thou hast done it. O the wonders
of redeeming love in thy glorious person, our law-fulfiller, our
righteousness, our precious Redeemer. We thank thee that thou didst
take our sins, and nail them to thy cross, and did suffer,
bleed, and die for our sins on Calvary's tree. We pray that
we, this afternoon, may be enabled to witness and say in our hearts,
my sins were the nails and the spear that crucified thee, and
that we may see our sin put away in thee. And we may see the curse
removed in thee, Lord Jesus, for thou hast made a curse for
us. And we do thank thee for Calvary, for thy precious blood. He loved not his life unto death.
He gave his life of ransom for all to be testified in due time. Oh, we do thank thee, Lord Jesus,
then for those wonderful things that thou hast done. and that
thou hast swallowed up death in victory, and so that we have
hope in our end, hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord, the risen Saviour, the living Saviour, who has the power
of an endless life. We think of those lovely words
in thy word, O Lord, concerning the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, I am he that was dead,
And behold, I am alive forevermore. Lord Jesus, we do thank Thee,
that Thou hast ascended into heaven, sitting at the right
hand of Thy Father, a man that is a real man, with wounds still
gaping wide, from which rich streams of blood once ran, in
hands and feet and side. Oh, we do thank Thee, Lord Jesus,
that we have a great High Priest in Thee, who is passed into the
heavens. We do pray that we may be watching
for thy appearing. For thou hast said in thy word
unto them that look for me, that will I appear the second time
without sin unto salvation. Lord, we wait for thy appearing.
But we pray that thou wouldst be with us as a body of people
as we go forth into this new year May we be found looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame
thereof, and is now set down at the right hand of the majesty
on high. We pray that here among us it
may be the year of jubilee, a setting free of the captives, a mighty
deliverance wrought, We pray that it may be so, and that we
may be delivered as being the slaves of sin and Satan, and
brought into the glorious liberty of the people of God. Help us,
O Lord, to lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily
beset us, and that we may run with patience the race that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. Oh, most gracious Lord, help
us to constantly look to Jesus. Jesus, the Almighty. Jesus, the
one that is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto
God by him. Jesus, our almighty saviour,
our redeemer, our light, our life, our all and our in all.
Lord Jesus, thou art the light of the world. May that light
shine into our hearts this afternoon. We do humbly beseech thee, We
do pray that thou wouldst bless us as a church and as a congregation,
that thou wouldst remember us for good, and that we may indeed
see a godly increase in this year that we've now entered in
upon, that we may see thy goings in the sanctuary, that we may
see thy power and thy glory as thou usest to be in the sanctuary,
that we may see signs to follow the preaching of the word, that
we may see the pulling down of the strongholds of Satan and
the setting up of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus in the hearts
of sinners, that we may see the fulfilling of those sacred promises. I will bring thy sons from far
and thy daughters from the ends of the earth. O most gracious
Lord, let thy work appear unto thy servants and let thy glory
appear unto thy people. O that we may see the glory of
Christ, that we may behold his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We do humbly
beseech thee, most gracious Lord. We come to bow before thee as
poor sinners. We're solemnly aware, O Lord,
that we were born in sin, that we are shapen in iniquity. And
we often have to say with the dear apostle, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death.
But I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord, that is
where our deliverance is, it's in thee. May we feel this afternoon
the divine love of our eternal Father, and that we may feel
the redeeming love of his only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and that we may have shed abroad in our hearts the
constrained in love of Christ, to be constrained to follow him,
to serve him, to look unto him, to cast all our care upon him.
We pray that thou wouldst bless our brethren the deacons and
give them needed grace, wisdom and help. Bless our brethren
and sisters in church fellowship and help us to pray for each
other and to bear each other's burdens and to love one another
with a pure heart fervently, we do humbly beseech thee. By
this shall they know that ye are my disciples, because ye
have love one to another. O Lord, we pray that thou wouldst
take us the foxes, those little foxes that do so spoil the vines,
for our vines have tender grapes. Deliver us from the work and
power of the enemy. Fulfill thy precious promise
when the enemy comes in like a flood. The spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him. Lord, hear us. We do humbly
beseech thee for thy great namesake. We pray at most gracious Lord
that thou would bless the little ones and the children. Bless
them indeed. Bless them with the fear of the
Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. We thank thee for
them. May they be blessed of thee. Remember the dear young
friends on the threshold of life journey. Help them to look to
thee, to cleave to thee, to follow thee, to serve thee. Help them
to believe. Help them to lay hold of that
hope that is set before us in the gospel. Help them to be found
looking on to Jesus and following thee. With us whoever thou dost
lead them and guide them and direct them. Remember them in
all the paths of providence. Remember them in their education
and give wisdom and understanding. Remember them, O Lord, regarding
a partner in life's journey. Help them to commit their way
unto the Lord and trust also in him, and he will bring it
to pass. Help them to remember what thou
didst do in Holy Scripture. Thou didst bring a Rebekah unto
Isaac and a Ruth unto Boaz. and it was by thy sovereign power
and grace. And we pray that it may be so
with our young friends. Keep and preserve them from the
slippery paths of youth and the peculiar temptations that come
in youthful days. We do humbly beseech of thee. Remember the prodigal, stretch
out thy almighty arm, cause them to return. Oh Lord, we do humbly
beseech thee. There is nothing too hard for
thee. for they are able to do abundantly
more than we can even ask or think. And, O Lord God, we do
pray that thou would remember each one of us in the midst of
the journey of life and graciously undertake for us and bless us.
We do humbly beseech thee. And remember, Lord, that we may
remember thee day by day and that thy word may be a lamp unto
our feet and a light unto our path. that we may meditate therein
and be profited thereby, make us more spiritually minded, set
our affections on things above and not on things of the earth.
And most gracious Lord, we pray that those of us in the evening
time of life's journey and graciously help us. And as the outward man
perishes, may the inward man be renewed day by day, we do
humbly beseech of thee. Remember all thy servants as
they labour in word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion, set them
free and set them at liberty. And we pray thee, the great Lord
of the harvest, to send true labourers into the harvest to
build the walls of Jerusalem. Lord, we do pray that thou, in
thy Precious mercy, would guide us each safely unto thy heavenly
kingdom. Send out thy light and thy truth
into this village and the surrounding villages and hamlets. Lord, thou
hast promised concerning thy Zion, I will abundantly bless
her provision. I will satisfy her poor with
bread. Hear us, O Lord, we do humbly
beseech thee for thy great namesake. We do thank Thee for the throne
of grace. We do thank Thee for the glories
of Christ. We do thank Thee for the love
of our eternal Father. We do thank Thee for our precious
Redeemer who loved us and gave himself for us. We do thank Thee
for every mercy of Thy kind providence. And we do ask for Jesus Christ's
sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 560 to the tune Calvary 668. O thou mighty God and Saviour, Give us faith thy works to trace. Heavenly warrior, may we never
from thee turn away our face. May we view thee standing in
our wretched place. Hymn 560. ? I wonder how she'll fare ? ?
When we part ? ? May we never ? ? Know each other again ? ? When we do thee, when we do thee
? ? Shall we hear the return praise ? O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, Shepherds, shepherds, shepherds,
shepherds, ? O come, all ye faithful ? ? Joyful
and triumphant ? ? O come, all ye faithful ? ? Harvest weekend,
heaven of pleasure ? ? Jesus, Lord and Savior, there ? ? Father
with angels ? ? Love perfectors ? ? We provide
a dreadful bill ? ? Mercy, Christendom ? Shimmer and shine, Shimmer and
shine, ? Let the rich wild men rise ?
? Let the rich wild men rise ? ? Let the rich wild men rise
? ? Are built to rush ? ? Ever ever
? ? The souls have given ? ? Jesus' Son ? Passing through the woods and
singing holy songs. ? Has become death ? ? Has become
death ? ? Have pity ? ? Let them sleep for a while ? Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to the prophecy
of Zachariah in chapter 13, and we'll read verses six and seven
for our text. Zachariah chapter 13, verses
six and seven. And one shall say unto him, what
are these wounds in thine hands? then he shall answer, those with
which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little
ones. beautiful, sacred, precious prophecy
concerning the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, that was manifest in the flesh. And the prophet
of the Lord, by the vision that the Spirit of God gave him, he
saw something of the sufferings of Christ, of Christ as the substitute
who suffered and bled and died on behalf of his people. He saw
something that was deeply solemn, the sword of divine justice unleashed
against the Son of God manifest in the flesh, so that he was
punished. on our behalf. For as the prophet
says, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and
with his stripes we are healed. And one shall say unto him, what
are these wounds in thine hands? We read again in prophecy, in
the Book of Psalms, Psalm 22, they pierced my hands and my
feet. You know friends, these things
were revealed unto the prophets of old. And it was revealed unto
them, they had little glimpses given to them, of what was going
to be done by our Lord Jesus Christ and what was going to
be accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ. What are these wounds
in thine hands? These with which I was wounded
in the house of my friends. We read in John chapter one,
he came unto his own His own received Him not. He came unto
the Jews. He was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yet He's
Lord of all. Yet He's King of kings. Yet He's
the mighty God, the everlasting Father. He humbled Himself. Jesus, the Son of God, humbled
Himself. The Son of God humbled Himself
to become a man. the infinite, the almighty, the
eternal. He became a man, he assumed a
holy human nature, which by its very nature is finite. But the
Son of God assumed it in that profound mystery of godliness,
God manifest in the flesh. It is a profound mystery how
the infinite and the eternal could assume that which is finite. But that is exactly what we see
in Jesus Christ. And the apostle himself, writing
to Timothy, his son in the faith, he said, didn't he, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. It's a mystery. It's something
that we shall never be able to unravel. It's like the Psalmist
David, he says in that Psalm 139, it is high, I cannot attain
unto it. How can I grasp something so
vast and so profound as what this is? That God himself was
manifest in the flesh. And as it says in Isaiah, Behold
a virgin shall be with child. Who hath heard such a thing?
That's what we read in Jeremiah. Who hath heard such a thing?
Who has seen such a thing? And yet we've not only heard
it, We see it in Holy Scripture, and if we're so favoured with
the Spirit, we see it by faith. That indeed, Jesus Christ is
the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. That he did indeed become
a man. And he became a man to suffer,
bleed and die. He became a man, and as a man,
he humbled himself so that he was despised and rejected of
men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He was. But what are these wounds in
thine hands? It's recorded in the gospel.
How that the Lord Jesus was taken by the hands of wicked men. The Romans and the Jews conspiring
together, principally of course the Jews, to crucify him. Crucify him, crucify him was
the cry. their object was to destroy him
and to destroy his witness. Men love darkness rather than
light for their deeds are evil. And this was the glorious light
of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, rather than
admiring glory in that light, they conspired to slay him. But
in the predeterminate counsel of Almighty God, In that taking of the Lord Jesus,
and setting Him at naught, and sentencing Him to the death of
the cross, they were fulfilling the great decrees of our God,
the great decrees of our Eternal Father, that His Son should redeem
and deliver His people from their sins. and God chose the most
peculiar, unusual way, in that his son would become a man, and
his son would live under the law, and that in living under
the law, in that holy, sinless life, he would fulfill the law
on behalf of his people, and that his son would then lay down
that holy life I lay down my life for my friends. I have power
to lay my life down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. You see, my beloved friends,
it was determined. Christ was determined to save. We read in Isaiah, he set his
face as a flint. He was determined to save. He
was determined to deliver. Nothing, you know, you see that
in that lovely word in Isaiah, I will work and who shall let
it, who shall hinder it, who shall stop it? None can. None
can stop what happened to Christ. It happened, it was a divine
purpose, a divine decree. We just sung together a hymn
that was settled by divine decree, that Christ would suffer, bleed
and die, for the sins of his people. He is Almighty God. When he came out of the garden
and the soldiers, they came to take him and they fell backwards. There's no doubt they beheld
something of his glory as the eternal son of the Father. Why
is that recorded? To show us that he willingly
went. He said to Peter when he He smote
up the ear of the servant of the high priest, put thy sword
up in thy sheath. The cup that my father had given
me, shall I not drink it? Shall I not drink it? And this
was the cup, the cup of suffering and sorrow, on the behalf of
his people, that Christ would be crucified, be taken by the
hands of wicked men, be nailed to a cross of wood, to redeem
his people. The Eternal Father laid upon
him the iniquity of us all, and that was what was nailed to the
cross. Christ was nailed to the cross, but upon Christ was the
sin of his people. When the children of Israel came
up to the tabernacle to offer their sacrifices, and the high
priest, he would lay his hands upon the sacrifice, and he would
confess his sins and the sins of the people. And ceremonially,
he put the sin onto the sacrifice. And then the offering was offered,
carrying all the sin upon it. But that is typical. Not all
the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty
conscience peace or wash away the stain. But Christ, the heavenly
Lamb, bears all our sins away. A sacrifice of nobler name and
richer blood than they. Then he shall answer those with
which I was wounded in the house of my friends. He came unto his
own, and his own received him not. But then there's a further
revelation here. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. Christ is the shepherd of the
sheep. He says himself, doesn't he,
I am the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. And as
the shepherd of his sheep, he goes before them. He lays down
his life for them, on their behalf, in their room, in their place,
and in their stead. But our eternal father, in infinite
love to his church, he takes that sword of divine justice
that should have that should have cast them to eternal damnation. And that sword found a substitute
in the person of Jesus, the Son of God. The substitute for his
people. He says, doesn't he, to this
end was I born, for this cause came I into the world. Christ came to redeem his people
from their sins. You know the great thing, the
great exercise, the great concern of the Lord's people is that,
did he die for me? Were my sins laid on him? Were my sins laid on him? You see, it's that lovely hymn,
my sins not in part but the whole. were laid on Him there. All our
sins, all our iniquities were laid on Christ. And so He became
our sin-bearer. And as our sin-bearer, then the
Eternal Father unleashed the sword of divine justice upon
Him, so that He suffered and bled and died. for the sins of
his people. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. And there's another wonderful
revelation here, and against the man that is my fellow. It's the Eternal Father speaking.
He's speaking of his only begotten Son manifest in the flesh. The
man that is my fellow. the man that is co-equal and
co-eternal with me, the man that is from everlasting to everlasting,
the holy God man, the man Christ Jesus. As it says in Proverbs
chapter eight, I was set up from everlasting or ever the earth
was. And it says in that same passage
of scripture, Christ is speaking, he says, my delights were with
the sons of men. My delights were with the sons
of men. He was thinking then upon what
he would do and to redeem his people and to deliver his people
from their sins. And he delighted in the thought
of saving his people from their sins. You know, it's a lovely
thought, isn't it? In Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. What a mercy. if indeed he is,
and we can say, my shepherd. But then may the spirit lead
us more clearly, more fully, to realise that when he suffered
and bled and died on the cross of Calvary, my shepherd, my deliverer, my redeemer, who
cares for his sheep, he carries the lambs in his bosom, See, against the man that is
my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, against the man that is
my fellow. You know, it's such a beautiful
expression, that Christ is co-equal and co-eternal with his Father.
That Christ himself said, all power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth. He has redeemed his people with
an everlasting salvation. He's clothed them with an everlasting
righteousness because he is the Son of God. All the dignity,
all the power, all the worth of the sacrifice of Calvary is
this, that he is the Son of God. Therefore, it is of infinite
worth. It's acceptable to the Father.
a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they. That
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And doesn't the dear apostle
in the epistle to the Hebrews, he speaks so beautifully in the
ninth chapter of this wonderful sacrifice that Christ has offered. In Hebrews 9 and 10, he speaks
so beautifully there of this precious sacrifice and he says
in verse 11 of chapter 9 but Christ being come and high priest
of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not
made with hands that is to say not of this building neither
by the blood of goats and of cars but by his own blood he
entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal
Redemption for us. I love those little words in
the Hebrews, for us. And it says in verse 24 of that
chapter nine, for Christ is not entered into the holy places
made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,
for us. What a beautiful Way that it
is set before us in the word of god, isn't it having obtained
eternal redemption for us He satisfied all the demands of
divine justice Justice demanded that the soul
that sinneth it shall die So christ when he stood in the room
place instead of his people he died he died for the sins of
his people. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
It says here in chapter 9 of the Hebrews, verse 14, How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. This is the shepherd
of the sheep. And here in the Hebrews, the
apostle, he calls him the shepherd and bishop of our souls. Christ
is. In the 10th chapter, he speaks
of that sacred, precious offering. He quotes from Psalm 40 in verse
9, Lo, I come to do thy will God he taketh away the first
that he may establish the second by the which will We are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all
One there's an emphasis in the Hebrews once Now once in the
end of the world as he appeared to put away sin by the offering
of himself You see this this one offering And in verse 12
of Hebrews 10, but this man, but this man, the man that is
my fellow, but this man after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified by that
one glorious offering on the cross of Calvary. That precious
sacrifice that put away our sin, that satisfied the demands of
divine justice. Divine justice demanded perfection. It demanded holiness. The only
person that could do that was the son of god manifest in the
flesh our lord jesus christ his life was a perfect life his life
was a holy life his sacrifice was a perfect sacrifice it was
a holy sacrifice and the father it says when noah offered a sacrifice
after he came out of the ark that the lord smelled a sweet
savor Noah offered that sacrifice in faith. He was looking to Christ
and the sacrifice of Christ, and the Lord smelled a sweet
savour, a very precious savour in our
Lord Jesus Christ, awake, O sword. Think of how the Father loved
the Son. The Father loveth the Son, hath
given all things into his hand, or that infinite and that eternal
love of the Father to the Son. And yet, that love to the Church,
the Father's love to the Church, in that He was willing to punish
His only begotten Son for the sins of His people. This was
the only way of salvation, the only way of redemption. It is
in and through the precious blood and righteousness of our Lord
Jesus Christ, a Waco sword, against my shepherd, the words of our
eternal Father, and against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd. Smite the
shepherd. Our Lord Jesus Christ was smitten. The sword of divine justice pierced
his very soul. when he suffered and bled and
died on the cross of Calvary to redeem his people. Smite the shepherd. What a great
mercy, what love. On such love my heart still ponders,
love so rich, so full, so free. The love of our eternal father
to punish his only begotten son, full of grace and truth. to punish
him in our room, place and stead. Oh, you know, my beloved friends,
I do not believe that we dwell enough upon the love of the Father,
the love of our eternal Father, in that He was willing to punish
His only begotten Son to redeem and to deliver us from sin and
Satan's power. And that is what he has done,
smite the shepherd, the great shepherd of Israel, our Lord
and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the great bishop and shepherd
of our souls, suffered and bled and died for our sins. This, my beloved friends, is
the very heart of the Gospel, a sword cuts and it cut deep
and so that he poured out his soul unto death he poured out
his soul unto death our lord jesus christ the living one the
eternal one poured out his soul unto death you know that that
is brought out by the dear apostle again in the hebrews in the how
it opens up so beautifully the sufferings of Christ in the second
chapter of the Hebrews and there's so much deep instruction there
in that second chapter concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and it says concerning man that is the creation of man Adam thou
madest him this verse 7 Thou madest him a little lower than
the angels, thou crownest him with glory and honor, and hast
set him over the work of thy hands. And thou hast put all
things in subjection under his feet. That is Adam, for in that
he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is
not put under him. But then he opens up so beautifully
here in verse 9, but we see Jesus. who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. One of the principal reasons
that Christ became a man was to live in our nature and the
law was made for man, he lived under the law, he fulfilled it,
he honoured it, he magnified it on the behalf of his people. But the thing is, He was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. The
Son of God in his divine nature could not die. God who cannot
die. But the Son of God in human nature,
that human nature could die. And it did. He laid down his
life. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. And it says in verse 10 in Hebrews
2, for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are
all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is
not ashamed to call them brethren. How is it that he calls them
brethren? Because he was a man. He's a man like we are. He was
tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin. And he
quotes here from Psalm 22 in verse 12, saying, I would declare
thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, it's a quotation again
from the Psalms, I will put my trust in him. again behold I
and the children which God has given me for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself
that's the Son of God 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 and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bonding.
Verse 17, wherefore in all things it behoved him to make 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. For in that he himself has suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted,
this glorious, precious Redeemer. And one shall say unto him, what
are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, those with
which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts. smite the shepherd and the sheep
shall be scattered and I will turn mine hand upon the little
ones. May the Lord add his blessing
to these few remarks that we have made.