Let us turn again to the Word
of God, to those chapters that we read in the epistle to the
Hebrews, and especially chapter 2 and verse 9. In the epistle to the Hebrews,
chapter 2, and especially the 9th verse, but we see Jesus. who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honour, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honour, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man. And I suppose all of us in recent
days have been forced really to think about crowns and kings
and coronations. We've not been able to get away
from it. And no doubt many of us watched
the proceedings yesterday and saw the coronation of King Charles
and all of those things that were done as part of that service. a wonderful thing to watch really
and something that almost everybody alive today has never seen before
or at least would have very little memory of. And of course we respect the
office of king and we recognise the office of king. We are to
acknowledge as Paul writes elsewhere that the powers that be are ordained
of God and we are to pray for those in authority over us and
I'm sure that we try to do that. But this morning, with the help
of God, I want to try and look higher and to see something better. And really, that's the whole
theme of this book, isn't it? I don't know if you've noticed, as you've
read through this epistle to the Hebrews, what is the word
that you keep coming across over and over again as you read through
this book. It really could be described
as the watchword of the book, if you like, or the summary of
the book. And that word is the word that
we had in the first chapter. The first time it appears in
this book is there in verse 4 of chapter 1. It's talking about the Lord Jesus,
it's talking about Jesus as compared to the angels, and the word that
it uses is better. Being made so much better than
the angels. And as I say, that is a word
that pops up time and time again as you go through the chapters
of this book. You can have a look in your own
time, have a search through the book of Hebrews for the word
better. And you'll find many times, more than 10 times, I
think something like 13 or 14 times, you have the word better
used. It speaks of a better resurrection,
doesn't it? Better offerings, better sacrifices,
a better hope, a blood that speaks of better things than that of
Abel. A better city, a better resurrection. Over and over again,
the apostle, as he writes to these Hebrew Christians, they
had been Jews, remember? Most of them, if not all of them,
had been brought up in the Jewish faith. and now they have become
followers of Jesus. And he writes to them in a time
of trial, doesn't he? Over in a later chapter, is it
chapter six? He talks there of the warning
that there is for those who have tasted the word of God and then
have fallen away. And then later on, He encourages
them, doesn't he, in chapter 10 not to cast away their confidence. The picture that we have is of
these Hebrew Christians. Some of them, it seems, were
tempted to look back to the faith of their fathers, to the Jewish
faith that they had been brought up in. And especially as they
pass through times of trial and difficulty and opposition and
persecution, it's not at all surprising, is it, that they
might be tempted to look back and to say, well, have we made
a mistake? Would it have been better if
we had never become Christians, if we had just stayed as Jews? And Paul, as he writes to them,
he encourages them not to cast away their confidence. Cast not
away therefore your confidence. Don't go back, he says to them,
don't turn back. You have not made a mistake,
but you have turned from something good to something even better. Better than the angels. That
theme is really continued throughout these first two chapters, isn't
it? All of those quotations that we have In the first chapter,
they really are just to make this argument that Jesus is better
than the angels. What he says in verse five of that first chapter. Unto which of the angels said
he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee?
He's saying God never said this to the angels. He never called
the angels his son. He never spoke of them as being
begotten. They were created, they are created beings, but
the son is begotten. He never said that to the angels.
He never said to the angels or about the angels, I will be to
him a father and he should be to me a son. That was never spoken
of the angels. And then verse six, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. In other words, he says, when
Jesus came, the angels didn't look down on him, they looked
up to him, they worshipped him. And of course, we have the record,
don't we, toward the beginning of Luke's gospel. when we have
the account of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem and you remember the
shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields outside
and what they saw. An angel came and announced to
them good tidings of great joy and then it says suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, goodwill toward men. The angels look up to the Lord
Jesus. They don't look down on him.
He is superior to the angels, better than the angels. And then
again in verses 7 and 8 there's another comparison, isn't there?
The angels are described in this way. He maketh his angels spirits,
his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son, he saith, thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever. He never said that to the
angels. The angels are not spoken to
in that way. But the Lord Jesus is spoken to in that way. All
of these quotations, or many of them, are references back
to the book of Psalms, aren't they? If you have a margin in
your Bible, you'll see some of those references. And then we come to chapter two.
And he pulls out the implication, doesn't he? Therefore he says,
given that the Lord Jesus is higher than the angels, given
that he is so much better than the angels, if it's true that
he is more important than the angels, more exalted than the
angels, therefore he says we ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip. He talks about how the word spoken
by angels was steadfast. Those things that were spoken
by angels are important. Those who turned away from that
word were judged for it. And he says, well, if that's
true, how shall we escape if we neglect to hear this so great
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken, not just
by angels, but by the Lord himself. And was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him. Verse five, he says, the angels
have not been put over the world to come. The world to come is
not in subjection to the angels, but it has been put in subjection
to the Son of Man. And so he refers back, doesn't
he, to Psalm 8. This quotation that we have in
verse six in chapter two, what is man that thou art mindful
of him, et cetera, is a reference back to what David said in Psalm
8. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? The son of man that thou visitest him. Thou madest him
a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou
hast put all things in subjection under his feet. And what Paul
is saying is that when David wrote that, he was not just talking
about the way in which Adam was put into the garden and given
an authority over the world and over the animals. It's true in
that sense, isn't it? Man is given a responsibility
to care for the garden, to care for God's creation. You remember
the words, the Lord God took the man and
put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. He
is given a charge over God's other works, set over the works
of God's hands. But Paul is saying that when
David wrote those words, it was not just a looking back to what
happened to Adam, but there is a looking forward to the coming
of Christ. And there is a prophecy of him.
He is ultimately the one who is crowned with glory and honour.
He ultimately is the one who is set over all the works of
God. He ultimately is the one who
has all things in subjection put under his feet. a prophecy of Christ who is made
a little lower than the angels but crowned with glory and honour. And then we come to this ninth
verse. And as I say, as we come around these words this morning,
a wonderful thing if we are able to to see Jesus. That's what
Paul says, doesn't he? We see Jesus. He doesn't say
we saw him. He doesn't say we will see him.
But he says we see him. It's present. It's the present
tense. We do see Jesus, he says. We see Jesus who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honour, that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man. Well, as I said, we saw crowns
yesterday, didn't we, those of us that watched the service?
We saw crowns set on the head of King Charles. We saw crowns
set on the head of Queen Camilla. And here is a crown here in the
middle of verse nine. How is Jesus crowned? In what
sense is Jesus crowned with glory and honor? Well, you can think
of a number of ways. I thought of at least five ways
in which Jesus is crowned. He is certainly crowned as the
Son of God. That's very much the emphasis
of the end of chapter one, isn't it? Look again at verse eight. What does God say unto the Son? This is God speaking in verse
8. He's speaking to the Son, and He says, Thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever. He calls Him God. There's a mystery in those verses,
isn't there? Because the Son is called God,
but then in verse 9, it talks about the God of the Son. Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. Therefore God, even thy God, hast anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows. There is a great mystery,
but we're not to deny the truth. The Lord Jesus is God, and yet
he is the Son of God. And God is his God, though he
is God. You remember his words to Mary
Magdalene when he appeared to her in the garden and she's so
upset because she doesn't know where his body has gone and Jesus
appears to her and she thinks he's the gardener and she says
to him, well, where have you taken his body? Tell me, I'll
come and take it away. And when she recognises him,
then he talks about his God, doesn't he? He said, don't touch
me, I've not ascended to my God and your God. my father and your
father. He acknowledges God as his God,
he declares God to be his God, but from this passage here and
from many other passages we see the truth that he is God himself. God the Son, not just the Son
of God, but God the Son. And he has a crown. He is crowned
with glory and honor because he is God the Son. We have already
read of how he was there at the creation, haven't we? Chapter 1, verse 2, it talks
about the Son, whom he, whom God hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds. It was by Him that
all things were made. It's exactly the same truth,
isn't it, that John comes with towards the beginning of his
Gospel. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He's talking about the Lord Jesus. He goes on to speak about the
Word being made flesh, doesn't he? No doubt he's talking about
Jesus Christ. He says the Word was God. All
things were made by Him. He is God the Son. And as God
the Son, he is crowned with glory and honour. Most of the heresies
that we have seen in the history of the church have attacked this
point, haven't they? It's the great point that really
underpins the whole Gospel. And if this point is destroyed,
if the truth of Jesus' deity is destroyed, there is no Gospel.
If he was just another man, an ordinary man, if he was even
just a great prophet, if he was even just a man who did no sin
himself, there's no Gospel unless he is
the Son of God and unless he is God the Son. crowned with
glory and honour. He's crowned as God the Son. And then secondly, you can think
about how he is crowned in his incarnation and in his life. You might read about his life
and we know that he made himself of no reputation. He laid aside
his glory. He came down to the earth and
he was despised and rejected of man, wasn't he? He came unto
his own, his own received him not. You might say, well, how
is he crowned? In his incarnation he was not
crowned with a physical crown. But go back to what Luke tells
us in chapter two of his gospel. The angels, they crowned him
in a sense, didn't they? When they sang at his birth,
Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward
men. When they spoke of him as a saviour,
which is Christ the Lord, when they described his coming as
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, they
are crowning him. They are putting a crown on his head. And then
later on in that same chapter, Simeon Spoke of him as the glory of
Israel, didn't he, when he held the young child Jesus in his
arms? In mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast
prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the
Gentiles, the glory of thy people Israel. They are wonderful words,
and Simeon, by those words, he puts a crown on the head of this
young child, and he recognises him as the King of kings, the
Lord of lords, the glory of the people of Israel. His disciples
saw his glory, didn't they? They certainly saw it there on
the Mount of Transfiguration. When Peter and John and James
go up into the mountain with Jesus and they see him transfigured
before him, his countenance was altered, his raiment becomes
white and glistering and they see Moses and Elias talking with
him. They saw his glory. They saw
something of his kingliness. of his power, of his authority. They crowned him and even the
crowd, though they ultimately rejected him. Yet when he entered into Jerusalem,
we read that the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice
and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that
they had seen, saying, Blessed be the king that cometh in the
name of the Lord. They crowned him as the king,
though those same people were not many days afterwards crying
out for his crucifixion. yet they were forced to recognise
him as the king that came in the name of the Lord. They crowned
him. And even in his sufferings and
in his death, is he not crowned in those things? It's very striking
how John, so often throughout the account of his sufferings,
he speaks about him as a king. How he notices and how he records
for us so carefully all of those things that were done to him. Even there in the garden, you
remember how when they come to arrest him, he asks them who
they're seeking and they say, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus
said unto them, I am. And as soon as he had said that,
they went backward and fell to the ground. They saw something
of his power, didn't they? They saw something of him as
a king. And then in chapter 19 of John's Gospel, He was crowned
there, wasn't he? Very different kind of crown
to the crown that was put upon the head of King Charles yesterday.
What kind of crown did he wear there in John chapter 19? A crown
of thorns. The soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head and they put on him a purple
robe. Again, the sign of royalty. They recognised him, though they
were mocking him. Yeah, even in their mockery.
There is a revelation of him as the King of Kings. And look
at him, so patient, isn't he, as he stands before Pilate. The
chief priests and the officers are crying out, crucify him,
crucify him. And Jesus is there with them.
He hears their words and when Pilate goes back in to speak
to him and ask him, whence art thou? Still he gives him no answer. He's so slow to respond, isn't
he? There's no spirit of revenge
in him, no desire to get his own way, as it were. No, he knew
that 10,000 legions of angels were there at his word, waiting
and ready to come to his defence. Yet he gave him no answer. And look at the title on his
cross. Again, we don't know perhaps whether Pilate was thinking about
what he wrote. Difficult to tell with Pilate,
isn't it? Whether he really is aware of what he's doing, of
the character of this man. He knew that the priests had
delivered him for envy. But ultimately, he washes his
hands, doesn't he? He says, well, it's nothing to do with me. You
want to crucify him, you go ahead and do it. But when he writes the title
for his cross, The writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of
the Jews. And when the Jews come to complain,
they say, well, don't write that he's the king of the Jews, just
write that he claimed that. Write that he said he was the
king of the Jews, if you want, but don't write that he was the
king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. And so even there as he hangs
on that cross, the witness is there, isn't it, in front of
the very eyes of those Jews that watched him suffer there. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of
the Jews, and as he suffers, so patiently, so uncomplaining. What do we read? When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost. And the centurion had to confess
it, didn't he? Truly this man was the son of
God. He is crowned in his sufferings, crowned in his death. Remember,
laid in the tomb of a rich man. That wouldn't be a common thing,
I don't suppose, to be laid in a new sepulcher wherein was never
man yet laid. And yet Jesus, as he's taken
down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, And
so carefully they wind his body in linen clothes with spices
and lay it in the sepulcher. He is crowned in his sufferings,
crowned in his death. But that wasn't the end, was
it? Of course not. He is raised from the dead. And
remember what Peter said about his resurrection. There is a
great proof of his divinity, isn't it? There is a great proof
that he is the king of kings. Peter speaks of Him as that One
who was raised up from the dead, who was foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times
for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from
the dead and gave Him glory, gave Him glory, a crown of glory,
crowned with glory and honour. It's all there in the Book of
Psalms, isn't it? You remember what the psalmist
wrote in Psalm 24? Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King
of glory? The Lord. And you'll notice if
you turn to it, the word Lord there is in capital letters,
Jehovah. The self-existent one, the King
of kings, the Lord of lords, the Lord mighty in battle, the
Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. crowned in his resurrection,
crowned in his ascension, sitting at the right hand of the throne
of God. We see Jesus crowned with glory
and honour. And then again, think of his
return. He's coming again, the angel
said to those disciples as they watched him ascend up into heaven.
This same Jesus, which has taken up from you into heaven, shall
come again in like manner as ye have seen him go. And how
will he come again? He will come again as the King
of Kings. John sees a vision of it, doesn't
he, in the book of Revelation. I looked, and behold, a white
cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man,
having on his head a golden crown. And in his hand a sharpsicle.
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth,
and the earth was reaped. He comes as the great king again
in chapter 19 of that same book. I saw heaven open, says John,
behold a white horse. He that sat upon him was called
faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His
eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns,
many crowns. and he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. We
see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, crowned as
God the Son, crowned in his incarnation, crowned in his sufferings, crowned
in his resurrection, crowned on his return with glory and
honour. But then we come on to this.
What was it all for? Why was he made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death? What was the point
of it all? What was the purpose of it all?
Well, the apostle goes on to tell us, doesn't he, that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man. That's the
first thing, isn't it? It's by the grace of God. This is why he came. This is
why he suffered, this is why he died. It was all by the grace
of God. It wasn't something that anyone
deserved. God didn't send Jesus from heaven
to suffer and to die for sinners because the sinners deserved
him. Of course not. It was by the grace of God, by
the free, unmerited favor of God. Again, you remember how
Isaiah speaks of it. He talks about bread and water
and wine that are given without money and without price. Ho ye,
ho every one that thirsteth, he says, come ye to the waters.
He that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money, without price. Come unto me, he says,
here in your souls shall live. He's talking about the coming
of the Lord Jesus. He's talking about his sacrifice. He says,
you can't pay for this. It's not something you can earn.
It's not something you have to give anything in return for.
But it is by the grace of God. There is encouragement there,
isn't there? When we feel ourselves to have
nothing and to be able to do nothing and to know nothing, What an encouragement that we
can read these words, the grace of God, the grace of God. Is
that something you have to keep coming back to? It's not easy, is it, to come
with nothing. We sing the hymn so easily, don't we? Nothing
in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. And yet we
have this tendency within us to keep looking for something,
looking for something to bring with us. As if we want to come
to the Lord and say, well, I've got all this repentance now. I've got all this experience
now. I've got all this faith now. I've got all this understanding
now. Have you seen how much I've been reading my Bible? Have you
seen how long I've been spending time in prayer? These are all
good things to have, good things to do. but if we're using them
as a lever to try and move the will of God, if we're using them
as a bribe almost, as if we come to the Lord and say, well, don't
I deserve blessing a little bit now? Well, we've gone wrong,
and God will show us that we're going wrong, and we'll have to
come back to this, the grace of God, the grace of God, only
the grace of God to build upon. Only a cross to cling to. Nothing
in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling. It's by the
grace of God. What has happened by the grace
of God? Well, says Paul, he has tasted death. He has tasted death. This is why he was made lower
than the angels. It's what Paul has said already,
hasn't he? We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death. He had to be made a little lower
than the angels. Angels don't die, they're spirits. But it was needful for the Son
of God to die. He had to be made lower than
the angels, inferior to the angels in all outward appearances. If
you had seen him when he walked here upon the earth, you wouldn't
have thought he was higher than the angels. Especially if you
saw him suffering on the cross, you wouldn't have thought him
to be higher than the angels. And the Jews certainly didn't,
did they? And the chief priests certainly didn't when they walked
past the cross shaking their heads and mocking him and saying,
if you're the son of God, why don't you come down from the
cross? Save yourself and we'll believe. He saved others. Himself
he cannot save. He doesn't look higher than the
angels. He is made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. What does it mean to
taste death? Not to imagine that it means
that he just experienced a little bit of death. That's what we
might mean today when we talk about tasting something. We've
made something to eat. We're not quite ready to eat
yet. We want to make sure it's good. You might take a little
spoonful or dip your finger in it and you taste it. Well, it
would be a great mistake to think that that's what Jesus experienced
when he tasted death. To taste death is really, it's
a Jewish expression. It just means to die. You'll find the expression, that
Baron John's gospel, remember, In John chapter eight, when Jesus
is talking to the Jews, he says, towards the end of that amazing
chapter, he says, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see
death. And the Jews say, now we know that thou hast a devil.
Abraham is dead and the prophets. And thou sayest, if a man keep
my saying, he shall never taste of death. They understood what
he was saying. To taste of death is just to
die. He, by the grace of God, should
taste death, should die. He comes with that one great
purpose, with that one great objective. His death was not
something that just happened to him by accident. His death
was not something that came unexpectedly to him. He was born to die. Again, remember the words of
Simeon, how he warned, how he prophesied that this child that
he was holding in his arms would be a sign which should be spoken
against. And he says to Mary, a sword
shall pierce through thy own soul. Also, those wise men, they
brought him gold and frankincense, but also myrrh, didn't they?
He comes to die. And so many times he warned his
disciples that he was going to die. And so many times they failed
to understand what he meant. And though he had spoken to them
so often about his death and resurrection, yet there on the
third day outside the tomb, his disciples are not waiting for
him. There's nobody there coming thinking,
well, it's the time when he said he was going to rise from the
dead, let's go and greet him. They're all far off, aren't they?
They're coming with their spices, as if they're going to embalm
his body. They had forgotten his words that he had spoken
to them. But he comes with that one great objective to die. He,
by the grace of God, should taste death. Who was it for? Well, you say, it says every
man. And of course, there are those who come to this verse
and they say, well, of course, that is proof, isn't it, that
Christ's death is universal. A universal atonement, they say.
That's what it says. He should taste death for every
man. Well, we don't believe in a universal
atonement. We believe in a limited atonement.
And we believe that not just because John Calvin said it.
We believe it because it is there in scripture. How do we understand
these words then? That he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man. Well the first thing to say is
that the word man is really not there in the original at all.
Really it just says he should taste death for every. The word
man is not there, it's been added in. I suppose you could argue
that it ought to be in italics really. He should taste death
for every. And so then we have to think
about what the every is. Who is the every? Every what? And the translators have to do
that. They have sometimes to make that kind of decision. They
have to look at the verse and say, well, there's a word that
needs to be added here. We need to make a decision about
which word we're going to use. Who is the every here at the
end of verse nine? Well, the first thing is that
it becomes clear from the context who it means, doesn't it? Look
at what Paul goes on to say in the following verses. In verse
10 he talks about sons, many sons unto glory. In verse 11
he talks about brethren. He is not ashamed to call them
brethren. And in verse 13 he talks about
children, sons, brethren, children. Surely when we look at the context,
it's very clear, isn't it, that when he says all men, he doesn't
mean all men in the world. He means all the sons, all the
brethren, all the children. We sometimes use words like that,
don't we? If I had come into the chapel
this morning and said, right, is everybody here? None of you
would have said, well, of course, not everybody's here. Not everybody
in the world is here. You would all understand straight
away what I meant. Is everybody here that we expect to be here? He, by the grace of God, should
taste death for every man. That's the first way in which
we understand this word. We understand it by the context.
And, of course, we can understand it by the message of the whole
of the rest of the Bible. When it says, He, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man, well, what does that
mean? If someone does something for
us, well, it means we don't have to do it. It's not there to be
done anymore. You might have a job that you
have to do and you're not looking forward to it. Perhaps at work
or at home and there's something that's on your list of things
to do and you're working down the list and then you come to
this job that you've perhaps been putting off and you go and
see if you can make a start on it and you find that someone's
done it already. or someone comes to you and they
say, well, you know, that thing that you said you were going
to try and get round to, I've actually, I've done it, I've
finished it. When it says that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every, well, clearly those every
are not going to taste of death. It's already been done for them. That thing that they were facing,
that thing that they were going to have to go through, He, by
the grace of God, has gone through it for them, done it already. It's off the list, it's crossed
out, it's tipped. It doesn't need to be done anymore.
Well, who is it that is not going to taste of death? Well, go back
to what Jesus said to those Jews in John chapter eight. What did
he say? If a man keep my sayings, he
shall never taste of death. If a man keep my sayings, he
shall never taste of death. The every man, here in verse
nine, it's the same group of people as Jesus is talking about
there in John chapter eight. Those that keep his sayings,
those that are his followers, those that believe on him, they
are the ones who shall never taste of death. What does Jesus go on to say? in so many of his teachings to
the Jews. What does he say to Martha? You remember the account of Martha
and her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus and what a time it must
have been for them when Lazarus falls sick and they send a message
to Jesus to tell him and Jesus doesn't come. You can imagine
what they thought. They thought, well, we'll send
the message. Jesus will be here before too long. And we know
that he can heal the sick. We've seen him do it. We believe
on him. But he doesn't come. The next
day he doesn't come. The day after he doesn't come.
He doesn't even begin to come for two days after he's heard
the message. And when finally he does come, Lazarus is already
dead. And Martha goes forth to meet
him, doesn't she? Lord, if thou hadst been here,
she says, my brother had not died. But I know that even now
whatsoever thou will ask of God, God will give it to thee. There
seems to be this little chink of hope in Martha that Jesus
maybe can still do something about it. And Jesus seems to
encourage that hope, doesn't he? Thy brother shall rise again.
But she's still a bit slow to grasp what he's saying. Well,
she says, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection
at the last day. And Jesus says unto her, I am
the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die, shall never taste of death. Who is
it? Who is the everyman? Who are these people? for whom
Jesus has tasted death. Well, it's the same people that
Jesus speaks of there to Martha. Those who live and believe in
him. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Every man, every son, every brother,
every child. All of those who are described
later on in this chapter. Those for whom he was a merciful
and faithful high priest, this verse is not an argument in favour
of a universal atonement. But there is certainly something
universal about the Gospel. And there is something that is
to be universal about the preaching of the Gospel. What does Paul
go on to say in verse 17? In all things, he says, it behoved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest. He goes on to talk about Jesus
as a priest, doesn't he, at the end of chapter four. He says
he's a high priest which can be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities, one who was in all points tempted like as
we are. And then at the end of chapter
seven, He says, this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. There's no limit in his power. There's no limit in his ability. He is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. And so when we think of him as
the Great High Priest, it's a very false way of thinking. And there are people who think
like this. They think of the Lord Jesus,
they look at him in the Gospel, they see him as the Great High
Priest, that one who is able to save unto the uttermost, but
they say to themselves, well of course. One thing I must know
before I come is that I am one of these children, one of these
sons, one of these brothers that Paul goes on to speak about.
They say, well, I must know that I am one of the elect before
I can come to him. Well, says Paul, that's quite
wrong, quite false. It's actually the other way round.
It's not that the sinner cannot come to him unless he knows that
he is one of the elect. It's actually that the sinner
cannot know that he is one of the elect unless he comes to
him. This is the sign of election,
isn't it? The mark of being one of those sons, one of those brothers,
one of those children. How are we to know whether we
are in that number? Well, we can only know election
by calling. Make your calling and election
sure, says Peter. And remember, The words of the
Lord Jesus. Yes, he said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. There's certainly a number which
can never be numbered. Those who will come, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. But remember what he goes
on to say, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And with those words, he seems
to come with such encouragement to those who are doubtful of
their own election. With such encouragement to those
who come and they say, well, I'm not sure if I'm one of the
children of God. I'm not sure if I'm one of those
for whom he tasted death. Well, says the Lord Jesus, come
with your uncertainty. Come with your lack of knowledge.
Come with your nothing. Because sinners are invited,
and the empty-handed are invited, and those who are labouring and
heavy-laden are invited, and they're not invited to bring
anything with them. They're invited to come without money, without
price, to taste of that water of life, to eat of that bread
of life. and to experience Jesus as their
great High Priest, a merciful and faithful High Priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Therefore,
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. How shall we escape,
says Paul, if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first
began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him? There's no other salvation, no
other grounds of hope. Again, remember how Paul warned
the Jews there in Antioch, having set before them Christ as the
only saviour, as the only hope, as that one that he had preached
to them as the forgiveness of sins. Through this man, he says,
he's preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. By him, all that believe
are justified from all things. All that believe. from which
he could not be justified by the law of Moses, beware therefore,
lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets.
Behold, ye despisers, and wander and perish. For I work a work
in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though
a man declare it unto you. Now the Gentiles received that
message with such joy. When the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. But the Jews were
filled with envy and spoke against those things which were spoken
by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. And Paul and Barnabas wax bold,
don't they, and say it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken unto you. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. And those Jews, they had no excuse,
did they? There was no way that they could
have said, well, we never heard of this Christ. We never heard
of that salvation. How could we come? Nobody ever
told us. No, the Lord would have been
able to reply to them. Don't you remember? Paul told
you in Antioch on that day, and you put it from him. We see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every man. Well, may God bring
us to come to the same place as these Jewish Christians had
come. To flee for refuge, that's what
he says at the end of chapter six, doesn't he? We have fled
for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us. We have
all had the hope set before us. Have you fled for refuge to lay
hold upon them? Is it your hope, your foundation,
the grounds of your confidence? This same Jesus, this one that
Paul speaks of here, we see him, made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour,
that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. May
God bless his word to us. Amen.