Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
The Letter to the Hebrews
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
March 1, 2026 :: Hebrews 2:10-18
Today, we need to fix our eyes on the humanity of Jesus.
We need to fix our eyes on the humble humanness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the first four messages in our series on the sermonic letter to those Hebrew Christians–who were tempted to take their eyes off of Jesus and fall out of the race of faith–the emphasis has been on the exaltation of Jesus.
And that is right! Jesus is exalted! He is the Son of God and God the Son!
He is superior to the angels! He is the maker of all things, the sustainer of all things, the owner of all things. The radiance of God’s glory and the perfect picture of His nature. Jesus is God’s last Word.
And where is He now? Church, where is Jesus right now? He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (1:3)! He is exalted! And we should fix our eyes on Him. And not take our eyes off of Him. And pay careful attention to Him and the great salvation He has announced and provided.
Jesus is exalted. Last week, the writer said (v.9), “[W]e see Jesus...crowned with glory and honor!” And we sang, “Crown Him! Crown Him! Crown Him! Lord of All!”
But there was a step before that crowning that Jesus had to take. There was a step downward before that exaltation that the Son had to descend. And that is that He had to become a human. He had to take on (v.14), “flesh and blood.”
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
“Flesh and Blood.”
The Son of God had to become one of us. That phrase “flesh and blood” is really good because it expresses a couple of different things at the same time. One is the literal fact of having actual flesh and actual blood. Jesus had both.
He didn’t just seem to be human, but He was (and is) fully human. There was a heresy in the first few centuries after Christ called “docetism,” where the false teachers spread this idea that Jesus was fully God, fully divine, but He only seemed to be fully human.
It would be gross and wrong, they thought, that the Son of God would have actual flesh and actual blood?! Eww. That would be beneath God and sully God if the Son had all of the weaknesses and indignities of humanity.
But that is, of course, what we were just celebrating two months ago at Christmastime, wasn’t it?
The Word became flesh! And He dwelled among us. And He had blood.
Stop for a second and feel your pulse. Put your fingers up on your jugular. Do you feel with your flesh the thump thump of your heart pumping blood through your body?
Two thousand years ago, when Jesus did that, He felt the exact same thing. He had flesh, and He had blood. And that’s what this section of the letter is all about.
And we also use that phrase “flesh and blood,” to talk about family. Right? Pete and Isaac down here are my own flesh and blood. “We are family” as Sister Sledge might sing. We share in flesh and blood as a family. And that’s also what this section of the letter is all about.
There is all kinds of family language: brothers (and implicitly sisters), and children and descendants and sons.
Flesh and blood. Jesus in His mission to provide such a great salvation took on human flesh and blood. Why?
This passage is going to say that it was “fitting” and appropriate and the right thing to do and even will say, He had to do so. He had to be made like His flesh and blood brothers. How come?
Because it takes flesh and blood to suffer and die a human death. It takes Christmas to get to Good Friday. Flesh and blood. So we need to fix our eyes on the humanity of Jesus.
The writer has already started us on that focus. Last week in verses 5 through 9, he pulled out Psalm 8 and preached a message to us about how human beings were made and meant to rule the world. Remember this?
We were made to wear crowns. And, at creation, everything was placed under our feet. But we ruined it. We humans broke the world instead of ruling it wisely and well, and now we do not see things the way they supposed to be. Chapter 2, verse 8.
“Yet at present we do not see everything subjected to [humanity].”
“But [v.9] we see Jesus! ... now crowned with glory and honor.” At the right hand of the throne of God. How did He get there? He started there, but how did He get back there? First, He was “made a little lower than the angels” so He became a human being, like us, taking on flesh and blood, and then...He died a human death. Verse 9.
“But we see Jesus...now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Jesus is exalted and crowned in this way because He suffered death. And to do that, He had to take on flesh and blood.
I have three points this morning I want to make to summarize what Jesus accomplished by partaking in flesh and blood, and here’s the first one. We’ve already sung this line this morning in “How Deep the Father’s Love.”
#1. TO BRING US TO GLORY.
Jesus took on flesh and blood to bring His children to glory. Look with me at verse 10. It flows right out of verse 9. Verse 10.
“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
Now, there’s a lot there in that verse, and the logic is not obvious at first. He says it was “fitting,” so that means “appropriate.” It was the correspondingly right thing to do that God–the One Who made everything and that everything is for–would make the author (or your version might have “captain” or “source” or “pioneer” or “leader,” and that’s got to be Jesus) perfect through suffering.
Wow! “Perfect through suffering?” What a thought?! What does he mean?
One thing he cannot mean is that Jesus was morally imperfect and needed to be made morally perfect. No. Jesus was sinless, and this author insists on that more than any other book in the Bible (see Hebrews 4:15, 7:26)! He does not mean that Jesus was sinful and had to be perfected through suffering to become sinless. No way.
What he means, I think, is that Jesus, in His humanity, was being perfectly equipped to save His people.
Jesus was taking on all of the qualifications of a perfect savior. And one of the chief qualifications of a perfect savior was suffering. He couldn’t save His people without suffering. Suffering was essential to being the perfect Savior, and so Jesus was made perfect through suffering.
Now, that’s counter-intuitive to us. We think that suffering should always be avoided whenever possible. But the Bible says that suffering is the path to glory, and God’s people will all walk it. And so must their Savior.
The writer calls Jesus, the “author” of our salvation. The same word that he will use in Hebrews 12:2 when he tell us to fix our eyes on Jesus and run the race set before us fixing our eyes on Him as the “author” of our faith.
The Greek word there is a little hard to translate. That’s why our English Bibles give us so many options. (Maybe Keith will talk about it tonight at the class on Bible translation?)
The basic idea is a something like a trailblazer. Somebody who goes first and makes the way? Like an author who is the source of the story, getting the story started and first to get to the end because it’s His story.
Or like a pioneer who sets out first and makes the trail. Jesus took the route of suffering and made that the way of salvation.
And the writer says that that was “fitting” for God to do to Him! Why? Because everything is about Him, it was right for God to make Jesus perfect through suffering. Because He is worth it all. And because He’s gracious like that. And because the Son Who would suffer is that same God who would get the glory for stepping down into death for His children so that they would be brought to glory.
“In bringing many sons (and daughters too!) to glory...”
And what blew me away this week was realizing that he does not just mean “gloryland” there. I think about “bringing many sons to glory” as being “bringing many Christians to heaven.” And it does mean that, but the glory here in context is the glory of verse 7 and verse 9.
It’s the glory that we were originally supposed to have as God’s image-bearing rulers of the world! He’s saying that we’re going to get our crowns back.
Jesus is going to fix everything so that we, fellow-humans, will be crowned with glory and honor–not because we’re so amazing in and of ourselves but–because Jesus perfectly suffered for us in His flesh and blood.
We’re going to be brought to glory and share in it! Church, we’re going to be glorified!
And Jesus is going to exult in that. He’s going to be so happy that we are brought to glory. I think that’s the point of the next three verses where the author makes his points again from quotations drawn from the Old Testament. He knows that these Jewish Christians will appreciate arguments from the Hebrew Bible. Look at verse 11. It’s the verse that Jenni put on the front of our bulletins today. Verse 11.
“Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. [Notice the family language.] He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again he says, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me’” (vv.11-13).
The writer has 3 quotes from two different passages in the Old Testament. Psalm 22, verse 22 in Hebrews 2:12 and Isaiah chapter 8, verse 17 and verse 18 in Hebrews 2:13.
There is a lot going on here, but the basic point is not complex. The basic point is simple. The basic point is that Jesus is so pleased and excited that He is bringing many sons (and daughters) to glory. And He calls us family. V.11 again.
“Both the one who makes men holy [that’s Jesus] and those who are made holy [that’s us] are of the same [NIV has] family [your version might say “Father,” the Greek is simply, “one” but the basic idea ends up the same].”
You and I are made of the same stuff as Jesus. Jesus is the made of the same stuff as us! Flesh and blood, right? It’s not like we’re one thing and He’s another. Yes, He’s more, but He is not less. He’s 100% human. Just like we say in Article 4 of our Statement of Faith echoing the Nicene Creed. That theology comes from right here.
“Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same [flesh and blood]. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t miss that. Jesus is not is not ashamed to call us brother or sister!
Did you get that?! Jesus is not ashamed to call you brother. Jesus is not ashamed to call you sister. Jesus is not ashamed of you. Jesus is not ashamed to be associated with you.
Do you believe that?
That doesn’t mean you and I haven’t done things that we should be ashamed of. But see Who Jesus is in verse 11. He’s the one who makes us holy. He’s One who sanctifies us. And He’s become one of us. So He’s not ashamed to be associated with us. He’s not ashamed that we are in His family.
Let that sink in. Some of you live in shame all the day long. Jesus is not ashamed of you. You don’t have to be ashamed. You don’t have live in shame. You can hold your head up high. Because of Jesus, your head is being fitted for a crown! He is bringing you to glory. Glory!
Do you need proof this is how Jesus thinks of you? Verse 12 says to check Psalm 22 where “He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises’” (2:12).
We’ve studied Psalm 22 before. It’s the one that is so clearly about Jesus and His crucifixion? It begins, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus quoted it about Himself on the Cross. We read it this time of year. “...they have pierced my hands and feet” (v.16). “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing” (v.18). It’s about the crucifixion.
But then the Psalm takes a turn towards the end that is clearly about the resurrection and the ascension to the right hand of God the Father! The Psalmist (who turns out to be Jesus) declares that He will be rescued. He will saved. And “we will feast in the house of Zion.” The kingdom will come in all of its fullness (see Ps 22:22-31).
He is sure of it! So he says, “I will declare your name [God] to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”
He calls us brothers, and He says He’s going to sing with us! Have you ever thought about that? That the Lord Jesus is going to sing with us in glory?!
And what will He sing? Verse 13.
“I will put my trust in him.” That’s Jesus’ song. He gets it from Isaiah 8:17 (look it up this afternoon), “I will put my trust in him.” And then Isaiah 8:18 says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”
And the writer to the Hebrews says that Jesus sings that one, too.
“Here I am! I’m right here. I’m alive! I’m on the throne. I’m at the right hand. And look who I’ve got here....The children God has given me.”
He’s talking about you and me. He’s got His arms around our shoulders, and He’s so excited and pleased to present us to God. “Don’t they look great in their crowns?!”
He’s not just “not ashamed.” He’s pleased to call us His family. That’s how He feels about you if He’s making you holy.
He’s bringing us to glory, and He’s not ambivalent about it. No, no. It was the thing that sustained Him through the agony of the cross. For the joy set before Him of glorifying His father and bringing His children to glory, He endured the Cross. That’s what made it worth it to Him. That’s why He took on flesh and blood! To sing with us in glory.
#2. TO DEFEAT OUR ENEMIES.
Look at verse 14. “Here am I and the children God has given me.” Verse 14.
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (vv.14-15).
Here’s where he uses the words, “flesh and blood” though in the Greek, it’s actually the other way around, “blood and flesh” but the meaning is the same.
The children have flesh and blood. That’s us. Everybody here has flesh and has blood. We can feel our pulse. So our Savior shared in that. Literally, “shared in the same.”
The Son of God who had never suffered. Had always dwelled in unapproachable light. Was impassable. Could not suffer in His divine nature. Became a little baby that probably screamed for His milk. Took on flesh and infirmity. He got tired. He got sick. He didn’t know everything. He became limited. And He bled. And He died.
And in that dying, He defeated our greatest enemies. He defeated the devil, and He defeated death itself!
“...he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil...”
The devil does not have ultimate power over death (only God does), but he does have some power over death, and he sure loves death. He loves how he tempted us to sin and then how death came! And put a death grip on us. But Jesus died (and rose again) to destroy the devil and his work!
That word the 1984 NIV translates “destroy” can mean “render inoperable or ineffective” or “reduce to nothing.” The updated NIV has “break the power of” (NIV 2011). One commentator I read this week says that Jesus “defanged the devil” at the Cross (Douglas Moo).
He lost. Satan was beaten by Jesus’ death. That’s why he kept trying to get Jesus to avoid it. He tempted him at the start of his ministry to skip the Cross and then again in the garden. But Jesus chose His death. Because He knew that He would be defanging the devil. So you and I don’t have to be scared of Satan any more. Wary of him, sure. He’s still prowling around. But if you resist him, he must flee. And someday soon, we will crush him underneath our feet once and for all.
But that’s nothing. In His death, Jesus defeated an even scarier enemy than Satan. Jesus defeated death itself. Remember verse 9. Jesus tasted death for us by the grace of God. And we know that He then spit it out! He took on the wrath of God death that we deserve, the death of judgment, and absorbed it so that we won’t have to. So that, yes, we might die physically, but after that, we won’t enter into the eternal death that we deserved. So now we don’t have anything to be scared of.
If we belong to Jesus, we don’t have to be scared of death. Did you get that from verse 14?
Here’s why He took on flesh and blood. He “shared in their humanity so that by his death he might...free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
We were supposed to rule the the world. But instead we became slaves. Slaves to fear. And specifically fear of death.
Are you afraid of death? It’s normal to be. And it holds us back from so much living. But we can be free! You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to be ashamed (because Jesus calls you His sibling). And you don’t have to be afraid even of dying. Because Jesus died for you! You don’t have to be scared. You don’t have to be scared of death because what is waiting for you now on the other side. Because of Who is waiting for you now on the other side!
Death is still an enemy. But like the devil, death is a defeated enemy. And it really can’t hurt you if you belong to Jesus. Because He let it hurt Him. The Son took on flesh and blood so that He could die and kill death in the process (and see Revelation 20:14!). And one day, death will be no more. Do you believe it? Verse 16.
“For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.”
He’s back to angels!
Jesus is not an angel. Jesus never was an angel. Jesus didn’t become an angel. Jesus became a human. He came to save humans. He came to save Abraham’s descendants. And that doesn’t just mean biological Jews. It means all of those who have faith in God’s promise like Abraham did. Jews on the inside (see Romans 4:16, Galatians 3:9). Jesus came to save all who will believe in Him. Is that you? Verse 17.
“For this reason he had to be made [had to! Had to be made] like his brothers in every way [flesh and blood], in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”
Last point for today. Why did Jesus take on flesh and blood?
#3. TO BECOME OUR PERFECT PRIEST.
This is going to be a major theme in the rest of the letter. In fact, he’s going to come back to the idea of Jesus being our high priest again and again, and in chapter 5, he’s going to focus on Jesus being merciful and compassionate and in chapter 3, the very next chapter, he’s going to focus on Jesus being faithful.
So we don’t have say everything right now. But what I want to point out for sure is that Jesus is our perfect high priest. He is the total package. Merciful and faithful in service to God. He did all that was needed once and for all. And He made atonement for the sins of the people! That means that He dealt with the problem of sin once and for all. Both wiping sin out and absorbing the wrath of God for sin in our place. And the only way that He could do that is if He was flesh and blood. He had to be like us in every way.
It takes a human priest to be the high priest for humans. And it takes a flesh and blood priest to offer His own flesh and blood!
Because Jesus is like and unlike every other high priest there ever was. He is like them because He’s a human like every other high priest was. But He’s unlike every other high priest because the sacrificial offering He presents to God is His own flesh and blood. He made atonement for the sins of the people.
And then He sat down. Remember chapter 1, verse 3. “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” It is finished. Our sins are forgiven. They are paid for. They are gone. Because Jesus suffered for us.
His suffering was real. There wasn’t anything fake about Jesus’ suffering. It was agony. It was torment. It was excruciating in every way. He didn’t just seem to suffer. There is no saying that Jesus got off easy or that Jesus doesn’t understand what it means to suffer. Jesus’s suffering was as real as it gets.
And because of that, He can help us. He can help us to be forgiven forever, and He can help us to get through trials and temptations every single day. That’s where he goes in verse 18.
“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he [Jesus] is able to help those who are being tempted.”
What’s he talking about? It was so hard for Jesus. He was tempted, and it never stopped. Our temptations often stop because we give in to them. But Jesus never gave in. And He hated sin more than ever had, so when He was tempted to sin, it was even more painful than we can imagine.
How much He felt like giving in! Think about Jesus in the garden sweating drops of blood. “Take this cup away, Father. Please!” But not my will but your will be done.
He didn’t give in. He never gave in. And we don’t have give in either. He is able to help those who are being tempted to give in. And to give up.
These Jewish believers were tempted to give up. They were tempted to throw in the towel.
They were tempted to go back to Judaism alone. They were tempted to drop out of the race and stop following Jesus.
But this pastor wrote them this letter. "Don’t give in. Don’t give up. Jesus became flesh and blood for you to bring you to glory. He is not ashamed to call you brothers and sisters. You don’t have to be ashamed no matter what they throw at you! Jesus took on flesh and blood for you to defeat your enemies. You don’t have to be scared of the devil any more. You don’t have to be scared of death any more! And you certainly don’t have to give in to temptation any more. Because He suffered, and He paid for your sins. You don’t have to give in to them either. Don’t quit! Don’t stop!"
Fix your eyes on the humble, suffering humanity of Jesus.
***
Messages in this Series:
01. "The Son" - Hebrews 1:1-4
02. "Superior to the Angels" - Hebrews 1:5-14
03. "Such a Great Salvation" - Hebrews 2:1-4
04. "We See Jesus" - Hebrews 2:5-9
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