HEB 2:10 "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.
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.
12 He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." (Psalm 22:22)
13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." (Isaiah 8:17) And again he says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me." (Isaiah 8:18)

This is an interesting portion of Scripture as it takes a look at the humanity of Christ in light of His identification with His people. And this is something which should encourage every believer because it shows us that Jesus is very pleased to be called a man as He has come into this world to be the perfect man, the perfect representative of mankind before the Father to bring many sons to glory.

As we take a look at verse 10 we notice a couple things. First we notice that the writer of Hebrews has as his object, in the first part of this verse, our heavenly Father. "For it was fitting for Him, (that is our God and Father), for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings."

Here the Father is seen as the Creator of the universe. "For whom are all things and through whom are all things." This is interesting since in the beginning of this letter we read in HEB 1:2 "but in these last days he (The Father) has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe."

There Jesus is seen as the Creator of the universe. This is not a contradiction. Remember that it is God who created the universe. There is only one God, but He has revealed Himself to us in three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each distinct and yet of the same essence, equal in power and glory.

This is in complete harmony with His word which says in GEN 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. GEN 1:26 Then God said, "Let us (plural) make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his (singular) own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

It is God whom the writer of Hebrews is lifting up, and whether he speaks of the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, he is speaking of one God in three persons. And in our text the second person, the Son of God, is being discussed in relation to the Father.

Notice it says in verse 10 that "it was fitting that the Father should perfect the Son through sufferings." This is kind of an odd statement. You mean to say that it was fitting for the Father to cause the Son to suffer?

That's exactly what it means. ISA 53:10 "But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering...." NAS

The pleasure didn't come in the actual crushing for its own sake, but in what it would accomplish; the salvation of God's people whom Christ came to redeem. That's what pleased the Father and that's what pleased Jesus.

HEB 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

But how did these sufferings of Christ perfect Him? It must be understood that it refers to His humanity. Jesus Christ is perfect in all ways both as God and as man. There is no sin in Him. But in the flesh His perfection was to be proved and shown to be effective as the perfect sacrifice for men through His sufferings.

Jesus didn't suffer for Himself. The perfect Lamb of God didn't need to be made perfect. In fact the word perfect in the Greek actually means to bring to completion. The Father brought to completion His plan of salvation for sinners through the author of their salvation.

The word author is also interesting in the Greek, it is archegos which means, the chief leader, and carries with it the idea of one blazing a trail for others to follow in. He is the first to go down that trail, because He is the only one who could go down that trail. All others can only follow as they follow Him and believe on Him for their salvation.

But this blazing of a trail could only be accomplished through suffering the penalty all men deserve to pay for and taking that penalty and nailing it to the cross. And so, in that sense, Jesus was perfected or brought to completion the plan of the Father through suffering for us.

But to accomplish this Jesus had to be one of us. HEB 2:11 "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.
12 He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises."

Jesus, who makes us holy through His righteousness, and we, who by faith, have embraced His righteousness for our salvation, are of the same family in that both He and we are descendants of the seed of the woman in a physical sense, and spiritual descendants of Abraham, which we'll talk about later.

It pleases Jesus to be identified with us in this sense. He became a man because He loved men and wanted eternal fellowship with us. He became one of us; yet not one who has all we possess when it comes to sin and its devastating nature which is death. He came as the perfect man and took our sin on Himself as a guilt offering to the Father which would be a sweet savor to the Lord on our behalf.

Arthur W. Pink in his commentary on Hebrews makes this observation: "If ever we were to be made like Him, He first had to be made like us. If He was to give us of His Spirit, He must first assume our flesh. If we were to be so joined unto the Lord as to become one spirit (1Cor.6:17) with Him, then He must first be joined with our flesh, so as to be all of one with us."

The writer of Hebrews drives this point home by quoting O.T. scriptures to show us this was always His intent. HEB 2:12 "He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises."

This is taken from Psalm 22:22 and it shows us that Jesus always desired to call us brothers and here in our text it shows us that Jesus is declaring the name of the Father to us, as He is in the midst of the congregation joining us in singing praises to the Father.

This refers to intimate fellowship with us in a common union of brotherhood. This could only happen if God became man. And the Son of God did; this is why He is also known as the Son of man. The Son of man who put His trust in the Father in all things He did on this earth, as we see in verse13, as well as identifying Himself with the congregation; being a part of the congregation and joining in with the congregation in honoring the Father.

By the way the word for congregation here in our text in the Greek is ekklesia which is the word used throughout the N.T. for the church. Christ was in the midst of His people when He was here the first time on this earth, and as the risen Son of Man He's still in our midst.

When writing to the seven churches in the book of Revelation we read in REV 2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:"

The lampstands are representative of the seven churches, but it certainly isn't limited to only those seven churches. Jesus walks among us today in fellowship and desires to lead us, as the God-man, to the throne of the Father as we seek Him and love Him.

I like the end of HEB 2:13 when Jesus says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me." Do you see the Good Shepherd gathering His sheep and embracing them and loving them? This Shepherd is one of us. We're in the same family together in a very real sense. We're both in the family of mankind in that Jesus became a man, but only as it relates to the family of God in Christ.

This family we're in will have one terrific family reunion one day as we see our Lord face to face. But let's move to verse 14 which talks about this man, Christ Jesus, who came to suffer for us. There's a reason for it all.

HEB 2:14 "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 -
15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

This is a remarkable portion of God's word because herein lies the heart of the Gospel. There would be no salvation for men had not a man came to our rescue. The problem of course is that no mere man could pay for his own sins let alone the sins of the world.

And so Jesus shared in the nature of His children by sharing in our flesh and blood. He didn't share in our sin nature; He couldn't have and still be our Savior, but He was every bit a human being as He was born into this world of a virgin. But why was He born into this world?

The writer of Hebrews gives us the answer. "that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil -
15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

Let's look at this. F.F. Bruce makes this comment on the idea of Christ having to die. He says, "[If we enter this life by birth], and we leave it in due course by death, it was divinely fitting that [Jesus] too should die. Indeed this is stated here as the purpose of His incarnation -- that He should die, and in the very act of dying draw the sting of death."

But why is it so important that He should suffer the sting of death for us? Because it's the sting of death which keeps us in slavery forever unless someone can set the captives free from this slavery. The one who has this power of slavery and death is the devil, Satan.

And yet, only through death can freedom come to mankind as death is destroyed. Without someone who can destroy death, death will do all the destroying and mankind is on the receiving end of that destruction. I want to take you back to a time in the Garden of Eden when a man made a choice to rebel against His God. And I want you to remember the penalty described to man before this choice was made.

We read in GEN 2:16 "And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

This judgment was legal and binding if the man disobeyed it. As such, if he chose to rebel he accepted the terms of that binding arrangement which God made with him. Satan understood this. He knew that if he could tempt man to disobey God, God would be obligated to carry through with His justice, which was death to mankind.

This excited Satan because here Satan felt that he found a way to destroy the one thing which was most precious to God; mankind with whom God wanted to have eternal fellowship, the very thing which Satan lost. In his lust for destruction he set out to take from God what God took from him when he rebelled in heaven and lost his place with God forever.... fellowship, which in this case was with one of His most blessed and loved creatures; man.

And so the legal mind of Satan went to work. Well, he succeeded. Man fell and the justice of God was served and mankind suffered the penalty of sin which was death. Death cut men off from God and would one day cut men off from their flesh as they were then thrust into eternity with no hope of recovery.

All was well in the plan of Satan and all went according to his feeble wisdom. He won. He beat God on God's own terms. What a brilliant tactician was this Satan. But there was one thing Satan didn't bargain on. He didn't bargain on God being God. You see the wisdom of men and fallen angels is foolishness to God, in a comparative sense.

God was not through with man whom He loved. GEN 3:14 "So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

It would appear that Satan didn't think that he would be judged together with man. And here in Genesis Satan is told that God's legal justice would be served on him as well and would ultimately destroy what he helped put in motion.

God's plan was not over. But how does God deal with His own justice when He clearly said that "in the day you shall eat of the tree you shall die."? Men must die. Yes, but what if someone could come into this world and reverse what Adam did through the legal and just avenues which God put into place?

This was God's plan, which I might add, was not devised there in the Garden, but from all of eternity. God is omniscient and knows all things, even Adams fall. This didn't take God by surprise, though it still grieved God when it happened. He never had any intention of losing men with whom He wanted to spend eternity.

But the solution to man's sin problem was a choice men once more had to make by faith in God. The solution: crush the head of Satan and the penalty of sin, together with its death sentence, which came as a result of disobedience.

A man would be sent by God who would obey perfectly and God would slay the serpent on his own ground in this sin-filled world. And here let me remind you that in this world where Satan is referred to as a prince, (and by that it means one who has power in this world), he is able to keep men in bondage to their sin as their eyes are blinded to this truth of a solution to mans sin, which they must embrace by faith.

Now in our text in verse 14 it says that Satan holds the power of death. We need to be careful not to think that he has complete dominion over death and it's power over men. Let me give you a couple of examples of who has ultimate power in this area.

DEU 32:39 "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.
40 I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me."

1SA 2:6 "The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.

It is God alone who has complete power and authority when it comes to life and death. But that doesn't mean He doesn't allow certain instruments to carry out certain aspects of His justice, even if one of those instruments is Satan.

He has allowed Satan to exert certain power in the earth to blind the eyes of men. 2CO 4:4 "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

And yet even there if God did not allow Satan to exert such power Satan could do nothing. But in this sense he has had the power of death. But this power is not really in himself. The power comes from the law. This is what Paul tells us in 1CO 15:56 "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law."

So, what does this have to do with Satan? Well, part of Satan's power is legal in nature. Satan knows the law and because of this he constantly accuses mankind of being guilty before the law. In a sense Satan throws it up in the face of God and says, these people deserve to die. And he has a just claim when he says that. He constantly wields that law in a way to condemn men.

But the law provides a way of escape. JAM 2:10 "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." But if one could keep the whole law and never break the law, this one could enter into the presence of God in righteousness.

But alas no one can claim such righteousness and the word of God testifies to this. ROM 3:10 "As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;" But God said He would send one into the world born of the seed of a woman who would crush the head of Satan and the power to keep men in darkness.

One of my favorite stories in the O.T. is a shepherd boy by the name of David who chose to press himself into battle and destroy a giant named Goliath. It's found in 1Sam.17:39.

This is the portion of God's word which speaks of Goliath taunting Israel and making fun of the God of Israel, but none were willing to fight this beast of a man who stood some 9 and a half feet tall.

This troubled David that no soldier in Saul's army would fight. So he decided to fight the giant. Saul agreed and put his armor on David. We read in 1SA 17:39 "David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.
42 He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him.
43 He said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 "Come here," he said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!"
45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into our hands."

David is a type of Christ seen in the O.T.. David a Shepherd; Jesus the Great Shepherd. David incensed at Goliath's blasphemy; Jesus incensed at Satan's blasphemy. David not using the natural means of warfare in his own fleshly armor but depending on God alone for victory; Jesus redeeming us not with the means of men but in the power of the Spirit. David taking five smooth stones from the brook, a picture of the running living water of the Spirit.

He took five smooth stones and only used one. He only needed one. In His battle with Satan in the wilderness during those 40 days after Christ's baptism, Jesus chose to quote from the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of Moses, the law. And yet He only used one from the five, Deuteronomy, in defeating Satan in that battle.

David brought Goliath down and then killed him with his own sword as he cut his head off. Remember the promise in the Garden. Satan, you will bruise his heel, he will crush your head.

Jesus Christ crushed the head of Satan at the cross. This is what our writer in Hebrews has said. HEB 2:14 "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 -
15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

Christ dealt a death blow to Satan as He came and accomplished all that the law demanded of men. This is why Jesus had to come as a man. The penalty of death is for men and so a man had to pay that penalty. Jesus as man took that penalty and by His death He paid our debt in full. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Rom.8:1)

We have been set free from the bonds of sin and its power as we trust in Christ. Satan no longer has any legal recourse over the children of God. The best he can do is accuse us before the Father, but the Father simply says to Satan, 'the law no longer condemns this child of mine in Christ, because My son met all the requirements perfectly and has given My children His righteousness.'

'I am fully satisfied with His sacrifice on their behalf. He defeated sin as He died on the cross and then rose victoriously from the grave. Death no longer has any power over My Son because death was swallowed up in victory when He came out of that tomb alive. And now My children, who are called by My name, share in His victory and stand in His righteousness. Get out of My face Satan.'

And then Satan comes back to aggravate us and tempt us and seek someone he may devour. But you know the killing of Goliath wasn't the end of the story. When the Phillistine champion was defeated the army of Israel was enabled to go after the Phillistine army and they fled.

In like manner we who are in Christ are more than conquerors because of our Champions' victory over the grave. We do not fear death, and the enemy of Christ has been rendered powerless over us. Like the army of the Phillistines who fled, the enemy should have no place in our lives. JAM 4:7 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you."

Christ has entered the strongmans house and has bound him and taken his spoils. We live in that victory if we will follow our Champion and Leader who is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

COL 2:13 "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

COL 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

There is nothing as sweet as victory. But may we never forget who gained that victory for us, and may we never grow weary of doing the work Christ has called us to do as we go out in His armor in the battle He promises to be with us in. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, say's the Lord."

It's His victory, let's live in that victory each day by faith and give Him the glory, and never give the enemy an opportunity to get a foothold in our lives. We are no longer his property. We belong to Christ. All glory and honor belong to Him.