Main Points:
1. The Lord Jesus Christ was fully human: “He too shared in their humanity”.
The gospels tell us that the Lord Jesus Christ went through all the experiences that we as human beings go through: He was born, He grew up, He related to other human beings, He was thirsty [John 4: 7, John 19:28 and Luke 4:2 and hungry [John 4:6] and sad and joyful; He suffered and He died. These are all ordinary, human experiences and the Lord Jesus went through all of them. In other words these are human traits belonging to a person with flesh and blood.
Therefore we maintain that:-
The Bible clearly teaches that the Lord Jesus shared fully in our humanity (flesh and blood). Two important verbs are used in Isaiah 9:6 concerning our Lord first advent “is born and is given. Paul writing to the church in Rome said “Concerning His Son who was descended from David according to Flesh and designated Son of God according to Spirit of Holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 1: 3-4).
Writing to Timothy he said this “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David; this is my Gospel (2Timothy2:8)
The contracts between Adam and Christ (Rom 5:12-21). Our Lord’s favorite title also shows that He was fully man. The Son of man. “Jesus replied foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mt 8: 20). “ The Son of man came eating and drinking “ (MT 11:19)
ii. Why did the Lord Jesus have to be fully human?
This passage gives us five main reasons why Christ had to be fully human.
1. So that by His death He could destroy the enemy of all human beings, i.e. the devil (v.14)). On the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus defeated Satan and bound him so that he should deceive the nations no longer (Matt. 12: 29; Rev. 20: 1-3)
2. So that He should free those who were all their lives held in slavery by their fear of death (v.15). We are born slaves of sin and that is why we fear death, we know that after death there is judgment and hell. But the death of Christ frees us from this when we come to trust in Him. For the saved person there is no fear of death.
3. So that He should be a merciful and faithful high Priest (v.17) the Lord Jesus Christ today is seated t the right hand of the father on high as our High Priest. He represents us to the Father and prays for us and intercedes for us. The nation of Israel sometimes had a high priest who was wicked and cruel (see Jn 11:49; 18:4) this passage tells us that Christ is not a harsh and cruel, but one who is tender and merciful. Also there were times when the high priest in Israel was not a faithful man (1Sam. 2:12 -26) But the Lord Jesus is totally faithful in His work. We will never fail to have a priest to represent us before God because He is faithful.
4. So that He might make atonement for the sins of His people (v.17). The word atonement means reconciliation. Sinful man is separated from God who is holy and just. There is no fellowship between them because man is sinful and God is pure and holy. But the Lord Jesus by His death removes our sin and guilt and makes us righteous before God. He restores us to fellowship with God by meeting the requirements of God’s holy laws. [Romans 5:10; Eph 2:16; Col 1:21; 2 Cor 5: 18-21].
5. So that He might help us when we are being tempted (V.18). The Hebrew to whom this letter was written were suffering for their faith and were being tempted to return to Judaism and to not remain faithful to God. The writer of the letter tells them that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and in the Garden of Gethsemane to not remain faithful to God but to give up on His mission. But He overcame the temptation and completed His work. Now He is able to sympathize with us when we are tempted to give up and return to the world. He has all power to hold us and keep us and make sure that we complete the work God has given us, just as He Himself did. (Heb 4:15 -16)
