He had to be made like us.

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. We learn from this verse that Jesus could not have made propitiation for the sins of the people any other way than His being made like us, taking on flesh and blood. God had promised Abraham that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. Ever since that day, Abraham’s descendants were looking for that one descendent who would fulfill God’s promise. Jesus was that descendent. He had to be made like us. Now let’s notice why God did it this way. So that He, Jesus, might become a merciful and faithful high priest. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, renowned preacher and pastor of Westminster Chapel, London, contrasted grace and mercy in a sermon on Matt. 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful.” “There’s an interesting distinction between grace and mercy. Grace is especially associated with men in their sins; mercy is especially associated with men in their misery. While grace looks down upon sin as a whole, mercy looks, especially upon the miserable consequences of sin. Mercy really means a sense of pity plus a desire to relieve the suffering.” Jesus could not be merciful without entering into our misery in order to help relieve the misery. He had to be made like us. The primary ministry of the high priest in the temple was to make intercession for the sins of the people. He took the blood of the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat to make atonement for the sins. If he lived and walked out of the temple alive, then God accepted the sacrifice and the people were set free from the fear of God’s wrath. It is the sins of the people that pertain to God. Our sins are against God. So God had to deal with them in justice. That’s exactly what He did in sending His Son. It is our sin that causes our misery and enslaves us to the devil and fear of death. He had to be made like us in order to deliver us from our miserable condition and its consequences. He was faithful to accomplish what He was sent to do as God’s high priest. He made the payment of the penalty of our sins in His death on the cross. One aspect of living to love with Jesus is looking on another’s misery, taking pity to the point of helping them. No, we can’t pay for their sin. Only Jesus could do that. However, we can be merciful and we can be faithful to love as Jesus gives us grace to love. Every relationship we have is an opportunity to love with Him. I hope we won’t miss those opportunities He gives us today. You and I are like our brothers and sisters. We are flesh and blood, so we know what it’s like to sin, fear, feel hopeless and helpless. He had to be made like us, so we could live to love with Him.