Hebrews 2:11a "For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one:..." Here again we have this whole concept that God does something and we are the recipients, in this case it is sanctification. God sanctifies those of us who are His own, to do what, become one. (How do we become one of His own? not by joining a religious group or by doing good deeds but rather through obedience to His revealed Will. So then what is His revealed Will. That's easy just believe or take His seriously at His Word. His word calls us all sinners and the Laws convicts us of our utter sinfulness and need of Salvation. But we have to become first converted or redeemed to begin the process. For when we've taken the necessary action God meets us at that point and places us within the corral of the Laws of Moses and gives us the tutor or the Holy Spirit today as the tutor for Israel was the same Law. But Israel because of sin missed the mark and did not come to understanding of the tutor, to reveal their utter sinfulness of pride and worthlessness of self effort in works. All works did was to produce idolatry of self and therefore an even deeper sin nature arose in them.) We have that same connotation in Romans chapter 3. It follows all the way through, that the God of Glory, the God of Creation, the One Who is Sovereign, everything He does is based on that Sovereign Grace. He can show mercy to whom He will show mercy. And in order to pick up the flow, let’s just pick up in verse 23. You remember that verse 23 is the capstone of the judicial decree as God finds the whole human race guilty.
Romans 3:23 "For all (every last human being) have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" But, we follow that up just like we did in Genesis. Just as soon as Adam sinned, God followed it up with what? A plan of redemption. The same way here. He comes to the conclusion that ALL have sinned. Every human being, but He follows it right up with a remedy. Being justified! Just as if we had never sinned! Or been carried as a captor under the yoke of slavery to sins influence and curse.
Let us stop here a moment and look at the word sinned:
Strong's number G266, Thayer's
hamartanō
Thayer Definition:
1) to be without a share in
2) to miss the mark
3) to err, be mistaken
4) to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong
5) to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin (Genesis 2:16-17)
Part of Speech: verb
it's counter is G264
hamartia
Thayer Definition:
1) equivalent to 264
1a) to be without a share in
1b) to miss the mark
1c) to err, be mistaken
1d) to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour,to do or go wrong
1e) to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin
2) that which is done wrong, sin, an offense, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act
3) collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many
Part of Speech: noun feminine
Now we'll look at it again in the next verses:
Romans 3:24-25 "Being justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25. Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood (that shed blood of the Cross) to declare His righteousness for the remission of sin that are past, through the forbearance of God:" In other words, through His mercy and Grace. Now here is the verse we want to come to. The word is ‘sanctified’ in Hebrews but here we are looking at justification.
Romans 3:26 "To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: (that is the righteousness of God) that He (God! Usually in the Person of the Son. The One Who fulfilled it all on our behalf.) might be just, (totally fair) and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus." (this is a positional phrase, a placement in Christ. As Peter says in first Peter 2:24 “by His stripes we are healed”, this healed: means to be freed from error or sin, to be made whole or complete. All this means to be restored to perfection in Christ, to having received salvation. We now live in or by His righteousness. Not our works or good works, it is a gift of God through Christ Jesus. And we can find this also in Isaiah 53.)
Do we see the same connotation? In Hebrews, we find that God is the One Who sanctifies, He’s the One Who acts on it and we are the recipients. Now it is the same here with justification. God is the One Who declares us just! And He is the justifier of those of us who believe onto receptivity and then become justified. So we have this whole idea throughout the Scripture, how that God Himself precipitates everything and we just rake it in, don’t we? Oh, we just rake it in and too many times we don’t realize how much God has done on our behalf. Come back to Hebrews chapter 2, once again.
Hebrews 2:11a "For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one:..." That is hard to comprehend, isn’t it? Do we know what that is saying? That just as soon as God saves us, justifies us and sanctifies us, we come into the Body of Christ. As a member of the Body of Christ, we are all what? One! Whether we are rich or poor, whether we are black or white, Hebrew or Gentile, when we become a member of the Body of Christ of which He is the head, then we are all one! As we've all come into this by way of inspiration of His revelation in the inner man of the heart, how? by our being receptive of the spiritual things.
We have mentioned, that’s why believers are never strangers very long. We can go into a home of a believer, who has passed into receptivity, that we may have never known before but if they are a true believer, in five minutes we feel like we have known them all our life! That’s the reason! Because we have all become one. Now the last portion of the verse is probably, once again that which most people totally miss, where it says:
Hebrews 2:11b "...for which cause (because He has justified us. Because He has sanctified us. He has made us all one in Christ. So for that cause) he (Christ) is not ashamed to call them brethren," (We are His heirs and co-heirs/joint-heirs with Christ Jesus of all that which was of promise to Jesus Christ from cover to cover, and more not yet revealed.)
This is interesting! Jesus was born into the Nation of Israel. So, for all practical purposes, we can say that He was born a Hebrew. As such, Jesus could refer to the Hebrews of His day as His brethren. But, as we were looking at this, we couldn’t help but think, is there ever an instance in Scripture where they called Him brother? No Never! Never did they call Him brother Jesus. Never did they call Him "our brother." So, we have to be careful how we use some of these things. But, He could very well speak of fellow Hebrews as His brethren, but they would dare not call Him their brother. That day is coming but for now is not here yet.
A good example is in Matthew chapter 25 which is when Christ has set up His Kingdom, still then in the future, and He is seated on His throne in Jerusalem. This is at the end of the Tribulation. Actually the Tribulation is over and we have begun the glorious earthly Kingdom. He is separating the lost survivors of the Tribulation from the saved survivors of the Tribulation, in order to determine who can go into the Kingdom.
It is pretty well established that the ones who are believers have become that because of the 144,000 Hebrews who are the evangelists during the Tribulation. So let’s look at these verses, in light of that word ‘brethren.’ Chapter 25, verse 31 of Matthew. Here we are now after the Tribulation has run it’s course.
Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory:" (Davids throne) We all know that Christ is on a throne today. He is at the Father’s right hand. He’s the Head of the Body, He is a great High Priest-King on a Throne now still in the Heavens. But, the day is coming at His Second Coming where He will establish His throne in Jerusalem and all the prophecies made concerning the Hebrews, especially, will be fulfilled. Yes, the day is coming when He will be the King of the Hebrews. But, He is NOT a King to the Church as He in it is our High Priest-King, forever. Here, in these verses, He is on His Throne, and He is the King! Let’s read on, verse 32.
Matthew 25:32a "And before Him shall be gathered all nations:..." Survivors at the end of that horrible seven years, when all of the billions of the planet have lost their lives. But there will be a few left, Isaiah says in chapter 24:6. These few will be a mix of believers and unbelievers, as always. Christ will bring them before Him in Jerusalem. All this, remember, is to show the term "brethren!" This is a long way around, we know it is!
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