The Epistle to the Hebrews part CXV

Philippians 2:7b
"…and was made in the likeness of men:"
We’re always trying to make the analogy that in order for God to be the Savior/Redeemer of mankind, in order to be the High Priest of the order of Melchizedek, what did He have to do? He had to become one of us. He had to walk as men walk and He had to suffer the same passions of hunger, hurt and with fatigue that we do, in order to fully understand what it was to redeem mankind to the uttermost. See? So, "made in the likeness of men" so that He could become one of us and thereby not only become our great High Priest-King but also the Savior/Redeemer and then become the Captain of our salvation and our LORD of spirits. Now then verse 8,

Philippians 2:8a
"And being found in fashion as a (what?) a man,…"
A man! He didn’t look bazaar or different. He looked very ordinary and He could walk though a crowd and strangers couldn’t pick Him out by His bazaar appearance. He appeared as an ordinary man, He just blended in.

Philippians 2:8a
"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,.."
How could He? Because He was God! He could do this to Himself. He could take Himself from the realms of Glory from the power of the Creator and He could bring Himself down to be like mortal men. This He did when He meet with Abraham and ate before the door of his tent, when He wrestled with Jacob. And so He humbled Himself and by becoming that epitome of humility,

Philippians 2:8b
"…and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
What does the word obedient imply? There was a requirement laid upon Him. He had to die. There was no way out, because without His death humanity would have been totally destitute of redemption and salvation. Even the Old Testament believers would have been simply wiped out of all of it, had He not died. Because you want to remember even the Old Testament saints, the greatest of them, Moses, Abraham you name them - without that finished work of the cross, their salvation wasn’t complete either. See?

And that’s why when Christ went down into Paradise and set those Old Testament captives free, why were they kept down there instead of going on to Glory? Because their sins hadn’t been atoned for. Animal blood didn’t take away their sin. It was when Christ’s blood was shed, that’s when the redemption found in the salvation of the Old Testament saints was complete. Their atonement was now complete and Christ could take them on up to Glory. But not until. Now back to our text, and reading verse 8 again.

Philippians 2:8
"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, (and not just any ordinary death of maybe being killed with a sword, or beheaded as Paul was, but something far worse) even the death of the cross."

You see most of us just take that so glibly or lightly. And we say, oh yeah, Christ died for me. But listen that’s not the half of it. We as mere natural men can never comprehend the suffering that He had to go through beyond the physical. Remember that He could not do this by Himself, as with a sword to fall upon it or jumping from the peak of the temple, it took many men. It took the Hebrew priest's, the council and the Roman governor not to mention the soldiers, it required many hands to shed His blood and place Him on the cross.

A verse is coming to mind, and we think it’s II Corinthians chapter 5 - let’s go back and look at it. Let’s just jump in at verse 17. We're going to take the time to rehearse it because it shook us to our bootstraps and we think it should everybody. Read verse 17 of chapter 5.

II Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: (or creation. Go right back to what we said earlier) old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new."