Jesus became human like us, to save us
5 We are speaking about the new world that will come. God did not choose angels to rule over that world. 6 No! Instead, someone wrote this somewhere in the Bible:
‘Lord God, why do you even think about people?
You take care of men and women,
even though they seem to be so small.
7 For a short time, you made them less important than the angels
But then you made them great and powerful, like kings.
8 You caused them to rule over everything.’
2:8This is what David wrote in the Bible. See Psalm 8:6-8. It says that God has caused people to rule over everything. That means that there is nothing that people do not have authority over. But at this time, we do not yet see that people rule over everything. 9 But we do see Jesus! God made him less important than the angels for a short time. And now God has made him the great and powerful king. God did this because Jesus died as a sacrifice on behalf of all people. His death showed that God is very kind.
2:9The writer is saying that the words from this Psalm are speaking about Jesus.
10 It was right that God should bring Jesus back to heaven as king. All things belong to God, and he causes all things to continue. God wanted many people to become his children. He wanted them to live with him in heaven. Jesus made this possible because he died with much pain as a sacrifice. 11 Jesus is the one who makes people clean in front of God. Jesus himself and all the people that he makes clean have the same Father. So Jesus is not ashamed to call all those people his brothers and sisters. 12 He says this to God:
‘I will tell my brothers and sisters that you are great.
When your people meet together,
I will stand with them,
and I will praise you with songs.’
13 He also says this:
‘I will trust God completely.’
He says this too:
‘I stand here with the children that God has given me.’
2:13These words are in Isaiah 8:17-18. The writer takes all these words from the Old Testament as if Jesus is speaking them. They show that Jesus thinks about us as his family. He became human, like us. As a man, Jesus trusted God. He believed that God would bring him safely through great trouble and death. He believed that, after his death, God would bring him back to heaven. 14 So, those people who become God's children are human. They have human bodies. Because of that, Jesus himself became human like us. In that way, when he died he was able to destroy the Devil. It is the Devil who has power over death. 15 Before, we were like slaves all our lives because we were afraid of death. But now, Jesus' death makes us free. 16 It is clear that Jesus did not come to help the angels. He came to help people who are from Abraham's family.
2:16Abraham was the ancestor of God's people in the Old Testament. He chose to believe God, even when that was very difficult. So he is like the father of everyone else who believes in God. In this verse, ‘people who are from Abraham's family’ means people who believe in Jesus. See Genesis 15:1-6, Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19 and John 8:39. 17 Because of that, it was necessary for Jesus to become completely like us, his brothers and sisters. He had to become God's servant on our behalf, like God's most important priest. In that way, he could serve God well and be kind to us. He died as a sacrifice so that God could forgive us for our sins. 18 While Jesus lived on earth, the Devil tried to make him do wrong things. This caused Jesus to have much pain and trouble. But because of that, he can now help us not to do wrong things.
