on of Man, who for us men and our salvation came,
suffered, and prevailed.

Who that reads the Bible with the least care has not often noted this in
the first passages of the Hebrews, and could not at once so state the
matter? What is the great truth of Hebrews i.? Jesus Christ is GOD (ver.
8); the Son (ver. 2); absolutely _like_ the Father (ver. 3); Lord of the
bright Company of Heaven, who in all their ranks and orders worship Him
(ver. 6); creative Originator of the Universe (ver. 10), such that the
starry depths of space are but the folds of His vesture, which hereafter
He shall change for another (ver. 12); Himself eternal, "the same,"
transcendent above all time, yet all the while the Son begotten, the
Son, infinitely adequate and infinitely willing to be the final Vehicle
of the Father's voice to us (verses 1, 5, 6). What is the great truth of
Hebrews ii.? Jesus Christ is MAN. He is other than angelic, for He is
God. But also He is other than angelic, for He is Man (verses 5, 6, 7).
He is the Brother of Man as truly as He is the Son of God (ver. 11). He
has taken share with us in flesh and blood (ver. 14), that is to say, He
has assumed manhood in that state or stage in which it is capable of
death, and He has done this on purpose (it is a wonderful thought) that
He may be capable of dying. This blessed Jesus Christ, this God and Man,
our Saviour, was bent upon dying, and that for a reason altogether
connected with us and with His will to save us (ver. 15). We were
immeasurably dear and important to Him. And our deliverance demanded His
identification with us in nature, and His temptations (ver. 18), and
finally His mysterious suffering. So He came, He suffered, He was
"perfected"--in respect of capacity to be our Redeemer--"through
sufferings" (ver. 10). And now, incarnate, slain, and risen again, He,
still our Brother, is "crowned with glory and honour" (ver. 9). He is
our Leader (ver. 10). He is our High Priest, merciful and faithful (ver.
17).

Thus the Epistle, on its way to recall its readers, at a crisis of
confusion and temptation, to certainty, patience, and peace, leads
them--not last but first--to Jesus Christ. It unfolds at once to them
His glories of Person, His Wonder of Work and Love. It does not
elaborately travel up to Him through general considerations. It sets out
from Him. It makes Him the base and reason for all it has to say--and it
has to say many things. Its first theme is not the communi