When Death Meets Death: How Jesus Became the High Priest We Needed

A Salvation Too Great to Neglect

Hebrews 2:1 opens with a sobering warning: "We ought to give more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." The argument is simple but staggering: the only way God could redeem mankind was through the incarnation, the suffering, and the death of His own Son.

If you have been in church for any length of time, you may have heard this story so many times that it has started to feel familiar. But familiarity can be the enemy of wonder. Let this be a reminder of just how costly and intentional your salvation really was.

The Bronze Serpent and the Cross - Death displayed

To help us understand how Christ's death brings life, let's look to Numbers 21, when God sent fiery serpents among the children of Israel in the wilderness. People were dying from the very thing that bit them. God's solution? Moses was told to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole. Anyone who looked at it — the very thing that represented death — would live.

Think about that. The only cure was to look, by faith, at the very thing that was killing them.

That is exactly what the cross is for you. Jesus was lifted up, and His death — the thing that looks like defeat — becomes your source of life. You look at His death by faith, and through His resurrection, you find the way out of death entirely.

He Had to Become Like You

Hebrews 2:14 tells us that because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, Jesus "likewise took part of the same." Here's the point clearly: if Christ was going to be a true High Priest on your behalf, He had to become what you are.

Here is why that matters:

• The old High Priest entered the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement carrying the sins of the people before God — but first he had to atone for his own sins.

• Jesus needed no atonement for Himself — He was sinless — but He still had to carry your sins before the Father.

• He could only die as a man. As God, death had no claim on Him. But by taking on flesh and blood, He could die — and through that death, He carried His own blood into heaven as the perfect, once-for-all offering.

God did not become man because He had no other option. He became man because this was the way He chose — the way His righteousness required — to set you free.

Satan Still Has Power Over the Unbeliever

In verse 14, the King James Version says Satan "had" the power of death — past tense. But the correct translation is that he "has" the power of death — present tense.

This is not a small distinction. Ask yourself: if a person never repents of their sins and never believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, what is the result? Death — both physical and spiritual.

Satan still has the power to blind the minds of unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4). He can still keep people from seeing the light of the gospel. But here is the good news for you as a believer:

• Jesus took the keys of death and hell when He rose from the grave.

• Those keys represent power — power He now holds on your behalf.

• Because of His resurrection, you have access to the tree of life.

• You are not a partaker of the second death.

You will still face physical death one day, unless the Lord returns first. But the second death — the spiritual, eternal separation from God — has no hold on you. That fear has been removed.

He Came to Take Hold of You

Hebrews 2:16 is another verse where the translation matters. The word translated "took on" in the King James Version actually means "to take hold of" — like reaching out and grabbing someone who is about to fall.

The same word appears in Matthew 14, when Peter began to sink on the water and Jesus "stretched forth his hand and caught him."

That is the picture. Jesus did not come to take on the nature of angels. He came to take hold of you — to reach out and grab mankind before we fell any further into a place with no hope of redemption. He did not do this for the fallen angels. He did it for the seed of Abraham. He did it for you.

A High Priest Who Has Been Tested

Hebrews 2:17–18 closes the chapter with this: Jesus became a "merciful and faithful high priest" — and because He Himself suffered being tested, He is able to help you when you are being tested.

There's an important distinction here between being tempted and being tested:

• Temptation is being drawn toward sin.

• Testing is going through trials — sickness, loss, financial hardship, grief — to see whether your faith will stand.

Jesus was tested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew the cross was coming. He prayed, "Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me — nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." He had a choice. He moved forward. His faith held.

Because He endured every heartache, every betrayal, every pain that you will ever face — and never sinned — He can lead you through your testing to victory. He is not a distant God who watches from afar. He is a High Priest who has walked where you walk, felt what you feel, and overcome what you are facing.

You are not alone in your trial. The Captain of your salvation has already been through it — and He is able to help you.