Hebrews 2

The old saying goes, "Do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes." Thankfully, God both understands and applies this principle in His dealing with man. In order for God to offer salvation to humanity, He must become a man and walk in our shoes. He must suffer as we suffer, be tempted as we are tempted, and die as we die, but through overcoming each of those things, He creates a path through which we can also overcome them. And when you have God creating the path and offering the salvation, why would you ignore it?

In the Old Testament, God frequently sent messages to His people through angels, and the people treated those messages as direct from the mouth of God. A good idea, I think, but the author makes a point around it. If you listen to the word of the angels, why wouldn't you listen to the word of Jesus. In the first chapter of Hebrews, the author established that Jesus is more than an angel, and in this chapter he reminds the reader that the earth is not subject to the judgment of angels but to the judgment of Christ. Basically, we've come face-to-face with the one guy that we most need to get in good with. We've met the head ref on the playing field of life and He's just told us about the rules. Why would you not pay attention to those rules? It would be foolish.

Further, the author establishes that the guy who is ultimately going to judge us is not someone who never lived through what we live through. He's a man that had to suffer, He had to be tempted, He had to be hungry, He had to be cold, He had wants, He had desires, and He died. He lived every part of life that matters, and He's not ashamed of that. He's like Spartacus in a sense, He's infiltrated the enemy camp where humanity was held prisoner to death and fear and showed us a way past all that to a relationship with God. In the movie, Spartacus rallies support because he's one of the gladiators, he can identify with their dilemma and he offers a chance at freedom. It wouldn't be the same if Caesar had just released the gladiators. If that had been the case, each of those gladiators would have been suspicious that something else was going on, and they would not have ever trusted their benefactor as having been just. God doesn't want that suspicion cast on his actions because He wants a relationship with each of us, and to prove it beyond a doubt, he walked in our shoes.