He Became Us

“For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” (Heb.7:26)

Notice the verse does not say He became like us; that would have been magnanimous enough. No, He literally became us. And humanly speaking, that was ridiculous. In fact, while He lived among us, He was ridiculed over and over for that very thing: He claimed to be God come to this earth as a man. When I read the book of Hebrews I get the idea that the writer was as blown away by the Incarnation as I am (e.g., chap. 1). Then, as if to underscore just how unreasonable it is, he lists some of our Lord’s myriad virtues that mark Him as being nothing like us: “…holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” For what earthly reason, one could surely ask, would such a One as He, choose to become us? And there you have it. It was not for any earthly reason, but, rather, a heavenly purpose.

He had to become us, so that we could become Him (Jno.17:22-23). It had to be an even exchange. He became us, without sin so that we could become Him, without deity. Frankly, our transformation is as unfathomable to me as His Incarnation. He didn’t deserve to die, and I didn’t deserve to live. But He could not live and die for us without actually becoming us; and we cannot die and live in Heaven without becoming Him. It has to be an even exchange.

I don’t begin to understand all the implications of this, but I understand enough to know that I have been made a participant in this Holy exchange. I am part of that heavenly purpose, not because of I deserve it but because He desired it (John 17:24). And I sing with Isaac Watts:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul...my life...my all.