<p>2:9- see on Rom. 3:19; Phil. 2:8.</p><p><i>But we behold him who has been made a little lower than the angels- Jesus- crowned with glory and honour because of his suffering of death, whereby, by the grace of God, he tasted death for every person</i>- The focus is now moved from mankind generally to the Lord Jesus, the pre-eminent &quot;son of man&quot;. He has been exalted to glory and honour, perhaps by implication a glory greater than of the Angels because of His suffering of death. The implication might be that Angels cannot die (Lk. 20:35,36) but the Lord did, and was thereby exalted above them. The Lord's exaltation is ours, and repeatedly we read in Hebrew 2 of the Lord's total connection with humanity in order to save and exalt us. That connection was not with Angels but with humans; for the Lord was not an Angel, seeing His mission was identification with men and thereby to achieve their salvation. His death was supremely a tasting of death for every man. Seeing Angels cannot die, the Lord's death was a clear enough statement He was no Angel but human, dying for His people. Death is the ultimate human fear and problem; and the Lord tasted every man's death, every man's ultimate fear and struggle. This was by God's grace because what is man, that He should be so mindful of us as to give His only begotten Son to identify with us and save a few of us.</p><p>By God&rsquo;s grace, the Lord tasted death <i>for </i>(Gk. <i>huper</i>)<i> every man</i>, as our representative: &ldquo;in tasting death he should stand for all&quot; (Heb. 2:9 NEB). In His death He experienced the essence of the life-struggle and death of every man. The fact the Lord did this <i>for us</i> means that we respond <i>for Him</i>. &ldquo;To you it is given <i>in the behalf of</i> (Gk. <i>huper</i>) Christ, not only to believe on Him in theory, but to suffer <i>for his sake</i> (Gk. <i>huper</i>)&quot; (Phil. 1:29). He suffered <i>for us</i> as our representative, and we suffer <i>for Him</i> in response. This was and is the two-way imperative of the fact the Lord was our representative. He died <i>for all</i> that we should die to self and live <i>for Him</i> (2 Cor. 5:14,15). &ldquo;His own self bare our sins as our representative in his own body note the link &ldquo;<i>our</i> sins&quot; and &ldquo;his <i>own</i> body&quot; that we being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness&quot; (1 Pet. 2:24,25). We died with Him, there on His cross; and so His resurrection life is now ours. He is totally active for us now; His life now is <i>for us</i>, and as we live His life, we should be 100% <i>for Him</i> in our living. He gave His life <i>for</i> us, and we must lay down our lives <i>for</i> Him (1 Jn. 3:16).</p><p>Heb. 2:9 seems to describe the Lord <i>in His time of dying,</i> in the suffering not just the experience of, but the suffering associated with death, as &ldquo;crowned with glory and honour&quot;. There He was crowned not with thorns but glory and honour, from God's perspective. The physical sufferings of the cross were an especial cause of spiritual temptation to the Lord; just as physical pain, illness, weakness etc. are specific causes of our temptations to sin. Heb. 2:9 defines the Lord's 'sufferings' as specifically &quot;the suffering of death&quot;, the sufferings associated with His time of dying. Heb. 2:18 RVmg. then goes on to say: &quot;For having been himself tempted in that wherein he suffered&quot;. The sufferings of death were therefore an especial source of temptation for Him. Truly did He learn obedience to the Father specifically through the process of His death (Heb. 5:8). Let's seek to remember this when we or those close to us face physical weakness, illness and pain of whatever sort. The Greek words <i>charis</i> grace and <i>choris</i> apart differ by one very small squiggle. This is why there&rsquo;s an alternative reading of Heb. 2:9: &ldquo;So that apart from God <i>choris theou</i> he Jesus tasted death for us&rdquo;. This would then be a clear reference to the way that the Lord Jesus felt apart from God at His very end. Not that He was, but if He felt like that, then this was in practice the experience which He had. Thus even when we feel apart from God- the Lord Jesus knows even that feeling.</p>