You will remember the point that was made in one of Brother Prescott’s lessons, when he called attention to the book of Ruth [Read Bulletin, p. 189].

Who was the redeemer in the book of Ruth? The nearest of kin. Boaz could not come in as redeemer until it was found that the one who was nearer than he could not perform the office of redeemer. The redeemer must be not only one who was near of kin, but he must be the nearest among those who were near, and therefore Boaz could not step into the place of redeemer until, by another’s stepping out of the place, he became really the nearest. Now that is the precise point that is made in the second chapter of Hebrews.

In Ruth, you remember Naomi’s husband had died, the inheritance had fallen into the hands of others, and when she came back from Moab, it had to be redeemed. No one but the nearest of kin could do it. This is the story also in the second of Hebrews. Here is the man Adam, who had an inheritance—the earth—and he lost it and he himself was brought into bondage. In the gospel in Leviticus it is preached that if one had lost his inheritance, himself and his inheritance could be redeemed, but only the nearest of kin could redeem. Leviticus. 25:25, 26, 47-49. Upon earth here is a man, Adam, who lost his inheritance and himself, and you and I were in it all, and we need a redeemer. But only he who is nearest in blood relationship can perform the office of redeemer. Jesus Christ is nearer than a brother, nearer than anyone. He is a brother, but he is nearest among the brethren, nearest of kin, actually. Not only one with us but He is one of us and one with us by being one of us.

And the one lesson that we are studying still and the leading thought is how entirely Jesus is ourselves. We found in the preceding lesson that He is altogether ourselves. In all points of temptation, wherever we are tempted, He was ourselves right there; in all the points in which it is possible for me to be tempted, He, as I, stood right there, against all the knowledge and ingenuity of Satan to tempt me, Jesus, myself, stood right there and met it. Against all the power of Satan put forth in the temptation upon me, Jesus stood as myself and overcame. So also with you and so with the other man, and thus comprehending the whole human race, He stands in every point wherever anyone of the human race can be tempted as in Himself or from Himself.

In all this, He is ourselves and in Him we are complete against the power of temptation. In Him we are overcomers, because He, as we, overcame. "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

And in noticing the other evening how he became one of us, we found that it was by birth from the flesh. He is "the seed of David according to the flesh." He took not the nature of angels but the nature of the seed of Abraham, and His genealogy goes to Adam.

Now every man is tempted, you know, "when he is drawn away of His own lust and enticed." James 1:14. That is the definition of "temptation." There is not a single drawing toward sin, there is not a single tendency to sin, in you and me that was not in Adam when he stepped out of the garden. All the iniquity and all the sin that have come into the world came from that, and came from him as he was there. It did not all appear in him; it did not all manifest itself in him in open action, but it has manifested itself in open action in those who have come from him.