Hebrews 2 in many respects is the Pauline gospel in a nutshell. God intended humanity to have glory. Mortals were intended to rule over the created realm. But we do not see this intent in play. All have sinned and are lacking the glory of God.
But we see Jesus, who troubleshoots the human problem. Our computer has a virus. We try to boot up to the glory God intended us to have, but the sin virus causes the process to fail every time.
So Jesus logs on as a human, a human without sin. He takes on flesh and blood just as we have. Unlike us, however, he is able to boot up to glory. Now all we need to do is log in under his ID, and we will too.
One of the more remarkable features of 2:5-18 is Christ's solidarity with us as fellow humans. We both have the same father. He is not ashamed to call us brothers. He is our faithful and merciful high priest, whose sufferings have made him the perfect atonement for our sins. He has defeated the Devil, the one with the power of death. He has even shown us how to have faith in God (2:13).
2:1-4 also give us the other side. Do not think that there will not be punishment for those who drift away from him and his covenant. Punishment for drifting away is not less likely in the new covenant than the old covenant--it is even more certain (2:3). The parallel between old and new covenant breaking will appear again soon enough--in chapter 3.
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