Hebrews 2:10
13 October 2024
For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist,
in bringing many sons to glory, should make the
founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
So in this passage that we've read, we are dealing with the promise of what is to come in the age to come, or the world to come, back in verse 5, where we considered in recent studies in Hebrews 2 that we are co-heirs with Christ and we are going to take dominion in this world to come. This is the sacred blessing and privilege of the Church and it is all because of Christ.
And yet while we consider the sacred wondrous reality of who we are and what is to come, we look all around us and think, well, everything that we see happening seems to communicate a very different picture. And this is what we addressed in verse 8, "at present we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him," namely man who is to come, but what do we see? That is Jesus Christ. We see Him, verse 9, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, the one who is crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of His death, because of what He has tasted for His people.
That's what we've dealt with up to this point in a world that is surrounded by growing chaos. We are assured this very night, we are assured as we work our way through the book of Hebrews, in whom we trust, in whom we have faith, in whom we have an everlasting hope, and that is Jesus Christ. And it is Jesus Christ that this next verse we come to study is once more focusing our gaze upon.
And this section from verse 10 to the end of chapter 2 is now dealing with quite a unique and powerful section regarding the humanity of our Lord and Saviour, in what it means for Jesus, that is the second person of the triune God, to become man. If we think about subjects like the incarnation and leading up to Christmas and the months to come and all of these things, and the significance of God being a man, and what it meant for Him to live that life as a man here on this earth, a section in the Bible like this is so important to deepen and enrich the understanding we have of the very gospel we believe, the very Saviour that we worship, and the very hope upon which we live. That's what's at stake here as we work through this complex doctrine, which is very much what the book of Hebrews is. This is solid food for the heart and soul of the believer, and it is very much what we're dealing with as we come now to this subject regarding the humanity of Jesus Christ.
So this isn't the only time we address it, we're only taking one verse here this evening, but we have three very important points that we're going to consider with regards to this issue. Number one, the God who decreed it. Number two, the sinners who receive it. And number three, the Saviour who secures it, namely, the salvation that we have by the grace of God. The God who decrees it, the sinners who receive it, and the Saviour who secures it.
So that's what we're going to be dealing with, and we come to our verse, verse 10, and we begin with this opening section of the verse where it says, "for it was fitting that He," for it was fitting that He. Now when we look at this opening part of the verse, we might wonder, well, who exactly, specifically, is this writing about? Because it goes on to say, "for whom and by whom all things exist." Now if this was elsewhere in the Bible, we would say, well, this is about God, but if we were reading this here in Hebrews, in the context of what we've already studied, we might wonder, well, is this about Christ? We've already seen in chapter 1 that it says, "for whom and by whom all things exist," regarding the Son. But here in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 10, it is actually speaking specifically about God and the decree for the coming of the Son. So just reading it in its entirety, "for it was fitting that He, God, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation, that is Christ, perfect through suffering." So this is with regards to our first point, the God who decreed it.
So when we read, "for it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist," this is about God here and what He decrees. Another thing that we may be wondering with regards to this opening, when it says, "for it was fitting that He would do this," surely we might then push back and think, well, hang on, isn't everything that God decrees fitting? Isn't everything that God has decided and sovereignly planned and purposed, isn't it all fitting? Why would it need to be specifically saying here, it was fitting that God would do something?
Well, let's think in terms of what it is that this verse and this text is addressing. It's addressing how we can be saved through what Christ was in being a man on this earth. And so when we deal with it being fitting, God is decreeing that it is fitting in His wisdom for this perfect plan of salvation for His elect.
It is fitting that His power should be displayed to deal with the eternal consequence of hell in those hours of darkness where He would bear the sins of His people. It is fitting that Christ's righteousness should be displayed in all its glory and it would take the Righteous and Holy One meeting the requirements of the law in order to do that. It is fitting that the most perfect and wondrous display of love that we can possibly imagine or understand would be displayed in this manner and on that cross. The very definition of agape which we see at Calvary. It is fitting that He for whom and by whom all things exist would do it this way. That is what it means when it says it is fitting that God would do all of this in the coming of Jesus Christ as a man.
It is fitting because any other way, any other route that we may look to, any other idea we may have about God, any other sense of how we could possibly be saved is no salvation at all. It is no hope at all. This is why we praise God for His fitting purpose and that is in Jesus Christ and in Him becoming a man. So we see "for it was fitting that He for whom and by whom all things exist." What are we being presented with here? We are being presented with the God that we worship.
If we are dealing with the subject of our salvation through Jesus Christ and people may initially be sceptical and wonder, well, is Jesus man or is He God? What we need to establish is He is God and this is what we mean from the Bible when we say He is God for whom and by whom all things exist and upon that foundation this God becomes man and as we've noted and will continue to stress again and again that is not that He ceases to be God, He is eternally God but this God becomes man. These are theological pillars and foundations that you need to know, that you need to understand about the God that you worship because yes this is taking us to issues such as the Trinity, the triune God that we worship. He decrees it this way and He is the one for whom and by whom all things exist.
So this first point, we'll be brief on this because we've dealt with this at times before but it's good to summarise it time after time: "for whom all things exist." For whom all things exist and then we read "and by whom all things exist." Now when we see it says "for whom all things exist," what we need to understand is that our very existence, our every breath, every single thing that we enjoy, every pleasure that we have, it all flows from this God for whom and by whom we exist.
This is the reason why the picture and the prospect and the reality of heaven is such a joy to behold. This reason is why? Because it means being in the presence of your God. If you in any way have a notion of heaven that is devoid of God, that is not heaven because everything that you have, every single thing you enjoy bar none is because of this God and this is also why hell is such a horror because it is the absence of that and it is being under the weight and the wrath of God. All these good and pleasant things that we enjoy yet in a sinful context, we will have none of that in terms of hell.
And so when we understand this opening "for whom and by whom all things exist," this is the foundation upon which we stand and live. This God who created us, who created us for the sake of His name, the one who is literally all powerful, the one who is all knowing, He knows absolutely everything, He is infinite and eternal, there is no beginning and end to this God and it is why He cannot, He must not yield His glory to another, Isaiah 48:11. It is why as we've seen even recently both in Exodus and 1 Corinthians, He is a jealous God for the sake of His own name because He is not a mortal, conditioned, created or rivalled being.
He is truly God and there is none like Him. And so again, when we read "for whom and by whom all things exist," this is why we are here on this earth and it is by the grace of God what then brings you here tonight to do what we do as we gather in this setting. We gather to worship this God. You were made for His glory. That's why you're on the earth. That is the big answer to the big mysterious question of the reason for our existence, to display and magnify our Creator, the one who sustains us this very moment, the one who gives the breath to your nostrils and the very sleep that you have, the food that you eat, every single thing is from this God and it is for this God.
And there are millions of people across this land who are living in rejection of this and rebellion against it, but by the grace of God, what we're even unpacking here in the book of Hebrews is the reality that as a distinct, set apart, saved, elect people, what we are saved for is the reason for our existence, which is God. "For it was fitting that He for whom and by whom all things exist," the God who decrees it, Romans 11:36, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen."
And this takes us to the second point. With this God, the one for whom and by whom all things exist, we come to the sinners who receive it. The sinners who receive it. We go on in the verse, "in bringing many sons to glory." In bringing many sons to glory.
Now one of the things that we should begin to notice with greater clarity and precision now that we come to this section in Hebrews chapter 2, is just how significant we are. Now you might be going, "I'm nothing, I'm a nobody." No, you very much are a somebody if you are in Christ Jesus. Notice what it says about the Christian. Notice the language that is being used here. It says "in bringing many sons to glory." There's nothing distant, there's nothing detached about the language of being a son. And this is not an isolated point that we have here in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10. It should be familiar to us because only recently in 2 Corinthians 6:18, we had the language of us becoming sons and daughters.
And what does this take us to? It takes us to the doctrine of our adoption. Because if we're wondering, how can we possibly as sinners be declared to be sons and to glory? How can such lofty, mighty language be used of a wretched group like us? This is the God who decreed it and we, by this gracious God, are the sinners who receive it. Ephesians 1:5, "He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will." Now again, look at the doctrine that we have in this verse, which would be a sermon or two in and of itself. He predestined us. God has decreed and planned this. He's not wondering, "okay, well, I wonder who's going to be my sons? Who's going to make the decision for me today?" How utterly absurd. No, He predestined it. He is the one who has decreed who His family will be.
And this language we have here is that we are going to be adopted. Now why? Because we are the sinners who receive it. It's not going to be by your blood relation. It's not going to be by things that you have managed to be able to get into a side door and somehow you're declared family. No. You have no right in and of yourself to this. You are cut off in your sin. You are in rebellion. You are separated from this God. This is the doctrine of our total depravity. The reason why none of you here this evening can have any hope in and of yourself. It is why a religion that relies on any of your work is a false religion. But here we come to the truth. Here we come to the hope. Here we come to the glory of the gospel and what the gospel means for the born again Christian. What does it mean for any one of you to have come in repentance of your sin and saving faith, confessing with your lips and believing in your heart that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Saviour?
Romans 8:14-15 says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father." That's what you have this evening. You have this great, mighty, wondrous God that you can call your Father.
Now what does that mean and look like in practice? Well, we're going to look at probably one of the most striking passages on this subject in all of the Scriptures. If we go to 2 Samuel chapter 9 and this is the account of David and Mephibosheth. We're going to read 2 Samuel 9 from verse 6. Here we have a passage giving us a picture of our adoption as sons. Now who is Mephibosheth? Well, he was Jonathan's son, a cripple from a young age, an absolute down and out in the context of anything regal and kingly. And let's see how Mephibosheth is treated by King David.
2 Samuel 9 from verse 6. This is the word of God:
“And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, ‘Mephibosheth!’ And he answered, ‘Behold, I am your servant.’ And David said to him, ‘Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.’ And he paid homage and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?’ Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, ‘All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, shall always eat at my table.’ Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants. Then Ziba said to the king, ‘According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.’ So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's own sons.”
Amen.
What do we have here in this text? We have a young boy who is not deserving to sit at the table of the king. He doesn't have any blood relation to the king. So perhaps some may have thought, well, yeah, he's disabled, he's not really going to be any great striking son for the mighty king, but he's a blood relative, he's a son. No, he's not that. And yet David is welcoming him.
And what is the attitude, the response of Mephibosheth to the kindness and grace of the king? He says in verse 8, "What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?" Now you might be acquainted with the language of dog. In scripture, it's always considered to be something unclean, dirty, one of the lowest of animals that could possibly be imagined in these cultural contexts. A dead dog such as I. That is how Mephibosheth sees and describes himself.
David welcomes him. How does he welcome him? Does he welcome him as like a sort of hired servant of which it would be quite the honour if we were in Mephibosheth's position to be a servant of the king, to enter into the palace of the king? What an honour that would be, but no. King David takes this undeserving and unworthy boy and he brings him to his own table. He treats him as a son.
And this is the picture of our adoption, brothers and sisters. What are you and I but dead dogs that the living God should show regard for such as us? What a privilege it would be to even receive the scraps from the table of our Lord and Master and King, and yet how does God treat you? As sons and as daughters to the King. You belong to the family of God and it is not by any blood relation of yourself. It is by the blood of the crucified Son of God, Jesus Christ, in becoming a man and being slain. That's what we have. That is the doctrine of adoption that we have in scripture. And it's why it is such a beautiful picture instead of having the children, babies being slaughtered in the womb as is such regular practice.
We should be encouraging and exhorting such things in modern practice, namely adopting children because it is the very picture of the glory of our adoption as sons and daughters to our King. Mephibosheth is not sitting at this table wondering, okay, well, how do I hold the knife and fork? How long before they realize what a waste of time I am? When are they going to kick me out of here? No, he has an assurance and so do you. We don't sit here this evening and wonder, well, have I been religious enough this week? Okay, what more do I need to give in order to seal the approval of the King, in order to earn my sonship? This is the point, brothers and sisters, this evening. This is the free gift of grace that Jesus Christ has done the work. He has done the work and you receive it, not as a servant, but as a son, as a daughter. You are welcomed into the family of God and you now can, by the grace of God, call Him Abba Father.
That's your God, that is your Father, this is your family. Right here as you look around, this is why the Church is so sacred. It's why who we are with each other is such a blessing because we are those who have been adopted into the family of God and this is a foreshadowing of what is to come. The fellowship that we have, the relationships we establish, we are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Now do we see the weight of this? Do we see the weight of it when we are so quick to live with such disregard for our brothers and sisters, such contempt of their needs and issues? There's your brothers and sisters, they too are adopted into God's family. He decreed it, you receive it and we come to our third point, the Saviour who secures it.
Going back to Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10, "For it was fitting that He, our God, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, our eternal hope in Christ, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." Now this is where we come to the specific language in the verse about Jesus Christ and what it is He secures. Now here we're only introducing a subject that we are going to be revisiting and unpacking in more depth as we work our way through the book of Hebrews, but we're not leaving this on a cliffhanger this evening. We are looking to understand what the end of verse 10 is actually saying.
It's saying of the Lord Jesus, first of all, that He is the founder of their, our salvation. This word ‘founder’ is the Greek word "archagon," which means leader or captain. So a more accurate translation would be He is the leader, the captain of our salvation. That's what the opening part of this last section of verse 10 is saying. Now what does that mean and look like in practice? It means that we have a picture, not simply of the God of glory, which is fundamentally and centrally the picture of our God, who is then someone who is distant and in other ways then dormant.
No, we have a picture of this God coming into this context, into this world. That's the picture here. We have literally a God incarnate coming down to where we are to lead us. He's coming to this earth to lead us. This is warrior battle-like language and Jesus Christ is leading us into salvation by living as a man. Friends, this is the absolute display of manhood, of leadership, of love, of service. It is perfect. It is powerful. It is the power of salvation that we have right here from our leader, our captain, Jesus Christ.
Now think about Christ's time on this earth and the attitude of those around about Him. The leader, the captain, leading His people to salvation and when He is standing before His own people of that time, the Jews, how did they respond to Jesus Christ? Well, they expected a temporary solution and not a permanent one, namely they looked to Jesus to be that captain who would lead Israel to the restored glory days of what had been experienced in times of the Old Testament.
They expected a political usurping of the Romans and they were thinking in these terms, even the disciples as we see. But what we have to understand in the fulfilling of the law, in the fulfilling of all righteousness as the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 3:15, what Jesus came to do was not to restore physical Israel. It was the establishment of a spiritual people, which is the Church of Jesus Christ. This is something He clearly corrected in His time on this earth, and this is what we get into view in our understanding of what the gospel means. He is leading us to a salvation which is only by His blood being shed, and our lives therefore being transformed by the grace of God.
So He is our leader, He is our captain of our salvation, and then we read this very striking phrase at the end of the verse, "should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." Jesus being made perfect through suffering. Now that's certainly a head-scratcher on one level because we might wonder, Jesus being made perfect? Jesus is God, so He is perfect. So how can we have language of Him being perfect through doing something?
Well, if we turn first to Hebrews chapter 5 verses 7-8, let's remember, and this is where we start to really draw out the significance of the humanity of Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7: "In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered." Now this is a very challenging doctrine to be able to comprehend regarding the humanity of Jesus Christ, but it is teaching us that Jesus learned obedience. Now this is in the context, not of God as if God can learn things as though God needs to mature, no, but in the context of His human flesh. It was tested and proved in His suffering.
And so when we read "being made perfect," this made perfect language can then be understood even more as we go to Hebrews 7:28. So just over a page or two to Hebrews 7:28. "For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever." Now here we have a contrast to understand. We have earthly priests, high priests in the time of the old covenant system. They were sinful men and they failed, and we see the procedure, the process that's required for them to even enter the most holy place and to make atonement not only for the sins of Israel but for their own sins. Jesus need not do any of this because He is the sinless and perfect one. And yet, because of the sinfulness of our flesh, because of the fallen nature of this world and the suffering that we face, it would take God becoming a man and experiencing and going through this suffering in learning obedience in being a man. As we read here in this verse, "He would be made perfect forever," but He could be the one who would fulfil the law. He had to become a man. He had to experience it. He had to fulfil it. He had to then overcome it in what it would mean for Jesus Christ to be a man.
Isaiah 53:4: "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." This is what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, faced for you. When we have language of "perfect through suffering," we need to also understand the emphasis on suffering and this is what Jesus would face. God in being true to His very nature is not one who in any way would embrace or engage with sin. He is the absolute expression of perfection. So think, consider as we begin to draw this verse to a close, what it would mean for Him to come to this earth and be made perfect through the suffering of a sinful world. The suffering of the sin that He would face. That's what He does in His humanity.
Now it is, as we've stated, a very challenging and in-depth doctrine that we are confronted with here in this passage. But it is a doctrine that we must pray we would have a deepening understanding of. How can God decree the salvation of a wretched group of dead dogs like us? How could it be that not only would we be saved, but we would be welcomed as sons, adopted into the family of the living God? How could this be through Christ becoming a man, being made perfect through His suffering? He has suffered. He has endured. He has been punished. He has bled, and He has died. That is how, and it was in Him becoming a man, a perfect sinless man that He would experience all of this to rescue and redeem you, chosen people of the living God.
And that is the gospel. And it is why the gospel is centred upon Jesus Christ. In Christ we have our identity, our hope, our salvation, our life, our everlasting life. If you do not have Christ, you have no hope here tonight. But if you are in Christ Jesus, this is your hope and your life. That you are part of God's family, that He decreed it, Christ secures it. You as the sinner have received it by faith in His blood. This is a gift from our God.
And we come here in a setting like this to revere and magnify His name. If at any point as we are working through Hebrews, we come to sections, verses, points of teaching that we think this is just a bit too difficult for me to fully understand, understand this brothers and sisters, there is nothing more important for you to spend even more time studying, seeking to unpack. This is why we are taking such time in the book of Hebrews to delve into and to get the sense of the richness and the magnitude of what it means for the Son to come to this earth. What it means for the Son to be a man and what it means for the Son, the captain, the leader, founder of our salvation to be made perfect through suffering.
He is the great high priest, the one who was, is, always without sin and He lived that sinless life that He could die that sacrificial death. He had to experience that in the way in which He learned obedience, made perfect through suffering. By living the life as a man on this earth and as this perfect man, that life would be laid down for you. That life would rise on the third day that you could be called sons and that your hope would be the hope of glory.