Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Hebrews 2:10

For it was fitting (proper) to him, through whom are all things and for who are all things, after leading many sons to glorying to perfect (make complete) the chief leader of their salvation through suffering.

Ok that translation above is a bit stiff, so here is the NIV
In bringing many sons to glory, if was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

I wanted to show the first translation so you could see some of the key words in this verse.

BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY
That is us. Amazing no? As we have seen earlier in Hebrews, Jesus came to move us out of sin and by his death grant us grace, forgiveness, a new life, and holiness. Ephesians 1:3-12, tells us that before creation God wanted a family. Now along the way, man sinned and we were separated from God, almost like we ran away (think about the prodigal son). So God wanted to bring us back. And I like the way that he talks about salvation here. He is bringing many sons to glory. When we think of God's glory we think about this bright light that none of us could stand in. But he is making us brighter and brighter (He is cleaning us up). And there are many who are now in his family who are experiencing this. Think around the world of all those who love Jesus and we will get to meet when we get to heaven. I loved experiencing worship services outside the States, hearing different tongues praising God. It will be cool to worship God with all the different nations. It is also interesting because the book of Hebrews uses the word "son" up to this point solely for Jesus. This is the first use of it referring to Christians.

PROPER
This plan that God made to bring us into his family involved Jesus suffering and dying, rejected by his people. When people ask why Jesus had to die, I can only say I don't know exactly why God did it, but it was a part of his plan to bring us into his family.

AUTHOR
This is a fun word in the Greek. It is only used once in the NT, here. It can be translated a lot of different ways, but the picture behind the word (according to its original Greek use) is a man who founds a city, gives the city his name, guards said city, and essentially runs the town. It can also refer to a trailblazer, a leader who leads his army out to battle, and so on. These are all proper pictures for this word and proper pictures for our leader Jesus.

TO PERFECT...THROUGH SUFFERING
The word to perfect carries the idea of bringing to completion. Jesus was made complete in his suffering for us.

So as we unpack this verse we get all this really full words. Let's draw some of them together and see what the author is teaching us.
God's plan, since the beginning was to have a family, he found it proper to do so by sending his Son to suffer and die on the cross at the hands of the Romans and rejected by his own people. This completed Jesus' in his life. By doing we are able to be cleaned up to come before the all-perfect, brightly shining God. However, let's remember the original context, Paul is writing to a people who are suffering at the hands of their families and friends because of Jesus (and their faith in Jesus is the only reason they are suffering). Paul is encouraging them to stay faithful.

In short if Jesus is the trailblazer (the one who we follow to our glorious destination), and God had him suffer, will we not also experience trials in this life. And when we do, let us be Strong and Courageous in our faith, because the only reason we can have faith is because Jesus was strong and courageous in his. But know that on the road of faith in Jesus, there is suffering and trials, but the end is a glorious place.

I think a proper ending verse is,

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man (Jesus) is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom." (Matthew 16:24-28).

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