Brought to Glory

For the Lord’s Day:  the 2^nd of March  2003

 

Hebrews 2: 10-13

“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.  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin.  That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’  And again ‘Behold, I and the children God has given me.’”

 

Introduction:  I was once told a story about a Viet Nam era American Army officer who appeared at his assigned unit a month before he was due.  Technically he must still have been on leave and extraordinarily he persuaded someone to pass him off as a lowly enlisted man – so that he could serve in the various parts of his future company command before people would know him for who he really was: the new Captain.  Of course, the old short story The Prince and the Pauper is nothing more than this same story told earlier in the history of mankind.  Yet, in both stories – the central character proverbially is better prepared for his life calling than the majority of the population.

 

There was another Captain story out of Viet Nam, this one was about a Marine Captain who was so careful with the lives of his men, and a fixation on detail that allowed him during his tour to claim only one man dead from almost continuous contact with the enemy.  I hope you understand that as I make those reports, we probably should realize the probability that they should be precluded with the phrase:  “Once Upon a Time!”

 

And if my college literature teacher was correct in saying that there were really only fifty-some possible plot lines that must by necessity be rearranged and expanded, we can appreciate that there are in literature related stories which reflect the fondest of human hopes – that those who would demand our finest work, affection and support: really ought to walk a mile in our shoes to understand what we have to go through!

 

John Brown quotes John Owen in a similar regard to the understanding of our passage today:  “The Holy Ghost intimates that the way whereby God will bring His sons to glory is full of difficulties, perplexities, and oppositions, as that of the Israelites into Canaan also was; so that they have need of a Captain, Leader, and Guide, to carry them through it.  But all is rendered safe and secure to them through the power, grace, and faithfulness of their Leader.”

 

I forgot to mention that some of the older translations the “founder” is sometimes translated as “Captain.”  There is also an old hymn that has a memorable line  “He will carry you through.”  I still remember “Top” as we called the first Sergeant in Basic Training who, the night before we graduated (to go on to something better or worse) – took the time to sit down with us platoon by platoon and share his Christian testimony and about the on-the-job training in combat that he had received in the Chosen mud and ice of Korea!  His parting advice for any and all who would see the elephant (combat) was to fix attention on a trusted non-com and not only copy what he did, but to accept every command immediately because it would be for our goodly survival.

 

You see – it is common knowledge in the military that whenever a new unit goes into combat for the first time – if no one has been there before, the casualties are going to be very high indeed until some few learn how to survive and share those skills with the newcomers who are always more vulnerable than the old salts!  So just as Solomon often lifted the sage advice of humanity to a higher level – so too does the God of heaven do the same and even more so with the theme sounded inverse ten:  “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.” 

 

F.F. Bruce advises us on the personal implications of this verse:  “For the great salvation which the gospel proclaims was not only ‘spoken through the Lord,’ as we have been told … but was procured for us by Him through His passion.  He is the Pathfinder, the Pioneer of our salvation; this is the meaning of the word arcgos, rendered;” author, captain or founder in the several versions.

 

Development:  There is a passage in Psalm 68: 18 that I wondered about for many years:  “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.”  I finally understood it in a military context, just as many Iraqui soldiers learned in the last desert war and as is rumored many are preparing for survival in the coming conflict – by becoming captives at the earliest possible moment.  This is only good common sense when your own forces are not only noted for brutality but also if the enemy is known far and wide for his mercy, kindness and righteousness!

 

You see, we are all, even within the Church: Prisoners of War in the grand scheme of things.  We were all born of rebels and naturally under the rule of the Rebel spiritual government which is not yet crushed and destroyed for all time.  And whenever our Lord shall come in might and power at the end of the age – it will do us no good to have ignored His earnest and compelling plea to surrender to the absolute Victor and the only real power in this, His universe.

 

I have often compared the life of a wild fox with that of a live healthy one kept within the confines of a zoo.  Guess – which one has had all his shots and knows what a regular meal means?

 

I had mentioned a little earlier the sinful natural condition of every man and woman born here on earth.  And as we know from the scriptures – this was not the original intention but only something that was allowed to happen so that greater glory might appear within the providence of time.  F.F. Bruce again tells us what happened in that timely fashion:  “Man, created by God for His glory, was prevented by sin from attaining that glory until the Son of Man came and opened up by His death a new way by which man might reach the goal for which he was made.  As His people’s representative and forerunner He has now entered into the presence of God to secure their entry there.”

 

In so doing the rupture, the breach between the Lord and us is repaired – so that we may partake of the eternal paradise, the better country long promised to the believers called into the spiritual kingdom of Christ’s Church.

 

Verse eleven can be difficult if we wish to make it so:   “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin.”  But John Brown simplifies the meaning for us:  The words now before us seem to me to express this general idea: ‘That the Saviour and the saved must belong to the same class, and, of course, that the Son of God, if He is to be the Saviour of man, must Himself be a man, is obvious from the language of Old Testament prophecy.”

 

Nothing is more natural in the God ordained process of salvation than His bringing what He said He was going to do to perfection in His own time and His own way.  Many people are offended with this proposition that God Himself is the only agent who can correct the human affectation for sin.  And others even go on and suggest that God could have found some other means to accomplish His goals.  But, since sin and the fall are so seemingly tied up within the warp and woof of the cosmological equation (as Francis Schaeffer might describe it) – there is in reality only the way ordained at the beginning: for the second person of the Trinity to complete the Covenant arrangement agreed to before time began!

 

Many in the world are perplexed at the lack of an escape vehicle in our Space shuttles.  Yet, everyday reality demands that if such a vehicle is to be able to carry large loads into space – than something normally accounted to human convenience and comfort must be set aside.  President Bush at least understood if imperfectly that the way of escape for the shuttle crew was already provided within the wisdom and administration of the Creator God.

 

So, while many of the worldly may find fault with the God proclaimed and ordained plan – they will simply have to forgo the way of salvation prepared for those who are made willing to accept the means and the mercy provided in Jesus Christ.

 

Application:  One of the strengths of the Reformed doctrines is the descriptive analogy of adoption being explained as part of the process ongoing in salvation.  The Old & New Covenants as well provide the necessary proof texts for this process.  And an agreement with that doctrine makes the remaining part of our text easier to comprehend: 

 

“That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.’

 

And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ 

 

And again ‘Behold, I and the children God has given me.’”

 

A whole paragraph of the Confession is devoted to this topic of Adoption:  “All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth, in and for His only son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God, have His name put upon them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by Him as by a Father; yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption; and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation.”

 

Three biblical references are made by the Apostle to support the brotherhood of all those who belong to Christ’s Church, and who by adoption counted as His kindred spirits.  The first quotation comes from glorious psalm (Psalm 22:22), the very Psalm that appears to be the running theme and outline of the last words of Christ on the cross. 

 

The second and third quotations comes from Isaiah 8: 17-18 where it is prophesied that many will stumble at the very sanctuary provided for the salvation of God’s people.

 

And yet, Raymond Brown tells us that “the writer uses the words of both psalmist and prophet to impress upon his readers their oneness with Christ.  Isaiah 8 reflects the context of hope in time of despair.  The Lord is hiding his face from Jacob, but God’s servant says, ‘I will hope in him.’ Similarly, Jesus puts his complete trust in his Father in the most desolate moment of his life and in the darkest hour of world history when he bore our sins in his own body on the cross.  Through that saving and transforming anguish and death, we become his sons, brothers and children.”

 

What the Apostle is writing here in these short verses is nothing more than the gospel outlined in the grand scheme of history.  And it is meant to demonstrate to us that because Christ died – He may call us brothers and sisters in the Lord.  May we reflect on the mighty deed of Christ – one with God: who could accomplish so great a salvation for us.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

 

Brown, John.  A Geneva Series Commentary: Hebrews.

Brown, Raymond.  The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Hebrews.

Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews.

Owen, John:  Commentary on Book of Hebrews.

The Westminster Confession & Catechisms.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version

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