INTRODUCTION:

1. The author of Hebrews (probably the apostle Paul) said the sufferings of our Lord were a part of the great plan and purpose of God in bringing many sons unto glory (2:10).
2. The Lord Jesus Christ is referred to here in verse 10 as the “captain” of our salvation.
3. Matthew Henry wrote, “Those that are saved must come to that salvation under the guidance of a captain and leader sufficient for that purpose; and they must be all enlisted under the banner of this captain; they must endure hardship as good soldiers of Christ; they must follow their captain, and those that do so shall be brought safely off, and shall inherit great glory and honour.”
4. The word “captain” is translated “author” in Hebrews 12:2 – “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…”
5. The same Greek word is translated “prince” in Acts 3:15 and 5:31.
6. “The Prince of life” (Acts 3:15).
7. “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).
8. The Scofield Study Bible says this word translated “captain” means “leader, or, originator, i.e. one who initiates and carries through.”

 

I. WE ARE RELATED TO CHRIST (2:11-13).

1. God’s purpose is to “bring many sons to glory” (2:10).  We become a son when we are born again into God’s family. People often say we are all “God’s children,” but that is not Scriptural.
2. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
3. Galatians 3:26 says, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
4. First John 3:10 says, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”
5. Therefore, “bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10) means bringing believers up to heaven.
6. The songwriter put it this way:

   When all my labors and trials are o’er,
   And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
   Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
   Will through the ages be glory for me.

    

   O that will be glory for me,
   Glory for me, glory for me,
   When by His grace I shall look on His face,
   That will be glory, be glory for me. – Charles Ga­bri­el

7. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.  Our Lord said in John 14:2 and 3, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
8. Hebrews 2:10 says the Lord Jesus Christ – the captain of our salvation – was made “perfect through sufferings.”  Matthew Henry said, “He perfected the work of our redemption by shedding His blood, and was thereby perfectly qualified to be a Mediator between God and man.”
9. The idea of perfection is prominent in the epistle to the Hebrews (cf. 7:19).  Our Lord’s sufferings were necessary for our salvation.  The idea here is “bring to completion” in the sense that Christ’s sufferings were necessary in order for Him to be the captain of our salvation and our great high priest (2:17; 3:1; etc.).
10. The same Greek word translated “perfect” is found in Hebrews 5:13 and 14, where it says, “For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age (that are perfect or mature).
11. Here is another example: In James 1:4: “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
12. Our Lord used the verbal form of the same Greek word in John 4:34, where He said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish (perfect, or to complete) his work.”
13. We are related to Christ by regeneration. Hebrews 2:11 says that our Lord identified Himself with His brethren: “For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,” and, then Psalm 22:22 is quoted, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren.  In the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee.”
14. And, again, then he quotes from Psalm 18:2, “I will put my trust in him.”
15. And, again, quoting from Isaiah 8:18, “Behold, I and the children which God hath given me.”
16. These “children” are given to Christ at their conversion. Matthew Henry says, “Christ receives them, rules over them, rejoices in them, perfects all their affairs, takes them up to heaven, and there presents them to his Father, Behold, I and the children which thou hast given me.”

 

II. WE ARE DELIVERED BY CHRIST (2:14, 15).

1. Christ Himself “took part of the same” (became a man) “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (2:14).
2. The author is speaking of the heathen world held in satanic bondage and in the grip of death.
3. Paul refers to this spiritual darkness in I Thessalonians 4:13, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”
4. First Corinthians 15:56 says “the sting of death is sin,” but Christ took the sting away when He bore our sins on the cross.
5. Our Lord, the incarnate Son of God, took upon Him our flesh and was made like unto us that through His death on the cross, He might enter the very sphere of Satan himself.
6. Sin, death, corruption, the grave, and hell were not part of God’s original plan.
7. Way back in the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).
8. This means if Adam and Eve had not disobeyed God, they would not have died.
9. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
10. First Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
11. Furthermore, God did not create hell for man. Our Lord said hell was, “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
12. Satan is called “the god of this world” in II Corinthians 4:4.
13. Three times in the Gospel of John, our Lord referred to Satan as “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
14. For the Christian, death is no longer frightening. Because of Christ’s death on the cross, death is the entrance into the glorious life that is yet to come.
15. When DL Moody was on his deathbed, his last words were, “Earth is receding, heaven is opening; God is calling me.”
16. Heaven was very real to DL Moody.  When he was a chaplain during the Civil War, he heard a dying soldier call out “Here!  Here!”  Moody ran over but when he asked the soldier what he needed, the soldier said, “Nothing sir, thank you.  I am fine.”
17. Soon the soldier again yelled out, “Here!  Here!” and again Moody came running.  And again the soldier told him he was OK.
18. Then after the third time, Moody asked the man, “If you do not need assistance, why do you keep yelling out, ‘Here...here’?
19. The soldier quietly whispered, “They are calling the roll up in heaven,” and then he died.

 

III. WE ARE RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH CHRIST (2:16-18).

1. No one else could “make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (2:17).
2. Christ became a man in order to die on the cross as our Substitute.  Hebrews 2:16 says, “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.”
3. The Lord did not become an angel.  Nor was He ever an angel, as the Jehovah’s Witness cult teaches (cf. Hebrews 10:5).
4. John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
5. Ephesians 2:16 and Colossians 1:20 teach that sinners have been reconciled to God by the blood of the cross.
6. Man is a rebel at war with a holy God.  Romans 5:10 says, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
7. Christ became a man, and specifically “he took on him the seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2:16).  This is mentioned because this epistle was written to Hebrew Christians.
8. As the songwriter put it:

   There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
   No, not one! No, not one!
   None else could heal all our soul’s diseases,
   No, not one! No, not one!

    

   Jesus knows all about our struggles,
   He will guide till the day is done;
   There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
   No, not one! No, not one! – Johnson Oatman

9. I heard about a young boy who lost his arm in an accident and he grew very sad and despondent.  He became withdrawn and would seldom talk with anyone.
10. Friends and relatives, the pastor and other church people, all tried to encourage him but no one could get him to cheer up.
11. One day his father brought a preacher home to visit his son.  The boy said, “Father, I already told our pastor I did not want to talk, why did you bring another preacher?”
12. But then the little boy noticed the preacher was missing an arm.  He told the boy that he too had lost his arm when he was a young boy.  Now the little boy could open up and talk because he knew this preacher understood what he was going through.
13. Christ not only understands our problems, He understands our temptations (2:18; cf. 4:15).  He is a sympathetic Saviour.
14. Temptations can be extremely dangerous.  We need to stay close to the Lord.

 

CONCLUSION:

1. Hebrews 2:17 says, “that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God…”
2. This great doctrine will be developed more fully starting in Hebrews chapter 3 (cf. 3:1; 4:14-16).