9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 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. (ESV)
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Hebrews 2:9-10
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The Goodness of God and the Neglect of Man. (Part 3)
Listen, for Jesus came to help the children of Abraham. He goes before us: Hebrews 2:9-10.
Jesus helps by becoming a man and bearing our sin.
He also helps by going before us as the founder, the pioneer of our faith. He goes before us, tasting death for us, and is now crowned in glory. We are invited to “see” him, to “observe” him, that in our seeing him who suffered, and seeing him crowned with glory and honor, his tasting of death becomes effective for us. God is thus graciously, as a free gift, bringing us into his glory.
This is the way of salvation (c.f. John 3:14, Numbers 21:9), and it is the way of endurance to salvation. We endure in our contest (Hebrews 12:1-3) by fixing our eyes on Jesus who went before us as the “originator/founder/author” of our faith. As he “ran” his race, he endured the suffering of life (v10b) and then the cross because of (i.e. in firm hope of) the joy set before him. And his hope was not in vain for he is now seated at the right hand of God.
Jesus means to help the children of Abraham. He helps us by going before us, securing our crown, and providing an example, that we might run our race with our eyes on him. I find it much easier to keep a good pace on 10 mile run when I have someone who goes ahead of me. Let us “see” him (or as in 3:1, “consider” him), as we run our race.
(This was originally posted on the Biblearc blog by Robert Elphick on January 26, 2015.)