The Word of God is a declaration of the love of God the Father to His Son.
God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one God, what the Christians call the Trinity. This is how God describes Himself in the Bible.
For eternity, before the worlds were created, the members of the godhead operated in a relationship of perfect love, always. Always in perfect unity, each person playing His part. For eternity the Son has enjoyed perfect love from the other members.
In love, the Father has planned the perfect gift to His Son. The love of millions of people who will love Him, worship Him, obey Him, honor, believe, trust, even give their lives to the Son. Going from a love from one heart to the love from billions, all directed to Jesus. The gift of many, as innumerable as the sand by the seashore, pouring out their love and worship to Him.
We get the beginnings of these thoughts in the Old Testament part of the Bible, which was written before Jesus came. They were compiled in the New Testament, which was written after Jesus died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead the third day.
The book of Hebrews compiled some of these declarations from the Father into chapter two. We are going to unwrap these verses to marvel over the jewels of the Father’s gift.
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered” (2:10, NIV).
The gift sparkles in the phrase, “bringing many sons and daughters to glory.” These sons and daughters refer to us who have accepted His salvation, that we too would be sons of God. Creation was not made for ourselves, for the verse states, “for whom and through whom everything exists.” All things were made for His Son, and we belong to Him.
When we believed in the Son for salvation, God made us holy, which means He set us apart for Himself. Jesus is set apart for God, and so are we. That unites us as one family.
The next verse says this clearly: “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (2:11). Jesus is not ashamed to call you and me His brethren, His family members. We who were far from God through sin were reconciled to God through the Son that we may be one.
Now when we gather as His people in the church, He is there too, worshiping with us, saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises” (2:12). And again, spoken from the grateful heart of Jesus to the Father, “Here am I, and the children God has given me” (2:12). We who worship in spirit and in truth are given to Christ.
But God is not flesh and blood. The Second Person of the godhead cannot interact and mingle with us directly. We can’t see or feel a being of spirit. So God did something radical. Jesus become flesh and blood to become like us (2:14).
Furthermore, we are frail, dying after just a few decades. But God desires to give an everlasting gift to His Son; He wants our love to be presented to Jesus eternally, not burn out in one brief burst. Therefore He through death, burial, and resurrection destroyed death, “so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” (2:14). To all who trust Him as their Savior and Lord, they are joined to His resurrection victory. Death is not the end for us. He destroyed him who had the power of death and set the captives free. He will now be the recipient of our love according to God’s astounding plan—eternally. Death can’t stop us.
He sets us free from the fear of death. This hope takes time to develop, but He, the Author and Finisher of our faith, will bring us there. As a bride lets go of her home and family to go to a new place with her beloved, so we are being trained to leave this, our home. We are strangers and pilgrims here. God has prepared a city for us, and we will be united to a fuller measure when He returns to take us home.
Jesus did not come in the form of angels, but like Abraham’s god-fearing offspring (2:16). As such, He endured what we human beings endure, yet without sin. Having experienced our struggles, He becomes the very agent to train us to be like Him. With wisdom, He uses our trials to train us individually where we are, in our various pains, failures, helplessness, and sins, to bring many sons to glory. This He does, having many, many outlets through His body to express His inexhaustible love. With many, many opportunities to befriend each and every one, and disclose Himself and His glory to each (2:17-18).
You are the Father’s gift to His Son. You are placed in His plan of eternal life, of everlasting enjoyment with the Son of God living in and through us with His life. This is a position of privilege and honor. Embrace it and run with it. He has traveled the highways and byways and brought you in, who have looked to Jesus to save to the uttermost.
Seize hold of every God-given means of transformation. Grace. Faith. Christian fellowship.
The Word of God. Prayer. Worship. Discipleship. Serving one another. The cross.
Through it all, keep His example in view. He has provided every means necessary for each of us to shine as the stars, when we rise with glorified bodies to love and enjoy Him in the kingdom of the Son of His love, forever.
— Steve Husting
