Heb. 2:10-18, Christ Destroys and Delivers

Let’s begin this post by looking at three thoughts from Heb. 2:10.  First, Christ is called the “captain of their salvation.”  The word refers to a leader, pioneer, founder or author.  If you use the term “captain” you might say that the captain has come up through the ranks so as to be qualified to lead others.  Thus, Christ had to endure what the rest of mankind endures. “Since by man came death (referring to Adam), by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-22).

Second, the captain must be made “perfect” through sufferings.  Unlike Adam who failed the test, Christ must be proven.  This word “perfect” is not so much being “sinless” as it is being completed.  What God had in mind for the Son must be finished.  He could not be “perfected” until He completed His sufferings on the cross.  The thought that this captain must be a man (human) is not new.  It was promised when sin entered the world (Gen. 3:10).  He would be “the seed of the woman.”  Eve may have thought Cain (Gen. 4:1-2) and later Seth (Gen. 4:25) was the Man.  Lamech may have thought Noah was the Man (Gen. 5:29) and Abraham may have wondered about Isaac (Gen. 22:14).  A mark of righteous people was that they were hoping for the captain to come.  Simeon and Anna, seeing the infant Jesus, knew by the Holy Spirit that He was that Man (Luke 2:25-26,38).

The third thought in Heb. 2:10 is that when the captain is perfected, then He will be able to bring “many sons to glory.”  The captain of their salvation, and only that One, would be able to bring men to the glory the Creator intended for them.  Look at the benefits for men since they have a perfected One to taste death for them.

·       Heb. 2:11-13: Identification with our Captain.  Through His sufferings He associated Himself with mankind.  As Hebrews will later say, He was tested in all points like we are, only without sin (4:15).  The One who purifies us has become one with us, the ones who need to be purified! 

·       Heb. 2:14-15: Deliverance from our bondage to death.  One who is flesh and blood as we are destroyed him who had the power of death.  He did this through the resurrection.  But there could be no resurrection if there was no death!

·       Heb. 2:16-18: Propitiation.  By His sufferings Christ became our merciful and faithful High Priest.  He is “merciful” because He experienced what we experience; He has a feeling for our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).  He is “faithful” because He endured all that He experienced, yet without sin.  That qualified Him to be High Priest and to make an adequate sacrifice.  “Propitiation” means to appease or to satisfy the wrath of God. The man who knew he was a sinner used this word (Lk. 18:13).  “God, be ‘propitiatory’ to me, a sinner.”  The man knew he needed someone to take God’s wrath for him. Christ is that One!