Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor… It is Jesus, Son of Mary, Child of man, whose appearance we hail; not now, as in chap. 1., the Son of God, resplendent in His Father's glory with His holy angels, sustaining creation by His word. The writer is approaching the Redeemer's person from the opposite side, and adopting quite a different line of reflection from that with which the Epistle commenced. He will afterwards unite both conceptions in his definition of "our great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God." We must allow him to work out his argument in his own way. Here is a Man, then, in whom humanity is lifted from the dust, and once more grows conscious of its primal dignity. The advent of Jesus raises immeasurably our conception of the possibilities of human nature, and supplies a new and magnificent answer to the old question, "What is man?" Prophecy is outdone by what we see in Jesus of man's greatness as the object of the Divine regard. And this Leader of our salvation is "forerunner" of His brethren's exaltation, both in earth and heaven. On every ground we find ours, lees compelled to refer the predicate "crowned with glory and honour," to the earthly life and human relationship of our Saviour. Surely it is in this environment that we see Jesus. We to-day "see Jesus" in the story of the Four, as the readers of Ibis letter saw Him in the living words of His eye-witnesses and ministers. And "we see Him for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour." No words could more fitly express the strange blending of glory and suffering visible throughout the earthly course of Jesus, — glory ever leading on to suffering, and finding in death its climax and hidden purpose. If man's ideal greatness is the starting-point of the writer's thought, the death of the cross is always its centre. The former, for sinful (Hebrews 1:3) and death-bound man, can only win its realisation through the latter. Jesus is crowned for death. Willingly would Israel have given Him in life the Messiah's crown. They could not understand why One so high in the grace of God, so rich in kingly qualities and powers, did not take the last remaining step and mount to David's throne. Their fury against Him at the last was in the breasts of many who cried, "Away with Him!" the rage of a bitter disappointment. They did not see that the higher He was raised in favour with God and men, the nearer and the more needful became His death. It is enough to refer to the scene of the transfiguration, and of the royal entry into Jerusalem, to show the profound connection which existed alike in the mind of Jesus, in the purpose of God, and in the sequence of history between Christ's human glorification and His sacrificial death. (G. G. Findlay.) Parallel Verses KJV: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. |
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