James Nisbet Commentary - Hebrews 2:9 - 2:9

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James Nisbet Commentary - Hebrews 2:9 - 2:9


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THE SAVIOUR’S CROWN

‘But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.’

Heb_2:9

What was the glory here spoken of? There was the glory of a great salvation for the lost children of men. The anticipation of this honour entered into that intercessory prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of St. John. Now this joint glory of the Father and the Son consisted in bringing many sons into glory. And in order thereto, Christ was to be set as a King upon His holy hill of Zion. ‘Crowned with glory and honour’:—

I. In that all things, both in heaven and earth, shall be subject to the kingdom of mediation (see Eph_1:20-23); and again, ‘All things were made by Him and for Him.’ ‘For Him,’ observe, that is, in His character as Mediator.

II. In that on the ascended Saviour should be concentrated all the homage and adoration of the heavenly world (Php_2:10). This plainly affirms the dominion of Christ over all worlds, intelligences, and kingdoms. He is ‘God over all, blessed for ever.’

III. And therefore we make it a part of our daily prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come’: that is, that it may come in all the power of its converting and sanctifying grace upon our own hearts, in the sovereignty of its enlightening truth over the nations, in all the glory and majesty of the Second Advent. We look for a king and a kingdom; we look for an end of these conflicting days; we look for the coming of that day when all hearts shall bow to the regal dominion of Jesus; when ‘every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

—
Rev. Prebendary D. Moore.

Illustration

‘The kingdom of mediation embraces the visible and the invisible; the whole of our present mundane system was constructed with a view to afford a theatre magnificent enough for the work of Christ, and for the training of suitable instruments for the accomplishment of His great purposes. The Saviour’s exaltation reminds us then that we are subjects of the Mediator’s world; that the earth is the platform of an achieved redemption; that all things were made for, and put under the dominion of, the Crucified: “All power is given to Him in heaven and in earth.” All power to seal pardons; to impart gifts; to quicken, sanctify, redeem, save. It was needful that in all things He should have the preeminence. All beings, all worlds must see Him “crowned with glory and honour.” ’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE VISION OF FAITH

Christ has gone into heaven. What is He doing there? Holy Scripture tells us at least two things.

I. He is pleading for His people on earth.—‘Who also maketh intercession for us’ (Rom_8:33-34).

He stands in heaven our great High Priest,

And bears our names upon His breast.

All this was typified in the Old Testament (cf. Exo_28:29). The breastplate contained twelve precious stones, and on each stone was engraved one of the names of the twelve tribes, and this breastplate Aaron wore on his heart when he went into the holy place. So Christ has entered, not into a holy place made with hands, ‘but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us’ (Heb_9:24).

II. Another thing the Lord Jesus is doing for His people.—He tells us what it is in St. John 14 : ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ And when the place is all prepared, and all the saints are prepared for the place, like the high priest of olden time, He will come forth (Lev_9:22-23). He will rend the blue heavens, and we shall see the Face we have longed to see.

Yea, Amen, Thy will be done,

All my prayers are breathed in one;

Jesu, let me rest in Thee—

Crucified and crowned for me.

Illustration

‘Comfortable thoughts arise when the believer thinks of Christ as a Priest on His throne pleading for Him. Luther says, “In deep spiritual temptations nothing has helped me better, with nothing have I driven away the devil better than with this, that Christ, the true eternal Son of God, is “bone of our hones, and flesh of our flesh”; and that He sits on the right hand of God, and pleads for us. When I can grasp this shield of faith, I have already chased away the evil one with his fiery darts.’