Hebrews 5:7-11 Who in the days of his flesh… I. THE DIVINE EXALTATION OF THE CHARACTER OF HIM WHO IS THE REDEEMER OF MEN, A Son. "Though He were a Son," "The Son of God," as in the previous context. We understand this expression as in the first place presenting the Redeemer in the nature, and with the attributes of Deity. II. His GRACIOUS CONDESCENSION. "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience," &c. Here we behold the Son of God, He who was infinite in excellency and in working, condescending to become a learner, placing Himself in circumstances in which He might receive instruction. No doubt the Spirit of God that was in Him taught Him better than the scribe, or priest, or ruler, or parent could; but the child Jesus, growing up to manhood, learned, received the wisdom, the counsel, the instruction that is from God. But, "though He were a Son," He learned something more than knowledge. He learned how to obey. What affections were involved in obedience! What satisfaction resulted to the obedient mind! What intimate and fervent communion existed between Him that was obeyed and Him that did obey! But the lowliest condescension that we mark is, that He learned obedience by suffering. There are many who are willing to obey, and who find pleasure in obedience, when there is only joy, when there is the reward of obedience; but to go through the deep flood, to pass under the dark cloud, to penetrate the fiery furnace, and to endure all that could be heaped in the shape of sorrows, and woes, and to do this that He might "learn obedience" — this was Christ's condescension. Ah! but He suffered more than this. "The contradiction of sinners against Himself" He suffered. He "learned obedience" by suffering ingratitude from those to whom He showed mercy. He suffered contumely and reproach, He entered into our sorrows. He Himself "took our griefs and carried our sorrows." Still farther, and even more painful, was His humiliation. We know what it is to be convinced of sin; we know what it is to be overwhelmed with shame for sin. I know that Jesus knew no sin; but oh, in this I see the poignancy of His grief, when all our sins were made to meet on Him. And He was "made perfect" — He condescended to be made perfect "by the things which He suffered," that He should be a perfectly righteous person in the midst of the most trying circumstances — that He should love even unto death, though death was heaped upon Him for His love. III. THE END TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY HIS HUMILIATION. "That He might become the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." How much there is in those words! There would have been no salvation for guilty men if Jesus had not come to die. It is in Christ's excellencies originally; it is in Christ as the perfect Saviour that we can alone have confidence towards God. He is the author of salvation, inasmuch as He has "taken away sin by the sacrifice of Himself"; He is the author of salvation, inasmuch as He has endured the curse of the broken law, and delivered us from the sentence of condemnation; He is the author of salvation, inasmuch as He has received from His Father the promised Spirit, by which poor guilty sinners are regenerated, and faith wrought in them, to trust in Jesus and His finished work; He is the author of salvation, inasmuch as He has gone to heaven to carry on the work, and He ever lives to make intercession for His people, and is " able to save to the very uttermost all that come unto God by Him." He is the author of salvation, for it is the gospel that produces the happy change, that translates from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and glory. But it is "eternal salvation." It is a salvation that, having been begun, will never be interrupted; it is a salvation that will be unto the end; it is a salvation that will be found, in its consummation, in the presence of God, where "there is fulness of joy," and at His right hand, where "there are pleasures for evermore." "Unto all them that obey Him." You will mark what the obedience is which Christ requires. If He be a Son, He has authority. In His character of Son He is "set at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Now, to obey Christ is to fulfil that which He has enjoined: in the first place, to accept of Him as He is offered; in the next place, to come to Him as He invites; in the third place, to trust in Him as He warrants; in the fourth place, to plead His finished work, and to seek the enjoyment of forgiveness through His continual intercession. Bowing to His sceptre, taking up His cross, uniting ourselves to His people, giving ourselves, first to the Lord, and then to one another, according to His will. All those that thus obey Him have the assurance that He is "the author of eternal salvation unto them." Not by works of righteousness that they have done, but they are saved for His sake, and the work is wrought in them for His glory, and they are obedient to Him, having been "made willing in the day of His power." (J. W. Massie, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; |
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