Hebrews 2:10, commentary and pictures

It was fitting for God, from whom and for whom all things exist, to bring many sons and daughters to glory by making the Leader of their salvation complete and fully qualified through suffering.
He is Captain as the Leader, Commander and Guide who goes before His people conquering and leads them onward to victory, and as the Author and Finisher who undertakes and completes the work of salvation.
Being made perfect did not mean He had been morally imperfect or sinful, but that He learned obedience by suffering, bore trial and overcame temptation without yielding, and became a perfect pattern of humanity.
He did this by taking the nature of fallen humanity, entering its weakened and suffering condition yet without sin, enduring fierce temptation, the withdrawal of the Father's love on the cross, and death for every person, and thereby He became a merciful and faithful High Priest who can pity, sustain and save completely.
Bringing to glory means exalting human nature, giving power to become sons of God, partakers of the divine nature and restored to God's image, and those who would share His throne and joy must share His path of conflict, obedience and self-denial unto perfection of character.

God's Fitting Purpose

Hebrews 2:10 speaks of God, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, as the source and purpose, the source and goal, the source and end, and the source and ruler of all things. He is the Creator who brings many of His people to glory by making Jesus, the leader and captain of their salvation, complete and perfect through suffering and death. That completing through sufferings means He was made like His brethren in all things, suffered Himself being tempted, was in all points tempted like men yet without sin and touched with the feeling of their infirmities. Thus made perfect He became fitted to save and to help those who are tempted, to be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for sins, and to become the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, revealing the Father and reaching humanity to lead them to salvation.

It was fitting and in the order of God to bring many sons to glory in this way, by making the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. God's purpose required Christ to take upon Himself the form and nature of fallen man in order to be so made perfect, laying aside His majestic heavenly form, taller than any angel, and beginning ministry but little taller than common men so that faith would rest not on sight or personal attraction but on excellence of character and prophecy. He stood in Adam's place to bear the test Adam failed, overcoming on the sinner's behalf four thousand years after the fall, taking human nature as it then existed with its weaknesses, infirmities, sins and degeneracy upon Him though He knew no sin, humbling Himself to the lowest depths of human woe to reach fallen man and bring him up from degradation. He Himself endured the full strength and fierceness of Satan's temptations so He would better know how to succor those who are tempted, and by that suffering was qualified and made perfect as Saviour and prepared to lead the saved to glory.

Bringing many sons and daughters to glory and to God is God's purpose, aim and great work, accomplished through Christ giving His beloved Son to endure humanity's humiliation, shame and agony, including a fast of nearly six weeks with fierce temptation and death on the cross revealing inexpressible love. It means exaltation of human nature through the man Christ Jesus, for those who believe on His name are given power to become sons of God and partakers of the divine nature, conformed to His character and one with Him as He is one with the Father, sanctified through conformity to His image because He suffered to expiate the sins of all who believe. It means bringing to man through the Holy Spirit a new principle of mental and spiritual power, so that through association with divinity man becomes one with God, with Christ as Redeemer and Restorer sanctifying and purifying the mind by the elevating power of truth, giving nobility, dignity and influence that draws other minds to Himself. That work is continued through human agencies, for He accepts men as co-laborers and instruments to show that God sent His Son, desires His children to reveal His character and exert His influence in harmony with His mind, gives every advantage to those who study to know His will and obey His Word wholly, and teaches that overcoming as Christ overcame leads to eternal gain while gaining the world with loss of the soul is eternal loss.

The verse is joined to assurance that God will hold a person's hand and lead him if he allows Him. It is joined also to holding steadfastly to every principle of truth given, with the voice of God in warning and instruction confirming faith, and the instruction given in the early days of the message to be held as safe instruction to follow in its closing days, while those indifferent to that light will not escape the snares that cause rejectors of light to stumble and fall and be taken.

Captain of Salvation

The title Captain means leader, commander, head and guide who goes before His people, conquering and to conquer, and leads them onward to victory and glory. He was made perfect through sufferings in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, and therefore suffering in a life does not prove wrongdoing requiring repentance, but those who press close to Him and willingly share His sufferings are conformed to His image and reveal simplicity and true godliness in every place and work. By taking human nature and receiving strength from God He experienced what humanity experiences, bore the trials to be borne and overcame the temptations to be overcome, tempted as men are tempted yet never once yielding, and successfully faced Satan and fallen angels. He strengthens His people for conflict, comes to their aid when they face Satan's attacks and even death, so that prayers offered in faith bring Him to their defense, turn the battle and deliver the oppressed. Those enlisted under His blood-stained banner of the cross are soldiers in warfare against Satan and his host, enlisted to fight Satan's forces and not fellow soldiers with harshness, faultfinding and abuse of the erring, and they must keep His interests in view, live as children of God, awake to duty, show themselves true and loyal, follow His example, conquer in the name of Jesus or be conquered, and even more willingly than earthly soldiers endure privation, self-denial, hardship and any cost for His sake, while He takes them into His army and keeps them under training to prepare them for active service.

The title also means Author and Finisher of salvation, who undertakes in covenant with the Father to reveal God's love, completes the work given Him, and will finish the work of salvation. In that covenant He became one with humanity, took human nature, endured temptation as a man, and suffered and died so that people might live through faith in His redeeming power, displaying the grace of God in a way nothing less than the Son's own self-giving could express. Though He could have lived in ease and enjoyed the world He created, He denied Himself and spent His life in toil, privation and suffering for others, doing good and giving blessings, to save them from ruin. He completed the work given Him, and His example teaches His followers to accept humiliation, sorrow and tribulation rather than seek ease or a better position on the way to His kingdom. The Bible reveals Him and the plan of redemption, for without God's word there would be no knowledge that Jesus had visited the world or of His divinity shown by His existence with the Father before His earthly life. He intercedes for His people as a conqueror who claims the trophies of His victory, not as one trying to persuade the Father to show compassion, and He is able to save completely all who come to God through Him.

He is man's Elder Brother, greater than Joshua and Moses, the Majesty of heaven and King of glory who needed no human discipline or teaching, was without human weakness or imperfection, laid aside heavenly form and glory, and clothed divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the race. Unlike Moses He needed no human discipline or teaching to prepare Him for His mission, yet as Captain leading God's people to the heavenly inheritance He was made perfect through sufferings and suffered and died to obtain entrance into the promised land for them. He laid aside His majestic and lovely heavenly form, taller than any of the angels, and when His ministry commenced was but little taller than the common size of men then living, so that His outward appearance would not attract minds to Himself and cause Him to be received without the exercise of faith, but faith in Him as Messiah would rest on excellence of character never found in another. He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death and tasted death for every man by the grace of God and was crowned with glory and honor, becoming man, bone of bone and flesh of flesh, both He who sanctifies and those sanctified being all of one so that He is not ashamed to call them brethren. His example as one who lived not to please Himself opposes selfish ambition for the highest place, and teaches that those who would teach or lead must first be teachable, willing to learn from others and humble enough to show need of help.

As Captain He is the one acknowledged Head, heavenly Leader, Pilot and Master to be looked to constantly with undivided allegiance, with all power in heaven and earth committed to Him, rather than looking to people or to Satan as captain. Believers must look to Him constantly with undivided allegiance in contrast to Satan who stands as captain over those who do not watch and keep themselves unspotted from the world, and must firmly depend on Him who will not fail to do His part while they face conflicts with inherited and cultivated evil tendencies. All that He did on earth was done with an eye single to the glory of His Father, doing as the Father gave Him commandment and working out the Father's will, so that His life was a manifestation of divine perfection, and the union of divinity with humanity in Him reveals God's purpose to bring men into the closest connection with Himself, without whom they cannot be happy. He is sent by God to redeem men by His own blood, and all workers stand under Him with ministry to act in His name and under His authority, obeying His orders as faithful soldiers in perfect unity with varied gifts united in one body, with gospel and medical missionary work bound together and ministers and physicians working under His training not to attract men to themselves but to win souls to Christ, with all success due to Him alone. He stands at the helm of the gospel ship and leads it safely into the harbor, and He alone can guide His people through coming dangers to their desired end, so they are to trust His guidance and remain under His command rather than try to direct the way themselves.

The Captain of salvation demands exclusive loyalty, which means expelling idols from the heart, enthroning Jesus there, and refusing Satan's devices to make His people disloyal by indulging selfish gratification and using for self the money that should spread the truth at home and in destitute foreign fields.

Made Perfect Through Suffering

To be made perfect through sufferings means to be made complete, fully fitted and qualified as Captain and Saviour, not that He had been morally imperfect or sinful. Though sinless, He endured temptation and learned obedience through suffering, and His suffering and death prepared Him to save and to help those who are tempted. Through suffering He became a merciful and faithful High Priest able to reconcile people to God, having shared human nature, endured death to redeem people and defeat the devil's power over death. By enduring sufferings on humanity's behalf He became a perfect Saviour, and by His grace people may be perfected and become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ in the everlasting kingdom. He passed over the ground where Adam failed and redeemed that failure, providing a way to escape temptation and strength to endure it, overcoming the prince of darkness on humanity's behalf and breaking his power so people may overcome through His merits.

Being made perfect means He learned obedience by the things He suffered and knows by experience what human beings suffer, including what a wounded, bleeding heart means. He bore the trials humans must bear and overcame the temptations humans must overcome, tempted as humans are tempted yet never once yielding, to show that by power received from on high man can live an unsullied life. He was subjected to the fiercest temptations, the most fearful struggles, and glorious victories, not on His own account for He had no sin, but on account of human sins to redeem men and women from ruin, fleshly weakness and the devil's temptations. As Captain He led the way, so that human temptations are in kind just what He endured and human victories in overcoming are in kind just what He experienced. He lived fully as a man and met everything men meet, having a child's experience, bodily weariness, harassed mind, hardship, conflict, need of encouragement, joy and grief, temptation from Satan, annoyance from enemies, and torture and crucifixion of the body. In that way He became a perfect example and pattern of perfect humanity, putting Himself under humanity to learn by experience all temptations, taking human infirmity and bearing human sorrow, and really meeting and resisting Satan's temptations as any person must. He endured unjust treatment patiently and received strength from God, setting an example for followers who keep looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith to receive strength to endure trials, perplexities and unjust suspicions without impatience or discouragement.

He was trained in the school of suffering and trial and made complete through suffering, so that unlike friends who cannot make another's bitter cup their own, He can enter into infirmities and give real help. By taking human nature and receiving strength from God, He experienced what humanity can experience and successfully faced Satan and fallen angels. In His humanity He met Satan in battle and, sustained by divine power, won victory after victory, as human beings may be sustained by partaking of the divine nature. His victories exalted humanity as God's workmanship, brought divine approval, and left the way open for people to become more than conquerors through His merits. His suffering was so severe that His nature was shocked almost unto death, and heavenly angels ministered to Him.

His perfection through suffering did not spare Him reproach, trials, and the hostility of people who rejected the light and sought to accuse and destroy Him. He endured in behalf of others even the agonies of Calvary, bearing insult, neglect, mockery, cruel scourging and shameful death without murmuring. He carried every burden without complaint, without impatience, without unbelief and without repining, which shows He carried it better, not that He felt it less. With the single exception that He was sinless and had no dread of sin's consequences, His condition was the same as men's, with every difficulty pressing with equal weight, every sorrow known to His heart, feelings hurt by neglect and indifference, a thorny path in tenfold measure, and distress as men know distress. His suffering is the pattern for His followers, who should not expect a better portion than their Lord, but remembering what He endured and that He knows every pang, bear pain and sickness with patience, fortitude and courage, trusting His grace and clinging to His promises.

Human Nature He Assumed

To be made perfect through sufferings, He took the form and nature of fallen man, becoming man, bone of bone and flesh of flesh, and one with humanity. He took human nature, the nature of Abraham's descendants and not angels, and was made like His human brothers so that as a merciful and faithful High Priest He could know human weakness, birth and childhood, temptation and death, and help those who are tempted. Though innocent, obedient and one with God, He humbled Himself to become the Sin-bearer and propitiation, bearing the race's weaknesses and degeneracy and enduring God's wrath against sin to make reconciliation for the sins of the people and to reveal the Father. His suffering qualified Him to reach people in their degradation, to bring them up from sin, and to lead them through faith in His redeeming power to live and to glory.

He entered the human condition after four thousand years of sin, taking human nature as it then existed with decreasing physical strength and deteriorating moral worth upon Him. He bore the physical, mental and moral degeneracy, infirmities, weaknesses and sins of the race, humbling Himself to the lowest depths of human woe in order to reach fallen man where he stood and bring him up from the degradation in which sin had plunged him. Though He bore the likeness of sinful flesh and stood in the sinner's place burdened with the sins of the world, He knew no sin, remained without sin, and remained loyal to the Father at every point while overcoming in the sinner's behalf. By that suffering He was qualified and made fully complete as Captain and Saviour, and His victory placed humanity on vantage ground so that those who share the divine nature may resist temptation.

He went over the ground where Adam stumbled and took up the work just where Adam failed, standing in Adam's place to bear the test Adam failed in Eden. He endured a test of the same character but infinitely more severe, with every enticement to evil pressed upon Him in far greater degree because His character was superior to fallen man, and with Satan's temptations on all points wherewith man would be assailed. He met that trial single-handed in the desolate wilderness against Satan, in contrast to sinless Adam in perfect manhood surrounded by beauty and angels, and His severe trial there in hunger and physical weakness was a decisive victory that redeemed Adam's failure. That victory provides both example and available divine grace and strength in His name, so that people too may resist Satan, escape temptation, endure it, and personally overcome as they benefit from it.

He laid aside His majestic and lovely heavenly form, taller than any of the angels, and when His ministry commenced was but little taller than the common size of men then living. His outward appearance was not to attract minds to Himself nor to cause Him to be received without the exercise of faith, so that faith in Him as the Messiah would rest not on sight or personal attraction but on the excellence of character found in Him which never had been found in another, and on the evidence of prophecy. He lived fully as man and met everything men meet, putting Himself under humanity to learn by experience all the temptations men face, with a child's experience, trials and temptations, bodily weariness, joy and grief, a harassed and perplexed mind, hardship, conflict, need of encouragement, annoyance from enemies, and torture and crucifixion of the body. With the single exception that He was sinless and had no dread of sin's consequences, His condition was the same, with every difficulty pressing with equal weight, every sorrow known to His heart, feelings hurt by neglect and indifference, a thorny path in tenfold measure, and distress as men know distress, and He carried His burden without complaint, without impatience, without unbelief and without repining, which shows He carried it better, not that He felt it less.

His human nature was like ours, but His spiritual nature was free from sin, so He felt suffering especially keenly and His desire to escape it was as strong as a human being's. He really met and resisted Satan's temptations as any person must, and in that way He became a perfect example whose fitness through suffering made Him complete.

Sufferings He Endured

His sufferings included the fiercest temptations, the most fearful struggles, and glorious victories, endured not on His own account for He had no sin but on account of human sins to redeem men and women from ruin, fleshly weakness and the devil's temptations. In the wilderness He fasted nearly six weeks, enduring hunger, physical weakness and mental anguish, and met Satan's most trying temptations on all points wherewith man would be assailed, remaining loyal to the Father and overcoming at every point. He took the place of fallen man burdened with the sins of the world, going over the ground where Adam stumbled and taking up the work just where Adam failed, enduring a test of the same character but infinitely more severe with every enticement pressed upon Him in far greater degree. He reached man where he stood after four thousand years of decreasing physical strength and deteriorating moral worth, assuming human nature bearing the infirmities and degeneracy of the race and humbling Himself to the lowest depths of human woe, single-handed in the desolate wilderness against Satan in contrast to sinless Adam in perfect manhood among beauty and angels, that He might fully sympathize with man and rescue him from degradation. As Captain He led the way, so that human temptations are in kind just what He endured and human victories in overcoming are in kind just what He experienced, and His victory redeemed Adam's failure and placed humanity on vantage ground so that through His name divine grace and strength are available to resist Satan and share in the divine nature.

On the cross His soul was made an offering for sin, and standing in the sinner's place He endured awful darkness through withdrawal of the Father's love and favor, suffering the condemnation and wrath of God against sin that every sinner must experience. Though innocent and obedient and one with God, He as Sin-bearer and propitiation bore the world's accumulated sin and humbled Himself to endure God's wrath against sin as the one able to make reconciliation and atonement for the sins of the people. His human nature was like ours but His spiritual nature was free from sin, so He felt suffering especially keenly and His desire to escape it was as strong as a human being's, yet He chose to suffer rather than leave humanity to perish. This sundering of the divine powers will never occur again through the eternal ages, and was not from vindictiveness, for the heart of God yearned with greatest sorrow while His guiltless Son bore the penalty. His expiring agony was met by sympathy in nature in the darkened sun, rent rocks, earthquake and opened graves, and by His cry that it was finished and His committal of His spirit into the Father's hands, leading the centurion to confess Him righteous.

He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man, and was then crowned with glory and honor. He humbled Himself to the lowest depths of human woe to reach humanity where it stood and lead many to salvation and glory, becoming man, bone of bone and flesh of flesh, after seeing man's fearful danger when Satan corrupted his mind and principles and determining to save him by sacrifice of Himself. Bringing many sons unto glory means bringing to man through the Holy Spirit a new principle of mental and spiritual power so that through association with divinity man becomes one with God. As Redeemer and Restorer He by the elevating, sanctifying power of truth sanctifies and purifies the mind, gives men nobility and dignity, makes the mind a power that draws other minds to Himself, desires His children to reveal His character and exert His influence in harmony with His mind, and accepts men as co-laborers to show the world that God sent His Son.

His humiliation included rejection, contempt, persecution, betrayal and crucifixion, and no human trial or sacrifice could compare with it, yet His example gives His followers reason not to grow weary or lose heart when they share in suffering and disappointment. Though heaven's Majesty He became poor so that people might be made rich and exalted, enduring poverty, rejection and an ignominious death to save the fallen race and guide the gospel toward its destined harbor as Captain of salvation. Though free from sin He took humanity in its fallen condition and experienced the curse in its full bitterness, tasting every drop of bitter woe and enduring every part of it. He submitted to insult and mockery, contempt and ridicule, had His message of love and goodness and mercy misapplied and misstated, was called the prince of devils for testifying to His Sonship with God, and bore reproach over the circumstances of His birth from His own nation blinded to spiritual things. He was unable to do many mighty works in cities and villages because of unbelief, faced prejudice because His teachings interfered with doctrines, was forced to go from place to place to save His life like a fugitive in His own world which He had created, and had no place He could call His own to lay His head.

He was afflicted in all the afflictions of His people, lived acquainted with grief as a man of sorrows, and was exposed to ridicule and hatred from those He came to bless. He became poor so men might gain eternal riches and a rich inheritance He purchased, enduring Satan's most trying temptations so He would have experience in all human woes and know how to rescue those who are tempted. Though sinless He took human nature in its deteriorated condition and bore human trials, sorrow, insult and the curse, making their suffering His own and meeting Satan's temptations with the means available to humanity to show that fallen people may share in the divine nature and receive His help when tempted. His abasement and suffering reveal the cost and terribleness of sin as a thing to be restrained, hated and counterworked, and call pride, vanity and self-sufficiency to be laid in the dust in humility, reverence for Christ and obedience to His commandments.

Saving Work Accomplished

Through suffering He was made a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, touched with the feeling of human infirmities and able to succor, sustain, pity and help the tempted, distressed and afflicted. Being made perfect means He learned obedience by the things He suffered and knows by experience what humanity suffers, including birth and childhood, weakness, and what a wounded, bleeding heart means. He was made like His brethren in all things, in all points tempted like men yet without sin, suffered Himself being tempted, and thus became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. This understanding calls for pity rather than human judgment toward others, for judgment belongs to Him, and those in trouble should bring their sorrows to One who can help them, who is too wise to err and too good to do them harm.

He made reconciliation for sins as Sin-bearer and propitiation, though innocent and obedient and one with God, humbling Himself by becoming human and enduring God's wrath against sin. Though His spiritual nature was free from sin, He bore the world's accumulated sin, obediently suffering as the one able to make atonement, suffering as substitute and surety. Through His death perishing souls could be freed from the bondage of sin and the curse of the law, from Satan's power and servitude, purchased with blood and redeemed to God. His suffering and experience of temptation fitted Him to serve in this priestly work of reconciling people to God.

He shared human nature so that He who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one, taking the nature of Abraham's descendants and not angels. He is not ashamed to call them brethren, calling them His brothers and sisters. This shared kinship and oneness with Him grounds love, unity and oneness with Him and one another, grounding the call to love one another sincerely. His suffering belongs to His work of salvation and makes Him one with those sanctified, equipping Him also to sustain those who suffer and those who care for the afflicted as a tender, compassionate High Priest who knows every weakness.

He shared human nature and endured death so that He could redeem people and defeat the devil's power over death. He overcame the prince of darkness on humanity's behalf and broke his power over the human race, overcoming Satan at every point though He bore the likeness of sinful flesh and remained loyal to His Father. His victory placed humanity on vantage ground with God, giving power to stand and be victorious. Through partaking of the divine nature people can resist satanic power, resist temptation, conquer in His name, overcome through His merits, and keep God's law.

He now pleads before the throne of God as a compassionate, sympathetic, faithful High Priest, pleading with the Father for the people He purchased with His life. He intercedes for His people as a Conqueror claiming the trophies of His victory, not as a petitioner trying to move the Father to compassion or to persuade Him to show compassion. He presents His own spotless merits with their prayers, confessions and thanks, and His offering on the cross being complete, His atonement provides pardon covering all transgression and power for those who cannot save themselves. He is able to save completely all who come to God through Him, so that through His intercession as Advocate many souls are saved to eternal life.

For the joy set before Him of bringing many sons unto glory He endured the cross and despised the shame. Inconceivably great as the sorrow and shame were, greater still are the joy and the glory when He occupies His rightful position glorified above principalities and powers and every name that is named. He looks upon the redeemed renewed in His own image, every heart bearing the perfect impress of the divine, every face reflecting the likeness of their King, and beholds in them the result of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. Before the assembled righteous and wicked, before the assembled universe, He declares them the purchase of His blood, for whom He suffered and died that they might dwell in His presence throughout eternal ages. Leading many sons unto glory is His own joy, and He grants His followers communion in that joy together with fellowship in His sufferings, so that even a pathway through sacrifice and martyrdom brings joy unspeakable and an eternal weight of glory with the crown of righteousness at His coming, and the prospect of their salvation, a joy to Him, is the pattern for His followers to give themselves and their possessions to advance the work of saving others.

Like a grain that must fall into the ground and die to produce a harvest, His death was necessary to bring a great multitude to eternal life. Only by giving up His own life could He bring many sons and daughters to God.

Glory He Gives

Bringing many sons unto glory means the exaltation of human nature through the man Christ Jesus, for those who receive Him and believe on His name are given power to become the sons of God. Through His power they become partakers of the divine nature, escaping the corruption of sin, and through conformity to His character and the power of His grace they become one with Him as He is one with the Father. As Christ is honored, they are sanctified through conformity to His image, because He suffered to expiate the sins of all who believe, and their life is to be hid with Christ in God with every advantage given to those who earnestly study to know His will and show faithfulness by entire obedience to His Word. His sacrifice, made though He had been exalted and honored in heaven, redeems humanity from death, elevates fallen human nature and restores it to original purity, revealing matchless selfless love in His condescension to life among fallen people and a shameful death. By grace people may thus be perfected and become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ in the everlasting kingdom, placed on vantage ground with God to resist satanic power and keep His law.

Bringing many sons unto glory means bringing to man through the Holy Spirit a new principle of mental and spiritual power, so that through association with divinity man becomes one with God. As Redeemer and Restorer He saw man's fearful danger after Satan corrupted his mind and principles, and determined to save him by the sacrifice of Himself, becoming man, bone of bone and flesh of flesh, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death to taste death for every man. By the Holy Spirit's power and by the elevating, sanctifying power of truth He sanctifies and purifies the mind, giving men nobility and dignity and making the mind a power that draws other minds to Himself. He desires His children to reveal His character and exert His influence so that other minds are drawn into harmony with His mind, complete in Him in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, accepting men as His co-laborers and using them as instruments to show the world that God sent His Son.

It means redeeming men and women from the ruin of the fall, the weaknesses of the flesh, the temptations of the devil, and eternal death, not on His own account for He had no sin but on account of human sins. The Captain of salvation took human nature and the capacity to suffer, entering the condition after four thousand years of sin with physical, mental and moral degeneracy, infirmities, weaknesses and sins of the race upon Him, standing in Adam's place to endure Satan's temptations on every point where man would be assailed and to humble Himself to the lowest depths of human woe without sin. Having overcome in the sinner's behalf He was qualified to reach fallen man in his degradation and bring him up from sin, so that human temptations are in kind just what He endured and human victories in overcoming are in kind just what He experienced as He led the way. His suffering and death on the cross made it possible for even the vilest sinner to be pardoned and brought to eternal glory rather than everlasting shame, elevating fallen nature, restoring original purity and the moral image of God in humanity, freeing people from Satan's power to become sons of God. That redemption cost heaven an infinite price, raising step by step from earth toward heaven and joining humanity to God, while also revealing the value of the Redeemer and showing that suffering can nurture faith, endurance and sympathy for others.

It includes fitting humanity for perfect character and for life with the angels of heaven, for He took humanity upon Himself to know human weakness and temptation, learned obedience in human life, overcame the prince of darkness on humanity's behalf and broke his power so people may overcome through His merits. His death on the cross bore human sin and purchased back God's heritage to give man another trial and probation, restoring people to God's favor and bringing them to glory. Those who receive forgiveness and another probation are to devote their abilities to Christ and work with Him to bring many others to glory, and His offering is complete as He now intercedes as Conqueror presenting His spotless merits with the prayers and confessions of His people so pardon covers all transgression. Dying so that many sons and daughters may be brought to obey God's commandments, He brings them to keep the law whose curse He bore to redeem them.

The redeemed will be revealed with the victories of faith recorded, including those who came through great tribulation and remained faithful and stand before God's throne. Christ as glorious King of heaven, the Captain of salvation who brings many to glory, will Himself open that record before them.

Followers Share His Path

As He was made perfect through suffering in bringing many sons to glory, each believer must individually attain perfection of character in the same way, and reaching that standard is not easy but a daily conflict, battle and march through much tribulation and obedience under severe tests. Trials met in advancing test, strengthen and mold character after God's model, and they must be met without timidity, cowardice, repining or complaint, trusting that Jesus will give all the help that is asked and believed for. His life of self-denial and sacrifice is the pattern, so those who hope to share His throne must also share in His suffering before sitting with Him on His throne.

Those who hope to share His throne, crown, victory and joy must share His sufferings, conflicts, self-denial and sacrifice as they follow Him toward the kingdom. His life of hardship gives reason not to complain when sharing in it, but to follow Him meekly and to face trials with trust rather than fear or complaint. The way to the kingdom includes hardship, and Christian character is formed through daily conflict and trial.

Suffering in a person's life does not prove he has done something requiring repentance, and trials and afflictions are not proof of God's displeasure. They sift away impurity and purge sin from the soul, and in this life God proves people to see whether they can bear His test when Satan's temptations and trials come. The most important question is whether they will be overcome or will be overcomers, for Jesus overcame and promises that overcomers will sit with Him in His throne. God still tries men today to reveal what is in their hearts and to lead souls to know Him and place trust in Him, as He tried Israel and as Paul was perfected by trial, and this calls for fortitude and for storing the mind with heavenly truth to meet temptation with the weapon of God's word, It is written.

Those who press close to Jesus and are willing to be partakers with Him in His sufferings will be conformed to His image and will reveal simplicity and true godliness wherever they are and in whatever work they do. Those who keep looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith, receive strength from God to endure trials, perplexities, unjust treatment and unjust suspicions without impatience or discouragement, seeking to glorify God in them. He endured in behalf of others even the agonies of the cross, bearing insult, neglect, mockery, cruel scourging and shameful death without murmuring, and those who truly know Him think of Him every day and especially when affliction comes. Therefore they bear their own pain and sickness with patience, fortitude and courage, trusting in Jesus, relying on His grace, clinging to His promises, and comforting themselves that He knows every pang of anguish and helps them not to deny Him in thought, word or action, for He provides power and grace to endure fiery trials and gives reason for good courage and blessing. Believers are to look to Him, obey His orders, and rely on His strength as they endure their duties and spiritual battles.

His suffering stands alongside the victory that comes when people surrender strength and will to God, so that weakness becomes strength and the weak overcome powerful enemies. His self-denial, toil, privation, labor and suffering were undertaken to save others from ruin, and He completed the work given Him and finished it, enduring to the end without considering His own convenience, ease, plenty or the pleasures of this life. Because believers every moment share the blessings of that great love and have been saved from ignorance and misery, they should accept humiliation, sorrow and tribulation rather than seek ease, honor or a better and easier position in this life than their Lord had. They should not expect a better portion than their Lord, who though sinless endured reproach, trials and the hostility of people who rejected light and sought to accuse and destroy Him, and who could do not many mighty works because of unbelief. Prosperity and learning and worldly honor are no evidence of the favor of God, and the true church cannot enjoy the favor of a wicked world, so His followers must be willing to drink with Him the bitter cup of humiliation and sorrow and to enter His kingdom through much tribulation.

As Captain of salvation He lived not to please Himself, and His example opposes selfish ambition for the highest place. Those who would teach or lead must first be teachable, willing to learn from others, and humble enough to show their need of help and dependence, and this spirit benefits the church. A work of man-ruling power over conscience does not originate with Him as Author of salvation, for His salvation forbids men exercising authority over the Lord's heritage according to their own disposition, holding sway by human control with lack of spiritual discernment, injuring sound judgment, offending God and making religious liberty impossible, since He has given no human the right to be conscience for his fellow man. His authority as Captain does not sanction exposing fellow believers' faults to unbelievers or forming alliances that weaken confidence in biblical truth.

Captain Leads His Army

Hebrews 2:10 identifies Christ as the Captain of salvation who strengthens His people for conflict and comes to their aid when they face Satan's attacks and even death, so that prayers offered in faith bring Him to their defense, turn the battle, and deliver the oppressed. He orders the battle, sends support to His soldiers, displays His power to encourage them, and leads them step by step as they advance until they share His victory and glory and enter His kingdom. His leadership is marked by righteousness, and He meets Satan's determined effort to efface God's image in man and hide God from view by working secretly and mingling the human with the divine and the spurious with the genuine to bring confusion and distress. When the enemy has seemed to gain a signal victory over righteousness, God in mercy and power counteracts his designs, with divine mercy revealed in proportionate power to bring the enemy's hidden purposes to light. Christ's sacrifice redeems from sin, His blood cleanses and His righteousness clothes the believer, giving hope and assurance grounded in His power to keep and to raise at the last day, as seen in readiness to face death. Angels serve in His ranks as He leads onward to victory.

Those enlisted under His blood-stained banner of the cross are soldiers in warfare against Satan and his host, where they must conquer in the name of Jesus or be conquered. They are enlisted to fight Satan's forces, not to fight fellow soldiers with harshness, faultfinding, and abuse of the erring, but to oppose enemies, not fellow believers, and to work to build His kingdom. They must keep His interests in view, live a life that convinces others they are children of God, awake to duty, show themselves true and loyal, follow His example, and learn faithfulness to Him who loves them and has given them a place in His army. Because He suffered to save them, they should even more willingly than earthly soldiers endure privation, self-denial, hardship, and any cost for His sake. Serving under Him means obeying His commands and taking part in the daily struggle against sin, Satan, unrighteousness, and selfishness, and with Christ as Leader and clothed with God's armor they can conquer in His name despite hardship and temptation.

Following Him means being ready to obey His commands and orders and rules to the letter amid continual conflict, without making ease, convenience, pleasure, or worldly work the priority. It means keeping the eye fixed upon Him, waiting upon the Lord for His directions, seeking Him in prayer and Scripture, exercising faith in His promises and believing He hears prayer, keeping step, and working in unity and harmony. He does not leave His people to guide their own course but gives personal help and wisdom exactly when He sees they need it, and holding fast to the mighty arm of infinite power prevails even when Satan does his utmost and enemies of truth seek to triumph, because He can do more than can be asked or thought. Following Him gives every believer the privilege of being a conqueror pressing toward the mark of the prize, pitching the tent far from Sodom with no attraction in sin, and throwing the whole power of intellect, thought, and being on the side of the God of heaven. Ministers work under His direction as the great Captain, and all glory and success are given to Him alone.

He takes God's children into His army and keeps them under His training to prepare them for active service, teaching them how to fight and leading them through truths, warnings, and testimonies to genuine experience. Following His leading step by step gives a genuine Christian experience that unfolds day by day with new strength and earnestness and constant growth in spiritual life, purifying His people and fitting them for translation. Those who draw off from the body, are not willing to be led, and are satisfied with their own righteousness are left in the rear and left behind. All courage and fortitude and soldierly bravery for the Christian warfare comes from Him, springing from the life hidden with Christ in God where Christ lives in the believer, since natural temperament contributes nothing and resistance against evil is supernatural enmity against Satan. His followers are to show courage and wholeheartedness in the field, holding to the true standard and helping others rally to it as they work to win people to the truth.

His workers join Him in saving perishing souls purchased by His blood as the fruit of His suffering, for His suffering brings many sons and daughters to God and glory. Christ offered Himself as a complete sacrifice and worked untiringly to save sinners, bearing human sin on the cross to restore people to God's favor and bring them to glory, and those who receive forgiveness and another probation are to devote their abilities wholly to that same work. They follow Him who goes before them and work with Him for those who are perishing, empowered by God and guided by His teaching. Representing His love for fallen humanity calls for watchfulness, prayer, persevering effort, and willingness to endure hardship and labor to bring others to the light, presenting the crucified and risen Saviour with meekness and love. His own sufferings and sacrifice provided a full and sufficient salvation for every repentant person who has faith in Him and also set the example for His followers.

He is present on every field of battle where truth is waging war against error, so His workers in missionary work are not left alone but are laborers together with God in partnership with divine resources, with agencies put in operation in answer to importunate prayer of faith in fulfillment of His promise to be with them always even unto the end of the world. Under His direction God's people carry forward their work, and their united efforts and the growth of their mission, including education, health institutions, and other missionary work, are blessed and prosper as they follow Him. He stands ready to work with those engaged in saving souls and stands at the helm of His work rather than leaving it to ignorant pilots to steer. He is present as Master of assemblies and stands by the side of each believer, so that even when separated and scattered to stand alone without connection with other leading minds, each one can know God is by his side. Therefore workers need not fear the enemy or the coming crisis, but come together knowing He is present, seek His directions with humble hearts, receive the precious truth He sends at the right time, and investigate it by the Bible and prayer instead of closing the ears, staying away, or scattering disagreement.

Those enlisted as soldiers of the cross must follow Him without the camp bearing reproach in the same self-sacrifice, doing duty at their post every time whether they feel like it or not, not consulting their own wishes and ease, but willing to endure hardness as good soldiers. His soldiers are enlisted for service on a battlefield and must obey His order to advance, lift the standard, and carry it through the battle, with genuine experience, wearing His yoke and lifting His burdens, refusing the easiest place and avoiding the rough path for comfort, forgetting little infirmities instead of nursing them, and doing active, aggressive warfare. Serving Him means beginning humbly with small duties done well and faithfully, not waiting for some large thing or honorable position, because His majesty and greatness make the service great and He makes the smallest service and humblest talent wholly excellent. It means possessing undaunted courage and resolution, quitting like men and being strong, doing and suffering by living for God, battling against all wrong especially every form of intemperance, enlisting under His banner and carrying the cross through the world while resisting worldliness and wickedness in high places and in low, and going forward to battle and to victory. Following the Captain means following the counsel of God even when it crosses personal will and desire, remaining fixed and decided in the work laid out, pledged to follow Him through trials, shame, reproach, and the fight of faith, dedicating themselves to the One who paid the ransom for their souls, and laying down the armor only at death as aged and experienced Christians lay it at His feet to wait for the last trumpet.