Lewis Bayly was a Christian man greatly admired by John Bunyan. He wrote “Practice of Piety” in 1619. In his work, he has the redeemed soul and Christ in an imaginary conversation.

Soul. “Lord, why did You let yourself be taken when You might have escaped Your enemies?”

Christ. “That your spiritual enemies should not take you, and cast you into the prison of utter darkness.”

Soul. “Lord, why did You let yourself be bound?”

Christ. “That I might loose the cords of your iniquities.”

Soul. “Lord, why did You let Yourself be lifted up upon a Cross?”

Christ. “That I might lift you up with Me to heaven.”

Soul. “Lord, why were Your hands and feet nailed to the Cross?”

Christ. “To enlarge your hands to do the works of righteousness and to set your feet at liberty, to walk in the ways of peace.”

Soul. “Lord, why did You have Your arms nailed wide?”

Christ. “That I might embrace you more lovingly.”

The sufferings of Christ were for our benefit. We are the ones that benefited from Jesus’ suffering and ultimate death on the cross. Hebrews 2:10, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” I’m going to give you three things today to think about from this verse.

  1. Power. The first portion of the verse speaks about creation. The power of God is referenced by the words “…for whom are all things and by whom are all things…” Muse on this thought. Genesis 1 reveals to us that God used “a word” when he spoke everything into existence. The phrase ex nihlo means out of nothing. Yet that wasn’t enough for our salvation. God didn’t speak “a word” to save us, He sent “the Word” to saves us. It seems it took more effort for God to provide our salvation than for creation. The love of God has to be seen if a man or woman is looking.
  2. Pioneer. Notice the portion of the verse which says “…to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” To some commentators, the word captain could also be translated using other words such as leader, author, hero and champion. The word pioneer is one that fits very well in understanding this phrase. What does a pioneer do? He or she blazes the trail for others to follow. Christ certainly did this. How? He did it though sufferings. The word “perfect” needs a comment. It has the idea of completion. It certainly doesn’t mean that Christ finally achieved sinlessness, for He was always sinless. That is called the “impeccability of Christ.” So how do we look at the phrase? Christ was the pioneer in sufferings. He blazed the way so that when we go through sufferings, the trail is already cut.
  3. Procession. Look at our verse again. “…in bringing many sons unto glory.” It pictures a huge number of people, a mighty number that is hard to count. Revelation 7:9, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;” Imagine our captain leading the way and all of God’s redeemed following in His footsteps. The sufferings we face simply mean we are in solidarity with Christ because He went through it first, blazing the way. What is gained by suffering? Loyalty to Christ should be one of the lessons learned. Did you read the word “sons” in our verse? Not a number but a son. My loyalty, first and foremost, is to Christ. What else? When traveling the hard roads, it matures us. There can be the lessons which tender us. That’s a good thing. We also learn sympathy. Because Christ suffered, He is able to succor (assist, relieve) us. See verse 18 of this same chapter. Let’s run to Christ. He is the one that can help. He knows the way to help when heartache and trouble knock on our door. While you are in Hebrews, look at 13:12. Christ suffered without the gate, “let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp.”