Bringing many sons to glory

N.B. Let me apologise to regular readers for the myriad grammatical and spelling errors in the posts over the last several weeks. I was away from my computer and posting from my iPad. At times my online access was limited or my schedule was tight and I wrote and posted without any kind of check. Thanks for you patience and understanding. 

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." - Hebrews 2:10

It suited Christ, who is the source of all things, to become the captain of salvation through His sufferings so that He might 'bring many sons to glory.'

Wow! That verse is so powerful that it really doesn't need any human explanation.

But when I studied this a few years ago I had a thought about this verse that really made an impression on me and does to this day.

The word 'captain' here does not have to just mean the captain of a ship or a military commander. The word can refer to any reader. I don't remember who it was, but someone translated the word as 'pioneer' or 'trailblazer.' From what I can see there is nothing to say that is not a good translation for the meaning of this word.

When I thought about that I remembered a great American painting that depicts frontiersman Daniel Boone escorting settlers through the Cumberland Gap into what is now Kentucky in the US. It shows him out front bringing people through to a new land where they would settle and make their homes.

Now, I realise that we can take this too far and that these paintings were romanticised and glorified. And yet, I think this depiction is a great picture of what Hebrews 2.10 talks about. It is the image of someone leading, or pioneering, or captaining people to a new home.

And that is just what Jesus did for us through His suffering. When he went to the cross He opened the road to 'bring many sons to glory.'

Of course the our illustration is not perfect. Daniel Boone suffered only the struggles and toils of a wilderness. Jesus, in our Father's deep love, suffered the agony of the cross.

The song 'How Deep the Father's Love For Us' puts it well:

How great the pain of searing loss,

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the chosen One,

Bring many sons to glory

Praise God that the pioneer of our salvation brings many sons to glory. And praise Him that I am on of them.