In the opening chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews the glories of God’s Son are presented, and among them is that He is the “appointed Heir of all things” (verse 2), but the One who is so glorious has become Man so that He might have companions, and in this relationship God has anointed Him “with the oil of gladness above” His companions (verse 9). The Son, in the greatness of His Person is greater than angels, for they are creatures, the greatest of created beings, but He is creator, and the angels of God are called upon to worship Him (verse 6). The companions that have been chosen for the Son of God in Manhood were sinners far from God by nature and practice, and they required to be saved, and for this purpose the Lord Jesus came to make propitiation for sins (verse 3), and to do all that was necessary to make them suited for His company.
Having made purification for sins, the Son of God took His place “on the right hand of the majesty on high,” waiting for the time when He would come again to bring His companions to heaven to be with Him for ever. Such is the greatness of the salvation of which believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are heirs. It is a complete salvation that not only takes away their sins, but brings them to heaven as suited companions for God’s own Son. While waiting the coming of the Lord to take them to heaven, the “heirs of salvation” pass through a world of opposition in which they need the constant care of the Lord, but He not only cares for them Himself with a ministry of grace, He has given the angels to be “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister” for them (verse 14).
“So great salvation”
The great salvation of which believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are heirs, “at the first began to be spoken by the Lord” (Heb. 2:3), and as we go through the Gospels we learn much of what salvation means. In Luke 7:50 the Lord Jesus said to the poor repentant sinner, “Thy faith has saved thee, go in peace.” For her salvation was the forgiveness of sins, for the Lord had said to her, “Thy sins are forgiven” (verse 48). To the blind man of Luke 18 who cried to the Lord for mercy, the Lord Jesus said, “Receive thy sight: thy faith has saved thee” (verse 42). For this poor blind beggar salvation meant the gift of sight from the Son of God. No one who truly sought the Lord and His salvation were turned away, as Zacchaeus found, a salvation not for himself alone, but for his house, and the Lord could say, “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:9-10). To obtain this great salvation we must be in earnest, for when one said to the Lord, “Are there few that be saved,” He answered, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” for many who were mere professors of the Lord would be eternally excluded from the great salvation (Luke 13:23–30).
Although the rejection of the Son of God means judgment for the world, this is the result of the Lord’s coming, not the purpose of it, for the Lord said, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). How very solemn it is that the world in rejecting the Son of God has refused His great salvation, and brought upon itself His judgment. In spite of the world’s rejection of the Son of God, the salvation of God is still open to any individual who will come to the Lord, for He said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). The Lord had come to save the world from the darkness of Satan’s influence, but they refused His salvation (John 12:46-47). As we go through the Acts we see how this great salvation, spoken by the Lord, was confirmed “by them that heard Him,” and especially by the Apostles of the Lord.
“The Captain of their salvation”
There are many ways in which the Lord Jesus undertakes for the heirs of salvation on their way to obtain the fulness of the blessing of the great salvation He has provided for them, and one of His offices is “The Captain of their salvation” (Heb. 2:10). From this verse we learn that the heirs of salvation are also God’s many sons, and from Galatians 3:26 we learn how we have come into this wonderful relationship with God, “for ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus.”
As the Captain of our salvation, the Son of God is leading God’s many sons onward to glory, for nothing less than sharing the glory of Christ in the coming day is included in the great salvation of which God has made us heirs. We have many difficulties and trials to face as we journey through the wilderness of this world, where there is nothing to sustain our divine life, and where there is the opposition of a watchful foe, but out great Leader has taken the journey before us, and knows every step of the way, every trial and sorrow that has to be met, and every enemy that has to be faced. Under the leadership of the Son of God, every one of the many sons will be brought safely to glory.
In passing the way before us, the Captain of our salvation was made “perfect through sufferings.” There were all the sufferings He endured in the contradiction of sinners against Himself in the conflict of good over evil, sufferings in reproaches, rejection, injustice, insults, mockery and buffeting, as well as in the trials that were common to men. Then there was the infinite suffering on the cross to procure our blessing, as well as the awful anticipation of what lay before Him. The only part in the cross that we had was that our sins were on Him, but it is our privilege to suffer with Christ and for Christ as we take our way to the glory, and for this we have the blessed ministry of our great Leader, on whom we should ever fix the eye. Contemplating Him we shall be able to meet every bit of suffering in triumph, and as sustained by His grace.
“The Author of eternal salvation”
It was in the days of His flesh, when the Son of God “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him that was able to save Him from death” (Heb. 5:7) that Jesus procured the eternal salvation of which He is presented to us as the Author (verse 9). This great salvation has been procured at infinite cost to God and to His beloved Son, but it is an eternal salvation, the precious fruits of which the heirs shall enjoy for eternity in a scene where all things are new, and with Him who has procured it for us.
Although salvation is offered to all men in the gospel, it is only the portion of “those who obey” its author. The obedience of faith lays hold on what Christ, by His sufferings, has secured for those who submit to Him. In His sufferings the Son of God learned obedience, but not as we have to learn it. We are by nature the “children of disobedience,” and require to turn from our disobedience of nature to the obedience of the Christ. There was never any disobedience about God’s Son, but before coming into the world He had ever commanded, and in Manhood obedience was something new for Him, and what obedience was He learned in sufferings that fully enabled Him to enter into what we pass through in this world.
“Things that accompany salvation”
Among the Hebrews who professed Christianity there were some who apostatised, who gave up the Christian profession and returned to Judaism, “But”, said the writer of the Epistle, “beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation” (Heb. 6:9). There was evidence in the lives of those who truly believed in the Lord Jesus that they possessed the living faith that brought to them the great salvation of God.
There would not have been hope of salvation for any in Israel had not the Son of God, on the cross, interceded for the nation, saying, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 33:34). Because of the Lord’s intercession, the nation was viewed by God as the “manslayer” and not as a murderer (Num. 35). The city of refuge for them was in Christ, risen from the dead, and glorified in heaven. When the testimony to Christ glorified in heaven was rejected, the Jewish nation was then treated as having betrayed and murdered the Son of God (Acts 7:52). God’s judgment was therefore poured out on the guilty nation, for God “sent forth His armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city” (Matt. 22:7). God’s grace still left a way of escape for the individual Jew who fled to Him for refuge, and this refuge was his salvation in Christ in heaven. Those who believe the Gospel receive the hope of salvation, which subsists in Christ within the veil of heaven, and are assured of going to be with Him there.
“Able also to save . . . to the uttermost”
The only way of blessing for man, be he Jew or Gentile, is to “come to God by” His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 7:25). On high, the Son of God is “a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec,” and this after He had offered Himself for our sins upon the cross (verses 21, 27). In the exercise of His priestly office, the Lord Jesus watches over His people here below. He knows all their sorrows, and sympathises with them; He knows all their weaknesses and sustains them, and no matter how great their trials are He brings them safely through them all, and will bring them safe to heaven.
Christ’s death procured salvation from our sins, and from all our enemies, but we needed to be preserved throughout our journey to God’s rest, and this a living Christ has undertaken for us. If by His death He has secured so much for us, what can He not do for us as living in the presence of God above. On the cross He interceded for sinners, on the throne above He intercedes for His people here, and by this priestly intercession we are saved to the uttermost, saved day by day from all our foes, from all the harm they would do to us if God did not hinder them.
“Christ…shall appear…for salvation”
The godly remnant of Israel looked for salvation at the coming of Messiah, salvation from their enemies, and “by the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:71, 77), and when the aged Simeon beheld the Babe Jesus, he said “mine eyes have seen Thy salvation…a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32). Alas! the nation rejected and crucified Him who was God’s salvation. Yet the evil of Israel served to make known the infinite wisdom of God, who took the occasion of the rejection of His Son to lay the basis in redemption to secure for those who believed in Christ the remission of their sins. Salvation for the remnant of Israel from their enemies, of which Zacharias spoke, will be accomplished when Christ, who “was once offered to bear the sins of many” will appear, to the remnant who look for Him, “the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:28).
If the second coming of Christ brings salvation to the godly remnant in the land of Israel, when all the nations are gathered around Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1–4), those who are the heirs of Salvation will already have been taken up to heaven at the rapture of the church. His appearing will indeed be salvation for us, for we shall then be brought into the blessing for which we have long hoped. We shall have our part with Christ in the day of His glory, and shall share His joys in the Father’s house. From this and some of the other Scriptures we have considered, it is evident that the full thought of salvation awaits the appearing of the Son of God, as the Apostle Peter writes, “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5).
“The saving of the soul”
Salvation has many aspects as the Scriptures which speak of it show. We have seen how the father of John Baptist spoke of it as salvation from our enemies, and remission of our sins. For the blind man of Luke 18, salvation from his blind condition by the power of Christ has its answer for us in the spiritual sight the Lord Jesus has given us, even as salvation from our lost condition was spoken of by the Lord in relation to Zacchaeus. In Ephesians 5:23, the Lord Jesus is the “Saviour of the body,” but in Hebrews 10:39 we believe “to the saving of the soul.”
What a wonderful benefit for the sinner is the salvation of the soul, even as the Lord Jesus said, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matt. 16:26). All the great possessions of time are not to be compared with the salvation of the soul, and this salvation is given to the just who live by faith, and who by faith have even now the knowledge that their souls are saved from eternal perdition. Mere profession will not bring this inestimable blessing, for it is possible to be in the Christian profession, and draw back from a real association with the rejected Christ, who alone can give the eternal blessing.
The Apostle Peter also writes of the salvation of the soul. As loving our absent Lord whom we do not see, we “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,” but even now we receive the end for which we trusted Jesus, “the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). The prophets of old spoke of this salvation, but could not understand what they wrote, being informed that they were writing for a coming generation, even for us who have been enriched by the wonderful grace of God which has given us “so great salvation.”
How much we already enjoy as “the heirs of salvation,” all that salvation means in relation to the soul, all the is ministered to us by Him who saves to the uttermost; and how much lies ahead, all that is to be brought to us at the revelation of the Son of God, when He comes to bring us to share all things with Him, according to the sovereign love of God, all that was purposed in Christ before the foundation of the world. May God give us grace to manifest the things that accompany salvation, to walk through this world in faithfulness to Him who has made us “the heirs of salvation.”
R. 18.1.70