The Cross of Christ -

‘Who for the joy

that was set before Him’

‘So great salvation’, 2. 3. Limited by vocabulary, the writer attempts to describe what is on offer, by using superlatives. Not just ‘salvation’. Not just ‘great salvation’, but it’s a ‘so great salvation’. This technique is so reminiscent of Paul, when in Colossians chapter 2, verse 9, he writes, ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’. Not just ‘Godhead’ – not just ‘the fullness of the Godhead’ – BUT ‘ALL the fullness of the Godhead bodily’.

The cross became the means of procuring God’s ‘so great salvation’

‘For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer’. Heb. 8. 3. ‘For every high priest ... is ordained ... that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins’, Heb.5. 1.

The offering that this ‘great high priest’ made, is a central theme of the Hebrew epistle. ‘So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many’, 9. 28. ‘... we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’, 10. 10. ‘But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God’, 10. 12. ‘For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified’, 10. 14.

It is a ‘so great salvation’ for at least 4 reasons.

(1) Great because of who procured it – The Deity of Christ has been the great theme of the first chapter – ‘as to the Son, Thy throne, O God’ v.8.

(2) Great because of the price that was paid – ‘How much more shall the blood of Christ’, 9. 14.

(3) Great because of what it saves from – ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’, 10. 31.

(4) Great because of what it procures  – ‘He became the author of eternal salvation’, 5. 9 – ‘... having obtained eternal redemption for us’, 9. 12.

‘But we see Jesus ... that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him ... to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings’, 2. 9-10.

Scripture often presents paradoxes to its reader. For example in Luke chapter 2 verse 52, we read, ‘And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature’.  How can He who is God, and in whom are found all the ‘treasures of wisdom’, increase in wisdom? How can He who is perfect, be made perfect? ‘Not that Christ needed to be made perfect in nature, but perfect in his capacity to be the Captain of our salvation, complete in all the offices which He sustains toward His redeemed people. He must be a Sufferer that He may be a Sympathizer; and hence His sufferings made Him perfect.’ CHARLES SPURGEON.

Many of the Lord’s servants suffered martyrdom. Stephen was stoned to death, and Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword, but the Lord is able to sympathise with them, having passed through death Himself. ‘For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin’, Hebrews 4. 15.

The cross became the means of perfecting Christ for priesthood

The cross allowed Him to meet the main requirement of priesthood

The story is told of a young boy, who, keen to have a puppy, responded to an advert in the local press. The farmer who was selling the pups gave him the choice of the litter, and to his surprise the youth chose a pup that was crippled. The farmer advised against it, saying, ‘That pup will never run or jump!’ The boy answered, ‘Sir, that pup’s going to need someone who understands him to help him along in life!’ He then proceeded to pull up his right trouser leg and exposed to the farmer’s view, an iron caliper and leather knee strap that supported a poor twisted leg deformed by polio! The boy was well suited to sympathize with the needs of the pup!

The cross becomes the foundation for propitiation

‘Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like to his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people, 2. 17 JND. The backcloth of the Hebrew epistle is the Day of Atonement;this being the day in the Jewish calendar when the high priest went into the holy of holies to sprinkle the blood of the bullock and goat on and before the mercy seat [Leviticus 16].