It's a tiny little verse in the Bible but it opens up a vast infinitude of blessings for fallen, mortal humanity:
"We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man"(Heb. 2:9, KJV).
(a) Jesus was "made" to be something He was not--lower even than the angels. Here again we see His condescension.
(b) He became human specifically for the purpose of dying (you became human for the specific purpose of living eternally!). From Babyhood He faced His cross; He lived His life in its shadow. You have lived your life in the unshadowed sunlight of God's smile of delight with you.
(c) We "see" Him in the Word: behold the Christ of the Bible! The picture is clear.
(d) We can know Him more intimately through seeing Him in the Word than if we were walking the paths of the Holy Land with Him.
(e) He was "crowned" with the most unique "glory and honour"--the privilege of dying the death of every person on earth.
(f) But that "death" is not the restful sleep that death is, according to the Bible.
(g) It's the real thing--the utter horror of the "second death"(cf. Rev. 2:11; 20:14).
(h) That description of the second death includes more than an eternal sleep (people often think that is something to be desired) --
(i) No, that "second death" is a final judgment of total condemnation from the open books of record--every cell of one's being is on fire with self-destroying torture.
(j) It's the horror that Jesus endured when He cried out to His Father on His cross, "My God, why have You forsaken me?"
(k) It's what the lost will feel in that final hour.
(l) It's more than a momentary anguish: it is the essence of the eternal horror of hell--the absence of God forever.
(m) The choice of His to accept it for our sake is what the Bible means by the word "love" (agape).
(n) Yes, while He was hanging on His cross, the Son of God could "not see through the portals of the tomb" to see His upcoming resurrection! He could see nothing but an eternal hell stretching out before Him. But He endured it, "despising the shame" (Heb. 12:2).
Ponder that love; "behold" it. You'll never be the same.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 2, 2008.
Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
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