Post 65: Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the originator and the perfecter. It’s as if to say, “all those Old Testament figures and heroes were examples of what faith looks like, but don’t get mixed up. They might be watching you, but don’t look to the past. Don’t get into the habit of thinking we look to them for examples. Look only to the One who started it and will end it.”

How does one look unto Jesus? I think, by first seeing in Bible study that He, not moralism or history, is the theme. By seeing His hand in creation and sustenance of the world (Colossians 2). By knowing He alone is Lord and will reign. By not allowing the world to tell you He was a socialist, a radical, a good buy, or anything they happen to see as a use for Him for their own purposes, such as making Jesus pro-choice because He cared about women. By …. What do you think?

The clause that follows in verse 2, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” describes the gospel. He endured the cross, despising the shame [that is, seeing the shame of hanging naked and exposed on a cross as nothing compared to the final redemption of mankind] and now enthroned. But notice I skipped, “for the joy that was set before Him.”

One is reminded of the hymn in Philippians 2; the language is similar. We can get caught up in the penal substitution of the cross (a fancy term for the idea of His payment and His taking our place) and lose sight of Christus Victorius. I believe Christ Victorious is taught as much if not more than penal substitution. There was joy set before Him—to make the creation right again, to put things in order, to conquer sin, to be the King. That is the total gospel, really, not where we end it: He died for me so I can go to heaven. The joy that was set before Him includes our personal redemption but so much more. One of the sins of the American church is that we ignore the “so much more” of the joy that was set before Him.”

This is where my personal Christian journey has taken me—away from focusing on my experience to that of the world struggling under the weight of sin, which Christ died to redeem. Not just me but all creation.