What does it mean that Jesus is bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10)?

Look at the exquisite beauty and grace of this 10th verse: "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." That word "became" means, it was consistent with all that He was, it was suited to the character of God. Let us see what He was going to do. He was going to bring to glory. That was God's great object. And whom is He going to bring to glory? Many sons. He is not satisfied to bring a few men to glory, nor even to bring many; but when brought to glory they are to be in eternal relationship of sonship with Himself. We might easily conceive of God redeeming us without bringing us into the relationship of sons; He might have given us a distant place in His glory; but God's thoughts are far beyond that. He will have a family of children about Himself. Redeemed children they must be, but children in all the nearness and joy of a Father's presence.

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.

There are many other reasons for the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. One last reason before we pass to our next point, was to bring many sons to glory (Heb.2:10). It is not sinners to glory, although that is all we were, but we are not going to be there as sinners, we are going to be there in heaven as sons of God. I do not break bread on Lord's day as a sinner, not even as a sinner saved by grace, although that is all I am, but I am there as one of His brethren (John 20:17) in the dignity of sonship. He is bringing many sons to glory. I trust everyone in this room tonight is going to glory. If you are not you definitely can, there is an invitation for you to come to Him and to go to glory to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

How is this brought about? We will look at the work of the Lord first of all. Turn to Hebrews 2. You get the truth presented in rather a different way there. Yet it is very important. "But 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. For it became 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. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise to thee" (Heb. 2:9-12). God is bringing many sons to glory, and in order to it makes the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. That is Christ. "He that sanctifies" is Jesus, and "they who are sanctified," all that are Christ's, and they are "all of one." He does not say what. No one word could describe it. But they are all of the same order — of one Father, one character, one family. What a wonderful thing for the soul to get hold of. Of every believer in Jesus, is it true that they are "all of one."

In verse 10 we find a second object that was in view in the sufferings and death of Christ. Not only did He accomplish propitiation for all, but He thereby qualified Himself — if we may so put it — for the position He was to take up according to the purpose of God. God has instituted a new pilgrimage. Of old He used Moses and Joshua to bring a nation from Egypt to Canaan. Now He has set His hand to the mighty task of bringing many sons, gathered out from all the nations, to glory. He will not fail in this glorious enterprise for, firstly, He who has initiated it has all things at His disposal, and secondly, the One to whom it is entrusted as Leader is the risen Christ. He went through all possible sufferings here in order that He might have full experimental knowledge of all the sorrows under which lay those who are now the sons on the way to glory.

The grand truth first before us, and justly, is that it became God — Him for whom and by whom is the universe — in bringing (not everybody but) "many sons" unto glory, to make the Leader of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Where sin is, in God's righteous government there must follow suffering. Undoubtedly in Christ was no sin, not only no sin done but none in Himself. But He became the responsible Man to retrieve God's honour, outraged everywhere by the creature above and below. Satan and his angels had left their first estate. Man was disobedient. All was ruin. The Son of man goes down in obedience and bears all the consequences, glorifying God infinitely even as to sin, and on the road endures sufferings in every shape and decree as none else could, according to His moral perfection and personal glory, till all was exhausted in the cross, so that it was for God's righteousness to exalt Him as now in glory. Thus was His course finished, that He in glory might bring "many sons" to glory; but the path lay through sufferings. Thus was He perfected: not that He was not ever the perfect One, but that so only could it be if God were to be vindicated and Himself the Leader of salvation for the many sons to share that heavenly glory. The work is done which gives Him a title to "everything" by redemption, as He had also the rights of Creator. He died, having made peace by the blood of His cross to reconcile all things, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens. But He responded entirely to the gracious purpose of God which would also have "many sons" reconciled to share the glory with Him, and therefore He accepted all the sufferings which were the necessary condition. Judgment must have closed the door irrevocably on all men as on all angels that sinned. Where would grace then have been? The sufferings of Christ made it righteous to have many sons in the same glory as Himself, not derogating from God's glory but enhancing it and giving it a new, larger, and higher form than ever. Where would judgment, have been otherwise? What did the "sons" deserve?

A great contrast will be perceived between verses 9 and 10. In the former, Jesus is presented as crowned with glory and honour at the right hand of God; in the latter we behold Him at the head of the many sons, who were being brought unto glory, being made perfect through sufferings. Three things may be especially noted in this scripture. First, there is the character of God, as set forth in the words, "it became Him." That is, if our blessed Lord, in His grace and devotedness at all costs to the will of God, identified Himself with the "many sons," and undertook their cause, "it was fitting that God should vindicate the rights of His glory, and should maintain it with reference to those who had dishonoured Him, and that He should treat the One who had taken their cause in hand, and who stood before Him in their name, as representing them in that respect." All that God is, His glory, necessitated, for example, that Christ, in dying for His people, should be made sin upon the cross, inasmuch as He was there in their place, and on their behalf. Secondly, we have the objects of God's heart, and the accomplishment of His eternal purpose introduced in the words, "in bringing many sons unto glory." It is very sweet to see the outflow of divine love in this expression - sons on their way to glory; they are His sons at the outset, and His glory is their goal and home. Lastly, the Captain of their salvation is made perfect through sufferings; and it was this, as already explained, that the glory of God required; for it was only in virtue of the sufferings of Christ, His vicarious sufferings, that the many sons could be redeemed from the hand of the enemy, conducted through the wilderness, and brought into the enjoyment of that salvation on which they will enter when He appears the second time. (Chap. 9:28.) The phrase "made perfect" must be carefully guarded. The word so translated is sometimes given as "consecrated," as in chap. 7:28, in the sense of initiation into office. This should be borne in mind in order to exclude from the word any thought of being made morally perfect, which would be utterly inconsistent with the truth of His glorious Person. In fact, "made perfect" here signifies that Christ was perfectly qualified through His sufferings to become the Captain of His people's salvation. The sufferings He went through, in order to this end, will include, therefore, all that He endured, according to the requirements of the glory of God, for their salvation. But it should be added, that it was only after His resurrection and exaltation He became the "Captain." It is from the glory, He is the Leader of the many sons, that He ministers to them the needed mercy and grace, succours them out of temptation, saves them "to the uttermost," and conducts them to glory. Meanwhile, though in the wilderness, He, as the Great Priest over the house of God, having Himself initiated the way "through the veil, that is to say, His flesh," gives them boldness to enter into the holiest in the power and efficacy of His precious blood. But this path can only be trodden through death and resurrection.

A word or two may be given upon the remarkable connection of this scripture. After saying "that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man," the apostle proceeds, "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." The significant point is the introduction of the "many sons" whom God is bringing unto glory, in connection with the "all things," thus opening out the whole scope of the purposes of God, whether in regard to the "all things," or to the "many sons" who are under the leadership of the Captain of their salvation. It is, we cannot doubt, to teach that it was requisite for the glory of God in the accomplishment of His purposes ("it became Him") that the Lord Jesus should pass through the suffering of death. It was in this way that an immutable basis was laid for the establishment of the universe of bliss, wherein all the glory of God will be displayed and where Christ will be the Centre and Sun of all. The reader will also observe the association and identification of Christ with the "many sons" as another reason of His being made perfect through sufferings, for both "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

We have very little idea of what the heart of Jesus felt as He passed through this sorrowful, because sinful, world; and we are far too apt to miss the reality of His sufferings by confining them merely to what He endured on the cross, and also by supposing that because He was God over all, blessed for ever, He did not feel all that a human heart is capable of feeling. This is a sad loss. Indeed we may say it is an incalculable loss. The Lord Jesus, as the Captain of our salvation, was made perfect through sufferings. See Hebrews 2, where the inspired writer distinguishes carefully between "the suffering of death," and the "sufferings" of the Captain of our salvation. In order to save sinners from wrath, "he tasted death for every man," and having done so, we see Him "crowned with glory and honour." But in order to "bring many sons to glory," He had to be "perfected through sufferings." And now all true believers have the unspeakable privilege of knowing that there is One at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens who, when in this world of sin and woe, tasted every form of suffering and every cup of sorrow which it was possible for any human heart to know. He could say, "Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none." (Ps. 69:20)

52 The majesty and righteousness of God must be maintained, and none could have vindicated them but Christ: there never could have been security for God's glory otherwise. It became Him to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings - "perfect," that is, in the full result of glory - to bring Him into the state of a glorified Man if He would bring sons to glory. In Himself He was the perfect One; He always is in the bosom of the Father; and all that He did was the Father's delight, so that, if I may reverentially use the expression, the Father could not be silent, but opens the heavens and says, "This is my beloved Son." But in the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is a question of the majesty of God, and we do not find "Father."