Part 3 “But We Do See Jesus”
Hebrews 2:5-18
Intro – the Pan Am games in Toronto came to an end a week ago and Canada did very well placing second over-all with 217 medals…including 78 gold…
-in about a week from now, the Para Pan Am Games will get underway in the same venues, featuring athletes with disabilities from all over the world competing in all sorts of events…
-what fascinates me are the blind runners who manage to compete in races at blistering speeds…
-one of those blind runners is Jason Dunkerley, (image) a Canadian who runs the 1500m and 5000m events.
Jason, who was born blind, has represented Canada at four Paralympic (Olympic) Games as well as numerous other track events, and has been on the medal podium in each of those events…
He is the current Canadian record holder for the 800m, 1500m and 5000m. He is ranked 2nd in the world for the 1500m and
6th in the world for the 5000m.
But what is most fascinating to me about Jason Dunkerley and other blind runners, is that they run with a guide…they are partnered with a fellow runner and attached to each other by a string or tether…(image)…Dunkerley’s current guide is Kenyan-born Joshua Karanja…
-it’s interesting to read about the relationship they need to have between the two of them to be successful…about the level of trust that is needed…the ability to match their strides…the communication needed between them while running…the commitment to push harder and get better that both athletes need to have…Jason says one of the reasons he likes Karanja so much is because he is faster than him and so is able to inspire Jason to do better…
…the athletes say that running with a guide is like a three-legged race in the dark without the legs being tied together… I can’t imagine how difficult that would be…
That whole challenge of a blind runner with a guide is a very good picture of how we are called to live the Christian life, also referred to as a race here in the book of Hebrews…
-you and I being the blind one… attached to our Guide, being the Lord Jesus Christ… moving forward through this world… not being able to see clearly at times where we are going, or what’s going on… yet placing our trust and dependency in the character and ability of Jesus to safely guide us through…
I believe this picture captures the heart of the passage in Hebrews 2 that we are looking at today…open Bibles…
…and the heart of the passage is found in two phrases:
2:8 “…at present we do not see…”
2:9 “…but we do see Jesus…”
What We Do Not See
There is so much we do not see. There is so much about life, about the Xn life, about God, about the future, about the present…that we do not see, do not understand, cannot grasp, cannot explain, cannot make sense of…
…we so often feel like blind people groping around in the darkness wondering what is going on, trying to cope in a world that is often dark, confusing and challenging…
…but, the writer of Hebrews assures us, that as God’s people, even in our blindness, there is one thing we do see, that we can see, and this is enough to see…and that is Jesus…that is why we can keep going forward… running forward…because we have an outstanding Guide…
What We Can See
We are learning in this series that this is precisely what the book of Hebrews is all about…
…it’s all about fixing our eyes on Jesus…focusing on Jesus…recovering the truth about Who Jesus is…taking a long, life-giving look at our perfect, Supreme Savior…the One who is better than anything…
And when we do that…we find the courage, strength, willingness to keep running because we feel safe with this Guide who is beside us…who we are holding onto, who we are tethered to…even the darkness cannot stop us because He is with us and He knows what He’s doing and where He is going…
So let’s read the passage to get a glimpse again of Who this Jesus really is and why He is so trustworthy, no matter what is going on in our lives…
Prayer…read 2:5-18…
Reasons To Trust our Guide
1. Jesus is the Pioneer of Salvation vv.9-10
-we’re given the whole redemption story in one verse, v. 9…incarnation (being made human – made lower than the angels)
exaltation (now crowned with glory and honor)
crucifixion (suffered death)
As a result of what Jesus did, He has brought many sons and daughters to glory…that includes you and I who have placed our belief and trust in this Pioneer and Guide…
-the word Pioneer has the meaning of someone who hacks a trail through dense jungle…a trailblazer…and then turns and calls to those of us behind Him, “Come ahead, I’ve cleared the way; the way is now open for you to get to heaven…and it’s through Me and what I did…”
-that’s why He’s such a Great Guide, because He has gone ahead of us…He knows the route and can lead us down the track perfectly aware of what’s ahead…
Jesus was made the Pioneer of salvation through suffering…He tasted death for everyone by dying on the cross…as our Representative…
This theology of a representative is so important in the scriptures…God works through representatives…and the two main representatives for humanity are Adam and Jesus…
Acc to Rm. 5:19, when Adam and Eve sinned, all of humanity was affected, made sinful, because of their choice…
Rm. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners…so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
-the bad news is…Adam acted as our representative and he blew it… when he and Eve sinned he made a choice that affected us all…that’s the doctrine of inherited sin which the Bible so clearly teaches…
But the good news is, Jesus came along as the new Adam, as the other Representative for humanity and by the choices He made, His obedience, His sacrifice, His sinless life, He made everything right…
That’s the gospel in a nutshell…the gospel of our salvation of which Jesus Christ is the Pioneer…
2. Jesus is glad to call us members of His family vv.11-13
-He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters, members of the same family of God united by our Heavenly Father…
-talk about dignity, worth, value…being considered a family member along with JC…
…and not like those relatives that we just put with…the embarrassing ones…every family has one or two of those relatives, that we’re not proud of…but we’re stuck with them so we put up with them…
-Jesus delights in us, is proud of us, is glad to identify with us…
-with loving pride He says, “These are My brothers and sisters, My family, whom I love and with whom I am well pleased…”
John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Friend, you are not just a worker bee for Jesus…a nameless, faceless slave…you’re His friend, His brother, sister, a family member…and He’s proud of you and loves you and delights over you…
3. Jesus became one of us v.14, 17-18
-because He became one of us, human in every way, He completely identifies with us…completely understands us, empathizes with us, gets us (our joys and struggles)…and so is completely qualified to be not only a Great Guide, but our perfect High Priest…
He so gets it when we’re tired, afraid, confused, discouraged, tempted…He’s been there…He wants to help us when we experience any of those things…
…He completely understands human emotions and experiences and temptations, because He has lived them…with one major difference: He lived them perfectly, without sin…He is the perfect, sinless Savior, which is what qualifies Him to be our Perfect High Priest…
This is the beauty of Christianity over all other religious systems…our Savior, God Himself, actually became a human, God came down to mankind, to helpless, hopeless sinners, so He could save us and bring us back with Him to heaven…
-no other major world religion teaches that…
And He became one of us so He could die for us and that He Himself could be the atoning sacrifice for our sins…which He was when He died on the cross…
Now, as a result of His atoning death on the cross…
4. Jesus ended the war with sin and freed us from:
a. the Devil’s power over death v.14
b. our fear of death v.15
c. the penalty of sin v.17
-this is another reason why Jesus is such a great Guide…He has gone ahead of us and defeated all the enemies blocking our way…He took care of the greatest enemy of our souls, Satan and removed him from stopping us going forward in victory…
-you say, “If Jesus ended the war with sin, why is it still such a problem in my life? and in this world?
-it’s probably because we haven’t yet taken hold of Christ’s victory on our behalf…we’re still trying to fight sin on our own, in our own strength…
On March 10, 1974, almost thirty years after the end of WWII, Lt. Hiroo Onoda (image) finally handed over his sword and gun and became the last Japanese soldier to surrender.
Onoda had been sent to a Philippine island in 1944 with orders to conduct guerrilla warfare and prevent an enemy attack on the island. When the war ended, Onoda refused to believe the messages regarding Japan’s surrender.
For 29 long years, long after all his fellow soldiers had left the battlefield, Onoda continued defending the island for the defeated Japanese army. He hid in the jungle, living off the land, stealing food from local citizens, evading one search party after another. Despite multiple efforts to find him and to let him know the war was over, he still refused to give up the fight. Finally he received a personal command from his former commander and was persuaded to give up the solitary war he had waged for so many years.
In his autobiography, No Surrender: My Thirty Year War, Onoda describes the moment when the reality of what had happened began to sink in:
I felt like a fool…What had I been doing for all these years? For the first time I really understood…This was the end. I pulled back the bolt on my rifle and unloaded the bullets…I eased off the pack that I always carried with me and laid the gun on top of it. The war was finally over. (p.14-15)
The same is true for you, child of God. When you were joined to Christ, you also became a partaker of His victory over the power of sin…you don’t have to fight this battle on your own anymore…Jesus defeated the Devil’s power of sin and you have been set free…
…you can live like a free person today and not be enslaved by sin anymore if you allow Jesus to give you His victory…He will gladly give you His victory over the power of sin if you just ask Him…
Conclusion
So, dear friends, this is our Great Guide, the Lord JC…the one we can confidently run the race with, tethered together thru the bonds of salvation…trusting His heart, character and His ability to get us safely over the finish line…
…so keep running…don’t give up…don’t slow down…don’t drift away…don’t pull yourself out of the race…He’s faithful…He’s strong…He’s loving…and He will see you through… Prayer…Worship…