“It Became Him”

[WordSword]

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing people unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation 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” (Heb 2:10, 11). This verse tells both how God’s grace has extended to us; and what became this God to do, in bringing many to glory, into His very presence Who dwelleth in light unapproachable?

He was to bring them to glory. Therefore, He must go where they were, and become one with them as to their guilt (Not guilty Himself of course or He could not be the Sacrifice—NC), which He must bear; and become sin on their behalf (become like sin but not sin itself, i.e. “likeness of sin” Rom 8:3). So bringing many children unto glory would involve sufferings—the most terrible of all, to be forsaken of His Father—made a curse for us (sacrificed for the curse but without imputed sin - Gal 3:13—NC)! Nothing else could “become” God as regarding our sin and our sinful state (possessing the old man is sin’s source—NC).

1. It became His being, as God. It was into God’s presence we were to be brought (Heb 4:14, 16). 2. It became His holiness: with an infinite abhorrence He hated sin (Psa 97:10; Pro 8:13). 3. It became His righteousness: He must deal righteously in bringing others to glory (Jhn 17:22). 4. It became the God Whose name is Love (1Jo 4:8) to do this amazing thing—bring to glory many people. Only a God of Love would want us There. 5. It became His wisdom, “of Whom are all things and for Whom are all things” (Heb 2:10). He sees the eternities and has planned for them as it became Him. 6. It became His Lordship over all things (Phl 2:9-11). Knowing all things about all creatures, He could place them all where He would. God chose to place first those redeemed by His Son (Christians are second to the Trinity and are more important than the angels, man being the sole creature in God’s image—NC). 7. It became the Father because the Lord Jesus’ obedience unto death revealed God for all ages. He is worthy to be obeyed, said His Son, even into forsaking, anguish and death!

Finally, the Father infinitely loves His Son, the “Captain” of these people. Thus it became Him to plan for that Son a path of sufferings untold and unutterable, in walking in which day by day that Son’s fidelity to God His Father became manifest to all eternity; and God will forever remember the Son’s sufferings, as if they were but yesterday.

Thus, it became God to make the Leader of our “salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb 2:10), and remember, if we suffer with Him, it is because we are redeemed by His sufferings and sacrifice. Satan hates redeemed ones, those trusting Christ’s one offering (Heb 10:10). So he makes them suffer, whether by temptation to doubt the Savior’s sacrifice; or be calling attention to their weak faith, or inconsistent walk (1Jo 2:6). The Lord Jesus accepted work on the Cross (accepted of the Father - 2Co 6:18), and not our grasp of it, is the question! We know that the Father has accepted His Son’s sacrifice (Matthew 3:17), because He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in glory!

It became God . . . “to make Him perfect through sufferings.” It behooved Christ to suffer, and to “rise again from the dead.” The very foundation of the Gospel appears in this word, it became God! It became Him to judge sin; it became Him to give His own Son to bear sin (the Father could have come instead of the Word, but the Father wanted it to be the greatest sacrifice of all—NC). It became Him to lay before that Son a path “even unto death” (Mat 26:38).While we now “behold . . . Jesus crowned with glory and honor” (Psa 8:5; Heb 2:9), let us not only see His present place as God’s reward to Him for His path of obedience, but also regard His path of suffering thereto, as the only path which could become a holy God!

 

—William R Newell (1865-1956)

 

 

 

MJS daily devotional excerpt for June 5: Circumstantial Evidence

 

The Spirit convicts us of sins that we may be convinced of God’s cleansing. We do not deserve to be forgiven, but the Lord Jesus deserves to be trusted. –MJS (we deserve God’s forgiveness after rebirth-NC)

“We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? How can I take it to God? If it was suffering for righteousness’ sake, then I would, but I am suffering for my sin; and can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them?

“Yes: the Lord Jesus has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. Will God judge us both? No; I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can justly meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ’s work has been so perfectly done.

“The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. If in the light of the throne one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other likewise. This gives settled repose to the conscience. God Himself has provided a remedy for all ruin which the light of His throne has revealed.” - John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/day/2025/06/05/