Bringer of Salvation

Pray Psalm 8.1, 2.
O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

Sing Psalm 8.1, 2.
(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
O LORD our Lord how great is Your Name in all the earth!
The heav’ns display Your glory, and tell Your wondrous worth!
From babes and nursing infants, LORD, let Your strength increase,
’til all Your foes surrender, and all their boasting cease.

Read Heb. 2.1-13; 1 Pet. 2.21-25; 2 Pet. 1.8, 9; meditate on Heb. 2.1-9.

Preparation
1. How much of the world has God made subject to Jesus?

2. How can we improve in this matter?

Meditation
Through Jesus, we are the heirs of “so great a salvation” (v. 3), and we must not neglect to pursue and obtain as much of that salvation as we can. God has created and redeemed us as His children, that we might take up the work of subjecting all things for His honor and glory (vv. 5-8). It is only because of Jesus that we can do this because He has suffered and overcome death so that we might live to God in all aspects of our lives. 

Through Jesus we are free from the rebellion, ignorance, self-centeredness, wickedness, wastefulness, spiritual limitations, and finality of death, and liberated unto the Kingdom and glory of God in all things (1 Thess. 2.12; Col. 1.13). We have the Word and Spirit of God to guide and empower us for our task, and the example and image of Jesus—condescending to become incarnate, serving and suffering, risen and lifting to life, reigning and restoring and making all things new (Phil. 2.5-11)—as the object of our focus and devotion. He intends that we should become like Him, brought increasingly into the glory of His image, and transforming all we do for His honor and glory (2 Cor. 3.12-18; 1 Cor. 10.31). 

Though we shall not fulfill our task in this life—we do not see all things perfectly subjected to the glory and honor of God—still, we see Jesus (vv. 8, 9); we look upon, gaze longingly at, observe, admire, learn from, and emulate Him, exalted in glory, reigning in honor, and bringing us daily to glory by His power and grace. 

Let us therefore see Jesus always, everywhere, setting our minds on the things that are above, where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God and we are seated with Him, so that we might be transformed into His image, from glory to glory, and fulfill our callings in Him. We have such a great salvation, and it is only to be known in Jesus. See Jesus. See Him always (Ps. 16.8). And discover just how great our salvation is in Him.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Our salvation is so great (Heb. 2.3)! Why would we ever dare drifting from it?
And yet, the Scriptures warn us it is easy to do.
Particularly if we are not daily in the Scriptures, to be warned by them.

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard [and read],
lest we drift away” (Heb. 2.1).

In our Bibles we are given the privilege of seeing Jesus,
“Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death” 
Who was then “crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, 
might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2.9). To expedite our great salvation.

His amazing love, for our undeserved salvation, in that we glory and rejoice…
until life creeps in with its problems, pains, and temptations. Then, not trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit and His unflagging help, we drift, we depress, we despond and despair. And we may even behave poorly. The antidote? The remedy? The push toward holiness? Peter’s words:

“For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? 
But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 
For to this you were called, 
because Christ also suffered for us, 
leaving us an example, 
that you should follow His steps:
‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’ (Is. 53.9),
Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; 
when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously; 
Who Himself bore our sins in His Own body on the tree, 
that we having died to sins, might live for righteousness—
by Whose stripes you were healed” (1 Pet. 2.19-24).

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, 
He shall prolong His days, 
and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. 
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, 
for He shall bear their iniquities” (Is. 53.10, 11).

LORD JESUS, there you are—bruised, grieved—The offering for us our great salvation.

O to grace how great a debtor 
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
(Robert Robinson, 1758)

Reflection
1. What are some reasons we might allow ourselves to “drift” from our great salvation?

2. How does looking to Jesus help us in staying the course in our great salvation?

3. “But we see Jesus…” How do you see Him? How complete is your vision of Jesus, exalted in glory? What could you do to improve this vision?

As a reward of Christ’s humiliation in suffering death, he has unlimited dominion over all things; thus this ancient scripture was fulfilled in him. Thus God has done wonderful things for us in creation and providence, but for these we have made the basest returns. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Hebrews 2.5-13

Pray Psalm 8.3-9.
Renew your commitment to see Jesus throughout the day and to do all your work so that His Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.

Sing Psalm 8.3-9.
(Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
When I regard the heavens, the work of Your own hand,
the moon and stars which all in their courses You command,
then what am I, O Savior, that You take thought of me,
or I should know Your favor and thus delivered be?

Yet we in Your own image with glory have been crowned,
to worship and to serve You throughout creation ’round.
These works that sing Your glory in our poor hands are placed,
that we may rule before You to magnify Your grace.

Let every beast and creature, in sky or sea or field,
in our hands bring You glory as we Your favor wield.
Let all things sing Your praises, let all declare Your worth!
O LORD our Lord how great is Your Name in all the earth!

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

Other columns of interest this week: Our ReVision series on “The Kingdom Economy” wraps up our study of time and how to use it and turns next to consider the work we’ve been given to do. In our Read Moore column, we continue working through the book, Understanding the Times. And I encourage you to follow our Corsfigell series on Brendan of Clonfert, nicknamed “The Navigator.” Join us and find out why. Click the Articles tab on the home page to see all the selections available to you.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.