Why We Keep Our Eyes on Jesus

Please turn in the word of God to Hebrews 12, Hebrews and the 12th chapter. For those visiting, we’ve been going through Hebrews for a considerable period of time. Now in chapter 12, so slowly making our way to the end. And we’re coming to—having left behind a lot of the theological weighty arguments that the apostle makes to present the significance and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ—he gets to some practical exhortations. But the opening language of Hebrews 12 is very much connected to Hebrews 11 in presenting to us those who have gone before, who have faithfully walked and lived, anticipating promises that they did not see fulfilled. Then we are encouraged to look on to the Lord Jesus who came and also anticipated something and saw it come to pass. And that then is presented to us for our instruction.

So Hebrews 12, once again we’ll read the opening four verses. These are God’s promises. This is what He is saying to us by His Spirit, and my hope this morning as we look to the remainder of verse 2 is that not only will you once again have your gaze more firmly fixed upon Jesus Christ, but that as you see His strength in suffering and His peace amidst the shame that He endured and the glory that He was crowned with after the cross, that you will also find strength. That’s the intention, that you yourself—that the benefit of looking to Christ in what He did is experienced by the believing people of God and enables them to endure in the race that they’re in. So the race that you’re in is to be helped by what we look at today. I trust that will be the case.

Verse one, Hebrews 12, verse one: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Amen.

This is the inerrant and infallible Word of the living God, which you are to receive, you are to believe, and you are to obey. And the people of God said, amen.

Let’s pray.

There may be someone here today who is hanging on by a thread, as it were, and they have been so beaten and bruised in recent times that questions have arisen in their mind, and they’re struggling. For them particularly, prayer goes up that they might be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man. That though they may have, as it were, dragged their feet into the house of God, that they would leap like the man at the gate beautiful out of this place with great joy. We pray that the Spirit will come and give to us the true spiritual ecstasy of the people of God.

We ask then that the Spirit may come. Please defeat the enemy. Deliver us from any influence of the flesh in the preacher and the hearer. Grant that we might be shut in with the Lord today. Take these moments. Put thy sovereign hand upon every nanosecond. Guide the word to every heart, to feed the sheep, the lambs, and to gather in the lost. We pray in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

I’m sure I’m not alone in the experience of feeling at times like quitting. The feeling of quitting. Now that may go across various spheres. Quitting employment. Quitting even a relationship. Quitting a church. But more to the point, the feeling at times of quitting going on with Christ.

We’ve seen through this epistle that threat. The context is different than what you or I face because we’re not Jewish. And the peculiar opposition and threat to those who initially were addressed by this epistle is not what we go through. It’s not relevant to us in all the particulars. But the threat of quitting is real. And we see it if you have been a Christian for any length of time. You will know—and I’ve mentioned this repeatedly through this series—you will know of those who have quit. They have quit. Sometimes hopefully we look at them and we say they’re backslidden. Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not. Maybe they were never saved to begin with. Maybe their faith was the kind of temporary faith our Lord Jesus teaches us in the parable of the sower. Initial receiving of the word that appears to be legitimate, but by and by it parts ways with the truth.

But maybe you’re right there. And oh, the mystery, the mystery—that those who are the true people of God can be brought to a point that is very like, very close to the experience of the apostate, and yet to diverge in very distinct ways. Because though the people of God, though the child of God may be brought to a point where they feel like quitting, they will be kept, or the wanderer.

Last week, as we looked at the opening language of verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we are encouraged by all the implications of that text, not least of which we are encouraged by the fact that He is the one who originated faith in us and will bring it to completion as Philippians 1 verse six says. The child of God lives under this reassurance. “I have prayed for thee, but thy faith fail not.” God has not left us amidst the temptations of this life without encouragement. And He has set before us, at the pinnacle of all of our vision, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not merely as an example, but as the reason why the people of God endure—the difference that He makes.

And so, our Lord Jesus is the one that we are to focus upon, verse 2, as we’ve said, looking unto Him. We are to consider Him. We are to look at Him, not in some vague or sentimental way, but with an intention, with an affection, with an obedience.

As we deal with the remainder of verse 2, with God’s help, we’ll see four things that will help us in our Christian experience. Four things that I trust will help you see what it is that we are looking at when we consider the Lord Jesus Christ. And why, when we keep our gaze fixed on Him, that we are helped and we are kept by His grace.

As I said last week, we titled our message, “All Eyes on Jesus,” as we looked at the opening part of verse 2. We saw faith’s focus, founder, and finisher, and we want to complete the text that is before us: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I titled the message simply, “Why We Keep Our Eyes on Jesus.” Why We Keep Our Eyes on Jesus.

The language goes into reasoning. We look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy—and then it gives the senses. We are to see certain things that gird us as we gaze upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And we’re going to see four things this morning, as I’ve said. First of all, the joy He pursued. The suffering He endured, the shame He despised, and the glory He inherited. That will frame our message with the Lord’s help this morning. I trust we will get through it with God’s enablement.

So, why do we keep our eyes on Jesus? First, the joy He pursued—for the joy that was set before Him.

This clause is significant, crucial in fact, in understanding everything that comes after. We keep our eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ because He never lost sight of His own unseen future. The phrase, “set before Him,” “who for the joy that was set before Him,” is the same as we find in verse 1, where it speaks of “the race that is set before us.” And so, the apostle uses the same language in order to drive home a sense of the fact that Christ is participating in the experience of life like you and me.

This race of faith and life, as we might put it, is something that He also experienced. This setting before evokes imagery of the ancient games where the prize was visibly placed in the presence of those participating in order to motivate those participating. They could see the prize and that would help stimulate them to carry on in the games.

So the Apostle Paul draws this athletic imagery not just as a metaphor but to stress the visibility and the certainty of the reward. That the joy set before Christ was visible to Him. He knew it. He was aware of it. He didn’t just fall into it. The sense then is to drive home the point that when He is enthroned, as the end of the text gets to, when He’s set at the right hand of the throne of God, it wasn’t accidental. It wasn’t a surprise. It wasn’t something He thought, “Oh, oh this is a wonderful benefit.”

No, that was set before Him. He was conscious of that, though invisible in one sense, yet very real to our Savior. Who for the joy that was set before Him.

Now, some have understood this a little differently than it’s translated here. They’ve understood the word “for” as “instead of,” and they try to make sense of the text in that way. “Instead of the joy that was set before him,” he “endured the cross.” And so the idea is, well, what was the contrast there? Was it His kingly authority? Him becoming king on the earth and instead of that He took the cross? Does it refer to eternity before in which instead of staying in heaven, He chose to come into this world and suffer? And they come at it that way, but I think they’re all wrong.

The translation is right. The translation is right in putting the emphasis on the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ saw something beyond—future. It was a joy that was set before Him that He would attain or reach by the path of suffering. And He was well aware of it. It wasn’t setting that aside. He was obtaining it through what He endured.

My own readings this morning, just devotionally as I was seeking the Lord, was in Romans 8. I’ll just go back there since I’ll take the providence of what I was reading and just show you this pattern that is found in various parts of Scripture. But just Romans 8, verse 18: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

And that’s the pattern. That sense of the path to glory being a path through suffering. And our Lord Jesus was conscious of that as well. He was very aware of that.

So, what’s the joy then? What is this that motivated our Lord? What was the prize that was set before Him? The joy that was set before Him? Three things I want you to think about very quickly. And I’m just really touching on these. These are areas that you may explore more deeply yourself.

First of all, joy in realizing the Father’s glory. Joy in realizing the Father’s glory. The foremost desire of the Son was the glory of the Father. That’s at the head of everything He did. The cross was not just an act of compassion towards sinners, but an act of supreme devotion to the will of the Father. I cannot take time to go through all the texts again in the Gospels where our Lord Jesus says that His will is to do, His meat is to do the will of Him that sent Him. His desire, His whole motivation is to obey the Father’s will. And He found joy in obeying. He found delight in pleasing the One who sent Him.

Now, this comes to focus in Hebrews. In Hebrews 10. There’s a quotation there that we looked at, though you probably don’t remember it too fresh, it’s a little while ago, but it quotes from Psalm 40: “I delight to do thy will, O my God.” And so when you’re reading Psalm 40, you don’t have to read into it messianic significance. The apostle lifts that text out and says, this was a driving motivation in the heart of the Son. “I delight to do thy will. It is my delight to live, to obey, to walk in every step in obedience to your commands.”

So this was part of His joy, glorifying the Father through perfect obedience. And that joy sustained Him because when there was something else pulling in another direction, the will of the Father was central. Oh, how much we can learn from that.

But also joy in securing the church’s redemption, not just joy in realizing the Father’s glory, but securing the church’s redemption. The joy set before Him included the salvation of His people. It’s Isaiah 53, seeing the travail of His soul and being satisfied. He was motivated. This isn’t just, again, just fulfilling the Father’s will, but also a real sense of motivation in gathering His, what’s titled, brethren in Hebrews 2 verse 12. His brethren. He was motivated by the needs of His brethren, those that He was sent to save, sanctify them, and bringing, as Hebrews 2:10 puts it, many sons to glory.

That was what He wanted to do, bring them to glory. That’s my joy, to bring these lost, perishing sinners, fallen and undone, to bring them to glory, which includes you and me. The joy to bring us to glory, anticipating the satisfaction of gathering in the nations and seeing His people redeemed and reconciled to the Father.

And also thirdly, joy in anticipating the crown of reward. Joy in anticipating the crown of reward. He looked ahead to His enthronement, to the crown, to His dominion, to the fulfillment of Psalm 110. We sang that Psalm intentionally. In previous times when it has come up in this epistle, we have sung that Psalm. We sing it again because this is what is in view of the Lord Jesus Christ when He will one day, as it were, He’s looking ahead in His ministry, living His life, anticipating sitting at the Father’s right hand. And so He pressed through all the suffering. He endures for the sake of the honor, like a runner feeling the pain and the agony of the continual race, yet seeing the gold medal and motivated to keep going on.

That crown motivated Christ. And so He endured the cross for the joy of reigning over all as the exalted Son. His reward including, yes, the throne, the nations as His inheritance, Psalm 2, and His dominion forever.

In other words, if we could sum up this first point, the joy that was set before Him, He was motivated by God’s glory, a love for people, and a sense of reward. I’m simplifying that intentionally. Because I’m simplifying it as something that you and I can take away this morning. What am I to be motivated by? What is to be driving at me?

Now, again, it’s simplified there in the catechism. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. But we’ve seen there’s a couple of other aspects. Loving people, showing that through the keeping of that great commandment, loving our neighbor as ourself, and anticipating the reward. It’s not wrong. Our Lord Jesus anticipated reward. It moved Him along, the sense of receiving, as it were, in His context, the “well done.”

That motivated Him, and I believe it ought to motivate you and me as well. And so we have this sense of, yes, it should be for you. Listen, “I delight to do thy will, O my God,” like the Lord Jesus. And you want to help people. You don’t do it in a redemptive fashion like Jesus, who brought many sons to glory, but you can help. You can be a stumbling block or you can be a help. And you can be motivated by the blessing of God using you to help others, ministering to others, and you can be motivated by the sense there is a coming reward for the people of God. We reflected upon it a little bit last Lord’s Day evening. There’s reward.

These are things we can take away this morning as you struggle to put one foot in front of the other, keeping this in mind, glorifying the Father, loving and serving people, and the reward that is at the end.

Secondly, not only the joy He pursued, the suffering He endured. “He endured the cross,” verse 2 says. Endured the cross. We keep our eyes on Jesus because He endured with a faith that persevered to the end. He is a perfect example of enduring faith.

The verb “endured” here refers not to passive resignation. But to an act of perseverance through the worst of suffering, He bore all that redemption required with a holy resolve. He endured the cross. Does that just mean His suffering on the cross? I don’t think so. There are times, again context plays into this, there are times when the cross means just that which happened on Calvary. There are times when the cross is a terminology that puts its arms around all that Christ suffered. I think you can apply that here.

The enduring of the cross is all of the suffering, enduring of everything that led up and culminated, climaxed in the cross. The cross then is central, a way of drawing to sharp focus what it is that He went through. And again, you have to keep in mind the Jewish audience here, that one of the key things that they repudiate—the unbelieving Jew, those who oppose the Christian sect, if you can use that kind of terminology—part of the argument was really that the Messiah doesn’t suffer.

And that was a struggle even for the disciples as they followed the Messiah. The one thing that didn’t seem to take root in their thought is the fact He’s going to suffer. And their mind was always looking to the glorification. The critical focus then of the apostolic message is that Messiah must suffer. Now I’m going to take time just to go through a few scriptures, because just this morning as I was going over the notes, I was thinking to myself, maybe I should just emphasize this, because it’s really critical in the sense of the Jewish audience. The thing they struggled with was a suffering Messiah. They didn’t struggle with a Messiah coming. They struggled with a Messiah coming and suffering before glory.

Go to Matthew 17. Matthew 17. Just flick through as quickly as possible here, a number of verses. Matthew 17. There’s discussion here about the fact that Elijah must first come. And the Lord says that this will come, of course, this will happen. But verse 12, I want you to see verse 12 and the contrast with Elijah, which is, of course, a depiction of the ministry of John the Baptist. Verse 12 says, “But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.”

Now, go also to Luke 24. This is something that, again, seemed to wash over the disciples. They struggled with this. He goes to die. When He dies, of course, they’re in shock, even though Christ had made it plain in various parts that He was going to suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and so on. But after He rises, Luke 24, 26. Again, talking about what the prophets had said. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” Again, that’s part of what I said earlier. There’s a suffering before the glory. He has to suffer beforehand. This was a struggle to them.

So go to Acts 3. We have some of the early preaching of the apostles. Acts 3. Verse 18: “But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.”

You see how it keeps coming back to this central aspect that He had to suffer. Go to Acts 17, our last text for now, Acts 17. The apostle makes his way through going to the synagogues. Here he is in Thessalonica, verse 3: “Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.”

So I’m wanting you to understand that the enduring of the cross, keeping that focus, saying that the one thing that the Jew, the unbelieving Jew, wanted to repudiate is a central focus for the believer. That the one thing the unbelieving Jew says cannot be, God says must be. And more than that, you have to keep your eye on this, the suffering Messiah. All that He endured, all that He experienced.

Now how do we think about this? How do we think about Him enduring the cross and especially putting our arms around all that was involved there?

He suffered in active obedience to acquire righteousness. That’s the first thing. He suffered in active obedience to acquire righteousness. We talk about in theology, active and passive obedience. They’re not necessarily helpful terms, but that’s what’s used. The sense of Christ actively obeying and acquiring a righteousness for His people, His entire life. The enduring of the cross, the enduring of all the suffering, living a life in a posture of faith, leaning upon the Father, walking in communion, delighting in His will, submitting in everything to the Scriptures. And so fulfilling all righteousness through every step of obedience.

So this is what He did for us. He endured everything that went counter to Him in His obedience. Everything that pushed back in His obedience. He ran every step of the law’s demands. He obeyed not only in the garden, or on the cross, but in Nazareth, in the wilderness, in the temple, in the synagogue.

John 8, 29, here’s what our Lord Jesus says, listen. John 8, 29: “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”

Communion and fellowship tied to the perfect obedience of the Son. He’s obeying, and so Paul develops this wonderfully. What’s the significance of the fact that He lived perfectly? Romans 5, 19: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

All contrasting by the disobedience of one. Adam, we were all made unrighteous. By the obedience of one, many are made righteous. Those then who believe are brought into this benefit of His perfect obedience, His active obedience, acquiring righteousness to clothe us with what the Bible refers to “garments of salvation.”

We were singing it last night as a family. “Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress. ‘Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.” Confidence of the believer because Jesus lived in this perfect obedience. He “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

So Christian, you can draw strength from this. Because in your weakness, in your weakness, your standing before God is not based upon your strength or felt strength. Your confidence this morning is settled. It is in the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, who has clothed you with Himself. And the believer adorns Christ, wears Christ, presents Christ, argues Jesus, Jesus only for his acceptance. Salvation depended upon His obedience, so that reconciliation with God would not depend upon yours.

He suffered in active obedience to acquire righteousness. He suffered in passive obedience to atone for sin. That’s the second subhead. He didn’t just obey in life, He gave Himself in death. He was perfected through the things that He suffered. Hebrews 2 verse 10. And in that offering, He secured the perfection of all who trust in Him, Hebrews 10, 14. And so His endurance of the cross is the climactic act that opened up the new and living way for us to draw near to God, Hebrews 10, verse 20.

We draw near to God. We enter right into His presence because of all that He did, enduring the cross. Not just, listen, not just suffering the injustice of men. That He did, but He stood under divine wrath. He was made a curse for us. He drank the cup the Father gave Him without shrinking, without complaint, without hesitation, no delay.

He was not dragged to Calvary, He endured it willingly with a holy composure. Think of these words that He says in John 18. I was just reading these the other day. John 18, verse 11: “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”

The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? And when you look, when you see Jesus, when you look unto Jesus enduring the cross, take those same words in your own suffering. The cup which the Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

We do not appoint our own path of suffering. God does. A loving father. Later in this epistle, we are going to deal with the challenge and yet the encouragement of the father disciplining His children. Do you think of what you’re going through right now? And you put your arms, by faith, by God’s grace, put your arms around that truth that you see your Lord express, “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”

The cup He has appointed for you is not the same as His. Thank God it is not the same as His. But He has appointed suffering, and you put your arms around it and you say, “Shall I not drink it?” If this glorifies Him, if this will reverberate in good to His people, if this brings an awaited reward, “Shall I not drink it?”

Thirdly, the shame He despised. “Despising the shame,” despising the shame. We keep our eyes on Jesus because He teaches us how to respond amidst a world that misunderstands so much of what is going on. The world counted Him cursed. The Jewish Messiah should suffer and die? Of course, the form of death that was appointed to Him bore every mark of degradation. He was stripped, He was mocked, He was crucified like a criminal.

And yet, it says here, He despised the shame. There’s a despising of the shame. What does it mean? Well, a couple of ways simply to think about this. First, He bore the ridicule. He bore the ridicule. That’s the first thing. He bore it.

The suffering that He went through was not only physical. It had a social dynamic. It had an emotional dynamic. It had even a spiritual dynamic. He was rejected by men, abandoned by His friends at the hour of His greatest need, and crucified outside the camp, again, like a criminal. The disgrace of crucifixion was well known. If you’re crucified, you must be the worst of the worst. It was designed to dehumanize and humiliate and become the song of the passing drunkard, the object of derision, the butt of all demonic laughter.

And yet He opened not His mouth. He bore it. He bore the ridicule. But also, and this is more to the point, He evaluated its significance. He evaluated its significance. The shame, He evaluated all the shame of this. The word “despising” wasn’t something He did in an emotional way. It was rational. The despising of the shame was Him counting the value of it or the weight of it and counting it as insignificant.

The language here in Greek often was used as rhetoric for rational weighing and rejection. And so Christ did not merely endure shame stoically, He evaluated what was going on and compared it then to the joy ahead and judged it unworthy of comparison or consideration. There’s all this shame, but what does that compare to the glory that awaits?

He experienced it, it was real, it was deep. But He saw it for what it was. It was momentary. It was superficial in a sense. And so in the view of the joy set before Him, it was nothing. This public shame He endured had no weight next to eternal glory.

So He looked at what the world values, to be praised, to be exalted, to receive honor. He looked at all of that, that the world so hankers after, and here He is at the opposite end, knowing that the glory is going to be after the shame, after the suffering. And He embraces it.

He’s not driven by the same motivation like men who often their actions and what they do are weighed by how it will benefit them in the here and now. And even believers can fall into this trap. We can make assessments and make judgments that are poor because we are not assessing them in light of eternity. It’s the easier choice. It’s the simpler path. It brings more honor in this world and maybe I can use that honor and position in order to do good things. And yet we have compromised and we have not kept eternity in view.

Christ did not succumb to that temptation. And so if the world ridicules you for standing by your convictions, and if your convictions bring suffering, especially when your convictions bring suffering, and they look at you as if you’re weird or odd or foolish, there’s peace in the maintenance of your integrity. And you can’t buy peace. And while the ridicule of the world may hurt, it doesn’t last.

Finally, the glory He inherited. The glory He inherited—”is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

What language is this? The one we keep our eyes on, the author and finisher of our faith, is one who not only endured but now reigns. The apostle draws again from Psalm 110. But note a slight distinction here. Four times the apostle explicitly draws from Psalm 110 in Hebrews, four times. Every other occasion is put in the aorist tense, in the sense of it’s something that’s done. This happened. Historically, this happened. In the midst of all the theological argument, in the midst of the weight of the theology, he is stating it as something that has happened definitively. Here he is. He sat on that throne.

But here it’s different. The tense changes. He employs the perfect tense to communicate the idea that it is true right now. It’s an ongoing seated authority. “It’s set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

So as he gets to the end, as he culminates in the point, as he drives home the practical implications of Jesus being at the Father’s right hand, he here in this final quotation of Psalm 110, he is saying it’s continuing. It’s not just something that happened. It is real now. It’s not in the distant past. It is true as we speak.

Of course, he’s driving at that because it has huge implications. It means we’re not looking back to one who was once enthroned, we’re looking presently and forward to one who is occupying a throne.

So, this glory He inherited. Well, we can think about a number of things here.

The glory of a finished work. The glory of a finished work. He is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. I don’t need to develop this because we’ve looked at this already. Back in chapter 10 verse 12, most significantly, “sat down on the right hand of God.” This is distinct from what happened to the priests of the Levitical system because they were not permitted to sit in the temple. There weren’t seats for them in the temple. When they were in the temple, they were there to work, continuing, ongoing, always busy. Sacrifice after sacrifice never put away sin, but this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down, or as it is here, is set down, is continuing in this seated authority.

He doesn’t have to get up to resume the work. He doesn’t have to get up to redo the work. It’s done, and He is continuing in that seated position because the sacrifice has ongoing significance and merit. The atonement is sufficient. The glory of a finished work.

Secondly, the glory of a powerful throne. He is not on a bench which He shares authority with others. He is set at the right hand of the throne of God, exalted above all other powers. Hebrews has presented this more definitively, perhaps, than any other book except for Revelation. The exalted Lamb. The one who inherits the right to the nations, the one who’s exalted above all other powers, the one who is subduing all other authorities by the going forth of His gospel into the nations. And He oversees it all during His ongoing session at God’s right hand and will finally conquer all opposition when His enemies are completely made His footstool at the end of the age. It will all be tied up one day.

The apostle frequently comes back to this, Psalm 110. It’s like, oh, don’t you get the strength that we get from this? And of course, there’s other arguments and significance as to why he would keep coming back to Psalm 110. Part of, of course, the force of Psalm 110, if you’re a Jew, part of the force of Psalm 110 is the fact that all the rabbis know it’s messianic, but they have this huge problem. Because it marries the role of the king and the priest. And they don’t have a place for that. That’s why part of the weight of the argument is because Jesus comes to occupy, fulfill, bring together roles that if others tried to marry them, the wrath of God came upon them. He is able to bring both offices together. Perfect example, fulfilling that role.

There’s also here the glory of an assured people, the glory of an assured people. The fact that He is set down at the right hand of the throne of God assures all those under His authority and protection. He is in this ongoing authority.

Sometimes nations have tremendous leaders. And they prosper under those leaders tremendously, and they can see it in time, and history bears it out. And oh, whenever that leader dies, there’s a recognition that in all likelihood, the only way is down.

But here we have a leader who will not perish. He lives in the power of an endless life. He is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, and in the ongoing way, He is ruling, He is reigning without any diminishing of His power. Every child of God who’s brought into this world, born again of the Spirit and lives before Him, enjoys the benefit of being under His reign. And this assures him.

And so the glory then of this, this glory that He inherits, has this threefold emphasis. Note with me, just go back up. The glory of a finished work, that’s Him as priest. The glory of a powerful throne, that’s Him as king. And the glory of assured people is Him as prophet of His people. Because we live. And where do we get our confidence from? Living under His authority. Because He communicates His word. He’s sending His promises. He’s uttering by His Spirit His truth into your heart and saying, “I’m in control. I’m governing. I’m leading the way. Nothing can turn my power away. I am guiding you, I am leading you, by my Spirit I am with you.”

So we have Christ as prophet, priest, and king coming together in the glory of what He is now today, not in the past merely. Oh, He was prophet, priest, and king to Peter and John and the rest of the apostles. But oh, He is still the same for us, for you and me. And so when we need our sins forgiven, we have an enthroned priest. He ever lives to make intercession for us, to plead the merit of His blood and say, “Father, forgive them.”

When we’re looking for protection in a world that’s hostile to you, with an unseen but very real enemy who’s constantly attacking as the accuser of the brethren, He puts His hand—”so far and no further, Satan”—ruling as king over his and our enemies.

As we’re longing for comfort, and to know that everything is well, He sends that word, a word fitly spoken, as apples of silver and pictures of gold, bringing, oh, the sweet sonnets of covenant mercies to your heart and to mine.

We then look unto Him, don’t we? Keep our eyes on Jesus looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

You know what He says to you and me? “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.”

Oh there’s so much laid up for those who will be but faithful to Jesus Christ.

Are you His today? Have you made your peace with God through Christ? Have you noted all your sins and weighed them and realized that you’ve accumulated a debt that you can never pay? And have you then turned your eyes to the Lamb of God and seen in Him God’s perfect sacrifice for sin?

Whatever your age, wherever you’re from, whatever you’re going through, today, look unto Jesus and He will save you.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

Life brings its weary moments. And maybe you’re in such a season. My first encouragement to you is get alone with the Lord today. Go into the place of prayer with an open Bible and cast all your care upon Him. For He careth for you. And if you need any counsel, I’m glad to sit down and hear and try to help you whatever way I can.

Lord, help us to look unto Jesus. To look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. We pray for those watching on, those seated here today, with many a trial and a burden, that thy grace will carry them to the place of prayer and with the open scriptures to meditate, dwell upon, and fellowship with the risen lamb who is set, even now enthroned, ready to hear our prayers and communicate encouragement.

We trust, O God, that we have heard from thee today, that thou wilt bless this word and cause it to have a lingering benefit to our souls. Hear our prayers. Forgive all our sins. Strengthen us for the race of life. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of every child of God, now and evermore. Amen.