In the final posting of the series we will focus on THE vision God has given those who truly seek it and vow to live what they see as long as they draw breath.  That vision is described in Hebrews 2:9: “But we see Jesus.”  The vision is the life that Jesus lived as a man.  We must live as He lived in order to spend eternity with Him in the Kingdom of God.

Let us go back to the beginning of chapter 2 in order to remind ourselves of what those who believe and obey the Lord in Spirit (by the power of God) and Truth (according to His Word) have waiting for them following His Second Advent.  In order to receive these promises one must be SANCTIFIED (set aside for holy use) by His Word.  In John 17:17 we find Jesus asking the Father to sanctify His disciples by His (God’s) Truth, then stating, “Thy Word is Truth.”  God’s saints have been set apart from the world and its false religions for holy use by God for the purpose of obeying His Word/Truth before the world.  Obedience to God’s Word makes one holy as Jesus was made holy by obeying His Word.  This is brought out graphically in 1 Peter 1:14-17 where we are told that “As obedient children” we are not to remain in ignorance of His will and way.  “But just as He which has called you is holy, YOU MUST BE HOLY IN ALL AREAS OF YOUR LIFE.  Because it is written, ‘BE YE HOLY BECAUSE I AM HOLY.”  In Hebrews 5:8 we are told: “Though He was God’s Son, He LEARNED OBEDIENCE (WAS MADE HOLY) by overcoming the temptations He suffered.”  In 1 Peter 1:17 we are warned that we must be holy in the fear of God–fear that we might fail Him.  It was due to the fear of failure that Jesus sweated great drops of blood before going to the cross (Lk. 22:44).  We must also have fear lest we fail to answer His call to holiness.  Many, He reminds us, are called to be holy as He was holy, but few will be chosen for having done so (Mat. 20:16).  This command for holiness is confirmed in 1 John 2:6 where the apostle, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21), declared that if we claim to be Christ’s brethren we must “walk EVEN as He walked” while on earth as a man, and that we must “purify ourselves EVEN as He is pure” (3:3) by obedience to God’s Word.  Note it: we are commanded to be as pure as Christ is pure.  We are told how to meet this requirement in Ephesians 5:26,27 where Paul explains to the church how God “cleanses and sanctifies” His true saints by “washing (her) with the water that is the Word so that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, NOT HAVING SPOT OR WRINKLE OR ANY SUCH THING.”  Instead, she will be holy and without blemish (blame).”  If Christ’s death made us spotless, why are we commanded to walk as He walked and to purify ourselves as He is pure?  Why do what has already been done?

Returning to Hebrews 1 we find the incredible promises of God relative to eternity laid out in verses 1-8 where HE VOWS TO PLACE EVERYTHING HE CREATED UNDER THE DOMINION OF HIS TRUE SAINTS.  Paul goes on to point out that “we do not YET see all things put under him (man).”  Now comes the vision: “BUT WE SEE JESUS, CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR” (vs. 9).  Note that Paul uses the exact same Words to describe Jesus that King David used to describe man in Psalms 8:5–“CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR.”  Let there be no mistake, JESUS WAS 100% MAN WHEN HE WALKED THIS EARTH, FACED SATAN 24-7-365 AND DEFEATED HIM, THEREBY RECEIVING THE GLORY AND HONOR AVAILABLE TO EVERY MAN.  GOD IS “NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS” (Acts 10:34).  WHAT HE DID FOR THE MAN JESUS HE WILL DO FOR ANY MAN OR WOMAN WHO PLEASES HIM AS DID JESUS.  For those who do not believe that Jesus was totally human, He Himself proves it with His own Words.  In John 15:10 He removed all doubt as to His humanness by saying: “IF you (disciples) keep My commandments (THEN) you will abide in My Love, EVEN (just) as I have kept My Father’s commandments and (THEREFORE) abide in His love.”  AS A MAN LIKE ALL OTHER MEN, JESUS HAD TO OBEY GOD IN ORDER TO ABIDE IN HIS LOVE AND THEN TO SPEND ETERNITY WITH HIM IN HIS KINGDOM.  In Matthew 12:46-50 He makes it clear that not all who claim to be God’s people–Christ’s spiritual brethren–are in fact His brethren.  Here He proclaims that ONLY THOSE WHO “… OBEY MY FATHER IN HEAVEN”  (obey His commandments) ARE HIS SPIRITUAL BRETHREN.  Jesus told John (and us) that only His holy ones who OVERCOME SATAN’S TEMPTATIONS TO SIN–AS HE DID–will sit with Him on His throne in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 3:21).

We see the holy, pure, Satan-defeating Jesus in vision as we study His Word and are washed/purified by that Word, exactly as He was.  This is the holy vision we must continually have before our spiritual eyes as we search the Bible for His Truth so that we can walk in it.  This is the vision we must emulate until we “come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13) and live (“walk”) in that holy, sanctified state until death or His return, whichever comes first.  Only those who do so will rise to meet Him in the air at His Second Coming, descend with Him to the Mount of Olives, enter with Him into Jerusalem and from there rule and reign with Him over the earth for 1000 years, after which they, with Him, will rule and reign over “… all of the works of Your (God’s) hands” forever.  We must “SEE JESUS” in vision and must manifest in our life’s “walk” what we see.  Only those who do so will receive the promises He made them in the first chapter of Hebrews.  L.J.