Jesus benefitted from his own
sacrifice
Though Jesus was the Son of God,
he was a man subject to the conditions of his mortality; he was a partaker of
flesh and blood and, as such was subject to death. In recognition of this, the
apostle reminds us that “in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able
to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared” (Hebrews
5:7). Being the Son of God did not guarantee Jesus everlasting life; he
overcame, not because he was born the Son of God, but because he committed
himself to his Father’s Will; “though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8; 10:7-9), and,
because of his obedience, God “highly exalted him” (Philippians 2:8-9).
Time and again the Scriptures
highlight Jesus’ own need for salvation. The Psalmist writes: “He shall cry
unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also,
I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth>”
(psalm 89:26, 27). It is impossible to escape the fact that, when Jesus died
for us, as a son of Adam, he also benefitted; he was “brought again from the
dead . . . through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20);
he was the “firstfruits of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). The
apostle says: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own
blood he entered in once unto the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). The words “for us”, in the King
James Version, are in italics, signifying that they are not found in the
original Greek, thus placing the emphasis upon Jesus and not those he came to
save. Brother John Carter remarks in his study of Hebrews:
“It has been many times pointed
out (Blood of Christ, page 9; Law of Moses, pages 91 and 172)
that the italicized words “for us” in the A.V. are an unwarranted addition.
They are omitted by the R.V. If any words are added they should be “for himself”—but
the fact that he obtained eternal redemption involves this. And there it
may be remarked that he needed redemption, otherwise how could it be said that
he obtained it? And it was by his own blood that he obtained it. He was himself
sharer in the effects of his own sacrifice, because he was a member of the fact
that is mortal because of sin” (Ron Kidd, Principles of the Atonement,
36-37)
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