The Best of All Sights

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Hebrews 2:9

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor…

I. Regard the glorious sight of Jesus as a COMPENSATION. We do not yet see Him acknowledged as King of kings by all mankind, and this causes us great sorrow. "But," saith the apostle, "we see Jesus," and this sight compensates for all others, for we see Him now, no longer made a little lower than the angels, and tasting the bitterness of death, but " crowned with glory and honour." We see Him no more after the flesh, in shame and anguish; far more ravishing is the sight, for we see His work accomplished, His victory complete, His empire secure. He sits as a priest upon the throne at the right hand of God, from hence forth expecting till His enemies are made His footstool.

1. This is a Divine compensation for the tarrying of His visible kingdom, because it is the major part of it. The main battle is won.

2. The compensation is all the greater because our Lord's enthronement is the pledge of all the rest. The putting of all things under Him, which as yet we see not, is guaranteed to us by what we do see. This is the antidote to all depression of spirit, the stimulus to hopeful perseverance, the assurance of joy unspeakable.

II. Nor is this sight a mere compensation for others which as yet are denied us, it is in itself the cause of present EXULTATION. This is true in so many ways that time would rail us to attempt to enumerate them.

1. "We see Jesus," and in Him we see our former unhappy condition for ever ended. We were fallen in Adam, but we see in Jesus our ruin retrieved by the second Adam. We weep as we confess our transgressions, but we see Jesus. and sing for joy of heart, since He hath finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness.

2. The same is sweetly true of the present, for we see our present condition to be thrice blessed by virtue of our union with Him.

3. We see self, and blush and are ashamed and dismayed; "but we see Jesus," and His joy is in us, and our joy is full. What a vision is this for you, when you see Jesus, and see yourself complete in Him, perfect in Christ Jesus?

4. Such a sight effectually clears our earthly future of all apprehension. It is true we may yet be sorely tempted, and the battle may go hard with us, but we see Jesus triumphant, and by this sign we grasp the victory.

III. "We see Jesus" with gladdest EXPECTATION.

1. His glorious person is to us the picture and the pledge of what we shall be; for "it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."

2. Nor may we alone derive comfort as to our future from His person, we may also be made glad by a hope as to His place. Where we see Jesus to be, there shall we also be. His heaven is our heaven. His prayer secures that we shall be with Him, where He is, that we may behold His glory.

3. The glory of Jesus strikes the eye at once, and thus we are made to exult in His position, for it, too, is ours. He will give to us to sit upon His throne, even as He sits upon the Father's throne. He hath made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign for ever and ever.

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