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In this message we come to the Captain of our salvation. It is difficult to understand this matter doctrinally. It seems that, logically speaking, for salvation we need Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer, not our Captain, Pioneer, or Forerunner. Nevertheless, in God’s wonderful salvation, in His “so great a salvation,” we do need such a Captain. A captain is a leader who leads a group of people into a certain place. What is this Captain leading us into? He is leading us into glory.
The glory of God is a most difficult thing for anyone to define or explain. In His prayer to the Father in John 17, the Lord Jesus said, “And the glory which You have given to Me I have given to them” (John 17:22, Recovery Version). What is this glory? The glory into which our Captain is leading us is the glory which He has already given us. Although glory has been given to us already, yet we still need to enter into it. How difficult it is to speak about this glory! Some say this glory is a luxurious state into which we shall enter in the future and which will thrill and excite us very much. When I heard this kind of talk in the past, I was unhappy with it. Deep within, I felt that it was too light, that there was no weight or meaning in it. If you turn the question to me, I would have to say that it is exceedingly difficult to define what is the divine glory which God has ordained for us.
The New Testament tells us that we have been called into glory and that this glory was designed according to God’s wisdom in eternity past. First Corinthians 2:7 says that in eternity past God ordained that we should be brought into this glory. Both 1 Thessalonians 2:12 and 1 Peter 5:10 tell us that we have been called into this glory. And, according to Colossians 3:4, when Christ appears, we shall appear with Him in His glory. What is this glory? Probably most Christians think that glory is merely a kind of shining or brightness. I would not say that glory is not such a shining or brightness, because I have not entered into it and dare not say that this understanding of glory is wrong. However, I would say that such an understanding is too objective and that it is absolutely according to objective considerations. To say that the glory into which we shall enter is merely a kind of radiant shining or brightness may be correct, but it is altogether an objective concept.
We may illustrate this matter of glory by the example of a carnation flower. The seed of a carnation plant is very small. If you sow this seed into the earth, it will grow until it eventually reaches the blossom stage. When the carnation blossoms, that is its glorification. A long process must transpire from the seed stage to the blossoming stage. As the carnation passes through this process, it must do a great deal of fighting. If you were a carnation seed, you would be able to tell us how much fighting you must pass through. The carnation must firstly fight against itself, because the life element within the seed must fight against the shell and break through it in order to come out. Then the carnation must fight against the soil in which it grows. Because the soil helps the carnation to grow, we may call it the growing soil. However, even this growing soil is a frustration to the carnation. Although the plant needs the soil and the soil helps it to grow, it is, nevertheless, a frustration to the growth of the carnation. The carnation must fight against the very soil that helps it to grow. Finally, after much fighting, the carnation reaches the stage of blossoming. That is the glory of the carnation flower. Its blossom is its glory.
Every one of us, without exception, is like a carnation seed. Through regeneration, the life of glory has come into us. We now have a seed of glory within us. The life that we have within us as a seed is the life of glory. This is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Glory is not merely a radiant shining in the air. That is too objective. If glory were merely an outward shining, it would simply be another vanity. But that is not the glory that the Bible talks about. The glory revealed in the Bible is the very blossoming of God’s divine element. One day, God’s divine element is going to blossom. Does it bother you when I say that the glory into which we shall enter is not merely something objective, but that it is the blossoming of the divine element from within us? If it does, it means that, at least to some degree, you are still clinging to the old doctrines. You need to cross the river.
Consider the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus on the mountaintop (Matt. 17:1-2). When the Lord Jesus ascended to the top of that mountain and was transfigured, did the shekinah glory suddenly come upon Him from the outside, from the third heavens? Did He enter into an outward shining or brightness? No, the glory shone from within Him. That is why it is called the transfiguration. Likewise, the glory into which we shall be brought is the very glory that is within us right now. It is not merely objective; it is altogether subjective. What a difference between this and the traditional teaching about glory! At the time we were regenerated, the seed of glory was sown into us. This is mysterious.
In regeneration a life element came into our being. This life element is not a small thing: it is God’s divine element. All that God is is in this substance, this life element, that has come into our being. Oh, how we all must realize what happened to us when we were regenerated! God’s divine element came into us.
When the children of Israel entered into the land of Canaan, they began to blossom. That was their glory. That blossoming stage was also a fighting stage, for they began to fight almost immediately after entering into the good land. The first battle they fought was at Jericho. After Jericho, they fought continually until David defeated all the enemies and the temple was built. Then the glory of God filled the temple (1 Kings 8:10). Apparently, the glory that filled the temple came down from above; actually, the glory was with the children of Israel. Since the day they crossed the Red Sea, the glory was with them. The glory was in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire (Exo. 14:19, 24). When they built the temple, the temple was filled with glory. Again I say that the glory did not come from above. It was present already, waiting for the people’s growth and development. When the children of Israel were fully developed, the glory filled the temple.
Likewise, we all had our beginning at the time of our regeneration. That was our Passover. Since the time of our Passover, the time when the seed of glory was sown into us, that seed has been growing. This growing is a fighting process. Even now we are still under the process of entering into glory.
Now we are prepared to understand the Captain of salvation. The salvation of which Christ is the Captain is the very salvation which brings us into glory. The “so great a salvation” brings us into glory, and Christ, our Savior, is the Captain of this salvation. What does this mean? It simply means that our Savior took the lead to fight through into glory. The Lord Jesus did not suddenly enter into glory. During all of His days on earth, a fighting process was going on. The seed of glory was in Him and was fighting its way out. If you read the Gospels, you will see that the life of Jesus was a life of fighting. The story of His life was a fighting story. He was always fighting the battle for the growth of the seed of glory. He fought that the glory might come out and that He might be brought into glory.
Do not think that the Lord entered into glory when He ascended to the heavens. No, before His ascension, while He was still on earth, He entered into glory on the day of His resurrection. Luke 24:26 indicates that Christ entered into glory not by ascending but by resurrecting. His resurrection was His entrance into glory. His whole life, from the time He was born until the day He was resurrected from the dead, was a fighting process. The Lord did not only fight for victory but for glory. He fought for His glorification. His fighting paved the way into glory. In this matter of fighting for glory, He was the Pioneer. He pioneered the way into glory. Therefore, He spontaneously has become qualified to be the leader of those entering into glory. So He is the Captain of our salvation. Today we are following this Pioneer who has paved the way and entered into glory. That glory is now the good land. We must cross the river and enter into this land. In a sense, Christ has crossed the river and is now on the other side, in the land of glory. Although He is in the glory, we are not yet in it. We are on the way, following Him as our Captain.
Our God has established a great corporation, a great business. The purpose of this corporation is to accomplish one thing: to lead many sons into glory (2:10). God’s corporation is a corporation of glory. It does not make money; it makes glory.
In order to lead many sons into glory, God had to have a suitable environment. So, He created the heavens, the earth, and all things. All things are for God to accomplish His glory business.
All things which God created for the accomplishing of His glory business are existing through God. It is God who maintains all things in the universe that they may serve the purpose of accomplishing His glory business.
All things are for and through God. Among the all things are the many sons of God who are the center of God’s creation. All things are for the many sons of God because God’s corporation is to bring His many sons into glory. This requires much fighting. This is why the Firstborn Son of God is the Captain of His many sons’ salvation.
God’s goal is to bring His many sons into glory. His Firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus, as the Pioneer, has fought into this glory. Now He is the Captain of God’s many sons’ salvation leading them into His glory by fighting. We, the many sons of God, are now on the way, fighting into the glory which God ordained for us.
In order to accomplish His purpose of bringing many sons into glory, God had to have an example, a model. Such a one could be the qualified Captain taking the lead to bring the many sons into glory. Jesus is this Captain. Before Jesus became the Captain, however, He had to be perfected through sufferings (2:10). When I read the Bible as a young man, I was bothered by the verse in Hebrews 2 which says that Jesus needed to be perfected. On the one hand, I knew that Jesus was perfect. On the other hand, 2:10 says that He had to be perfected. So it seemed to me that Jesus was not perfect. But He truly was perfect. Although He was perfect before His incarnation, He did not have the experience of human suffering. He had to be perfected through suffering before He could become the Captain of salvation. The word perfect in 2:10 means to carry to the end or consummation by completing or perfecting. To be perfect here actually means to be qualified. Before His incarnation, Jesus was not qualified to be the Captain of salvation. In order to be qualified for this office, He had to experience human suffering. Thus, to make Jesus perfect does not imply any imperfection of virtue or attribute in Jesus, but only the completing of His experience of human sufferings which makes Him fit to become the Captain, the Leader, of His followers’ salvation. Since Jesus had passed through all the human suffering, He has been perfected, qualified, to fill this office. He is qualified to bring the many sons of God into the region of glory which He has already entered as the Pioneer.
Why did the writer of Hebrews mention suffering? Because at the time this Epistle was written the Hebrew Christians were suffering (10:32-35). They were being persecuted. In a sense, their suffering was not good, for they were very troubled by it. In another sense, however, that suffering was the process which was helping them to enter into glory. The writer was telling them that the Lord Jesus, as the Captain of salvation, had gone ahead of them that He might help them cross the waters of suffering and enter into glory. This was the writer’s concept. This concept is deep. The writer seemed to be telling the Hebrew believers, “Hebrew brothers and sisters, you must realize that our Jesus is the real Joshua. He took the lead to cross the Jordan River. Don’t miss Him. Look unto Him and follow His steps. He has passed through all the sufferings and has entered into glory. He is our Pioneer, our Forerunner. He has gone before us to cut the way into glory. The way has been paved and all you need to do is follow Him. Do not be troubled by your sufferings. You should be comforted. All the sufferings are helping you along the highway of Zion.” Jesus truly was their Captain of salvation. Now we understand the meaning of this term.
Since Jesus has been perfected through His experience of human sufferings in the flesh, He is qualified to fulfill the office of the Captain of our salvation. He has become the Pioneer, the Leader, and the Captain. He has cut the way into glory, He has taken the lead to enter into glory, and He is now the Captain bringing His followers into glory.
Our salvation is “so great a salvation.” This salvation is very deep. It is not only a matter of saving us from our fallen state, but of bringing us into glory. We are not going to be kidnapped into glory; we shall be saved into glory through the way of suffering.
Let me say a word of comfort to you all. The more we follow Christ in His way, the more we must be prepared to experience sufferings. Sufferings are good. They are a great help. We need to kiss the sufferings and appreciate them. We need to thank the Lord for our sufferings because all the sufferings are our helpers. Sooner or later you will say, “Sufferings, you have been my dear helpers. I owe very much to you. When I was passing through you, I didn’t like you because then I didn’t know how great a help you really were to me. Thank you for what you have done.” The more we Christians pray and love the Lord, the more problems we may have. According to our experiences, we can realize that many problems are precisely measured out. They are neither too long nor too short. And they all seem to come at just the right time. As we look back upon our experiences, we see how good it was that certain things happened when they did. Do not be bothered by your problems. Whatever happens to you, just say, “Praise the Lord. This is the process of getting into glory.” Look at our Captain. He is pioneering; He is fighting. Let us follow Him. He is not leading us into some objective glory, but into that very glory which has been sown into our inner being. The glory that has been sown into us as a seed will be developed into the glory which we are going to enter. May the Spirit speak to us more about this matter of entering into glory.
If you compare what we have said about glory in this message with the definition of it found in Romans 8:17-18, 21, you will see that they are the same. To be glorified is not to be kidnapped into a region of shining brightness. The glory into which we shall enter is the glory of the divine element that has been sown into us. We are not entering into this glory on our own but with the Captain who has pioneered the way, who has entered into glory, and is now leading us into glory. Once again, we see that we are the real river crossers. We are crossing the river to enter into glory.
