Christ and the Many Sons He Is Bringing to Glory

Christ and the Many Sons He Is Bringing to Glory


Scripture:
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
— Hebrews 2:10 (ESV)


During this week's Equip Night, we explored the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, the One who was, who is, and who is to come. We looked beyond the familiar truth that Jesus is the Son of God and our Saviour to consider the fullness of God's eternal purpose in Him, and what that means for us as believers.

At the heart of our discussion was a beautiful truth: God is bringing many sons and daughters to glory through Jesus Christ.

For many of us, our understanding of the Gospel begins and ends with the wonderful truth that Jesus died for our sins so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. And while this is absolutely true, there is so much more to the story.

The Gospel reveals something far greater than our rescue from sin. It reveals God's eternal purpose in Christ, a purpose that began before the foundation of the world and will find its glorious fulfilment when Christ returns.

At the centre of this unfolding story is Jesus, the eternal Son of God. He is the image of the invisible God, the One through whom all things were created and for whom all things exist. He was before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15–17).

This means that Jesus was not God's response to an unexpected problem in the Garden of Eden. God's redemptive purpose in Christ was established before the foundation of the world.

And what a glorious purpose it is!

From the First Adam to the Last Adam

When God created Adam, He made humanity in His image, to live in fellowship with Him and reflect His nature upon the earth. But through Adam's disobedience, sin entered the world, and with sin came death.

Yet the fall of humanity did not bring God's eternal purpose to an end.

In the fullness of time, the eternal Son stepped into the very humanity He had created. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).

Scripture calls Jesus the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). Where the first Adam disobeyed, Christ obeyed. Where Adam's sin brought condemnation and death, Christ's obedience opened the way to righteousness and life.

Consider the wonder of this for a moment. The One through whom all things were made entered His own creation, took on human flesh, and willingly laid down His life to redeem us.

He bore our sins, died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day. Through His sacrifice, we have forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and the gift of eternal life.

But Jesus did not come simply to make fallen humanity a little better. He came to give us new life in Himself.

Through faith in Christ, we are born again. We become new creations, reconciled to the Father and brought into His family.

The Firstborn from the Dead

Colossians 1:18 describes Jesus as the firstborn from the dead.

This is a remarkable declaration. Jesus was not the first person ever to be raised from death. Lazarus, for example, had been raised before Him. But Lazarus would eventually die again.

Jesus rose never to die again.

His resurrection marked the beginning of something entirely new. He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, the guarantee that those who belong to Him will also be raised to life (1 Corinthians 15:20–23).

Think about what this means for us.

The resurrection is not simply an event we celebrate at Easter. It is the foundation of our present life and our future hope.

The same Christ who conquered death is alive today. He reigns at the right hand of the Father, intercedes for us, and through His Spirit is at work within us.

Scripture tells us that we have been made alive together with Christ and that our lives are now hidden with Him in God (Colossians 3:3).

We are not merely waiting for eternal life to begin someday. We have already received new life in Christ, even as we await its fullness.

Bringing Many Sons to Glory

This brings us to the beautiful truth captured in Hebrews 2:10: God is bringing many sons to glory.

Pause and consider those words.

Bringing many sons to glory.

God's purpose is not merely to forgive a multitude of sinners and leave them as they were. He is raising a family, a redeemed people who are being transformed into the likeness of His Son.

Romans 8:29 tells us that those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Jesus is the eternal Son of God by nature. We become sons and daughters of God through His grace, receiving the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, "Abba, Father."

What an extraordinary privilege!

Through Christ, we who were once alienated from God have been welcomed into His family. We are no longer strangers, but children. And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

This changes how we ought to see ourselves.

Our identity is not ultimately found in our past, our failures, our accomplishments, or even the circumstances we face today. It is found in Christ.

In Him, we have been chosen, redeemed, forgiven, adopted, and sealed with the Holy Spirit.

We are saints, set apart for God, His own treasured people. Ephesians 1:18 speaks of the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. We have an inheritance in Christ, but there is also this wonderful truth: God has redeemed a people for Himself, a people in whom His glory will be displayed.

And He is not finished with us yet.

The Glorious Hope That Lies Ahead

There is a beautiful tension in the Christian life. We are already children of God, yet we have not fully become all that we shall be.

The Apostle John captures this so wonderfully in 1 John 3:2:

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."

What a promise!

The Christ who was before all things, who entered our humanity, died for our sins, and rose triumphantly from the grave, is coming again.

And when He appears, we shall be like Him.

Our mortal bodies will be transformed. The work of redemption will be brought to its glorious completion. We will bear the image of the heavenly Man and dwell forever with God in His renewed creation.

This is the hope of glory.

Not merely that we will escape the troubles of this present world, but that we will share in Christ's resurrection life and be fully conformed to His image.

And this hope is not meant to be reserved for some distant future. It should shape the way we live today.

When we understand whose we are and where God is taking us, we begin to see our present circumstances differently. We can endure suffering with hope, pursue holiness with purpose, and walk with confidence, knowing that the God who began a good work in us will bring it to completion.

Living in the Light of His Glory

I wonder how differently we would live if we truly grasped the riches of what we have received in Christ.

What if we saw ourselves not merely as people trying to make it through life, but as beloved children of God, being prepared for glory?

What if we understood that the Holy Spirit is at work in us even now, transforming us into the likeness of Jesus?

And what if we lived each day with the assurance that our story does not end with the challenges, disappointments, or limitations of this present life?

The Apostle Paul prayed that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened, that we might know the hope of God's calling and the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1:17–18).

That is my prayer for us, too.

That we would move beyond simply knowing about Jesus to truly knowing Him. That we would grasp not only what He has saved us from, but what He has saved us for.

For the Son who was before all things is the same Son who came to redeem us, who lives and reigns today, and who is coming again in glory.

And when He appears, we shall be like Him.

This is the glorious hope of the Gospel: through Jesus Christ, God is bringing many sons and daughters to glory.

May we live today in the light of that glorious truth.


Revisit This Week's Equip Night

If you missed this week's Equip Night, or would simply like to revisit the teaching and reflect more deeply on the Scriptures we explored, I encourage you to listen to the recording and review the presentation slides.

Listen to the Equip Night recording here.

Review the Bible study slides here.

My prayer is that as you revisit this teaching, the Holy Spirit will continue to open the eyes of your understanding to the glorious riches of all that we have in Christ.