How was Jesus "made perfect"? The glory of the cross.

Hebrews 2:9-10

9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.

How was Jesus made perfect through his suffering?  Wasn’t he already perfect? 

Perhaps a better understanding of the word glory will help us better understand this passage.    

The word glory has several meanings throughout Scripture and in our modern understanding of the word today.  One way that the word glory is commonly used today is as a synonym for the word praise or honor.  This usage can be found in passages like Revelation 5:12:  "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"  In this passage, and in others like it, the term glory is something that God is worthy of receiving from us.  In 1 Chronicles 16:29, we are encouraged to “Give to the Lord the glory due his name.” Likewise, many of our modern worship songs and hymns reiterate this connotation of the word glory. We Give Him all the Glory is an example of a song that uses the word glory synonymously with praise. 

A second understanding of the word glory that is common today is the understanding of the word glory as a synonym for heaven.  You will often hear people say things such as, “They have gone on to glory.”  Songs such as “There’s A New Name Written Down in Glory” also portray glory as a heavenly place we go when we die.  Although less common, this understanding of the word glory can be found in some places throughout the Scriptures.  Psalm 73:24 for example states, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory,” implying that glory is a place we will go when we die. 

Both of these understandings of God’s glory are good and helpful ways to understand the meaning of the word glory, but there is a third understanding of the term that is far more prevalent throughout the Bible.  In the Old Testament, the word glory is translated from the Hebrew word Kavod (כָּבוֹד).  This word, Kavod (כָּבוֹד), carries with it the meaning of “weightiness”, “heaviness”, or “substance” of something, and throughout the Old Testament, the word is used to describe the presence of God.  In other words, someone’s glory is the very essence of who they are.  In Exodus 33:18, Moses asks God to “Show me your glory.”  Moses is pleading with God to encounter his presence, to see God in his completeness.  God honors Moses requests, but only partially.  He places Moses in the cleft of a rock and shields him as his presence passes by him, but he doesn’t allow Moses to see him in his fullness.  God shields Moses with his hand and only allows him to see his back.  He doesn’t allow Moses to see his face because no one can see God’s face and live.  Throughout the Old Testament, God’s glory is portrayed as his presence, his substance, the weight of who God is.  God’s glory is revealed as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night while the Israelites are in the wilderness; God’s glory rested on Mount Sinai as God gave Moses the ten commandments, and the glory of the Lord fell on Solomon’s Temple after it was completed.  In Psalm 26:8, David even cries out, “Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.”  God’s glory is His presence; it is the very substance of who He is. 

In the Old Testament, God’s glory remained veiled.  No one could completely experience the presence of our Holy God.  However, throughout the Old Testament, there were also promises that one day God’s glory would be completely revealed.  One such promise is found in Isaiah 40:5, “And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.”  That promise of the complete revealing of God’s glory was finally fulfilled in the New Testament.  God’s glory was completely seen.  His presence was completely made known, and people were finally able to experience God face to face.  But God’s glory did not come in a cloud or a fire as it did in the Old Testament.  Instead, it came in the form of the person of Jesus Christ.  In John 1:14, John says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John goes on to write in verse 18, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”  Jesus himself reveals that he is the very substance of God when he tells Philip, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9).  Other Scripture writers confirm that Jesus is the very substance or glory of God in the flesh.  Hebrews 1:3 states, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”  In Colossians 1:15, Paul tells us, “The Son is the image of the invisible God.”  Again, in Philippians 2:6, Paul describes Jesus as “being in very nature God.”  All of these Scriptures, plus many more tell us exactly who Jesus is.  Jesus is God.  Jesus is the nature of God, the substance of God, the presence of God, the glory of God . . . in human flesh.

If you have read this far, you are probably still wondering what the word glory has to do with Jesus being made “perfect through what he suffered.”  This is where the study of the term glory in the Bible gets interesting.  John has declared that Jesus is the glory of God revealed to us, but when Jesus talks about his own glory in the book of John, Jesus begins to talk about glory in terms of something he must do.  In John 12:23, Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”  Jesus speaks similarly of his glorification in John 13:31-32 and in John 17:1 and 17:5. In John 7:39, John explains that Jesus “had not yet been glorified.”  In all of these instances, when Jesus is talking about being glorified, he is talking about a specific thing that he must do in order to receive glory.  It’s almost as if Jesus is saying that in order for his glory to be complete, he must actively do something to bring his glory about.  In other words, if Jesus’ glory is the very nature or substance of God revealed to us, then Jesus has a job to complete so that we may fully understand exactly who God is and what his character is all about.  It is not uncommon for us to think of glory in these terms even in our modern way of thinking.  Athletes are glorified once they have won a certain number of games.  Military heroes are glorified when they perform acts of great heroism or strength.  Like Jesus, people receive glory when they complete a task that reveals their true substance and character.     

So what about Jesus?  What was the great mission that Jesus was tasked with completing?  What was he going to do that would bring him the glory?  What was he going to do that would reveal his (and God’s) true character and substance? 

Was Jesus going to march his disciples into Jerusalem to reveal his glory?  Was he going to call his angels down from heaven to defeat the Roman legions?  Was he going to claim vast territories for the Kingdom of God?  Would any of those things bring about his glorification?  No, they wouldn’t.  Earlier in the Gospels, Satan offered Jesus that type of glory and Jesus refused it. 

Instead, Jesus was going to bring about his glory through his suffering.  He was going to bring about his glory through the cross.  Every time Jesus spoke about his glorification, he was pointing to the cross.  Stop and think about that for a second.  If Jesus is the one who is revealing God’s glory to us, if Jesus is revealing the very substance of who God is to us, then what does the cross tell us about who God is?  What does the fact that Jesus was “made perfect”, “accomplished the work”, and “glorified God” through his suffering tell us about who God is?  What does the cross tell us about God’s true nature?  Perhaps one of the truths the cross shows us is that God is not concerned about worldly wisdom, triumph, or honor.  Those things are not the things that make God who he is.  Instead, God is humble, caring, loving, and willing to sacrifice.  At the cross, Jesus showed us that God is willing to suffer for us and with us.  At the cross, Jesus showed us the extent of God’s love for each and every one of us.  For it is at the cross, a place of immense sorrow and shame for Jesus, that we find our salvation.  It is through his suffering that Jesus redeems us.  And it is only because of the cross that God is able to bring “many sons and daughters to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). 

Interestingly, the cross is what brings about humanity’s own glory.  This theme of humanity’s glory is repeated in several places throughout the New Testament.  In Colossians 3:4, Paul writes, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  In Romans 8:17, Paul again reminds us that “we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”  Again in 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul reminds us that we “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.”  Remember, the term glory means our “substance” or “presence”, so when the Bible talks about us being glorified with Christ, it is simply reminding us that Jesus is making us into who we are truly meant to be.  He is making us complete.  He is making us perfect.  And the cross is the only way that we can be complete is with God.  The only way that we can be made whole is because of the suffering of Jesus.  The only glory that matters to us is the glory that we receive at the cross of Calvary.  That’s why Paul said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation” (Galatians 6:14-15).  Like Jesus, Paul realized that our earthly glories mean nothing compared to the glory we received from Jesus at the cross. 

So, Jesus was “made perfect” at the cross.  The very nature and character of God was revealed to us at the cross.  Through the cross and its suffering, Jesus glorified himself and God the Father, and only through the cross can humanity truly be glorified.  Now, some of you may ask the question, would Jesus have been made perfect had he never suffered?  Would God still be worthy of glory had Jesus never gone to the cross?  Would God have somehow been made incomplete had Calvary never occurred?  You may wonder about those questions, but the reality is that you don’t need to.  Because Jesus did suffer and die on the cross. Calvary did happen, and God is perfect.  There is no version of God that exists apart from the cross, and there never will be.  Jesus revealed the glory of God to us at the cross.  He showed us the character of God, and I for one am glad he did!

If you would like to know more about the work that Jesus did at the cross, please reach out to us.  We would love to talk with you more about who Jesus is and what he did for you and me.