In Hebrews 12:2 we are told to look to Jesus. We are also told that he is the author (some translations say leader, head, or founder) of our faith. (We have already looked at this description of Christ.) In addition to this we are told that he is the finisher or perfecter or completer of our faith. Notice how this easy to read version puts it: “We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God's throne.” He makes our faith complete. He finishes what he started.

I don’t know about you, but I have not finished everything I have started in my life. I try to with the important things, but there are many unfinished projects on my computer and in my garage and more in my mind that I started there but never moved out of my thoughts into reality. Chances are you can empathize. What condition would we be in if Jesus had started but never finished when it came to the faith that we need to know to be saved? What if he was a quitter like I have been on so many projects? Of course we know exactly where we would be, lost, but praise be to the Lord he was not a quitter.

When Jesus found obstacles in his way he continued pushing through and he pushed through all the way to the cross. Then when he faced the cross the stress of it nearly killed him. His sweat was mixed with blood, but he prayed and he was heard and angels strengthened him. Then as he hung on the cross he didn’t say, “I quit!” No, on the contrary, he said, “It is finished!” 

He finished it and he did it perfectly! He wants that faith to be perfected in your life, too. Won’t you let him finish what he has started in you? Philippians 1:6  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

There are 3 passages in the New Testament that discuss Christ as our deliverer. Let’s consider each of them.

In Romans 7:24, after describing the human inability to overcome sin on his own, Paul asks, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The answer for all who are unable to deliver themselves is made abundantly clear throughout the New Testament: Jesus Christ. So first we see that Jesus can deliver us from our own sinfulness.

Paul addresses the issue again in Galatians 1:3-5 where he explains that the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age. Here we see that Jesus not only delivers us from our own sinfulness, but rescues or delivers us from the evil all around us in this wicked world.

In the final passage, Hebrews 2:14-15, We see humans enslaved not just by their sinfulness, but also by the fear that they will have to face physical death. Christ is shown becoming flesh and blood like us and then facing physical death so that he could destroy the devil and his power of death. In the process of that he delivers all of us from having to be afraid of death because seeing him conquer the grave gives us the confidence and courage to face our own graves knowing that he can raise us up.

How much of your life have you spent being afraid of death and even enslaved by that fear? Death is not our friend, but Christ has conquered it and we don’t have to fear this enemy any longer. Have you allowed Christ to deliver you from yourself, the evil world around you, and the fear of death? Let him be your deliverer.

While we know that Christ is not a created being and therefore not an angel in the sense of being one of that group of beings in form, He certainly was a messenger which is what the word translated as angel in English means. There are several times The Angel of the Lord is mentioned in the OT and in some of them it is extremely difficult to see it being just any old angel. When we think of what the Hebrew writer says about how God spoke through the prophets, but has now spoken through Jesus, we can see Jesus in the role of being a messenger like the angels were.

​One of the clearest examples of the Angel of the Lord being the second person in the Godhead is Judges 2:1-3 which says: Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,  2  and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?  3  So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As you read what this “angel” is saying it is clear that he takes credit for bringing them out of Egypt, swearing to their ancestors to give Canaan to them, made a covenant, and curses them because they did not obey him. That sounds like God speaking, not an angel. 

Jesus before he was Jesus surely came in contact with his people and spoke to them giving them promises and commands. He was the Angel of the Lord to them, but he is still the angel messenger who brought us the new law and new promises and commandments. Are you listening to the message he brought? Are you looking forward to the promises? Are you obeying the commands?

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​Again we see Jesus portrayed as an author. We learned last week that this can mean more than someone who writes something, but also the one who causes something or is the source of something. The word used in Hebrews 12:2 is a different word than the one in Hebrews 5:9 even though the KJV uses the same English word. This word means the founder, leader, captain, or head.

That makes perfect sense. Jesus is the founder of our faith. Jesus is the head over the faithful. Jesus is the captain of our army. Jesus is our leader. When we say that he is the founder of our faith we are using faith in the sense of the set of beliefs that are necessary to please God, not in the sense of having faith or trust in someone or something. Both are valid uses of the word faith, and we need to understand from the context which is being used.

Jesus lived a life of faithfulness as an example for us to follow, but he did much more than that. He also established what we are to believe. In a very real way he is both the foundation for our faith as individuals and the founder of the entire system of Christian faith.

Hebrews 12:2 (KJV)  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Without a doubt we should be looking to him. Are you? We will look another time at him being the finisher or perfecter of our faith. But for now let’s remember that their would be no true faith without him.

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If there is one thing we all associate with Jesus it is salvation. We hear about how Jesus died to save us quite regularly. We know we can’t save ourselves and no one else can save us. Salvation has to come from Jesus. He said that was his purpose on earth,“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”(Luke 19:10). 

​So, there is certainly no issue with Jesus bringing us eternal salvation, but Hebrews 5:9 says, “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;”. What does it mean to be an author? We usually think of an author as one who writes a book or a story and Jesus never wrote anything as far as we know, so what does it mean?

The word translated ‘author’ here is only used this one time and it literally means the “causer”, the one who causes something to happen. Some translate it a ‘Source of eternal salvation”. Without a doubt Jesus caused eternal salvation by the action he took in coming and dying on our behalf. Certainly Jesus is the Source of our eternal salvation just as an author is the source of the book or story that he then writes. And Jesus has a book of life where he has written the rest of this story, the names of those who obey him and receive the eternal life that he authored.

If you have ever been in trouble of any kind you know that being saved from it is wonderful. Even a temporary salvation is a great thing. How much more then when we have an eternal salvation offered to us? Have you taken advantage of the eternal salvation Jesus authored for you? Will you let him write your name in his book with others who have obeyed him? Are you living each day like someone who has eternal salvation and eternal life? 1 John 5:13 tells we can know that we “have eternal life”, but are we living up to it? 

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If I asked you to name the apostles I am sure that we could get Jesus’ twelve apostles named and someone would remember Matthias and there’s no way we would forget about Paul. Eventually, someone would probably even bring up Barnabas and James, the Lord’s brother, and references that seem to indicate that they were considered apostles (Acts 14:14 and Gal. 1:19). But be honest, would you have thought of Jesus as an apostle if you hadn’t seen the title of this article? 

Some of you may still be thinking that there must be some mistake, Jesus chose the apostles surely he’s not one of them. In Hebrews 3:1 Jesus is called “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession”. We’ll look at ‘High Priest’ another time, let’s focus on ‘Apostle’. Even though we don’t often think of him as an apostle and though he is not referred to with this appellation anywhere else in the New Testament, Coffman says it shouldn’t surprise us “since the primary meaning of the word is ‘one sent or commissioned for some important communication’” (James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA). What more important communication could there be than the good news that Jesus brought? The Hebrew writer has already said that God spoke through the prophets in the past, but now has spoken to us by His Son (1:2). How much farther could one be sent than from Heaven to Earth? What greater commission could there be than to show people who God truly is by God coming in the flesh?

Malachi 3:1 prophesies of the Lord coming and refers to him as “the messenger of the covenant” and said that he “is coming”. Indeed, the messenger of the covenant, the Apostle of our profession or confession, our Lord did come just as Malachi prophesied he would. But have we heeded his important communication? Jesus certainly brought much important information from the Father (John 12:49) not the least of which is that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Himself, God’s own Son. Are we professing and confessing Jesus, our Apostle, as the Son of God?

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