It was only right that God—who made everything and for whom everything was made—should bring his many children into glory. Through the suffering of Jesus, God made him a perfect leader, one fit to bring them into their salvation. - Hebrews 2:10
After Nazi Germany surrendered in 1945, the war in Europe came to an end amid scenes of well-earned jubilation. Shortly thereafter, a general election was held in the United Kingdom. Winston Churchill and his Conservative party were roundly defeated in that election—Churchill was ousted from office. Given his exemplary leadership during the war, Churchill’s defeat was a stunning reversal. Many in the British electorate had been swayed by a cartoon in one of the major newspapers which showed a pistol with a finger on the trigger and the caption, “Whose finger on the trigger?” The unmistakable inference people drew was that Churchill was a great wartime leader but he could not lead in peacetime. The man in the street was saying, “Don’t put Winnie back in power. He’ll get us into another war.” He was seen as the perfect leader for war but not for peace. They may have been right, because the demands on a leader vary according to circumstances. A lot depends on who is being led and what they are being led into.
“God—who made everything and for whom everything was made—” saw his creation ruined by the Fall (see Gen. 3). He determined, nevertheless, that he should “bring his many children into glory” (Heb. 2:10). Doing so involved dealing with their sin, defeating the awesome power of the devil, and leading people into eternal salvation. For that, “a perfect leader” was needed.
For these objectives to be achieved, a perfect sacrifice for sins had to be made. So a leader without blemish, with all the necessary attributes of leadership, who was willing to suffer death for us (2:9), had to be found. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, was the one. It was necessary that he “became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil who had the power of death” (2:14). This is why Jesus was born. “Only in this way could he deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (2:15).
Churchill was regarded by many as a perfect leader for wartime but not for times of peace. But Jesus was a perfect leader for all time. He was the right leader for the greatest of all wars, fought and won at the Cross. And he is certainly the only one who can lead people into the eternal peace that comes through being rescued from the fear of death. Jesus is the perfect leader. Follow him!
For Further Study: Hebrews 2:5-15
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Men, Copyright ©2000 by Stuart Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Stuart Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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