Hebrews 12:2 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.
We can look to the cloud of witnesses to strengthen our decision of faith. But our focus must be on Jesus. The author makes some significant claims about Jesus in this verse. It may be one of the most significant statements in the entire epistle. Everything in the letter builds to this point and everything after reflects on it.
First, Jesus is the founder and perfecter of faith. He is the one who makes our faith even possible. As we turn to him and follow him in obedience, our faith will grow stronger and complete. The word for “perfect” means something that has fulfilled its purpose. Our purpose for being created is to find God through Christ. As Paul states in Colossians 1:16, “ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Jesus is both the source and goal of our faith. He has made it possible to be in relationship with God by opening the way to God’s presence through the forgiveness and cleansing of sin.
Second, Jesus makes this way of faith possible by dying on the cross. He endured the shame that went with it. The shame can be seen in two ways. From the human side, dying on a cross was one of the most shameful deaths because of how it was done. The victim was nailed to a cross, often naked, with exposure to ridicule from those who passed by. From the divine side, Jesus experienced alienation from the Father by taking on the sins of the world. Isaiah 53:3 states, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Third, as a result of his decision to follow the Father’s will to the cross and take on the shame of the sin of the world upon himself, the Father exalted him to the highest place (see Philippians 2:9-11). Jesus is seated at the highest place of honor at the right hand of God’s throne. This symbolic language stresses the utter singular exaltedness of Jesus as the divine Son of God. All of his suffering brought salvation to the world. His exaltation confirmed this. Jesus is not passively sitting at God’s throne but is interceding in our behalf (Hebrews 4:14-16). He is Lord and Supreme over all creation, the first one to be raised, the one who opened the way for us to also experience resurrection and eternal life.
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