Hebrews 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Verse 9 begins with an important phrase: “but we see Jesus”. That is a very important phrase. There is more attached to that phrase and we will look at that as well. It is important to see Jesus. I am not talking of literally seeing Him with our eyes. We need to see Him as the Messiah, the Saviour, the King, the eternal Son of God, the Creator of all things, and so much more.
In our text God reminded us that Jesus Christ was made a little lower than the angels. God also tells us why this happened. Jesus came into this world as a baby. He came as a male. He grew into a man. He set aside His glory and became a man. Thus He became a little lower than the angels in order to go to the cross for our sins. It is important to note that even though He was made a little lower than the angels, He never lost the respect of the angels. The angels announced His coming to the shepherds. The angels ministered to Jesus as needed. They knew that He was still the second person of the Godhead. His status never changed in their eyes. He was and is the second person of the Godhead. He never lost His deity to become a man. He was cloaked in humanity in order to be able to live amongst men and interact with men. When we look at the description of Him in Revelation 1 we know that His holiness seen there would have limited His availability to sinful humanity.
He needed to come as a man in order to suffer and die for our sins. God cannot die. Jesus Christ needed to become a man, but He also needed to be a sinless man. God — the Godhead, required the pure blood of a sinless man to be shed to pay for the curse of sin. Jesus Christ willingly became sin for us:

II Corinthians 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The good news is also found in Hebrews 2:9 — Jesus Christ did not remain dead. He was crowned with glory and honour. His suffering and death was needed. However, His resurrection was also needed. We need a living Saviour. We need a living Mediator between us as sinners and a holy God. Jesus Christ is the Mediator.

I Timothy 2:5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Jesus Christ tasted death for every man by the grace of God. That grace was the free favour of God. It was the love toward men that moved Jesus Christ to taste death for every man. That word translated as “taste” refers to the bitter experience of death. The apostle Paul wrote of the sting of death in I Corinthians 15. That sting is removed for all who are saved, by the sacrificial death, shedding of blood, burial and resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. That sting is only removed from the heart and life of the repentant sinner who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The rest cannot have it because they do not want it.
In verse 10 we see that it was fitting for Jesus to be the captain of our salvation. He is the only One Who could occupy that place. He is the Creator of all things. He is God. He is without sin. He can remove the curse of sin. He alone can do that.
He is able to bring many sons unto glory. The Catholics are wrong when they suggest that Mary must help Jesus because He cannot save us on His own. Mary needed a Saviour. She could not save herself. She stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross and she watched Him die there. She could not even give Him something to drink when He cried out with thirst. Jesus did not look at her and ask her why she had forsaken Him. He looked to His Father and cried out “my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.” Mary was helpless to intervene then and at any time.
In John 2 Mary made a very important statement:

John 2:5  His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

Rather than promoting heresy, we need to listen to what the Scripture says about Jesus. He alone could lay down His life and make provision for our salvation. He is the captain of our salvation. He was made perfect through sufferings. From eternity past, it was declared that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of mankind. However, He had not yet come and laid down His life for the sheep. He needed to lay down His life to fulfill that aspect of Who He was and what He would do.
In God’s plan, Jesus Christ was the Saviour. However, the Scriptures point out that there was a particular time when He fulfilled that part of His place as the second person of the Godhead. The Old Testament saints looked forward to His coming. They believed the prophecies given to them. We look back at His sacrifice on our behalf and we look forward to being with Him in eternity, as do the Old Testament saints. We all have the same Captain. Jesus Christ is the only Saviour.
He was made perfect in that He fulfilled His duty as the Saviour of mankind. The devil tried to interfere. He tried to have Him killed as a young boy. He tried to get Him to fall just prior to His public ministry. He tried to have Him killed during His 3 1/2 years of public ministry. However Jesus laid down His life at the appointed time. It was not the devil that won. He lost when he rebelled against God. It is Jesus Christ Who won. He is the Captain of our salvation.
The important fact is that you must trust in Him alone as your Saviour. You must have Him as the “Captain” of your salvation. If you want to set the rules for your “salvation” then you have no salvation. God has declared what salvation looks like. It is life changing. It is powerful. Those who are saved are not the same anymore. They are changed from the heart out, and continuing to be changed to be more Christlike. God never removes His salvation from those who are saved. They are given eternal life! They have a great blessing.
Pastor Bartel