LS-21-The Pioneer
The Pioneer Ye ... killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead.--Acts 3:15.
Strange anomaly! The Author of life had come, and men had put Him to death! He who is before all things, and by whom all things consist, placed Himself in the hands of frail and sinful men, and they, not knowing what they did, killed Him! In some strange way Divine purpose was intermingled with human sin. He became a partaker in flesh and blood, in order that by means of death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and thus deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Thus He was not only the Prince, or as the marginal rendering has it, the Author of life 4n its beginnings; He was, as another translation suggests, the Pioneer of life through death. He did not lead the way to the portals of death. Men had always been subject to death. But He pioneered the way through death to endless life.
How much is included in that fact for us! We may catch a glimpse of the wonder of it all by reading the passages in the New Testament where this great word occurs. Moffatt’s translation uses word Pioneer in each instance. Let us read them thus.
Acts 5:30-31 : "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging Him on a tree. Him did God exalt with His right hand to be a Pioneer and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins."
Hebrews 12:2 : "Looking unto Jesus the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith."
Hebrews 2:10 : "It became Him ... to make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
It means, of course, that Jesus has trodden the path which all must tread, who would be victors over sin, and enter into life. He has blazed the trail. He has opened the way. I remember some word of Dan Crawford, the African missionary, telling of the man who led His company in the early morning through the dew-laden grasses of the jungle. He was the pioneer--they called him the dew-drier, because he opened the path, shook off the dew, and made it possible for others to follow in comfort. Our Lord Jesus has opened the way of faith and of victory over sin-the way that leads through death to deathless life, by treading that path Himself. Is not this the secret of His power over men? It is not the whole of the secret, of course. But it is an aspect of the truth that will help us and bless us this morning as, we remember Him.