God’s Plan for Man

Transcript

GR 1676
01/27/2013
God's Plan for Man
Hebrews 2:5-9
Gil Rugh

We're going to Hebrews 2, the letter to the Hebrews. As the title that has been given to it, it reveals the content. It is written to Jews, but Jewish believers, those who have professed their faith in Christ. Further than that, it's written to a local congregation of believers, not just a scattering of believers around but the indication would be that they are a local congregation. They have been believers for a while, long enough to have suffered persecution for their faith and then had a time of perhaps more quiet. And now it seems there is more persecution looming in their future. And the combination of things has caused these Jews, at least some of them, to think that maybe a return to Judaism would be an option. Many of you have been believers for some time, and you know what it's like. It's easy to begin to settle in, then we begin to take things for granted. Then sometimes when difficulty comes we begin to think, maybe it was better in the past days. Not that we want to deny Christ. These Jews don't indicate that they would deny Christ. But it seems like an option.

You know the Judaizers that rattled around, they said Jesus was the Messiah, Acts 15 talks about the Jews that taught that. But they said you also need to keep the law. So these Jews are contemplating a retreat to Judaism and its laws and offering systems and so on.

The writer to the Hebrews makes clear their real problem is not their situation, not the circumstances, not the persecution that they have experienced and will continue to experience. Their real problem is they have lost focus on Jesus Christ, His uniqueness, who He is, what He has done. Because if they had kept their focus on that, they couldn't contemplate a turning away from Christ. They would realize there is no other place to go.

What the writer has been doing for the bulk of the first two chapters is demonstrating that Christ is superior to angels. And we'll see more the reason for that emphasis in what's before us today. In Hebrews 1 he showed Christ is superior as God's Son to the angels because He is God. Then he gave a word of exhortation, a challenge, and really the challenges in this letter, sometimes called the warning passages of Hebrews, are really the focal point of his challenge to these believers to be faithful. And the doctrine unfolded reminds them of the foundation for their life of faithfulness to Christ. So after talking about the superiority of Christ to angels because He is God, he opened Hebrews 2 in the first four verses by telling them, “for this reason,” because of who He is, “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we don't drift away from it.” The picture here of the anchor perhaps of a ship not holding. And you just begin to drift like some believers do, and some professing believers. All of a sudden they just start to drift. Why? Lose focus on Christ and being reminded of who He is and what He has done. There is no other place to go. And he made clear here, if you move away from Christ, you move to destruction. There is only Christ, every other alternative is condemnation.

Then he picks up with verse 5, “for He did not subject to angels the world to come.” So you see he is continuing his discussion of angels. And those exhortations in the first four verses aren't just something inserted. You'll note verse 1 began with for, verse 5 begins with for. He's building on what he is writing. That exhortation in the first four verses is an integral part of knowing who Jesus Christ is as the Son of God, God Himself. Now he's going to, in verse 5, pick up and show the superiority of the Son in His humanity. Hebrews 1 he showed His superiority in His deity, now he'll show His superiority in His humanity. Both comparing to angels because of the exalted position angels have in God's creation.

“For He did not subject to angels the world to come.” And in verses 5-9 where we'll focus our attention, he's going to indicate and show that it's not God's intention that the angels rule creation, but it is His intention that man rules creation. In verse 5 he'll mention, He did not subject to angels the world to come. This is consistent, continuing the line from Hebrews 1:5, “for to which of the angels did He ever say.” And verse 7, “and of the angels He says.” Verse 13, “to which of the angels has He ever said?” Hebrews 2:5, “for He did not subject to angels the world to come.” Down in verse 9, “we see him for a little while lower than the angels.” Then he'll come to verse 16, “assuredly He does not give help to angels.” The comparison. Angels are very important beings in God's creation. Christ is superior to them. But things are out of order in our present time. And that involves angels. And so he is going to address that subject.

When he says in verse 5, He “did not subject to angels,” that word subject, a word that means to be under the authority of someone. Two words, huppotasso, huppo to be under and tasso, to be arranged, to be arranged under like a military group. They are arranged under the authority of their officers. It's a key word in this section. It starts out in verse 5, “he did not subject to angels;” then you come down to verse 8 and that word subject or subjection, various forms of it, are used repeatedly. Verse 8, “you have put all things in subjection,” for in subjecting all things to Him He left nothing that is not subject to Him. We do not see all things subjected to Him. That emphasis on the authority here and the relationship in the plan of God becomes crucial. We'll see is in the present situation because of sin, things are out of order. And it takes Christ becoming a man and dealing with the sin issue that will make possible the restoration of God's creation plan in the kingdom to come.

So he starts in verse 5, “for He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.” When he talks about the world to come, he's talking about the coming kingdom. I want to say something about that in a moment. Let's talk about the relationship of angels. They are not going to be ruling in the kingdom that Christ will establish on the earth, that's the world to come. We'll see that in a moment. But right now angels are in a key and influential position. Verses 6 ff will quote from Psalm 8 and we'll look at that in detail that talks about God's plan. In our present situation the way things are working is we have God ruling, we have angels and then we have man. As we'll see God's original plan was that He would rule, man would rule under Him and all the rest of creation would be subject to man under the authority of God. Things are out of order right now. Angels have a dominant role. Verse 2 referred to the fact that “the words spoken through angels proved unalterable.” They were used by God to communicate His will and word to man.

Come back to the Old Testament, fascinating portion of Scripture in Daniel 10. The Bible indicates in God's creation there is a whole realm of spirit beings called angels. And among the angels there are categories of angels, their classifications—there are fallen and unfallen. Fallen angels we often refer to as demons. They are those who followed Lucifer in his original rebellion against God and God's authority over them. For that they lost their position in heaven and have been followers of Satan ever since. And they play a key and dominant position in the world. And we sometimes in the Old Testament get a little window open that enables us to look into the spirit world. And Daniel 10 is one of those.

The chapter opens up, we are in the time of Cyrus, king of Persia. Daniel, remember, was carried to Babylon in the captivity under the Babylonians and has resided there ever since. Many years have gone by because the Persians, we're told here, this is the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia when a message was revealed to Daniel. And he prays to God for understanding after this vision is given to him. Then an angel appears to him to bring the answer from God. And what the angels says is interesting. Verse 11, “he said to me, O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words I am about to tell you. Stand upright for I have been sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.” As you can imagine, awesome scene. “Then He said to me, do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come in response to your words.” In other words, I've come and answered your prayer, sent from God to give you an answer.

Now note why he didn't come sooner. “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days.” Now who is the prince of the kingdom of Persia? Couldn't be a man. An angel who comes from the presence of God and he is quite a glorious being as was described in verses 5-6. Can't be held up by a human prince. I mean, we don't even see angels. Angels are in this room, but we don't see them, they are spirit beings. And unless for God's purposes they reveal themselves and appear as this angel does to Daniel, they are unseen and yet he says, the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for three weeks, 21 days. I left the presence of God to come to you, but for three weeks the demonic angel who has authority over Persia was keeping me from coming to you. The devil is always in the business of opposing the plan and purposes of God. Then he adds, “then behold Michael one of the chief princes.” He will refer to him as Michael the archangel, the chief angel “came to help me. For I had been left there with the kings of Persia,” I was stuck, I couldn't get through. “But Michael one of the chief princes came.” He has greater authority. When God created the angels He established an order, a hierarchy. Lucifer evidently had the highest position as the anointed cherub that covers the throne of God. Now when the angels under Lucifer rebelled against God, they lost that position in the presence of God, but they still retained the position of having authority and power. And it is recognized.

We won't turn there but remember in the book of Jude there is an interesting reference that when Michael was disputing with Satan about the body of Moses, he did not bring a railing accusation against Lucifer but said, “the Lord rebuke you.” Even Michael the archangel recognized the authority that had been given to Satan. Even though he is fallen, there is still a recognition. In fact one of the characteristics of false teachers is they speak disparaging of angelic majesties. You see some preachers parading around supposedly speaking against the devil and telling him what to do. That kind of disrespect is not characteristic. They are not honored in that sense, but their authority delegated by God is still respected.

So it took Michael a chief prince to come and exercise his authority so that this other angel could go on and meet Daniel.

When you come over to Daniel 12:1, we are a future time in the middle of the coming seven-year tribulation. “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people.” Now Daniel is a Jew, when he talks about your people, he's talking about Israel. And Michael is the angel specifically entrusted with responsibility over Israel. So you see now in the angelic realm there are angels who have authority over nations. There was a prince of Persia, a demonic being under the rule of Satan, exercising authority over Persia. That would be true of the United States of America, other nations of the world. There is an order in the angelic realm. What did God do among man when He created man? He arranged authority, did He not? And order? So in the angelic world that is so.

Satan is the one who rules over this hierarchy. Come to Matthew 4. And this is the temptation of Christ by Satan and the beginning of His earthly ministry. Verse 1 started out, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Then the devil comes to Him in a series of temptations. Then look at verse 8, “again the devil,” another name for Lucifer, Satan, “took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” You see the power of the devil. He could take the Son of God here in human form, take Him to a high mountain and unfold before Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory associated with those kingdoms. “Then he said to Him, all these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me.” You don't have to go to the cross to become king over the earth, I'll give it to you. You just have to worship me. Now it's interesting to me, Christ doesn't say, no, you don't have that power, Satan. He simply says, “no, you should not worship anyone but God.” You see something of the power and authority that Satan has in this day over the kingdoms of the world. That's why 1 John 5:19 can say that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” Satan.

Come to John 12, Jesus anticipating His coming betrayal and crucifixion. John 13 will begin with the Last Supper, His last night with His disciples. So you see we are at the end of His earthly ministry and on the verge of the crucifixion. And He says in verse 31, “now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself. He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. Being lifted up from the earth was a reference to crucifixion because they lay the cross down, nailed you to the cross and then lifted the cross up and stood it in the ground. And He said the ruler of this world will be cast out. The death and resurrection of Christ is the defeat of Satan. Now his power has not been removed yet, and that's where we're going in Hebrews 2 and subsequently. But the defeat of Satan has occurred. Now his final removal awaits the future time. But here he is referred to as the ruler of this world.

You can just jot down 2 Corinthians 4:4, he is called the god, small “g”, of this world. This brings into not what we're talking about, but you understand when Paul wrote in Ephesians 6 that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.” You and I are in that battle and spirit forces are involved. Daniel didn't know when he was praying to God that there was a demon trying to prevent the answer from God coming to him. He was in that battle. Perhaps the demon's intention was to discourage Daniel. You pray and don't get answers. What makes you think God is listening? What makes you think He cares about you? We don't know what is going on. But you see the power. That verse in 2 Corinthians 4:4 says when the “unbeliever hears the gospel and doesn't believe it, it's because the god of this world has blinded the eyes of his mind,” because Satan doesn't want him to see the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved. So every time you present the gospel to someone, a spiritual battle is going on. Satan and his demons are arguing for that person to prevent him from responding and believing the gospel. And we sometimes wonder why this is so difficult, why it is so hard. Because there is a spiritual war going on and we forget that.

And these Hebrew Christians, as you come back to Hebrews 2, are in danger of forgetting the issues here. And the absolute superiority of Christ and what God has done in Him. So in verse 5 he says, “He did not subject to angels the world to come.” So there is a contrast here, the present world and the world to come. The Jews divided history into two segments—now and the future, the present world and the world to come. The world to come would be the kingdom that the Messiah would establish, the present world is the world that we live in. Now in contrast God did not subject to angels the world to come. And the reason we've spent that time looking at the authority of angels in the present is in the present time they have that authority. We'll see in a moment how it came to be. Concerning which we are speaking.

So the writer says I want to talk to you about God's ultimate plan and the Jews would identify this. The world to come, the coming kingdom, I'm explaining these things to you, that's what I'm talking about, how God will bring about the kingdom and what was necessary for the coming of the kingdom. The world to come. It's not some kind of spiritual kingdom, it's not the kingdom we talked about in Hebrews 1 where Christ assumed the throne and said, “Your throne O God is forever and ever.” That's the throne He shares with the Father as God. But now we're going to talk about His rule in the earthly Davidic kingdom. That's the world to come.

Come back to Matthew 25, we lay some of these foundations and then we'll go a little faster, maybe. Matthew 24 Jesus answering the question when these things will happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. And Jesus unfolds material that relates to events leading up to the time when He will return to earth. You have events of the tribulation, that final seven-year period. Matthew 24:15 talks about the abomination of desolation. Verse 21, “great tribulation like the world has never experienced.” And that tribulation will be so terrible, if Christ didn't intervene at the end of that seven years, no one would survive on the face of the earth. Then He talks about His return to earth. Verse 25, “just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” And He'll come and all peoples of the world will see Him when He comes to establish His kingdom. Then He tells some parables about being ready at His coming and event associated with His coming, judgment and so on.

Come down for time to Matthew 25:31, “but when the Son of Man.” And that's His favorite title for Himself because it identifies Him in His humanity. For all eternity He had been Son of God in His deity, but now He is Son of Man, fully man, and He identifies with man in his humanity. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory.” And that's important because where we are going in Hebrews, He had to become man for this kingdom to become a possibility. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.” That's why I said there is a distinction between the throne that He sits on now sharing with the Father, and the throne He will have when He comes to reign. It's then He will sit on His glorious throne. Here we're talking about His throne as the Son of Man, the throne of David, the Davidic kingdom prophesied in the Old Testament.

Verse 34, “the king will say to those on His right, come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom.” When does the kingdom begin? It begins when He comes back. He sits on His throne on the earth and then believers are privileged to go into the kingdom. “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Turn to John 3, just want to be sure we are clear on this. This is where Jesus talks to Nicodemus and in verse 3, “Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Technically he is not talking about heaven here. You have to be born again to see the kingdom of God, we often use this verse and say you can't go to heaven. There is an element of truth, if you are a true believer, being in the kingdom is your future destiny, ultimately. But what Jesus is talking about here is what Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, would understand. You can't go into the Messianic kingdom, the kingdom promised to David unless you are born again. We have to be careful we don't lose our focus and say, the kingdom of God here; that would be heaven. No, it would be the kingdom that God had promised to Israel. You can't get into it without the new birth. And anyone not going into the kingdom is going into an eternal hell.

One other passage on this, Revelation 2. God hasn't subjected to angels the world to come. The world to come is the kingdom. Revelation 2. In that kingdom you and I as believers will rule and reign with Christ. So in Revelation 2:26, a promise to the believers in the church at Thyatira. “He who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from my Father, I will give Him the morning star.” So you see believers are promised the position of authority over the nations in the kingdom. In the book of Daniel we saw the prince of Persia exercising authority, we saw Michael the angel of Israel exercising authority. But in the kingdom believers will reign over the nations. That's why Revelation 20:4, when it talks about the coming kingdom, it says we will rule and reign with Him a thousand years.

Incidentally, when the Bible talks about the kingdom through the Old Testament prophecies and that, it does not distinguish between the first thousand years of the kingdom and the eternal phase of the kingdom as we talk about it. Not until you get to Revelation 20 that you find the first part of the kingdom that God promised will last a thousand years. But the kingdom overall is eternal. That will help you because sometimes you read the Old Testament and prophecies relating to the first thousand years and prophecies relating to the eternal part are mixed together. It's sort of like the death of Christ and the reign of Christ. A passage will talk about the Messiah ruling and reigning and then it will talk about the Messiah suffering and dying. Isaiah the prophet will write of the suffering and death of the Messiah in Isaiah 53 and yet in Isaiah, particularly in the closing chapters he has some of the greatest chapters on the Messiah reigning in glory. Peter said the Old Testament prophets couldn't sort that out.

So don't get confused. We can talk about the kingdom and what's going to go on in the kingdom, it might be in the eternal part of it, might be in the first thousand years. It's not until you get to the book of Revelation that things are sorted out that way.

We have to look at one other, 1 Corinthians 6, don't want you to miss this one. And here he is telling these believers in the church at Corinth, you should not be taking a fellow believer to court. “Does anyone of you,” verse 1, “when he has a case against his neighbor dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?” In other words you ought to get some fellow believers to arbitrate it for you. “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” When he talks about judge the world, it means has authority over it. Like when you talk about a judge who has authority over this area, different kinds of judges, different realms of responsibility. We will judge the world. Believers will have that authority. We will be overseeing the nations. If you are going to do that, these petty disputes that sometimes come up among believers, you can't resolve those? “Do you not know,” verse 3, “we will judge angels.” Now that's a change. I can't even see them, I've never talked to an angel let alone had authority over him. I only know the name of a few. But we will in the kingdom. Angels will be under our authority. So you see the change.

Come back to Hebrews 2 now. Verse 5, “He did not subject to angels the world to come.” So that's different than the present state of affairs in the world. In the coming kingdom angels won't be ruling. That's what we're talking about. But one has testified somewhere saying, and he doesn't quote because that's not the point. He obviously knows where this comes from. It's another quote from Psalms like the series of quotes he had in Hebrews 1. But here he is going to make some comment, elaborating on it, that he did not do in Hebrews 1 with those Psalms.

So one has testified somewhere saying. They would recognize it, we recognize it, it's Psalm 8. He's going to quote verses 4-6 from Psalm 8. But you are familiar with Psalm 8. It begins in verse 1 and ends in verse 9 with exactly the same statement. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” We think of it because of the song that we sometimes sing, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. That's how the psalm begins, Psalm 8, a psalm of David, and that's how it ends. Then in between David says in verse 3, “when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained.” Then he comes to the verse we are quoting here, “what is man that you remember him?” We have it in verse 6 here, that's verse 4 of Psalm 8. In other words as the psalmist is talking about the majesty of God and His majestic glory fills the earth. Then he goes out, and in those days without the street lights and everything and you look at the stars that would be somewhat visible with nothing but the blackness. As I look at the heavens and the stars and the sun and the moon and everything, then you think how insignificant is man. I mean, with such a vast creation, and now we know David couldn't have any conception of the multiplied universes and the expanse of the heavens. He says, what is man that you would pay any attention to him? He just felt small and insignificant compared to the majesty of God and the vastness of His creation.

But he says, “what is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you are concerned about him?” And son of man here refers to the same thing as man, it's a parallel statement as they often do in their Hebrew poetry. So son of man here is not particularly a Messianic title, it just talks about a human being. When Jesus talked about Himself as the Son of Man, it was a Messianic title, but identified Him as a true man. He is of human nature, He is the Son of Man. So He truly was born into the human race. But here he is just talking about man. What is man that you remember him or the son of man that you are concerned about him? I mean, I'm in awe that you would take such interest in man who seems so insignificant in comparison to your greatness and the greatness of the rest of creation.

“You have made him for a little while lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor, have appointed him over the works of your hands, have put all things in subjection under his feet.” Four things God has done here with man. He made him for a time lower than the angels. Secondly, He crowned him with glory and honor. Third, He appointed him over the rest of creation. And fourth He put all things in subjection to Him. So you'll note the completeness of it, that's what he wants to stress. God's plan for man. Where does this come from? Where did the psalmist get this?

Well, you come back to Genesis 1 and we have to go back to Genesis 1 where the creation is unfolded. Verse 26, after creating the other parts of creation, and I take it the angels were evidently created on the first day of creation because the book of Job says they were there when God did the rest of creation. But they are created beings. I take it in light of what the Bible says about angels, they would have been created within the framework of Genesis 1 as well.

Verse 26, “then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them rule.” We have a principle established here that becomes important for the rest of Scripture. He talks about man, and it's singular. They are to rule. We talk about man and all the descendants. Important we have that singular title connects the human race to one man. Going to do that again in a moment. That becomes important for laying the foundation for the one who is called the last Adam, the last man. The name man here is the name Adam. So Adam bears the name and he is the man. When Christ comes, He will be the last Adam. You have two heads of the race. So He says, “let us make man in our image, our likeness and let them rule over the rest of creation.” There is God's original purpose. All creation is to be subjected, everything that God created was to be subjected to him.

Verse 27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them.” We get into this battle we have, using man to refer to everyone offends people. It offends people for a spiritual reason. Even the woman came from the man. That's Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 11. The woman originated from the man because God created Adam, the man, then out of the side part of the man He created the woman. We've talked about this in other times. There is a unity of the human race back to one man. Men and women alike descended from one man. That becomes important because Christ then is the second man that can bring to all those under Him redemption that is so needed.

Verse 28, “God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” This is part not only of Adam as the original man but of Adam and Eve and the descendants. They, plural, are to rule. That's God's intention, to rule over everything. But sin has come into the picture and Adam subjected himself to the authority of Satan when he chose to disobey God and submit himself to Satan. Like the temptation Christ faced that we read in Matthew 4, it's a repeat of the Garden of Eden. Different words. What was the choice Adam had? I can worship the true and living God and obey Him or I can worship and obey Satan. He chose to worship and obey Satan, at great cost. Now we have turmoil, now order has been reduced. He submitted himself to angelic authority. So now we have God, angels and man and the fallen creation. I guess God's plan is over because what are we going to do? How do we restore it? Adam who started it all and the one from whom all descended is gone. Who can represent us? That's where he is going in Hebrews.

So come back to Hebrews 2. When he picks up in his comment in verse 8, “You have put all things in subjection under his feet,” that ends the quote in verse 8. Then in the middle, “for in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.” So you see he goes back to Psalm 8 which really went back to Genesis 1. And there is a problem, what the psalmist reiterated from Genesis 1 and declared in Psalm 8 is not happening. We do not see all things subjected to him. We have a problem. Now there is an inkling here. Note what he says, “we do not yet see all things subjected to him.” Not yet. This is similar to what was said in Hebrews 1:13 when God said to the Son, “sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.” We do not yet see all things subjected to him. We are yet awaiting that world to come that verse 5 talked about when the order that God intended when He created creation will be reestablished. Now we have chaos in the world, we have angels who have usurped authority over man. We have chaotic situations in the world, creation, the animal world, man, authority constantly challenged and on and on.

“But,” don't you love those words, but, but. Verse 9, “we do see him.” So as we look today, we look in the present age. We don't see all things subjected to man as God said was His intention. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels. That connects Him to man, verse 7, regarding man and the son of man, “you have made him for a while lower than the angels.” Jesus Christ is truly man. The Son is not only God, Hebrews 1, He is man, Hebrews 2. He was made a little lower than the angels. Jesus is His name. Jesus is the human name of Christ. What did the angel say? “You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” Same as the Old Testament name Joshua. That's His human name, Jesus of Nazareth. Christ is a title, Christos the Anointed One, identifying Him as Messiah. The Lord Jesus Christ identifies His position, but His name is Jesus.

So He was made a little lower than the angels, he became a man. So we don't see man having the authority over all creation that God intended, Genesis 1 and Psalm 8, but we do see the One who became man. Because of the suffering and death, crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. And the way this is arranged, we talked about a kiosmos before, Greek “x.” The first and the last statement here go together and then the two middle statements go together. So we could read it, we do see Him who for a little while made lower than the angels. The last statement, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. Jesus Himself during His earthly ministry said, “He came to give His life a ransom for many.” In connection with His birth the announcement of His death and the pain that Mary would experience and so on were announced along with the fact He would rule and reign in glory.

He was made a little lower than the angels, truly became man, so that by the grace of God. You see the sovereignty of God, He is in control. And God is acting on behalf of man to do for fallen man what man cannot do for himself, providing His Son, God, to become God in the flesh so that in that human body “all the fullness of deity would dwell in bodily form.” So that as man He could taste death, experience death, die for everyone. And the middle of that, because of the suffering and death He was crowned with glory and honor. So these four statements are two pairs. Remember Philippians 2, “Christ humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him.” So here we have because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. He became a man so He could by the grace of God, we are saved by grace, we talk about that. Here you see that grace operative in providing Christ.

You see how this all ties together in what he emphasized in his exhortation there. That wasn't just out of the blue, wanted to challenge you with something, the first four verses here. How can you talk about drifting, moving from Christ, turning back from Christ? You understand the sovereign plan of God established at the creation in Genesis 1, reiterated by the psalmist David, can only be realized in Christ. Where are you going if you turn away from Christ? You are going to doom. He was made for a little while lower than the angels. He fully identified with man.

“What is man,” verse 6, “that you remember him? The son of man that you are concerned about him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels and you crowned him with glory and honor.” Well, see what happened? In Adam, the first Adam, that glory and honor and power to rule was lost. But in the second Adam as He is called in the book of Corinthians, the last Adam, He is regained. The penalty for sin is death. “God said to Adam, the day you eat of the tree you will surely die.” And he did. Adam lived over 900 years, but when God came to the Garden, he hid himself. The devil tricked him, you won't die the day you eat of it. But you know what? They are talking about two different things. The day he ate of it, he died spiritually. When God came looking for him, he was hiding. The separation has occurred. And the process of death that would culminate in his physical death began. And he will return to dust. And without the intervention of God's grace, there will be no salvation.

So how can we talk about maybe going back, maybe looking for an easier road? There is no other way, there is no other place, there is no other Savior. But we don't need any other. There was one man Adam, by his action brought the fall. Man lost the position of honor and glory that God intended for him. But in the second Adam it is restored because sin is dealt with. There is no in between here. Without sin being dealt with you cannot have a relationship with God, you cannot have the glory and honor that God graciously bestows. There is no other alternative. Important for us. We think, these Hebrews, but we begin to get lax, indifferent, casual about it. I know I should be this, I should do that, it would be better if this . . . There is no other way. He is the only Savior. He died for everyone. Some translate it every man. The word translated “every” is masculine, it can be neuter, everything, but in the context here he is talking about men, man. Every man, everyone. That's the point. All of us descendants of Adam, all of us now comprising the human race, there by the grace of God is a Savior. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.”

We don't have to do anything to perish, we're already on that road. But He gave His Son to intervene so that we could believe in Him. And that's where we're going to go in Hebrews 2. And that's an act of grace because before Hebrews 2 is over, he's going to say, Christ didn't do this for angels. The angels have sinned, have no one to die for them, so they're going to an eternal hell. Jesus referred to that fact in Matthew 25 where we were earlier when He says, “depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” But the grace of God has intervened to provide salvation for everyone. The tragedy is that everyone is not saved. Why? I can't come up with a good reason, either. There is no good reason except sin has so taken hold of our hearts and minds that we work together with the devil who wants to keep us in darkness and blindness so that we can hear the message and hear the message and hear the message and go out and not be moved by the message. That's the concern of the writer to the Hebrews, that they will drift past Christ. They will have heard the message, they will have heard it, they may have talked about it, they may have said, I believe it. But they are drifting away. The reality of it has not gripped their hearts and he'll warn them even more strongly as the letter moves along about the seriousness of it. You see God's great plan unfolded, His Son became a man, to be the second head of the race. So I am under Adam, but through faith in Christ and His death for me, I can now be joined with Christ and He paid the penalty of death for me and now I can have life from Him and anticipate the world to come, the kingdom He will establish and share His reign forever and ever.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace. Thank You for the unfolding of the truth concerning Your Son, not just doctrinal truths, not just points of interest, but matters of life and death and of eternity. Thank You that Jesus is man, He is God, He became man. The Creator, the Sustainer of all things became man so that He might die for all men. Thank You for salvation by Your grace through faith. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.