Humanity in Glory

Introduction

Review on Humanity’s Purpose and Problem

Human beings were made in the image and likeness of God, which means we were made to be his children and represent his sovereign rule over all things in the physical creation.

After the fall and constant rebellion among people, culminating at the Tower of Babel, God separated humans into various nations and placed them under the authority of fallen angels as we see in Deuteronomy 32:8. However, with the calling of Abraham, God called a nation to himself. He alone would be their God, with the hope that through them God would bless humanity and bring them back to being who they were called to be.

Humans: Lowly to Glory

Now, in his quotation of Psalm 8, the author of Hebrews echoes the wonder of David as he thought about God’s glory revealed through lowly human beings. While the stars, and moon, and the great heavenly beings whom David calls gods (or angels in Greek) are so visibly glorious in the heavens, God made man only a little lower than these and crowned them with glory and honour to rule over the created creatures.

The author of Hebrews takes this a step further. He takes the theme of God using the weak and lowly to show his strength, such as his victory over enemies being accomplished through the praises of children, and uses the Greek translation to make the point that mankind’s lowliness compared to the angels was temporary. God’s subjection of the nations to angelic power was not a permenant arrangement, it seems. God had a plan to restore humanity to their original purpose as image-bearers.

The problem, however, is that we do not currently see everything in subjection to human beings as God had made it to be. Because of the curse, our work in unfruitful, yielding disorder and death rather than order and life. Without the presence of God with us, we are doomed to fail at our purpose, and our sinfulness keeps us divided from him.

Though many great rulers of God’s people had come and gone throughout the ages; Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, and yet all of them had failed to bring God’s people back into this total victory over the created world. Despite how great they were, each one had failures which hindered their ability to lead. Even the best of them were not able to overcome the greatest enemy to mankind, the one thing that makes sure everything we do is useless and leads to ruin: death and the fear of death. After all, whatever we may try to accomplish in this world, whatever we may subject to ourselves, eventually we die and lose hold of it even if we are able to rule over it initially.

So our need, if we are to be saved and restored to our true and unbroken humanity, we need a new Adam, a new leader for the human race. We need a human being who can somehow defeat death, walk in perfect obedience to God, subject all things to himself, and bring the rest of humanity into his victory over death and over the created world. This need will later be described by the author of Hebrews as rest, a rest in God’s victory and our role in his work. Since our union with God and our role as image-bearers go hand in hand, our salvation requires a restoration of human nature from sin and death and the ability to be who we were created to be.

Seeing the Hope for Humanity in Jesus

So, we pick up our text today in verse 9 where the problem for humanity is solved in the coming of the Son of God. Our text picks up where we left off, “At preasent, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him (that is, to man). But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

The author of Hebrews has shown us man’s purpose for the future world, the temporary reality in the present world, and the lack of subjection humans have over the present created world. It is true that we do not yet see human reign over all creation at present, meaning that our position continues to be lower than the angels, we do see something else, or rather someone else.

Jesus is fully and truly human.

Who is it that we see? First and foremost we see a man, and this is the first time that the author actually names Jesus. Let us never be ashamed to proclaim this most weighty and revolutionary truth that our God is a human being. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became the Son of Mary. The reason the early church called Mary Theotokos, or The bearer (or mother) of God was not so that undue honour would be given to her. Instead, it was a title that said something about who Jesus was. Mary, a human woman, gave birth to a person who is God. What this expresses is one of the most important truths about God that we need to know in order to be saved: that God became a man. He did not do this by abandoning his divinity, nor did he mix his Godhood with manhood into a new half human, half God hybrid. Instead, he took on humanity in addition to his nature as God, covering his divine nature with a human one. This means that, while the Son of God never ceased to be the exact nature of the Father, he nonetheless became truly human.

This was necessary for us, for what we needed in a Saviour was a human being who would be able to raise humanity perfectly to its created status. The fact that God became a man is so central to the Gospel that there is no Gospel without it. If we don’t have a human Saviour, we cannot be saved in the way we need to since we need a human being to gain what we lost in sin and the resulting death.

Glory and Honour through Suffering: Lowly to Glory

Now, what is it that we see about this man? We see many men, what is different about him? As we’ve seen, the author of Hebrews will take this idea of God glorifying himself through what is low and continue by applying it to Jesus. Philippians 2 tells us how Jesus humbled himself by becoming like a servant and submitting to death on the cross, and as a result God the Father has exalted him.

For a little while made lower than the angels.

Just as human beings are a little lower than the heavenly beings, he who is their creator became lower than them. Though angels celebrated his birth and ministered to him in the wilderness and in the garden, in his appearance in human form he was lower than they. In fact, on the night of his crucifixion he became lower than any human when he hung naked on a cross. The humility of God is an important part of his character, without which there would be no gospel.

But, just as God always works, what is to be exalted must first be humbled. Christ was for a little while made lower than the angels. This state of lowliness was not permenant, but was wholeheartedly and yet temporarily embraced for the sake of his future glorification and so that he may raise his image bearers along with him.

Crowned with glory and honour?

Christ was crowned with glory and honour, however in the most unexpected way. Humanity was crowned with such honour because they bore the image of God, something that was true of them from the beginning and yet tainted by death and vandalized by sin. Jesus, however, was glorified and honoured because of his suffering and death for sin.

That he might taste death for everyone points to the substitution acheived at the cross. Death is the great undoing of humanity, the great humbling agent that makes everything we do ultinmately fruitless. If there is one thing that keeps us from seeing the world subjected to us, it is death. So, what an irony it is that, in embracing death and suffering on our behalf, he is crowned and exalted.

Note the words of praise sung to Jesus in Revelation 5:9

Revelation 5:9 ESV

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

The reason for Jesus exaltation as the Son of God and the Son of David was as great as it was was because Jesus acted in ultimate sacrifice and obedience to the Father by purchasing a people for God through his suffering and death.

Conclusion: Jesus Has Paved the Way to True Humanity by Embracing the Humble Road of Suffering to True Glory.

And so, with Christ tasting death for everyone, grace is offered to humanity. This grace is that which can raise us up to the glory which Jesus himself has earned through his suffering and death. Jesus was, for a little while, lower than the angels. Now, he is crowned with the glory and honour as the subjector, not only of the physical created realm, but also of the unseen realm.

Every benefit that Christ has won on the cross, he has given as a possession to those united to him in the covenant of his blood through faith. Eph 1:3

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

So the answer to our problem is clear: though we do not yet see everything in subjection to us, God’s image bearers. Though for now we remain in the humble stature in which we were created and under the curse which our sin borught about, leading to our death, yet there is an answer. There is a human being who has taken the place of Adam, Israel, Moses, David, and all humanity and fulfilled all that was needed for the accomplishment of our salvation. Through faith in him we have peace with God, but we also have the hope of a future world where creation is completely subjected to the God-man Jesus Christ, and through his covenant with us we will be glorified and share in his inheritence. Then the Glory of God will truly shine over all things and every tongue will confess the lordship of Jesus to the praise of God the Father.

In the mean time, let us strive in the Holy Spirit’s work with confidence in what has been accomplished. The curse is reversed, and so there is great hope for our lives even here on earth. What we do in faith is no longer a planting of thorns, but instead an eternal harvest. This, more than anything, should put Christians to work hard for the Kingdom; because we know it’s not in vain.

Have you reflected on the victory of Christ and how he shares that victory with you? How will you put that hope into practice?

Do you know the victory that is in Christ Jesus?