The God-Man fulfills the Dominion Mandate

The world to come will NOT be ruled by angels (v. 5)

Explanation: The bible presents us with a two-world model; this present world, and the world to come. According to the Bible, the division between these two worlds (or ages) occurred during the First Advent of the Messiah. The present world ended with the events of the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Exaltation of Christ. As we read in Hebrews 1:2 God has spoken to us by His Son “in these last days.” In a very real sense the Church has been living in “the last days” for the past two thousand years.

But, even as we currently live in the last days, there is still a more glorious future on the horizon. That is why the writer speaks of “the world to come” in verse 5. The writer alludes to this future state several times in his message, one of which is found in Chapter 11. Here we discover that Abraham was looking forward to God’s own city (Heb 11:10). Those in the original audience were looking for that same city in God’s Kingdom, and some of them were disappointed when it failed to appear in Jesus’s time on earth.

Of this world, the writer declares that it will NOT be ruled by angels.

This is a continuation of the writer’s argument of Jesus being superior to the angels. After the warning against drifting from the truth of God’s final revelation in Christ, the writer emphasizes that the future Kingdom will NOT be ruled by angels. This may of been a surprise to the audience due to their understanding of the power and majesty of angels.

“God will not turn over the administration of the world to come to angels. This will be the great and glorious world, the world of perfection. Whoever reigns in that world will be glorious indeed. But it will not be angels. Their present superiority over men is temporary.” (See context Hebrews MacArthur New Testament Commentary)

If the angels are not to rule this future age, then who? Certainly not mankind ?? Yet that is the writer’s answer:

Dominion of the world was originally given to Adam (Hebrews 2:6-8a)

Explanation: The writer takes his audience back to the original mandate of dominion during Creation. He supports his argument with Psalm 8 which is a contrast between the Majesty of God and lowly condition of mankind.

The Psalmist is reflecting on the majesty and power of God as seen by His creative abilities. He understands that the Glory of God goes beyond the heavens of the sky. The Psalmist is amazed as he looks at the heavens and the stars of distant galaxies and realizes that it is beyond his understanding.

Illustrate: being outside on a clear night looking at the stars or gazing out over the seemingly endless ocean as the tide comes in - one feels pretty small and insignificant!

Argument: The psalmist is amazed at God’s power, but he is even more amazed that God has entrusted mankind with dominion over His creation. The psalmist refers to Genesis 1 and 2 where God gives Adam dominion over the created order. God made Adam His vice-regent and gave him authority over everything - nothing was left out!

The writer of Hebrews picks up on Adam’s failure to exercise full dominion over creation. After he references God’s original design, he addresses what his audience (and we as well) already knew - Adam failed in his divine assignment. Adam chose to sin against God’s revealed will and lost the ability to rule.

The writer uses this building block to introduce his next point:

Jesus as the 2nd Adam fulfilled the Mandate to counter to failure of the 1st Adam (v. 9)

Explanation: The writer masterfully contrasts Jesus as the 2nd Adam with the 1st. He points to Adam and basically says: he failed. Then the contrast: BUT Jesus. As the God-Man, Jesus entered into His own creation for a relatively short time period. During His Incarnation it was true that Jesus was made to be lower than the angels. Angels are created as immortal beings who do not experience death. Jesus, in His nature as truly human did die a physical death, and in that sense He was “lower than the angels.”

The text states that Jesus should “taste death for every man” (v. 9) For the Atonement to take place, it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and to die a real death as the perfect and sinless substitute for corrupted humans. The phrase “taste death” is also used in Matthew and in John and in both instances it refers to physical death.

It is also important to realize that Jesus died for “every man” or all people. This is a reference to all kinds of people in the sense of Gentiles instead of just Jews. The ministry of Jesus broadened the scope of redemption history as seen in Rev. 5:9 - the redeemed are from every tribe and language and people and nation!

Jesus IS ruling with all power and authority now, but the Kingdom has a future aspect [v. 8b)

Explanation: The writer tells us that all things are put (past tense) in subjection to Jesus and that nothing is left outside of His dominion. BUT . . . this is not the reality the readers were experiencing. This was the point of tension. The Messiah HAD come, but the Kingdom was not being experienced! Some of them were discouraged and considering other options - they were struggling with the “already - not yet” dimension of the Kingdom. Truth be told, many modern church members struggle with the same issue.

Pastor Steven Cole is helpful with this when he states, “I understand “the world to come” to refer primarily to the future Millennial Kingdom. But there is currently a heavenly conflict for dominion on earth. We participate in this conflict and reign with Christ as we conquer the strongholds of Satan through spiritual warfare... To the extent that we live under Christ’s lordship, we experience a taste of His kingdom rule now. But the full expression of Christ’s kingdom awaits His return, when He will reign over all the earth. Then we will reign with Him and we will judge the angels (1 Cor. 6:3). So our ultimate destiny is higher than that of the angels, since we will rule the world to come with Christ. (Steven Cole - sermon, Our Glorious Destiny in Christ)

Application: We who are in Christ do indeed have a glorious future. We may, and often do, struggle in this present world, but our future involves ruling with Christ when He consummates His Kingdom. Regardless of the struggle, pain, and disappointments - it WILL be worth the wait!

How do we make it in the NOW ? Look again at the first part of verse 9 - But we see Jesus! The answer is just that simple - we keep our focus on Christ. Simple to understand, but more difficult to accomplish. The struggles and strains of this life get us down, but we cannot stay there - we look up to Jesus!!