Hebrews 2:5-8
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
At NGU, I majored in Christian Studies.
And one of the classes I was forced to take for my degree was a class called Systematic Theology.
And I remember hearing horror stories of this class. how it was hard, and that Dr. Johnson’s tests were the hardest test any one had ever taken before.
And I’ll admit, I didn’t even want to take the class for that reason.
But it wasn’t just that.
I had the mindset of this: I don’t need to learn theology, I just want to love Jesus. I think I may have even said that leading up to the class.
In that first class, Dr. Walter Johnson dealt with that attitude. He even said that very thing, some people say I don’t need all that theology, I just want to love Jesus.
He challenged us that first day of class.
And essentially his challenge to us was this.
How can we love God supremely, if we do not know him deeply?
Systematic Theology became one of my favorite classes, because we learned about who God is.
One of my joys as a pastor is taking that information i learned in that class, and in seminary, and even in my own study and passing that along.
The goal is that all of us leave here today knowing God better.
Voddie Bauchum he said this:
The Modern Church Is Producing Passionate People With Empty Heads Who Love The Jesus They Don’t Know Very Well.
I don’t want our church to follow that path. I want us to know the deep truths of Scripture.
Because we cannot love supremely the person that we do not know deeply.
This book is a difficult book. It contains difficult passages, but they are all for us.
This morning: We are going to go through just five verses but in these five verses the author of Hebrews is explaining how Jesus is Better than Adam. And how Jesus is the only hope for mankind.
Look what he says here in verse 5.
For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.
He begins here pretty simply.
God has not given the angels any authority over Creation. Now he mentions here specifically, The World to Come. We will get to that.
First lets deal with the first portion.
The angels are not in control. God has not given them control over the earth.
In the Past,Now, or Later.
That seems simple enough.
But when we hear that, the immediate questions that comes to mind is:
“Well Who did God subject the world to when he created it?
Who did God put in charge?Who did God give authority over Creation in the beginning? Do you know?
He gave it to human, specifically Adam.
Look in Genesis 1:27-28
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God created man in his own image. And he created them with specific God given genders. Male and Female.
God identified them this way because God is Creator and he is the ultimate authority over all. He determines gender not us.
But God didn’t just create Adam and Eve and say welp, go have fun.
No he gave them specific orders. They had a specific purpose that was God ordained.
Its all found right there in verse 28.
Be fruitful.
Multiply.
Fill the Earth.
They were to be fruitful and multiply.
God gave them the task of coming together in the context of a marriage union and having children, and literally he told them to multiply and to fill the earth.
They were given the task of filling the earth.
Secondly, they were given the task of bringing everything in the earth underneath their rule and authority.
He told them:
Subdue it.
Rule over the fish.
Rule over the birds.
Rule over every other thing.
Those were Adam’s jobs. It was specifically given to HIM.
Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the Earth.
The author of Hebrews is commenting on this fact.
That God didn’t say that to the angels. He did not give that task to the angels. God said that to Adam He gave those tasks to man.
Now we will see that Adam failed in his job, but that doesn’t change the fact that God’s original plan for this earth is that humans , made in the image of God would fill the earth and fulfill their God given privilege of ruling over the earth.
Man was to bring the earth under subjection.
In this way, the earth was made to serve man, not the man to serve earth.
Adam was to subdue the earth in the beginning, not angels.
But here in Hebrews 2 he mentions, the world to come. … what does he mean by “world to come.” Because this is not referencing the world in the past or the current world, but a world in the future.
This refers to a future world. What is he talking about here?
I believe, “the World to come” refers to the kingdom of Christ that we are to expect in the future. The New Heavens and the New Earth.
The author of Hebrews here is saying that God has not given the angels authority there either.
Who is it? Who will be the authority in the future?
Its man. Specifically, the God-Man. Jesus.
Jesus in coming to the earth has restored believers back to good relationship with God, and he has made it possible to complete the tasks that were originally given in Creation.
Jesus did what Adam could not.
This is why Christ will reign over the world to come.
Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
So the author of Hebrews is making this point.
Christ will be King. His coming to the earth as a human does not diminish his rule and reign. It establishes it, and this is what the author of Hebrews is arguing.
Jesus became man to rescue man because man failed.
Adam was given enormous privileges and enormous responsibility, and he ruined it. He did not do what God intended him to do.
So in the next few verses, the author of Hebrews is going argue that.
He is going to show from Psalm 8, how Man has failed and how Christ is better.
Look what he says here in verse 6.
But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?
The first privilege is that God thinks of us at all.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
In this Psalm, David is obviously humbled at the thought of God’s thought of him.
Have you ever been present at apart of God’s creation that just makes you feel small?
Every-time I get on a plane, I feel this. I look down and see the houses and cars and from the plane everything seems so small. From a plane you cant even see people. They just look like specks.
Another place this happens is in the mountains. The mountains are so big to me.
The ocean makes me feel small. I think this is what the psalmist is getting at here.
Looking at the stars.
We are small and yet he thinks of us. We are small and yet he cares for us.
God cares for man.
This is important for us to consider.
God is so big, and we are so small, and yet he cares.
David wasn’t the only one who had this thought.
Job, even after having lost everything, he said a very similar thing.
“What is man that You magnify him, And that You are concerned about him, That You examine him every morning And try him every moment?
Both David and Job, have such a high of God that they in turn have a low view of themselves.
Many in our world today, and maybe even some of us, we have a high view of ourselves and a low view of God.
But it shouldn’t be that way.
When I think of how small I am? Why does God care for me? And yet he does.
Now this understanding of ourselves is right and good, but it also leads us to the truth that despite the fact that we are small, God does care for us.
God does love us.
And God has given human’s, those who bear his image, incredible responsibility.
Look at verse 7-8
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 2
“YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS;
YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR,
AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;
8 YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.
We spoke of this earlier in talking about God original intent with creation.
God has placed humanity as His representatives here.
Man’s job is to take all Creation and subdue it and lift it up as worship back to the Creator.
The first man Adam was to live this way.
He was to rule on the earth and one ruled by God.
In the same way, we are to rule on earth and those ruled by God.
He appointed his over the works of His hands. God literally gave man all creation.
And this really should blow us away, that God would give us the earth.
David was blown away by this in Psalm 8.
That God would give mortal men this responsibility.
This is how God intended it. He created the earth and placed man over it.
Look at the middle of verse 8.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 2
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him.
Everything as it was originally created was to live in harmony with Man. The plants, the animals, everything was to live in submission to man.
That was the intention, but theres a problem here. But look at what it says.
Look what he says here at the end of verse 8
“But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.”
There’s a but here, and I think every one of us would agree that this is not how things work out practically now. I don’t think any one could make an argument that creation is fully submitted to man.
Creation doesn’t welcome man’s dominion. They resist it. Creation rebels against man.
What do you mean?
As a result of the fall we have thorns and thistles, but its not limited to that.
Creation as a whole does not welcome man’s submission of it.
We have to work toilsome work in order fight against Creation.
In fact, many jobs, and I would say, even most jobs, in some way or another exist because of the fight against Creation.
Ask our farmers if creation always does what they need it to do.
They plant a field, and flood will come and destroy it, or it won’t rain for several weeks, or deer will come and eat it, hogs will come and tear the field up.
They are constantly spraying these fields for weeds.
Not just the farmers.
Everything man builds is subject to fail in someway. Thats why we have warranties and insurance.
Man will build a building and a tornado or a hurricane rips through it.
Man buys a brand new car and a thunderstorm the very next day brings golf ball sized that destroys it or probably more for our context, a deer will run out in front of it.
All the animals were meant to live under our dominion and now they run from us, now some animals make life miserable for us.Just walk outside here for a few minutes and see if the gnats don’t drive you crazy. Then you have mosquitoes and fleas.
Creation is in rebellion to man’s dominion. Hopefully you see this?
Creation is not how God had intended it to begin with.
And all this is the result of sin.
Creation is the way it is, because Adam failed to bring it under subjection, and God cursed him and the ground because of it.
Sickness, pain, thorns, thistles, and death are all a result of the failure of man to do what God had originally designed him to do. its the result of sin.
When we read verse 8, we are supposed to feel the weight of the curse.
But thats not all we are to feel.
We are also left with hope in the end of verse 8.
You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
Do you see the hope?
There a “yet” here, which implies that there’s something better coming.
There is coming a day when order will be restored.
Thats our hope.
But where does that come from?
How can we have hope when all we see is bad?
Because thankfully that is not ALL we see.
look at verse 9.
We do not see all the earth subjected right now, we see alot of bad. but theres a but in verse 9 that makes all the difference.
Look at the hope of verse 9
But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
We do see him. We do see Jesus.
We do not see Creation submitted to man, but we do see Jesus.
We do not see a perfect world, but we do see Jesus.
We do not see a cure for cancer yet, but we do see Jesus.
We do not see Covid 19 eradicated yet, but we do see Jesus.
We do not see a world without war, conflict, and strife yet, but we do see Jesus.
Currently, We still live under the curse of Sin. Why?
Because Adam failed. Humanity has failed.
Adam failed in his task to rule over creation.
He failed to keep and guard the garden.
In fact rather than ruling over Creation, Adam allows creation to rule over him. He listens to the serpent, the creation, rather than the Creator.
And Adam isn’t alone in this
Every other man or woman since than has followed behind him. I have failed, but I do see Jesus.
And he came and lived perfectly.
One came, and exercised dominion perfectly.
One man came and did what the Father had commanded him to do from the beginning.
Here is where I believe-
Psalm 8 and Genesis 1:28 ultimately find their fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has came and accomplished what Adam did not.
He has come and accomplished what you and I have not.
This is why the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8 here.
And in verse 9, he applies this and finds the fulfillment of that Psalm in Jesus.
But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
Jesus was made a little while lower than the angels.
He became incarnate.
Then, he was crowned with glory and honor through his suffering.
Jesus already occupies the throne that is above all. Jesus, at the right hand of God, now as he currently sits is reigning, he is king.
Now, we are just waiting for that to become a reality on the earth.
This passage offers me supreme hope.
Because right here, the Bible promises us that the world to come belongs to Christ. Its his. And His work is and will be perfect.
The God we serve, our Savior, Jesus is king.
You can be sure of a few things:
Because Jesus is king- He is keeping score. All those crying out for justice now can rest assured Jesus will give the just penalty to all the unjust, all the sinful.
Because Jesus is King there is Nothing that is currently happening of which Jesus is not aware
Because Jesus is king, He will one day return to judge the living and the dead.
Because Jesus no sin or sinner will escape.
Positively, Because Jesus is King- He is empowering the growth of His kingdom.
Because Jesus is King, He will make all things news.
Jesus is our supreme hope. And this is why its important to know him.