Hebrews 2:5-9: Lowliness to Crowning Glory
Introduction
Quote
The mention of “salvation” (Heb. 1:14; 2:3) calls for elaboration. Salvation includes rescue from the Devil—from his power to inflict death and from the enslaving fear of death (2:14–15). But salvation also encompasses a destiny of glory and dominion for human beings. The eternal divine Son humbled himself to become the incarnate messianic Son in order to redeem his “brothers.” Our preacher views Psalm 8:4–6 not as a retrospective on a past paradise lost but as a preview of a paradise to come. The psalm traces the course of human history from the present (in which humans are lower than angels) to the future (in which everything will be subjected to humanity). The present does not yet show all other creatures in submission to humans, who bear the divine image (Gen. 1:26–28). Although humanity’s royal destiny is not yet visible, one man has traveled the painful route from lowliness to exalted glory. His name is Jesus, and his coronation is his reward for suffering death on behalf of others.
Scripture
Outline
Hebrews 1:1-4 - God has Spoken
Hebrews 1:5-14 - The Son is Superior to the Angels
Hebrews 2:1-4 - A Warning
Hebrews 2:5-9 - Lowliness to Crowning Glory
Purpose of Book
Christ, who has accomplished salvation through His atoning sacrifice, is greater than all things; therefore, persevere in true faith and encourage others to do likewise
Main Point
God puts everything under humanity’s control in the future because of the Son’s Messianic Work
Hebrews 2:5 - The Coming World not Subjected to Angels
For it was not to the angels
That God subjected the world to come,
① to cause to be in a submissive relationship, to subject, to subordinate
Of which we are speaking.
Hebrews 2:6-8 - Everything Subjected to the Son of Man
It has been testified somewhere,
① to make a solemn declaration about the truth of someth.
Psalm 8:4-6 Quote
E. How Ps. 8:5–7 Is Understood and Used at Heb. 2:5–9. In 2:5–9 the use of Ps. 8 suggests that the divine commission of Adam as king over God’s creation ultimately has been fulfilled in Christ, the eschatological last Adam. Christ, in his solidarity with humanity (2:10–18), had been for a little while lower than the angels but now has been crowned with glory and honor as a result of his suffering.
2:1 Ezekiel is never addressed by name, but 93 times as son of man (Hb. ben-’adam), out of a total of 99 times for the phrase in the OT; Daniel is the only other person so addressed in the OT (Dan. 8:17). The Hebrew idiom “son of x” indicates membership in a class. “Son of man” identifies Ezekiel as a creature before the supreme creator. This highlights the humanity and thus the proper humility and dignity of the servant before Israel’s almighty, transcendent God.
A third alternative, which builds a bridge between the messianic and anthropological perspectives, is based on the observation that Psalm 8 shares vocabulary appearing in preceding and following psalms (e.g., the Lord’s name, the earth, foes, enemies, heavens). These connections embed this psalm in a context that opens the biblical Psalter by identifying the blessed man with the anointed Davidic Messiah, the Lord’s Son (Psalms 1–2). Psalm 2:7, we recall, was the first OT passage that our author cited to establish the Son’s superiority to the angels (Heb. 1:5). In view of Psalm 8’s undeniable allusion to the universal dominion entrusted to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28, it is reasonable to believe that David, the royal speaker of Psalm 8, portrayed his reign as a step toward the remedy of Adam’s failed kingship in the garden. Our preacher would then be building on David’s Adamic-Messianic trajectory, showing its destination in Jesus.
What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
③ give careful consideration to
③ to exercise oversight in behalf of, look after, make an appearance to help, of divine oversight
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
② pert. to being brief in duration, brief, short, of time:
① to cause to be lower in status, make lower, inferior
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
② to recognize distinguished service or performance with an award
③ honor as enhancement or recognition of status or performance
② manifestation of esteem, honor, reverence
Putting everything in subjection under his feet.
① to cause to be in a submissive relationship, to subject, to subordinate
Now it putting everything in subjection to him,
① to cause to be in a submissive relationship, to subject, to subordinate
He left nothing outside his control.
① not made subject, independent (Epict. 2, 10, 1; 4, 1, 161; Artem. 2, 30; Vett. Val. 9, 18; 41, 3 al.; PGM 4, Philo, Rer. Div. Her. 4; Jos., Ant. 11, 217) οὐδὲν ἀφῆκεν αὐτῷ ἀ. he has left nothing that was not made subject to him i.e. he has withheld nothing from his sovereignty Hb 2:8.
At present,
We do not yet see everything in subjection to him
④ to be mentally or spiritually perceptive, perceive
① to cause to be in a submissive relationship, to subject, to subordinate
Man—redeemed man—will reign. “And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war” (Isa. 2:4). A day is coming when, in the wonderful plan of God, the dominion that man lost will be given to him again. God’s redeemed ones, His children, will never again be subject to death. They will be like the angels (Luke 20:36). In the kingdom they will, in fact, reign over the angels.
22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Hebrews 2:9 - Jesus Crowned with Glory
C. S. Lewis memorably portrayed the growing Christian’s experience of an ever-enlarging Christ in his Chronicles of Narnia. Lucy, caught up in her spiritual quest, saw the lion Aslan—Christ—shining white and huge in the moonlight. In a burst of emotion Lucy rushed to him, burying her face in the rich silkiness of his mane, whereupon the great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half-sitting and half-lying between his front paws. He bent forward and touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath was all around her. She gazed up into the large, wise face.
“Welcome, child,” he said.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
Expanding souls encounter an expanding Christ! And this is why I am particularly enthused about these study volumes on the book of Hebrews, for that epistle has a double dose of growth-producing power—first, because it presents the greatness of Christ as no other New Testament writing does, and, second, because it repeatedly demands a response from the reader. Seriously considered, Hebrews will make us grow and find a bigger Christ.
But
We see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels,
② pert. to being brief in duration, brief, short, of time:
① to cause to be lower in status, make lower, inferior
Namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor
③ honor as enhancement or recognition of status or performance
② manifestation of esteem, honor, reverence
Because of the suffering of death,
So that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Closing Quote
We learn from this text that human beings are magnificent. As Francis Schaeffer said, “Human beings are wonderful because they are made in God’s image.” In a world where human life is cheap and is often discarded casually or destroyed brutally, the author of Hebrews reminds us that human beings are the crown of creation. They were made to rule the world for God. Still the world has gone awry. More precisely, human beings have strayed from their calling. They were meant to rule the world and even to rule over angels, but sin and death have intervened. The world is not marked by peace, order, and harmony but by chaos and massive evil. The solution to the evil that has broken into the world comes from one man since Jesus Christ has tasted death for everyone. Through his death he now reigns at God’s right hand, showing that death has been dethroned.