Christ Secures Men

Introduction:

Talk about a great passage of Scripture that we get to look at this morning. It reveals God’s eternal plan for the world, His plan for man and for Jesus Christ. Our passage offers a glorious hope for men and women along with our world.

Notice that verses 6-8 are a quotation from Psalm 8:4-6. If you ever wondered why some of the NT quotations of the OT are not word for word like our passage here, though they are very similar.

This is because the author of Hebrews is using the Septuagint (The Greek translation of the OT).

Psalm 8 was written concerning man, the great glory that God has given to man. But the words can be applied to man and to Christ. What is being said is true to both. But to whom do they apply? Who are we talking about here?

There are some good point made by people thinking that this passage is referring to me and you and mankind as a whole.

While others take it to be the speaking of Jesus. This passage is giving insight to both. That we are getting a glimpse into the intentions of God for mankind along with the superiority of Christ. You see in these verses we are able to see God’s eternal plan for man- the glorious purpose for creating us.

For some reason, unknowable to us, God has planed for man to rule and reign with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! With Christ man is to have dominion over the whole universe. Please note what I said: it is only with Christ.

This passage also refers to the superiority of Christ. As we saw in the first chapter that Christ is superior to angels as the Son of God. Now it will be shown that He is also Superior as the Son of Man. It will help us in following the flow of thought if we remember that, to the Jewish mind, the thought of Christ incarnation was not credible and the fact of His humiliation was shameful.

For the Jew, Jesus was a man only, therefore He belonged to a lower order than the angels. As we will see in our passage this morning Jesus, even as Man, was better than the angels.

vv 5-6) God’s plan for the world

[5] God’s plan for the world to come is to subject the world to man. Again keeping in mind of Christ’s superiority to the angels. God did not decree that the habitable world of the future should be under the control of angels.

The world to come is the golden age of peace and prosperity which the prophets frequently mention. This is quite wild if you think about it. God’s plan for the world to come is to subject the world to man, the way he intended it to be.

[6] We can all probably relate with what Psalm 8:4

Psalm 8:4 ESV

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

“What is man that you are mindful of him?” I don’t know about you but i know that i’m not all that great. I fall short with my family, friends, and my God.

Why should God exalt such a creature as mankind? We have to ask ourselves that here.

Mankind who curses, rebels, ignores, neglects, and rejects God?

A race who is lowly in comparison to Himself, we are microscopic in comparison to the rest of the universe!

We have cursed God and rejected Him so many time, why would He not just go ahead and condemn us to an eternity in hell? Can any of us really say we deserve the mercy and grace of God? The Psalmist like I are blown away that He, in His infinite wisdom, would not give the future to angels but to us.

The reason is simple… are you ready for it… It is because of Jesus Christ who ransomed us to Himself.

Family if you are truly a born again Christian you will rule and reign with Christ over the future world. This is incredible, and what this passage is doing is elaborating and explaining more fully the great salvation that we have in Jesus!

Job 7:17 ESV

17 What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him,

vv 6-8) God’s plan for man

As we have already mentioned in our previous section God has a pretty incredible plan for those who have received His Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives.

I believe that there are three clear steps here in this passage that show us God’s plan for those found in Jesus.

God created man to be lower than the angels for a little time. This goes all the way back to Genesis, when God created Adam in the Garden of Eden. He was made lower than the heavenly beings but higher than the earthly creatures. From the beginning it God has planned to exalt man.

God created man to crown Him with glory and honor. Mankind is limited when it comes to knowledge, mobility, and power. We are even subject to death. Yet in the purposes of God, man is destined to be crowned with glory and honor. The limitations of body and mind will be largely removed, and we will be exalted on the earth.

Why then don’t we see: Genesis 1:28

Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The answer is that mankind lost their dominion because of sin. It was Adam’s sin that brought the curse on creation. Docile creatures became ferocious. The ground began to bring forth thorns and thistles. Man’s control over nature was challenged and limited.

Mankind was suppose to be in control of the world, but the opposite is true now. The world controls mankind. Man is enslaved by evil, the evil nature of our own hearts- the evil of every imaginable thing too: murder, hatred, war, greed, power, selfishness, envy, jealousy, prejudice, pride suffering, adultery, fear, and so many more things.

Those thing are all terrible… yet the worst thing is death. Mankind is doomed to die. The cause of all of these terrible things is sin: Falling short of the righteous standard that God has set forth.

God’s plan for Christ

The plan to redeem mankind was always plan A… No backup plan needed. Despite our sinful nature and being hostile towards and alienated from God. God would provide a way back, through His Son Jesus Christ.

So this passage really has a duel layer to it. It is telling us the future hope of men and women who are found in Christ, along with what Christ as done to redeem them.

God made Christ a little lower than the angels to suffer and taste death for the sins of the world. The word for taste means to experience or to partake of. Meaning the Savior died as our Representative and as our Substitute. He bore in His body on the cross all God’s judgement against sin so that those who believe on Him will never have to bear it.

Jesus has been crowned with glory and honor as He is seated at the right hand of the Father with all authority and power given to Him.

[10] It was entirely in keeping with the righteous character of God that man’s dominion should be restored through the humiliation of the Savior. Sin had caused a rift between mankind and God and the natural world at that being subjected to death.

So what we see is God taking care of sin in the only way it could be dealt with, and that is with what Jesus did on the cross. For it was fitting that he [Jesus] should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

The byproduct of that is bringing many sons to glory.

[11] These last three verse are going to speak to the humanity of Christ. We’ve mentioned this before that it is important to understand that the hypostatic union, fully God and fully man, because only man can pay for man’s mistakes, that is why the animal sacrifices never completely worked. Fully God because God is the only one with the power to save.

Christ and us have one source and that is God. Christ is the One who sanctifies, what this means is that He sets apart or separates men to God from the world. Praise God.

Because of that He is not ashamed to speak of His disciples as brothers or sisters.

[12] Is a quoting Psalm 22:22

Psalm 22:22 ESV

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

What this verse implies baked my noodle this week. Is it possible that the eternal sovereign of the universe should become man and identify Himself so closely with His creatures that He would call them brothers? The answer is set before us right here.

This verse pictures Him as identified with His people in common worship. In His dying agony, He looked forward to the day when He would lead the ransomed in praise to God the Father.

[13] Here are two verse quoted from the Jewish Scriptures to prove Christ’s humanity. The passage quoted in Isaiah 8:17 He speaks of putting His trust in God. Then quoting Is 8:18, The thought is that they are members of a common family, acknowledging a common father.

Application:

The application for this particular passage of scripture is vast as their are many different facets we could focus on. I would like to leave you with one really broad application that ties in with what we talked about last week.

Jesus in His death and resurrection not only redeemed you and me. Saving you from the wrath of God and an eternity of separation from Him. He not only took our sins upon the cross and experienced the wrath meant for me and you… He also elevates us above the rest of creation.

How can we ignore such a great salvation provided by God? The scripture this morning should stir your heart to fervently follow Christ.

Paul says it best: Philippians 3:7-11

Philippians 3:7–11 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.