"You Are Subjected" Sermon: Hebrews 2:5-9

“You Are Subjected”

[Hebrews 2:5-9]

April 22, 2012 Second Reformed Church

            Last week, we remembered that the author of Hebrews showed through numerous examples that the Son of God is greater than the angels.

            He continued by telling his readers that we ought to pay very close attention to the Gospel.  Why?  Well, we all understand that we are sinners because God has given us His Law – and everyone knows it – and the angels also declare the Law as they carry it out among us.  And the angels are sinless, so we understand that their testimony is reliable.

            But, in these last days, God sent His Son with the Gospel – that the Son took on human flesh, lived under His Law, died for the sins of everyone who will ever believe in Him Alone for Salvation, and physically rose from the dead.  The Gospel is a Greater Word from God than the Law, because the Law can only damn us, whereas the Gospel, which was brought by Jesus, the Son of God, Who is greater than the angels because He is God, brings to us the Only Way to be right with God – the Only Way to Salvation – His Gospel.

            Then, in this morning’s text, there is an unwritten objection that the author responds to:  “OK, the Son of God is greater than the angels.  But in the Incarnation, in taking on human flesh, in becoming a real human being, didn’t the Son become less that the angels?”

            The answer is, ultimately, “no.”  He takes a few steps to get us there, but he explains that even in the Incarnation – now that the Son has a human body and nature – He is still superior to the angels.

            The author continues:  “For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.”

            What does he mean by “the world to come”?  A clue is found in the fact that he says we were already speaking about it.    And if we look back to chapter one, verse fourteen, we see that world that we have been talking about it the world now – the Age of the Church – which is all of human history – from our creation until Jesus’ Return.  “The world to come” is “the world to come” in the sense that the angels were created before us.  This world came after them – after their creation.  It does not refer to the Kingdom after Jesus returns, because not everything has been subjected to Jesus yet, as the author explains in verse eight of this morning’s reading.

            So, we could read verse five as saying, “God did not subject the created world – the material world – the human world – to the angels.  As already pointed out, the angels were created to serve, not to rule.  Nowhere in the Scripture are angels ever given the power and authority to rule over anything.  They are servants of God and servants for the sake of those God elects to salvation.”

            So, his first premise is:  God never gave the angels rule over the material world.  Nothing is subjected to the angels’ authority in the created world.   Humans are not subjected to angels.

            He continues, “It has been testified somewhere,” And here the author quotes from Psalm 8:4-6.  He did not need to give the name or reference, because, in those days, people would have known and possibly even had the Psalms memorized.  They heard the text and knew exactly where it was from.  They would also understand that Psalms are both about human experience and about the Savior Who was to come, and so we read:

            “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?  You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,      putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

            As we look at this text and understand it in reference to David and humanity, we see four things:

            First, in comparison with the Majesty of God, it is absolutely incredible that God thinks about us and cares for us and, in fact, gave His Only Begotten Son for us that we might be right with Him.  God is so far superior to any of His creation, the fact that He would stoop to help us, much less save us, is beyond our comprehension.  Compared to God, we are bugs or dust.  What are humans compared to God?

            Second, human beings were created a little lower than angels – temporarily.  Humans will not always be lower than the angels.  What will change?   Our ability to sin.  Once we are brought into Glory, we will not be able to sin, and we will be higher than the angels. 

Third, God said of humans, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:26b-27, ESV).  Humans were crowned with glory and honor by being created in the Very Image of God.  Humans are the height of God’s creation – not the angels.

            Fourth, since we were created in the Image of God, we were created to have dominion over everything in Creation – including angels – and excepting God.  We were created in the Image of God; we were given the responsibility and the authority to govern and care for and subject everything that God created.  But our sin caused us to mar the Image of God in us, so we are now – for a little while – a little lower than the angels.

            This Scripture also applies to the Savior, Jesus, the Son of God:

            First, we begin with the picture, again, of this God – the Almighty God, Who so loved us that He came to earth to save us from the punishment that we so justly deserve.  What kind of God is this and what kind of love is this that would choose to come to earth for the sake of His creatures?

            God is the Almighty.  He could flick us away like a piece of dust on a scale.  There is nothing we can give Him or do for Him, and still He has chosen to condescend Himself and come to earth in our form that He might take our place and suffer for us that judgment that is due upon our sins.  As Nebuchadnezzar confessed, “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:34-35, ESV).

How can we begin to approach Him and His Wisdom and Ways?  As Paul cried out, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33, ESV).

            Second, in the Incarnation, the Son of God did, indeed, become a little lower than the angels in His Majesty – but not with regards to His Power or His Being – and only temporarily.  God hid His Majesty behind the Body of Jesus temporarily.  We will remember that Jesus allowed His Glory to come through to a degree on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter, James, and John, saw a mediated glimpse of the Glory of God, and fell before Him.  Paul explained, “[Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7, ESV).

            God did not become less that God in coming to earth in the Person of Jesus, but God “emptied Himself” – He “[took] away the prerogatives of status or position – empty, divest –  literally, he emptied himself, i.e. he took an unimportant position” [Greek Analytical Dictionary, Bible Windows].  God did not become less than God, but denied Himself His Status for our sake – He took on the position – as our Substitute – as a real human being – so He could be our Substitute and, we could be saved through His Sacrifice!

            Third, Jesus got up out of the tomb on the first Easter morn.  He rose from the dead and assumed His Rightful Reign – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6, ESV).  We remember from the first chapter of Hebrews, “But of the Son [God] says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom’” (Hebrews 1:8, ESV).  And in the twelfth chapter, he writes, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV).

            Jesus has been crowned with glory and honor.  He has resumed His Rightful Throne and rules sovereignly over all of Creation.  He is not waiting for the fullness of the Kingdom to come to earth; He reigns now. 

            And fourth, everything will be put in subjection to Jesus.  We, as His followers, are in subjection to Him.  He is our King and we are His subjects.  But those who continue in their sin unrepentantly – death and the devil and his angels – they are not yet fully subjected.  God has given them time to work and rope to work with.  We remember the promise of God reiterated in the first chapter of Hebrews:  “And to which of the angels has [God] ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?” (Hebrews 1:13, ESV).  And the author of Hebrews continues to explain this in the thirteenth chapter, as he writes, “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet” (Hebrews 10:12-13, ESV).

            We will also remember the promise that was made – that since God was willing to come to earth and humble Himself, even to the point of death on a tree – since He was willing to take on a real human Person and hide His Majesty and allow Himself to be tormented and killed by sinners, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11, ESV).

            The author continues, “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.”  We know how the story ends:  “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15, ESV).

            “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”  But it will be!  Jesus was victorious over death and the grave; He deceived the devil and made full satisfaction for everyone who will ever believe.  God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him (cf. Romans 8:28) including putting all things under Jesus’ feet, beneath His footstool, in subjection to Him, because He is God the King and Savior.

            And so we understand the second premise:  Although God put aside His Majesty – His rightful Glory – in the Incarnation, He was not any less God – not any less Powerful.  He is completely able to save His people.  The Incarnation did not make God lower than the angels in substance, but only in the visibility of His Glory.

“But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

But why?  What are humans?  Why did God come to understand what death was like through the suffering and death of Jesus?  Why did God humiliate Himself for the people He chose?

Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”  When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them” (John 12:27-36, ESV).

And so, thirdly, we understand that God became human to save a people for Himself, that He and His Father would be glorified for what they had done.  In order for God to be glorified in the saving of His people, He had to become one of us that He could truly, fully, take our place and suffer and die for us.  Only a Man can take the place of a human, so God has to become Jesus to take our place and suffer for our sins, and then, because He is God and did not become any less God through the Incarnation, He burst the bonds of death and Hell and walked out of the grave in glory.

The Hebrews that our author address were right in remembering that the Psalmist says that humans are a little lower than the angels – temporarily.  But humans were created as the pinnacle – the height of Creation.  Our sin mars that Image and makes us a little lower than the angels for a time.  But when we are received into Glory, we will again be honored through Jesus as the stewards of Creation.

The mistake the Hebrews made was in assuming that our being lower than the angels was not temporary, but permanent – and that if God were to become a real human being, God would also become less than God.  But this is not so.  Although God put aside the visibility of His Glory before humans in the Person of Jesus, God remained God in all of His Fullness.  He was never a wit less than God in the Incarnation, and He is not less than God now in His Glorified, and still human, Body.

How shall we live in response to this?

First, let us understand that we bear the Image of God – even though it is marred by sin – and we are called to love and care for and steward all of Creation to the Glory of God.  We are to care for the Creation with the same care that God cares for us – that care that He showed in giving His Only Son for our salvation.

Second, let us understand that God and Only God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – One God in Three Distinct Persons, is Alone Only to be worshipped.  We are not to worship angels or anything or anyone other than God.  Any time we put anything in God’s place – any time we sin – we are telling God that something else is more worthy than He, and we commit idolatry.

When reading our school books takes precedence over reading the Bible, we commit idolatry.  When watching our soap opera takes precedence over reading our Bible, we commit idolatry.  When eating and spending time with friends takes precedence over reading our Bible, we commit idolatry.  When worshiping our heroes and idols and anything or anyone we hold in greater esteem than God for even a moment, we commit idolatry.  This is not to say that we can’t admire the good in people or enjoy the Creation –we should – but it should never become more important than knowing and worshiping God.

And third, let us take comfort in the sure knowledge that Jesus, our Savior the God who always was and is and is to come, is the Sovereign King and is ruling all of Creation, bringing everything to pass, just as He planned in the Holy Trinity before the Creation.  Everything is truly working together for the Glory of God and the good of all we who love Him.  So let us take comfort, as Paul writes, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV).

Let us pray:

Almighty God, it is easy to get confused when we understand the depths of our sin and then think, well, Jesus was human, too.  Help us to understand that the Incarnate Son of God, Jesus, our Savior, is forever wholly God.  Keep us from sinning by thinking less of Jesus because He bears a human body and is a true human being.  Help us to understand that the Son had to take on the Person of Jesus that we could be saved through His taking our place under Your Wrath for our sin.  And comfort us, knowing that we are subjects of a Great and Loving King Who is forever bringing all things together for His Glory and for our good.  We ask these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen.