The greatest struggle our fallen natures have, is with God, and all He represents. Have you noticed how every major doctrine in the book of Genesis is being attacked or distorted in these days? We will mention only a few:
In the beginning God… (1:1). God Himself has been declared dead by some and non-existent by others. Many more have distorted His true nature and attributes, making Him less than He is.
In the beginning God created…(1:1). The doctrine of personal creation has been substituted with the theory of impersonal evolution.
God created man in His image…(1:26) Many now reduce man to the level of an animal.
God created man and woman… (1:27). The insistence is now on gender neutrality.
The principle of 7th day rest from work (2:1-3) has been routinely ignored and disregarded for a long time.
The definition and doctrine of marriage as
between a man and a woman (2:18-25) has been challenged by the homosexual
agenda.
There is this tendency to constantly make the Tri-une God, and especially now the Lord Jesus, less than He is. Whenever we make God or Christ less than He is, or whenever we substitute His superiority with lesser beings or things we lose focus. Hence we find the emphasis in Hebrews 2:1 on the danger of drifting away[1]. This is why the letter to the Hebrews was written.
The Christ who was preached to them and revealed to them (1:1-3) was now no longer in focus, and where the proper focus is blurred, other things are quickly substituted in His place. The human heart was made to worship. The fall has distorted our capacity to worship, and we quickly substitute our God ordained focus, being on Himself, to lesser and created things.[2] The focus has shifted on to created beings such as the glorious angels were. So, from 1:4 until and including our present text, the writer is helping his readers to see that their focus must not rest on angels, but on the Lord Jesus.
He is the Founder of our great salvation (2:3).
He is infinitely more superior and more worthy and more glorious than the angels, for Christ is God Himself (1:3).
We will drift away from the Author of our salvation, when we make the glorious angels our focus. When you lose your focus on Jesus, you lose the heart of the Christian faith. This is the reason why you find so many church buildings, formerly dedicated to the glory of God and for the preaching of Christ, now mere buildings, with no true worshippers. Ichabod! The glory of God has departed.[3] And the cults and false religions are snapping these buildings up, creating even more distortion in our society.
Follow now as the writer urges them not to drift away – to not lose focus on the person and work of Jesus as he sets out to show that Jesus as the Son of God is not only greater than the angels (1:5-9), but also that as the Son of Man Jesus is greater than the angels! And so we see in 2:5-13 that Jesus’ coming as a man does not make Him less superior than the angels, and in 2:14-18 Jesus superiority to the angels is not less, because He suffered for us as a man. Don’t let the thought that Jesus was now less than the angels distract you from His real substance! Follow the logic…
1.
Don’t think that Jesus’ becoming
a man makes him less divine (2:5-13)
2:5 “Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking”. He reminds us that angels are not ruling this world - they're simply ministering to this world (1:14). The world is not subjected to them, but to Christ. The earth is His footstool (1:13). It is subjected to Him. It is under His feet (2:8).
What is meant by "the world to come"? Surely it means
the same as ‘these last days'
referred to in 1:2[4].
The new world order began with Christ's birth, death and ascension. It
is true that the world to come (the true new age) is not yet clearly seen, but
it has begun by virtue of the fact that Christ has reconciled man with God. Man
has been saved, redeemed and restored to a hope of eternal life. The kingdom of
God is now here, but it is in the making. It is both here and still to come.
2:6-8 It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. It is God’s purpose that man should rule, not angels.
Now follows a quote from Psalm 8:4-6. When you look up at the
stars and consider the vastness of the universe then man appears quite
insignificant. But by design he is not. God, who has made man in his image, is
mindful of man. He cares for man. Man is only for a little while lower
than the angels. Man remains the peak of God’s creation. In truth man is
crowned with glory and honour. In truth man was created to have dominion over
this world. The fall has distorted
everything, we do not see everything in subjection to Him, but do not be
impatient.
2:9 “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Although
we do not yet see man in the position that God intended for him, we do see a representative Man –
a man called Jesus, in that
position. We see Him now by faith (Chapter 11) as He is revealed to us in
the Scripture (1:1-3). To restore all things and to restore man’s
proper dominion, Jesus took on flesh and became like us. He became the Son of
man. He knows what it is to be lower than the angels. He lived in this fallen
world. He took upon Himself the sin of this world, suffering in fallen man’s
place. 'Suffering' is an important concept in this letter[5].
Jesus was not protected from trouble and pain. When we find ourselves immersed
in the harsh realities of human experience, He knows exactly how we feel. He
knows what it is to live under the threat of death. He Himself suffered death (2:9), and being who He is, He also
conquered death (2:14 - 15). “He
tasted death for everyone”. The next few verses (2:10,11) will explain
just who these are that Jesus
died for. Before we get there,
remember that the point here is to show who Jesus is. He being in very essence
God (1:1-3) is the One who died for man,
and rose for man. He is the ascended Lord, who is now in heaven – ‘crowned with glory and honour’. NO angel could save like this. We as people
cannot point to any angel and say- my
salvation is because of Him.
2:10 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
For those that stumble over the fact that God
the Father and Creator (by who all things exist) sent His Son,
Jesus into the world to suffer and die,
and who therefore think that
this is weakness (cf. the
foolishness of the cross- 1 Cor. 1:18),
think about what His so called
weakness accomplished. In His suffering
on the cross He who is now crowned with
glory and honour (2:9) brings many sons to glory i.e. many
among mankind to the same place and position where He is NOW. It was not an angel who did this. The Christ
of God suffered to achieve this for us! Worship Him!
2:11-13 “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Behold, I and the children God has given me."
Now see this. There is a unique
union between Christ and those whom He saves. He is their brother. And as our
brother (being the Son of man), he remakes us as mankind in his image. He
sanctifies us. He makes us holy.[6]
Although
believers are moving day by day towards their future destiny as sons of glory,
something is also happening to us presently. In Christ we are made holy (sanctified). Being made holy
means nothing less than becoming like Jesus i.e. we are thus of the same source
and family (2:11a). That is why He
is not ashamed to call us brothers (2:11b).
Through Jesus’ work we become family of God, children of God.[7]
The OT texts from Psalm 22:22, Isa 8:17,18
support this. Redeemed people are
the family of God. No angel did this.
Jesus ALONE did this.
SUMMARY: We must get our biblical
theology right. In Hebrews 2:5 - 13
we learned that we must not be overtaken by the apparent glory of the angels.
We must not replace them with the greater glory of Christ. Don’t think that
Jesus is second rate because He became a man. We must also understand redeemed
man’s future glory in Christ. Although fallen man is presently lower than
the angels, redeemed man by the work of
the Son of man is not. They will rule
the world. They will judge the angels (1
Cor. 6:2,3).
2.
Don’t think that Jesus’
suffering as a man makes him weak (2:14-18)
2:14 - 16 14 Since therefore
the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same
things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death,
that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were
subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he
helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Jesus’
weakness and suffering and death was a stumbling block for many in his day. But
do not let that temporary picture of weakness fool you. All this had to happen.
This was divine logic at work. Jesus had
to share in our flesh and blood partaking
of the same things (2:14a). Jesus needed to die to destroy
Satan’s chief tool – death[8], through His resurrection (2:14b) in which all will
share. Now, it isn't that the Christian
won't die. We all must die (Heb.9:27).
Even when you have been born again, you must die that "first
death". But Christians will not
have to face the fear of the second death[9].
And thus we are reminded that Jesus delivers his brothers and sisters from the slavery
of fear (2:15) and in this all we
are reminded that He helps man and not
angels (2:16), and so follows the very clear assertion that…
(i) 2:17 "He had to be made like His brothers in every way " (v.17a see also v.11). An important aspect we need to add to here that Jesus, though He was a man, He did not share in their sin nature (Heb.4:15). This is also the reason why Jesus could be a 'merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God.' Only men (not angels) could be high priests. Jesus became the perfect high priest (2:17b cf. Hebrews 8)... to make propitiation for the sins of the people. In this sacrifice He is both the High priest who presents the sacrifice, and the sacrifice itself. He makes propitiation (taking away the wrath of God) for our sins! Truly we must thank Jesus and not angels for this!
(iv) 12:18 i8 For because he himself has
suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Jesus can help man, because He has experienced
man’s weakness. No angel could do this.
SUMMARY: Jesus’s ordinary manhood and his death on the cross was seen by many as a weakness. Angels, by way of contrast were always glorious, shining creatures. They appeared more glorious. Don’t be fooled! Remember, that the wisdom of the cross is foolishness to this world. But it is the wisdom of God.
The Hebrews who were in the process of drifting away needed to see Jesus for who He was: (i) The Son of Man who is the glorious Son of God
(ii) who died on a cross
of shame so that they could become the sons of God.
A
true view of Jesus and His purpose for this world, and for us, is the gos-pill
that will cure us from drifting away into lesser loves. May God be pleased to
settle this truth in your hearts.
[1] Gr. parareō, lit. to flow past ;to let slip
[2] Romans 1:18ff
[3] 1
Samuel 4:21
[4] see also 6:5
[5] see
2:18; 5:8; 10:32; 11:26,36; 13:12
[6] Sanctification
is another important theme in this letter (10:14,29 ; 13:12)
[7] 1
John 3:1
[8] Obviously
we must understand , that Satan holds the power of death only in a secondary
and not in an ultimate sense .
[9] the
second death- Rev. 2:11; 20:6; 21:8; Rom. 6:23
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