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5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? 7 You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor 8 and put everything under their feet.” In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. ~ Hebrews 2:5-9
Today, we return to our study of Hebrews 2. Having established the utter importance of the necessity of the believer in Christ to pay the most careful attention to Him on a daily basis, today, we peak into the background of this argument already established by the writer of Hebrews.
In v.5 of today's passage we read, "It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking."
In this verse, the writer of Hebrews, yet again, makes the point that the Lord Jesus is superior to the angels. When man sinned or rebelled against God, we lost our authority over this world. As a result, we lost the meaning of our existence. God never promised the angels authority over this world. According to Hebrews 1:14, angels were sent by God to minister to all who will ever believe in the Lord Jesus as our Savior. In fact, in the world to come, angels will be servants, not rulers. But, due to man's rebellion, temporarily, God has given angels authority over this world. The word used for "subjected" in this verse is a military term used for arranging soldiers under a commanding general.
The word translated "world" in v.5 means "inhabitance." There will be an inhabited earth to come, and it will be different than the earth we live on now. The book of the Revelation tells us it will be the millennial kingdom of Christ. It will be a new inhabited earth, and all who will go into that new inhabited earth will be totally different. The animals will be different, and even the people will all be redeemed people that will go into the newly created world. Redeemed man will be sovereign in that new world earth, and the angels will serve man.
Currently, Satan, an angel, is the authority over this world. And, right now, his followers, the fallen angels, rule with Satan over this world. According to Ephesians 6, this world is ruled by demons. They’re called principalities that rule over the darkness of this world. Demons are the ones that are ruling the world, right now, along with Satan. That explains a lot, doesn't it?
We see this spelled out in in Daniel 10:20 which reads, "20 So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; 21 but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince."
Then, in Daniel 12:1 we read, "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered."
Clearly here, the angel, Michael, provides protective service to the nation of Israel. And, currently, the earth is subject to angels. And, the only reason the earth is currently under the authority of angels is because man lost the sovereignty that God gave us in the beginning. But, in the millennial kingdom of Christ, after the Tribulation, the sovereignty of man over the earth will be restored. The Lord Jesus, as the God-man, is greater than angels, because He came and died to conquer sin, even though the angels rule the world currently.
In v.6-8 of today's passage we read, "6 But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? 7 You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor 8 and put everything under their feet.” In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them."
In these verses, the writer of Hebrews quotes King David who wrote Psalm 8 wherein David asked, "What is man that you would be so good to him, that you would give him so much bounty and so much blessing?"
David, in Psalm 8, went on to establish that God’s original design and destiny for man was that man was to be the king of the earth. Everything in existence was to be in subjection to man. And, David asks, "In comparison to the vastness of this world, what is man in comparison to such greatness?"
In v.7 we learn that man was created a little lower than the angels. So, currently, the chain of command is God, angels, man, and earth. And, David asks, "What’s the big deal about man that God is mindful of us and He has made us kings over the earth?"
God made man lower than angels in the sense that we are physical and angels are spiritual. Angels are heavenly, and man is earthly. Man is confined to a physical body, and angels are spirits. Man has been confined strictly to the earth. Man, for now, can not ascend into the supernatural. Angels were not confined to the supernatural. They could move down to the earth any time they wanted; so they have options that man does not have.
God in the very beginning knew that the ultimate destiny of man would not be something lower than angels. This chain of command is temporary. And, God has a destiny for man that rates him as a king in God's millennial kingdom. And, it is for a little time that God has made man to be lower than angels.
But, in Daniel 7:18 we read, "But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever."
Those made holy, in the eyes of God, by the Lord Jesus, will rule in God's kingdom, forever. In Revelation 3:21 we learn, "We will sit with him on his thrown and rule." In Ephesians 1:20 we learn, "He will reign in the kingdom over principalities and powers." Since Christ will reign over angels in His kingdom and we will sit on His thrown with Him, we will reign over angels for all of eternity.
Man, who was made lower than angels for a little while, in innocence was king over the undefiled earth. But, man’s destiny was restricted by sin. According to v.8 of today's text, man rebelled against God, and lost his authority over the earth. Man was designed by God to have dominion over the earth. And the earth was subjected to man, and the earth supplied all of man’s needs without man doing anything. All man had to do was just to accept the earth as it provided our needs. And then man sinned. Satan usurped man's authority over the earth, and, at that moment, God's chain of command was interrupted.
Man was no longer a master of himself. We are totally sinful, and we have become slaves to sin. No longer is man king over the earth, we have become slaves. When man sinned, the animal kingdom was made subservient to man in the sense of fear, not love and trust.
And, the ground, instead of yielding good things easy to take and to eat, now, produces thorns, weeds, and other harmful things. Not only that, extremes of heat and cold, poisonous plants, and reptiles, earthquakes, typhoons, floods, hurricanes, disease, an army of billions of bacteria have been released upon man. Everything broke loose to make man no king any longer, but a slave fighting all his lifetime to exist. And man has been fighting a losing battle ever since.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."
The Lord Jesus came to earth as the God-Man to regain man’s dominion. After coming to earth, the Lord Jesus faced death head on at the cross. The Bible clearly states the wages of sin is death, and the only payment for sin is death. So, man must die to remove the curse. The only way we can ever be the kings God created us to be is to have the curse removed. The only way we can remove the curse is to pay the penalty. So, if we are to be restored, we must die, and we must be resurrected a new man with sovereign possibilities. This is where the Lord Jesus entered into the scenario.
In Romans 6:10 we read, " The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God."
In context, the subject is the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross of Calvary, on the behalf of anyone who would be willing enough to believe on Him. And, the moment we put our faith in the Lord Jesus, we were identified with Him. His death, burial and resurrection became ours. And now, having trusted in His finished work on the cross for the payment for our sin, we walk in newness of life. The moment we received Him, we were identified with Him, and the curse was removed. And now, we are His kings awaiting His soon return and His eternal kingdom.
