“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Hebrews 2:9, KJV 1900)
Once upon a time, I had a great dream of being a person of prominence and leadership. I thought it would be in the military as a general of an army. Then I thought it might be as a leader in industry, running a major corporation. However, none of these dreams seemed to pan out. The vision that I had for my life did not work out as planned. Fortunately, God had better plans for me than that.
The author of Hebrews had just given an exhortation to the readers not to neglect such a great salvation. While there are many thoughts about this section of Scripture, I believe that the author is trying to communicate how great the salvation Christ has made available will be. God is going to fulfill completely and even more perfectly the plan that He has had for mankind in Christ.
The writer indicates that God did not grant dominion of the creation to the angels (v5) and quotes from Psalm 8. In the Psalm, we see the order of man in the creation and man’s God ordained purpose, which was to take dominion over it (Gen 1:26-28). Man was made a little lower than the angels, but crowned with glory and honor, and given the charge to rule over the creation as God’s stewards and representatives (v6-8a). However, Adam, who received this charge sinned against God’s command and sin thwarted man’s full fulfillment of the charge (v8b).
This brings us to the glorious future fulfillment of that which the Psalmist wrote. What was left undone because of sin will be fulfilled because of the work of Christ. The writer indicates that Jesus left the glories of Heaven and for a little while was made a bit lower than the angels. This was because He gave up the outward manifestation of deity and came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3; Phil 2:5-7). He fully identified with man, yet without sin. He was crowned with glory and honor being obedient unto the suffering of death and in His death, He tasted death for everyone. He paid the complete penalty of sin for us who believe.
We who have believed in Christ are likewise in Christ. We are joint heirs. We join in His victory. We join in His destiny and His destiny is to rule over His kingdom. We who believe are destined to reign with Him. The Scriptures clearly teach that we who believe will reign with Christ over a kingdom on earth (Rev 5:9-10; 20:4), which is the Millennial Kingdom. Peter states that we have been made a “royal priesthood,” to proclaim the excellencies of Christ (1 Pet 2:9). We have been prepared to reign with Him by His work of salvation in our lives.
I think it is about time that we who believe, the “royal priesthood,” start living according to our high calling and destiny. We should not let this world system sway us to its sordid values. We should stand firm on the truth of the Scriptures without compromise, being the “pillar and buttress of truth.” We should let our light shine brightly before men and proclaim the excellencies of Christ. A glorious future awaits us.
Renewing the Heart 