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Sermon Outline
Hebrews 2:5-9
Jesus, Made Lower, for Us
A. Hebrews So far
1. Opening Comparison
2. Seven Phrases describing the Son
3. Seven Passages Proving the Son’s Superiority to Angels
4. ….Therefore: A Word of Exhortation/Warning
B. Restatement of Premise In a New Way (Hebrews 2:5)
(5) Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking
1, A return to the theme of kingship/sovereignty (the world subjected)
2. The world to come not subjected to angels
3. It is implied that God has subjected the world to come to the Son
4. …the world to come “of which we are speaking….”?
a. “in these last days…” (Hebrews 1:2)
b. “God bore witness by signs and wonders…of the Holy Spirit…” (Hebrews 2:3)
c. Hebrews 6:4b-5…” who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come…”
d. The end of the ages, the last days, the days to come have come in the person and work of Jesus the Son, and we today still live in those days.
e. And yet we still await their ultimate completion and fulfillment
C. The Problem
1. If the world to come is subjected to the Son, that is, if the Son is truly greater than the angels, how do we explain his humanity, his coming as a child, indeed, his suffering and death? Angels don’t die. Angels are stronger than people.
2. These facts do not seem fitting for the one sovereign over the world to come
D. A Quotation from Psalm 8: The Humanity of Jesus (Hebrews 2:6-8)
(6) 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 honor, (8) putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
1. Psalm 8 is both an “ode on the majesty of God” and a restatement of the role of mankind in the created order, based upon Genesis 1:26-31.
2. But here in Hebrews this Psalm plays a dual purpose:
a. It reminds us of the ultimate role of mankind in the order of things.
b. It places the truth of who Jesus is in his full humanity into the context of the goal and purpose of mankind in creation.
c. It plays with the words “a little lower” to apply the Psalm to Jesus – a little lower becomes a little while lower…which speaks of the temporary nature of the Son’s humility, his earth-boundness, before his resurrection and exaltation.
d. The Son was, for a time, lower than the angels, yet has been crowned with glory and honor, and placed in sovereign charge over all things (things subject to him).
E. Appearances Are Deceiving (Hebrews 8b-9)
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.
1. The world as we look around and see it does not seem yet to be in subjection to Him. Death, evil, sorrow, and sin still abound. Things are not yet as they will be.
2. But nothing, nada, zero, is outside of His, the exalted Son’s, sovereign control.
3. So how do we understand this truth, so contrary to appearances?
G. Jesus, At Present (Hebrews 9a)
(9a) But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor
1. The one made for a little whole lower than the angels is now identified – Jesus.
2. We “see” him, by faith (and by the evidence) as raised from the dead and seated at God’s right hand, crowned with glory and honor.
3. The pre-existent one through whom the world was made, has humbled himself, become lower than the angels for a time, and is now exalted, as a human being, and crowned with glory and honor. In Jesus mankind finds his purpose fulfilled.
H. Before Sunday comes Friday (Hebrews 9b)
….because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
1. Jesus as a man is exalted to glory and honor because of his glorious work of salvation. He is the king who has won the victory, defeated the enemy, and been exalted to Lordship. But why has he been exalted?
2. “…because of the suffering of death.” Jesus fulfilled his mission, as sent from the Father, and won, earned, merited his exaltation to God’s right hand!
3. Jesus’ mission in becoming lower than the angels was “so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
4. To “taste” here means “to experience.” And death is what Jesus has experienced for the sake of others – for everyone – everyone who would turn to Him.
5. The grace of God – this tasting of death is evidence of God’s unmerited favor toward us – it was also that which empowered Jesus to endure the cross. |
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