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Hebrews 1 reveals Christ as the Son of God being much better than the angels, whereas chapter 2 reveals Christ as the Son of Man becoming better than the angels. Our wonderful Jesus has two natures, divine and human. He has divinity and humanity. He is God, and He is man. Since He is God, He is the Son of God. Since He is man, He is the Son of Man. According to biblical usage, man and Son of Man are interchangeable terms. This is proved by Psalm 8:4 which says, “What is mortal man, that You remember him, / And the son of man, that You visit him?” Hence, the Son of Man simply means “man.” In the same principle, the Son of God means “God.” According to John 5:17-18, for Jesus to be the Son of God means that He is God. When the Pharisees heard that the Lord Jesus called Himself the Son of God, they accused Him of blasphemy because, in their understanding, He made Himself equal with God. Thus, to say that Jesus is the Son of God means that He is God. Christ is both God and man. Hebrews 1 covers His divinity and chapter 2 covers His humanity. With respect to both His divinity and humanity, He is superior to the angels. Even as the Son of Man, He is superior to the angels.
Although it is easy to realize that God is absolutely superior to the angels, it is difficult for us to realize that man is also superior to them. According to 1:14, as the heirs of salvation, we are much superior to the angels, for the angels are our servants, and we are their masters. We are the partners of Christ, and the angels are the servants, ministering to the heirs of salvation. We are the house of God, in which the heavenly ladder joins us to God and brings God to us, while the angels are ministering spirits ascending and descending upon this ladder as they render their service to us. Hence, they are much inferior to us. Matthew 18:10 reveals that every one of us has an angel. Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of Jehovah encamps / Around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.” An angel appeared to Cornelius (Acts 10:3), telling him where to contact the one who preached the gospel. Moreover, Acts 12:7-11 tells us how an angel opened the door of the prison that Peter might escape.
Hebrews 2:5 says, “It was not to angels that He subjected the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak.” The “coming inhabited earth” will be this earth in the coming age with God’s kingdom. Psalm 2:8 says that God has given to Christ the nations to be His inheritance and the limits of the earth as His possession. Revelation 11:15 says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” The day is coming when the nations, the kingdoms, of the earth will become the kingdom of Christ.
This “coming inhabited earth” in the coming age is not subjected to angels. In other words, God never ordained the angels, but instead ordained man, to rule over the earth in the coming age. Based upon this fact, the writer of Hebrews shows us that man is superior to the angels.
In His economy, God intended from the beginning that man should rule over the earth. From eternity past, God determined to have man ruling over the earth. According to the Bible, at the time of creation God determined that man should exercise His authority over the earth. This is clearly mentioned in Genesis 1:26-28.
There are three chapters in the Bible that belong together — Genesis 1, Psalm 8, and Hebrews 2. All of these chapters share one main point — that God has ordained man to rule over His created earth. God has ordained man to rule over the earth because God needs a realm, a sphere, a dominion, in which He can exercise His authority. Without such a dominion in which He can exercise His authority, it would be difficult for God to express His glory. The expression of His glory needs a dominion. If God has no authority on earth, He cannot express His glory. We should consider the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory” (Matt. 6:13). Once there is the kingdom, there is the authority. Then God is able to express His glory. The kingdom is for the authority, and the authority is for the glory. If God has no kingdom, there can be no exercise of His authority and no expression of His glory. The Lord’s prayer was for the kingdom. In that kingdom there would be the exercise of authority and the expression of glory.
God’s purpose is constant and eternal. God’s purpose is from eternity to eternity. God has never changed His purpose of having man exercise His authority on earth that He might have a dominion as a sphere in which He can express His glory.
Hebrews 2 reveals that Christ as man is superior to the angels. The writer of Hebrews argues in this way: “It was not to angels that He subjected the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak” (v. 5). However, God did say in Psalm 8 that the time would come when He would subject all creation to man. This man is Jesus (vv. 6-9), the One who brought God into man to uplift man’s standard. By His incarnation, He brought the divine nature into man, and by His resurrection, ascension, and glorification, He brought the human nature into God. Therefore, this man is much more excellent than the angels. The angels are nothing more than servants who minister to all the members of this man, to all those who inherit salvation through this man, that is, who inherit this wonderful man as their salvation.
Christ Himself is God, the Son of God; He is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance. He is even called God Himself (1:8). In Him there is the reality of God. As such, He is much superior to the angels. He is also a glorified man with God’s divine nature, crowned with glory and honor. As such a man, He is superior to the angels. The angels are merely servants of those who inherit Christ as their salvation.
Hebrews 2:7-8, which is addressed to God, says, “You...have set Him over the works of Your hands; You have subjected all things under His feet.” These verses refer to Genesis 1, which tells us that God set Adam, the man created by God, over the works of God’s hands (vv. 26-28). This indicates that Adam, as the head of God’s creation, was a prefigure of Christ (Rom. 5:14). God’s subjecting all things under the feet of Adam typifies God’s subjecting all things under the feet of Christ, the reality of Adam as the head of God’s creation.
In His exaltation, Christ was made Head over all things (Heb 2:8; Eph. 1:22). God has subjected all things under His feet. Now He is waiting for only one thing — for the subtle Satan and all His enemies to be made His footstool.
According to Hebrews 2:9, God made Christ a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death “so that by the grace of God He might taste death on behalf of everything.” Man is inferior to the angels in that whereas man is limited and bound in the matter of time and space, the angels are not limited to the same extent but enjoy greater freedom. Christ is the unlimited, eternal, omnipresent Creator; as such, He is not bound by time and space. But when Christ became a man, He was limited in the matter of time. For instance, while He was in Galilee, He could not simultaneously be in Jerusalem; rather, to go to Jerusalem, He had to walk a long distance. While He was with Martha and Mary in Martha’s home, He could not be with others who were staying elsewhere at that time. In this sense, even Christ in the days of His flesh was inferior to the angels.
In eternity Christ was the Creator, unlimited omnipresent, but when He became a man in time, He was limited so that one day He could go to the cross to deal with the universal problem — death. Death is a problem not only to man but also to the entire universe. Death is the last enemy of Christ to be abolished (1 Cor. 15:26). In order to suffer death and thus destroy and nullify death, Christ had to become a man and lose His freedom temporarily, for thirty-three and a half years. In that sense, He was inferior to the angels during that period. However, three days after His death He resurrected out of that inferiority and is now much superior to all the angels. He is now omnipresent; He can be simultaneously in the heavens and on the earth.
The man Jesus, in the fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 8, was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death (Heb. 2:9). According to our physical make-up, we are inferior to the angels. The make-up of the angels is somewhat superior to ours. When Jesus came as a man, His physical make-up was also inferior to that of the angels. He became a man, taking on man’s flesh, blood, and nature. He took on a physical make-up that was inferior to that of the angels for the purpose of suffering death for us. In order to suffer death, He needed a physical body. Without such a physical body, there would have been no way for Him to die for our sins. This was the reason that He was made a little inferior to the angels.
Christ was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God He might taste death on behalf of everything. This means that He died for everything. Christ tasted death not only for human beings but for everything, every creature. The Lord Jesus’ redemption was accomplished not only for people but for everything created by God. Thus, God can reconcile all things to Himself through Christ (Col. 1:20). This is clearly typified by the redemption accomplished through Noah’s ark, in which not only eight persons but all living things created by God were saved (Gen. 7:13-23). This is a profound revelation. We should be impressed that Christ not only tasted death for man but also for all other things. This is the reason we say that Christ’s death was an all-inclusive death.
Romans 8:21 says, “In hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” The whole creation needs to be freed from the slavery of corruption, so the whole creation needs Christ’s redemption. Everything in the old creation is corrupting, decaying, and dying. In this universe everything, including human beings, animals, and plants, is decaying. Everything created in the whole universe needs redemption. Eventually, the millennium will be a time of the restoration of all things. Restoration implies degradation, and degradation comes from sin.
In the universe two rebellions brought in death, corruption, and degradation to the entire creation. One was the satanic rebellion, and the other was man’s rebellion. Before man’s rebellion there was a satanic rebellion, which contaminated the heavens. Satan’s rebellion contaminated, made filthy, all the heavenly things. Such a contaminated, degraded universe can be restored only through Christ’s redemption. Before the creation can be restored, it must be redeemed. Christ died on the cross for all the items of the creation so that He could reconcile all these items back to God. Christ’s redemption is a foundation laid for the upcoming restoration. When the restoration comes, the slavery of corruption will be over. The day is coming when decay and corruption will be over and death will be swallowed up. Today the entire creation is under the slavery of corruption; hence, the entire creation is groaning. Everything is groaning because everything is under the slavery of corruption.
The man Jesus was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death, yet this inferiority was only for a certain period of time. Through His death and resurrection, this one man was not only made superior to the angels but also has become a corporate man, the new man, composed of all the believers in Christ (Eph. 2:14-15).
Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that through death in the flesh Christ destroyed him who has the might of death, that is, the devil, and released those who because of the fear of death through all their life were held in slavery. Our body is becoming increasingly old because it is under the slavery of death. In fact, man, since the day of his birth, is not living but dying every day. All human beings, whether young or old, are dying. Likewise, all beautiful flowers are not living but dying. Although they may be beautiful now, sooner or later they will fade and lose their beauty. Everything in the universe is decaying, dying, because it is held in the slavery of death. The grass is dying, yet it is not afraid of death because it has no feeling, no consciousness. On the contrary, because we human beings are sensitive and have strong feelings, we are very concerned about and threatened by death. Throughout our lifetime, we are held in the slavery of death. Yet Christ annulled this slavery, for He destroyed death at its root. The destruction of this enslaving death will not be fully carried out until the end of the millennium, at which time death, the last enemy, will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).
The Greek word translated “destroy” in Hebrews 2:14 may also be rendered “bring to nought, make of none effect, do away with, abolish, annul, discard.” After the devil, the serpent, seduced man into the fall, God promised that the seed of woman would come to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). In the fullness of the time the Son of God came to become flesh (John 1:14; Rom. 8:3) by being born of a virgin (Gal. 4:4), that He might destroy the devil in man’s flesh through His death in the flesh on the cross. This was to abolish Satan, to bring him to nought. Satan has been abolished and done away with. Christ destroyed him, annulled him, brought him to nought, and rendered him powerless.
Perhaps we may ask, “How could the devil have been destroyed when he is still so prevailing?” It is a lie to say that the devil is prevailing. The Bible never says this. We should not believe in this lie. The Bible says that the devil has been bruised, destroyed. His head has been crushed. Will we believe our feelings or God’s Word? God’s Word tells us that through His death on the cross Christ destroyed the devil. This is an accomplished fact, a fact that is included in the holy Word as the testament bequeathed to us. We need to take this bequest by faith according to the holy Word.
Christ destroyed Satan. He partook of our nature in order to destroy the devil who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14-15). The best way to defeat Satan is to shame him, telling him that he has been defeated and destroyed and that he should go back to his place and keep his position. If we shame Satan in this way, he will go. By partaking of our nature and destroying Satan, Christ has released us from slavery. Death has been abolished; Satan, who holds the power of death, has been destroyed; and we have been released from slavery.
Christ’s death also released us from the slavery under the fear of death (v. 15). Since through His death Christ tasted death for us and destroyed the devil who has the might of death, His death released us from the slavery in which we were held because of the fear of death. We have been released from this slavery. Because of the all-inclusive crucifixion of Christ, there is no more death, no more sin, no more devil, no more fear of death, and no more slavery. By His mercy, the Lord has opened our eyes and has shown us the all-inclusiveness of His death. Now through experience we realize that death, sin, the devil, the fear of death, and slavery were all truly crossed out in Christ’s crucifixion.
Verse 9 tells us that God crowned Christ with glory and honor. Glory is the splendor related to Jesus’ person; honor is the preciousness related to Jesus’ worth, value, and dignity, which is related to His position (2 Pet. 1:17; cf. 1 Pet. 2:17; Rom. 13:7). Glory refers to Christ’s expression of God, whereas honor refers to the highest position in the universe, which the resurrected and ascended Christ occupies. In 1 Peter 2:7 the Greek word for preciousness is the same as that for honor in Hebrews 2:9.
The prophecy in Psalm 8 says that God has “crowned” man, who is lower than the angels, “with glory and honor” (v. 5). This was not fulfilled in any man until the man Jesus ascended to the heavens. Hence, this prophecy concerns the Lord as a man, and it is fulfilled in Him.
After resurrection Christ was glorified, not only in the manifestation of His divine nature but also in the ascension into God’s glory. Christ not only entered into glory but was also crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9). Man crowned Him with thorns to shame Him (John 19:2), but God crowned Him with glory and honor to glorify Him. We saw Him on the cross on earth with the crown of thorns, but now we see Him on the throne in heaven crowned with glory and honor.
After He accomplished redemption by suffering death, Jesus was glorified in His resurrection (Luke 24:26) and was crowned with glory and honor in His ascension to the heavens (Heb. 2:9). Although the Lord Jesus is both the Son of God and the Son of Man, when we come to the matter of His being crowned with glory and honor, we must pay special attention to His humanity, to His being the Son of Man. It is in His humanity that He is crowned with glory and honor. As a man in His ascension to the heavens, He was crowned in this way.
Jesus is crowned with glory and honor in the third heaven. The little Jesus who was born in the manger, who was raised in a poor home in Nazareth, and who had no beauty or comeliness, in His ascension to the heavens was crowned with glory and honor.
Christ’s ascension, which followed His resurrection, was an exaltation. From the earthly viewpoint, it was an ascension from man, but from the heavenly viewpoint, it was an exaltation by God. After Christ had been crowned with glory and honor in His ascension, God gave Him the dominion over all things in His exaltation (v. 7). This is similar to what God did with Adam. Adam lost the dominion that God gave to him, but according to the prophecy of Psalm 8, Christ recovered what Adam lost. Now the same dominion has been given to the second man. We all must declare that we were born in the first man, but we were reborn in the second man. We were born in the first man and lost everything with him, but since we have been reborn in the second man, we have regained everything. The second man has been glorified, crowned with glory and honor, and entrusted with the divine dominion that was lost by the first man.
Jesus was crowned with glory and honor to be the Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36; 10:36b). Before His incarnation, He was the Lord. However, as a man, He was not the Lord. Now, in His ascension, He, as a man, has been crowned to be the Lord. This is a great matter. On the one hand, He already was the Lord because He was God; on the other hand, in His humanity He was crowned to be the Lord of all. He is also the Christ, that is, the anointed One. The Lord means that He is the Lord ruling over all, and Christ means that He is the anointed One who has been appointed to accomplish everything for God’s plan. The anointed One is the appointed One, and the appointed One is the One who runs God’s universal corporation, Christ and the church.
Christ was exalted as Leader and Savior (5:31). The Greek word for Leader, translated “Prince” in the King James Version, is the same Greek word that is rendered “Author” in Hebrews 2:10. The Greek word may also be rendered “Captain, Originator, Inaugurator, or Pioneer.” Christ was crowned with glory and honor so that He might be our Captain. As the Greek word indicates, He is also our Leader, Prince, Pioneer, and Forerunner. Jesus is the One who fights, takes the lead, moves ahead, being the first to reach His destination. He has cut the way into glory, and we are now taking the way that He has cut. Hence, He is not only the Savior who saved us from our fallen estate and from all the negative things; He is also the Captain who, as the Pioneer, has entered into glory that we might be brought into the same estate. The Lord Jesus today is the Lord, the Christ, the Captain, and the Savior.
Hebrews 2 tells us that one day the man Jesus, who for a time was made a little inferior to the angels, resurrected and ascended to the third heaven and was crowned with glory and honor (v. 7). A man is now in heaven, crowned with glory and honor. Although the angels are in heaven, they are not crowned. Yet there is now a man crowned in heaven. We should not prefer to be angels. We should be fully satisfied to be a man, having Christ within us and being in Christ. In Him we also are crowned with glory and honor.
