In message four we saw that Christ as the Son of God, as God, is superior to the angels. This is revealed in Hebrews 1. Now we come to the second part of this comparison — that Jesus as the Son of Man, as man, is superior to the angels. This is unveiled in Hebrews 2. Firstly we saw Christ as the Son of God, as God; now we must see Jesus as the Son of Man, as man. As both God and man, He is superior to the angels.
Our wonderful Jesus has two natures, the divine and the 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 man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest 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 chapter one covers His divinity and chapter two 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. Do you still hold the concept that you are inferior to angels? I am afraid that if an angel appeared to you, you would worship him. At the least, you would look up to him, subconsciously thinking that he is superior to you. This thought is wrong. If you think that angels are superior to you, you are short of vision. You need to see Hebrews chapter two. Even at the end of chapter one (v. 14), we saw that, 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 is the heavenly ladder joining us to God and bringing 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. As we pointed out in message four, Matthew 18:10 reveals that everyone of us has an angel. Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth 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 that Peter might escape from prison. Although you may not know the name of your ministering angel, I am quite sure that he knows your name. We all have at least one angel that ministers to us continually. This is not superstition; this is reality. According to my experience, I can testify that as I have been traveling during the past forty years I have realized that my angel was with me and that, on many occasions, he protected me.
Christ, the Son of Man, as man, is superior to the angels. Hebrews 2 does not speak of Him as a great man but as a little man. However, even as a little man He is superior to the angels. Before we consider the superiority of Jesus as a man to the angels, we need to see a basic factor in His being a man, that is, that God has ordained man to rule over the earth as revealed in Genesis 1:26-28.
Hebrews 2:5 says, “For He did not subject to angels the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak.” The word for connects verse 5 with the preceding verses in the same chapter. Verses 1 through 4 give us a warning, telling us that there will be a “just recompense” for neglecting “so great a salvation.” The Lord’s wonderful Person plus His splendid work are “so great a salvation,” a salvation which none of us should neglect. The word escape in verse 3 means, in principle, to escape the recompense alluded to in verse 2. If we neglect “so great a salvation,” it is right and just that we receive a certain recompense. What will be this “just recompense”? Although we shall say more about this in coming messages, if we pay attention to the little word for in verse 5, we can understand something about it now. The word for refers back to the negligence mentioned in verse 3. If we neglect “so great a salvation,” we shall receive a certain kind of “just recompense,” “for He did not subject to angels the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak.” Thus, the “just recompense” is related to the “coming inhabited earth.”
If we neglect so great a salvation, “how shall we escape?” This does not mean that we shall lose our salvation and be lost. Once we have been saved, we are saved forever. John 10:28 assures us of this: “And I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand” (Recovery Version). When we believe in the Lord Jesus, He gives us eternal life and we shall never perish. The Lord’s word will remain forever, and His word tells us that we have been eternally saved. We do have eternal security. However, this does not mean that a saved person can have no problems. According to this portion of Hebrews, a saved person, whose salvation is eternally secure, might miss the “coming inhabited earth.” Now we need to find out what is the “coming inhabited earth.”
If you know the Bible as a whole, you will realize that 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 uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. Revelation 11:15 says, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” The day is coming — perhaps it will be soon — when the nations, the kingdoms, of the earth will become the kingdom of Christ. According to Daniel 2:35, at the time of the coming back of the Lord Jesus there will be on the earth nations represented by an image of iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold. All of these elements represent the earthly kingdoms. Suddenly a stone “cut out without hands” (Dan. 2:34) will descend out of heaven and will break in pieces the iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold. Daniel 2:35 reveals that “the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” This stone which becomes a mountain is the kingdom of God.
The stone “cut out without hands” that breaks in pieces the earthly kingdoms is Christ. Christ is not only the foundation stone (Isa. 28:16), cornerstone (Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11), topstone (Zech. 4:7), and living stone (1 Pet. 2:4) for God’s building; He is also the stumbling stone (Matt. 21:44; 1 Pet. 2:8) to the unbelieving Jews and the smiting stone to the nations (Matt. 21:44). Firstly, for the believers, He is a stone for God’s building. As the stone for God’s building, He is the foundation stone, cornerstone, topstone, and living stone to produce us as stones for God’s building (1 Pet. 2:5). Secondly, in relation to the unbelieving Jews, He is a stumbling stone. The unbelieving Jews have stumbled over Him. Do not think that the Lord Jesus is always kind to everyone. To the unbelieving Jews, at least, He will be the stumbling stone. Thirdly, to the Gentiles, the nations, the Lord will be the smiting stone that descends out of heaven to smite all the kingdoms of the earth into pieces (Dan. 2:34-35, 44). This smiting stone will become a great mountain, meaning that the Lord Jesus will become the kingdom filling the whole earth. This kingdom, the great mountain that fills the whole earth, is Christ Himself. At that time, the earth will be the Lord’s kingdom. This is what Hebrews 2:5 refers to as the “coming inhabited earth.” The “coming inhabited earth” denotes the earth having become the Lord’s kingdom in the next age. This may happen soon.
This “coming inhabited earth” in the coming age is not subjected to angels. In other words, God never ordained the angels to rule over that earth. He has 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 this aspect, that of ruling over the earth in the coming age, man is superior to the angels.
In His economy, God intended from the very 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. Why has God 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. Suppose God had no authority on earth. How could He come to express His glory? Do you remember the conclusion of the Lord’s prayer? It is, “For thine is the kingdom, and the authority, and the glory” (Gk.). 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, then 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.
The church life today is a dominion. Every local church is a dominion where God’s glory is expressed. This is why today’s church life is the kingdom (Rom. 14:17) on a small scale. Although it is not the kingdom in full scale, it is at least the kingdom in small scale, signifying the same things in the same principle. The proper church life is God’s kingdom where He exercises His authority that He might express His glory. This was His purpose in creating man.
The “coming inhabited earth” in the coming age of the kingdom will be for Christ’s possession. Christ will take possession of the “coming inhabited earth” (Psa. 2:8) for His kingdom. God’s purpose is to recover the earth from the usurping hand of Satan and to establish His kingdom on the earth for the expression of His glory. God has given such an earth to Christ as His inheritance. When we, the saved ones, as His partners shall share in His inheritance of the “coming inhabited earth,” we shall have a share in such a glorious earth with God’s kingdom established on it for the expression of God’s glory. To miss the sharing of this earth will be a “just recompense” to those who neglect “so great a salvation.” If we neglect “so great a salvation” today, we shall not escape this “just recompense” of missing the sharing of the coming kingdom on earth.
God’s purpose for man is in three stages: the stage of creation, the stage of prophecy, and the stage of fulfillment. The man in God’s purpose is both Adam and Christ. Adam was the first man, and Christ was and still is the second man (1 Cor. 15:45, 47). With respect to both men there are these three stages. Let us firstly consider the man in creation.
In creation, God ordained man to express Him with His image (Gen. 1:26-28). Man was made in God’s image that he might be able to express Him.
God also intended that man represent Him with His dominion. After creating man, God committed His authority to man, thereby authorizing him to be His representative. Thus, at the time of creation, man was ordained to do two things: to express God and to represent Him.
The man in creation, however, failed God. Man became poisoned by Satan and fell. Thus, the man in creation was damaged and failed God in His purpose.
If we only had the book of Genesis, we would be very disappointed. Regardless of the many excellent records in the book of Genesis, at the end of that book we are told that Joseph died and was put into a coffin in Egypt (Gen. 50:26). How pitiful it is that the book of Genesis closes in this way! Joseph, the one who represented God, died, was put into a coffin, and was left in Egypt.
Before we go on, I would like to say a word about Jacob and Joseph. Jacob, who became Israel, the prince of God, and Joseph were actually one complete man. Joseph was a part of Israel, although he was not a part of Jacob. Jacob was a supplanter, a stealer, but he was transformed into Israel, the prince of God (Gen. 32:28; 35:10). When he was experienced and matured, he certainly expressed God with His image. When Jacob was young, he was a supplanter and deceived everyone: his brother, his father, his uncle, and his brothers-in-law. But God is marvelous. He is able to transform such a supplanter and deceiver into a prince of God. When Jacob became an old man, he did not know how to deceive, fight, or supplant. He only knew to stretch forth his hands and bless people. Jacob blessed whomever came to him. Even Pharaoh, the greatest king on earth at the time, was blessed by Israel when Joseph brought his father to see him (Gen. 47:7). Israel was greater than Pharaoh. By that time Israel was mature and expressed God as the very God who blesses. Our God is a blessing God. Thus, Israel, who was fully in God’s image, bestowed blessings wherever he went. When he was brought in before Pharaoh, he stretched forth his hands and blessed him. That was truly the expression of God.
The name Israel contains the name of God, for the last two letters of Israel, el, mean God. Nevertheless, Israel needed Joseph as one of his parts, as the reigning part, the representing part. At that time, the entire earth was not actually under Pharaoh’s rule; it was under Joseph’s rule. Israel with Joseph expressed God with His image on the one hand and represented God with His authority on the other. Nevertheless, the book of Genesis ends by saying that Joseph died, was put into a coffin, and was left in Egypt. The conclusion of the book of Genesis is so poor.
Although the situation at the end of the book of Genesis was very pitiful, it is most promising by the time we come to Psalm 8. The psalmist surely was inspired when he said, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (vv. 3-4). Under the inspiration of God, the psalmist prophesied the recovery of what had been lost in Adam. He repeated the words of Genesis 1, prophesying that man’s lost ordination was to be recovered. Hence, Psalm 8 is a recovery of man’s lost ordination which was given in Genesis 1. The divine ordination bestowed upon the created man in Genesis 1 was lost at the time of man’s fall. The psalmist prophesied that this ordination would be recovered. As we shall see shortly, the man prophesied in Psalm 8 is the Lord Jesus. This is revealed in Hebrews 2.
In the prophecy regarding the recovery of man’s lost ordination in Psalm 8 it says that God has made man “a little lower than the angels.” In Hebrews 2:7, it is quoted as “a little inferior to the angels.” This is according to the physical, not the positional, situation. Physically speaking, man is lower than or inferior to the angels.
However, the prophecy in Psalm 8 says that God “has crowned” man, who is lower than the angels, “with glory and honor.” This was not fulfilled in any man until the man Jesus ascended to the heavens. Hence, this prophecy is concerning the Lord as a man and it is fulfilled in Him.
The prophecy in Psalm 8 also says that God has made man to have dominion over the works of His hands and that He has put all things under his feet. In the quotation in Hebrews 2 it says that God has set man over the works of His hands and has subjected all things under His feet. Clearly this is a repetition of what is mentioned in Genesis 1:26-28. It may be called the recovery of what was given to man in Genesis 1 and was lost due to the fall of man in Genesis 3.
Hebrews 2:6-9 is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 8. It tells us that the man in this fulfillment is Jesus. Jesus is the second man (1 Cor. 15:47). Although the first man failed God in His purpose, the second man succeeded. In Genesis 1 is the man in God’s creation with God’s eternal purpose. That man failed God. Then Psalm 8, speaking about the recovery of man’s lost ordination, prophesied of another man. Without this second man, we and the ordination given to man are lost. But we have the second man who has recovered man’s lost ordination and has fulfilled God’s original purpose. This second man is presented to us in Hebrews 2.
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 (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. Why did He take 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.
After He accomplished redemption by suffering death, Jesus was glorified in His resurrection (Luke 24:26) and in His ascension to the heavens was crowned with glory and honor (2:9). Although the Lord Jesus is both the Son of God and 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. In Hebrews 1, He is God; in Hebrews 2, He is man. When we are reading Hebrews 1, we must pay our full attention to the Lord’s divinity. However, when we come to Hebrews 2, we must pay our full attention to His humanity. 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.
Where is Jesus crowned with glory and honor? In the third heavens. 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 has been crowned with glory and honor. What is glory and honor? Glory is the splendor related to Jesus’ Person; honor is the preciousness related to Jesus’ worth, value (1 Pet. 2:7 precious in Greek is the same word as honor here), and dignity which is related to His position (2 Pet. 1:17; Rom. 13:7).
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 has been exalted to be a Leader and a Savior (Acts 5:31). The Greek word for Leader, translated “Prince” in the King James Version, is the same Greek word that is rendered as “Captain” in Hebrews 2:10. The Greek word may also be rendered as “author, originator, inaugurator, or pioneer.” There is no one equivalent of this word in English. Christ has been 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 He has cut. Hence, He is not only the Savior who saved us from our fallen estate and from all the negative things, but 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.
Chapter one of Hebrews reveals that Christ is the Son of God coming to speak, declare, and express God. As such a One He is superior to the angels. Here, in chapter two of Hebrews, He is the Son of Man going to be the Lord, the Christ, the Captain, and the Savior. His being our Lord, Christ, Captain, and Savior is not mainly based upon His divinity but upon His humanity. This is a very practical matter. Why is Jesus our Lord? Because He is a man. Why is He the Christ, Captain, and Savior? All because He is a man. Angels, who do not have humanity, can never be our Lord, Christ, Captain, and Savior. Only Christ in His humanity can be such a One to us. Furthermore, this humanity is not a natural humanity; it is a resurrected, uplifted, and ascended humanity, a humanity that is crowned with God’s glory and honor. Because these concepts are not natural, but are new and fresh to us, we need to spend considerable time on them in order that we might see more.
