Jesus: Made Lower Than the Angels
Hebrews 2:9
Introduction.
Last week we talked about how Jesus is better than the angels.
And indeed that’s true!
He is God’s Son, worthy of worship; He is a prophet, a priest, and a king victorious; and He is our Creator and Sustainer!
Because He is so great, the writer gives us the admonition in the first few verses, “how shall we escape [judgment] if we neglect so great a salvation… ?” (2:3).
But then there is a question. How can Jesus be so great and yet suffer and die?
This is the problem that the writer seeks to answer in the rest of this chapter.
We find out that He was made a little lower than the angels.
But instead of being a weakness, it gives Him amazing strength.
Let us consider these points this evening.
Give the More Earnest Heed (2:1-4).
Made Lower Than Angels (2:5-9).
Bring Many Sons to Glory (2:10-18).
Body.
Give the More Earnest Heed (2:1-4).
Therefore (2:1).
As Sam is fond of saying, we need to find what it’s there for.
It points to what we talked about last week, that Jesus is better than the angels.
We studied just how much greater He is as a Son worthy of worship, as Creator and Sustainer, as Prophet, Priest, and King, as one in whom there is ultimate victory!
Because He is so great, what should we do?
We must give Him the more earnest heed.
If He is a king with all authority in heaven and on earth, shouldn’t we listen to Him?
If He is the one who made us, shouldn’t we listen to Him?
If He is God’s Son (meaning He is equal with God), shouldn’t we listen to Him?
Why, yes of course!
The alternative is drifting away, as a ship, powerless and listing.
That could also be translated as “lest it slips our minds” or “escapes us.”
Sometimes it’s easy to let things slip our minds; we simply forget or it just doesn’t stick.
We can’t let that happen when it comes to the words of Christ, for they are the words of God!
After all, they listened to the words delivered by angels (2:2).
Angels were believed to have brought the word of God to the prophets who wrote them down.
We know that was definitely the case with Daniel when Gabriel came to visit him.
Stephen revealed that the Law was given at the direction of angels (Acts 7:53).
If they were willing to follow the word that was delivered by angels, they should most definitely want to follow the word delivered by One greater than the angels!
The reason they were following that word (OT) is because they received a just reward for their sins.
Our salvation is far greater (2:3-4).
If we drift away, let the words of Christ slip our minds, then we are neglecting the great salvation found in Christ.
This salvation is so much greater than anything that came before, even if it were spoken by angels!
You see this salvation was first spoken by the Lord Jesus who speaks the words of God! (1:2).
But now we see who spoke His words after He left—those who heard Him, eyewitnesses of what He did and taught (Acts 1:1).
This word was confirmed. How? By these eyewitnesses who performed miracles proving their word! (Mark 16:20).
Eyewitness testimony can be so unreliable, and how are these men going to remember everything that was done or taught over that three year period?
This can only be done through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Helper who would come (John 14:26).
God bore witness through these gifts of the Holy Spirit—further evidence that the Holy Spirit is, indeed, God. We understand Him to be the Third Person of the Godhead.
Anyway, these gifts allowed these men to perform these miracles.
So it wasn’t just their word you had to go on, but their word plus the confirmation of miracles.
So what is the purpose of miracles? To confirm the word!
That includes healings, prophecy, speaking in tongues, resurrections.
Some groups claim they do these things today, but their tongues are gibberish, their prophecies fail, their healings are fleeting or would have happened anyway.
So what’s the lesson? There is no more word to confirm! It’s all been given! And it’s right here.
But there is a problem. Jesus suffered and died. How can God die?
Made Lower Than Angels (2:5-9).
A kingly reminder.
The world to come, the age to come, is the church.
Of course the church was in existence when this was written, but the NT writers and the writer of Hebrews in particular often writes about it in a future sense.
The church, the kingdom of God, was not given to angels to rule over.
Instead, it was given to His Son, who is King of kings and Lord of lords.
But then we also see that God never gave dominion of this world to angels.
A psalm about mankind (2:6-8; Psa. 8:4-6).
This psalm, written by David, reflects his amazement at the greatness of God (Psa. 8:1-3).
When he considers this remarkable world that He has created, and knows that God is far above it all, he marvels (Psa. 8:4-5).
Some argue this is a prophecy about Christ, but we cannot forget that Adam, and by extension all mankind, was given dominion over the earth when he was created (Gen. 1:28).
This is reflected in the psalm (Psa. 8:6-8), and it closes with a reminder of how great our God is (Psa. 8:9).
All that God has created is for us. We are stewards of this world that belongs to Him.
Even though we are little lower than the angels, we have a special place in God’s heart.
We have a dominion on this earth that is greater than that of the angels.
The NKJV translators even have lowercase pronouns, indicating that God put all things in subjection to us. So then who is Jesus?
Recall, He is a King! And as a king, we are subject to Him. If the world is subject to us and we are subject to Him, then ultimately the world is subject to Christ.
Jesus was made lower than the angels (2:9).
Here and in the following verses we see that Jesus’ status as a man does not weaken the writer’s case, but strengthens it.
If He is better than the angels, how could He suffer and die?
He was made a little lower than the angels.
He did this willingly so that He could suffer and die.
If God is omnipotent, don’t you think He could come into this world as a man? Don’t you think He could be made a little lower than the angels? But of course!
And through God’s grace, amen, He died for us all—He tasted death for everyone.
None of this would be possible without His amazing grace! We don’t deserve Him.
While God crowned mankind with glory and honor by giving him dominion over the earth, how much more do you suppose He crowned His Son with glory and honor when He fulfilled His purpose as a man on this earth?
He might have been made a little lower than the angels, but only so He could do something no one else could.
Bring Many Sons to Glory (2:10-18).
The Captain of our salvation (2:10).
So on top of being a Son, a king, a prophet, and a priest, He is a captain as well.
Some translations say Author, as we see it in Heb. 12:2 (“the author and finisher of our faith”), but the meaning is the same.
Others say He is the “pioneer of salvation,” or the “leader of salvation.” One might say He is the Leader, Ruler, Prince, Originator, Founder, Pathfinder, or Trailblazer of our salvation!
He captains the ship. He is in charge of our salvation.
And through His sufferings He was made perfect (5:8), not perfect morally (4:15), but perfect or complete in mission and purpose.
And through His sufferings, He has brought many sons to glory!
While Jesus is the Son of God, we become sons of God as those who inherit salvation.
He holds the unique position of being the only begotten of God, while we are adopted as sons (Eph. 1:5).
And through His suffering, we have been given the opportunity to inherit eternal life as His sons and daughters brought to His divine glory!
He makes us holy (2:11).
We talked a lot about holiness when we were examining Leviticus.
We could never be holy of ourselves, but we are to be holy because He is holy.
He has sanctified us, made us holy, set us apart for His holy purpose.
He could only do this by dying for us, by sacrificing Himself. And He could only do that after becoming human.
Because of this, He is not ashamed of us!
He calls us brethren, brothers and sisters with Him!
And we will inherit salvation since He has sanctified us.
And since He has done this, how ought we to live?
Quotations from Psalm 22 and Isaiah 8 (2:12-13).
Psalm 22 is most certainly a Messianic Psalm, a psalm about Jesus.
When you read through it, one cannot help but to picture Jesus on the cross.
It is made evident by Jesus quoting from it while He was hanging there, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Psa. 22:1; Mark 14:34).
The psalm talks of His anguish and pain. It even mentions the mocking, the casting lots for His robe, and that His bones were not broken.
I think of Psalm 22 as what was going on in Jesus’ mind as He was dying.
And despite all that He was going through, “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You” (Psa. 22:22).
The word for assembly here is ἐκκλησία—He praises God in the midst of the church!
He suffers so much and yet He still praises God! He still declares His name to us, still praises God among us!
He still trusts in God despite His suffering, pain, and anguish.
That is a quotation from Isaiah 8:17-18, where the Lord is speaking.
In the OT, the quotation marks end at vs. 15, but of course, Hebrew didn’t originally have quotation marks.
The Lord Jesus puts His trust in Father God.
That same Father had given children to the Lord, His brothers and sisters who we are!
This reminds me of a man who just got engaged. He is so happy and excited that he is showing her off to everybody, especially to his parents.
Jesus is so happy and proud of us, that He shows us off to His Father!
Destroying death and defeating the devil (2:14-15).
We, the children, partake in flesh and blood, meaning we are here with our physical bodies as human beings.
Jesus shared in the same, He too had flesh and blood!
He had flesh and blood, He was made a little lower than the angels, He was man!
Son of God as we discussed last week, and this week, Son of Man! 100% God, 100% Man. How does that happen? I don’t know, but our omnipotent God found a way!
Because He was man, He could die, and through His death He destroyed the one who had the power of death, the devil!
As we discussed last week, the last enemy He would fight and destroy is death, but He certainly dealt it a devastating blow when He died and came back from the dead.
As Peter said, “it was not possible that [Christ] should be held by [death]” (Acts 2:24).
Because of this, we no longer have to fear death! Praise God!
Instead death is good news. So many churches refer to funerals as a homegoing service, because for the faithful Christian it is a time of sadness because we’ll miss them, but ultimately a time of joy because we know they have gone home to be with the Lord and we can see them again.
Christ made that possible!
While the devil has the power of death, we no longer have the fear it.
The devil has lost his teeth; Jesus has kicked them out of his evil, rotten head.
There he lies, a roaring lion, toothless, powerless, defeated.
To be made like us (2:16-18).
This translation “give aid” does not fully express the meaning of this word.
It is not only helping or giving aid, but, as one commentator put it, “‘Take hold’ finds its fullest meaning in the present context, namely, ‘to become like in order to give help’” (Hagner 57).
He did not take on the form of angels, but was made a little lower than the angels, took on the form of man.
Why? So He could help us!
But wait, are we the seed of Abraham? Jesus was born as the Seed of Abraham when He was born in the tribe of Judah.
Of course we become the seed of Abraham when we believe and are baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:26-29).
He was made like us, His brethren so that He would be “a merciful and faithful High Priest.”
That will be a main point discussed in Ch. 4 and later, but for now let’s say that coming in the form of a man shows Him what it’s like to be like us, so He can no sympathize with us.
And as a result, He can make propitiation for us, appeasing the wrath of God, and atone for our sins.
Jesus understands us, understands our weaknesses, our struggles, our trials; He identifies with us and can help and comfort us when we are tempted and tried.
This is only possible because He is the Son of Man.
He has indeed brought many sons to glory, and will continue to do so for as long as this earth stands.
Conclusion.
While Ch. 1 focuses on His Divinity, Ch. 2 focuses on His humanity.
Jesus would not have been able to do all that He did if He were lacking in either.
We serve a great God, but also one who was willing humble Himself and die on the cross.
We serve Him because He loved us and was willing and able to live as one of us.
It would be easy for an Almighty God like Him to ignore us or punish us without a second thought.
But instead He sent His Son to learn what it’s like to be one of us.
Because of that, He has sympathy for us.
He walked a mile in our shoes, and we can now call upon Him to help us and to save us.
He wouldn’t ask of us something we couldn’t do.
Because He is so great, why would we we neglect so great a salvation that He can provide?
Would you have Him bring you to glory? Be saved tonight!