Perhaps if you were like me as a child (though hopefully you weren’t) you tried to launch some hand held object with enough force to send it into orbit. You hoped to make it stay up so it wouldn’t come back down. Did you ever do that? And if you were like me perhaps the object accidentally fell into the same spot in which a window just happened to be or landed atop a friend’s head when it came down. But what you probably didn’t realize is that to make the object follow a geosynchronous orbit you needed to throw it with a velocity of more than 17,000 mph. But that isn’t something we normally think about as a child when launching a rock. And because of that the maxim, “What goes up must come down” always held true for us.
But the author of Hebrews describes for us today it was Jesus who first came down from heaven to earth. And though He spent a short 33 years here on earth He returned to that place from which He had come. In a sense we could say, “What has come down will go up.” And we see the key idea from this passage is it was necessary for the Son to come to earth and suffer so He would be exalted above all. There are three aspects of truth, concerning Jesus’ incarnation and ascension, we can glean from this passage.
I. The Application of Psalm 8
The first aspect of truth we glean from this passage is the application of Psalm 8. Here the author makes application of the Psalm directly to Jesus as a Messianic Psalm even as the Apostle Paul had done. As he again picks up the theme of angelic comparison from chapter 1 he brings us to Psalm 8 to make this comparison. But unlike the previous chapter where he explained that the Son is so much better than the angels the writer now begins to describe the incarnation of the Son. He focuses on the fact that though the Son was so much better than the angels there was a time He made Himself, in a sense, lower than them by becoming a man. And yet as we will see the author uses Psalm 8 to explain that this lower position was merely temporary to accomplish the Father’s purpose on earth. There are three characteristics to this application.
A. He WAS humbled
The first characteristic in the application of this Psalm to Jesus is that He was humbled. The author makes the connection between this psalm and the Messiah through the use of the term “Son of man.” He quotes, “What is . . . the Son of Man that You are concerned about Him? You have made Him for a little while lower than the angels.” Now the NAS says Jesus was made for a little while lower than the angels, but the KJV and NIV have “a little lower.” The word “little” can be understood in two ways. It can be understood as a small measure as the KJ or NIV (a little lower) or as a small amount of time (a little while lower). It seems the idea of time fits better because the writer isn’t interested in the degree to which the Son was lower than the angels. What he is trying to do is describe the fact Jesus walked on earth for a short period of time before His exaltation to the right hand of the Father (Guthrie, p. 98).
Jesus was humbled. Paul describes this humbling in his letter to the Philippians. There he says, “Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself.” Think about this for a moment. God Himself, the Creator of all there is lowered Himself to become part of His creation. He took on human flesh. He became subject to all the hardships, difficulties and temptations to which you and I are subject. The Lord with unlimited power and resources allowed Himself to become tired. The Creator who made food for all to enjoy allowed Himself to become hungry. God, who gave the law to the nation of Israel, allowed Himself to be born and become subject to that law. The pure and holy God who detests sin allowed Himself to be tempted. He humbled Himself. We are going to see the importance of this humbling a little while later in this message and in next week’s message. But let’s look at the next characteristic.
B. He IS exalted
The second characteristic in the application of this Psalm to Jesus is that He is exalted. In the latter part of verse 7 the author says, “You have crowned Him with glory and honor, and have appointed Him over the works of Your hands.” Now Jesus sits enthroned in heaven. He has received back His regal glory that He had cloaked while He was here on earth. Today Jesus sits with all authority. In Matthew 28 Jesus told His apostles, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus is head over all rule and authority. What does this mean for us? His Word is non-negotiable. What He says to us in His church is our law. Because He is exalted we ought to desire to do what He says. Jesus says this very thing. “Do not call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say.”
What else does it mean that Jesus is now exalted? It means that He has been victorious. He is exalted because He has won. He did not fail in what He came to do. He accomplished that for which came. And now He is reaping the results of His victory. He has been exalted to the right hand of the Father. Now, we say, “Of course He accomplished what He was supposed to do. He is God!” And that is the point. The reason Jesus is exalted and did everything in perfect obedience to the will of the Father is that He is God. His victory and exaltation prove it!
His victory should mean our submission. We should joyfully submit ourselves unto our King. He can force us to do what He wants us to do. But how much better is it to serve our King with glad hearts. The happiness of his subjects glorifies a king. Jesus is exalted. To Him, to Him alone, we should submit ourselves. How often Satan and his minions lie to us. They try to cause us to think we would miss those things that pull us from the rule of Christ in our hearts when the truth is we can never be more content and happy then when we submit ourselves to Christ’s rule through His Word and trust in Him in every circumstance even when the circumstances are unpleasant. And this thought of unpleasant circumstances brings us to the next characteristic by way of a question. If Jesus is exalted, if He has been crowned as head over the church and all things then why do we who serve Him endure difficulty and hardship and temptation and pain?
C. He WILL BE given ultimate dominion
The third characteristic in the application of this Psalm to Jesus is He will be given ultimate dominion. The author explains the words of the Psalmist in light of our current conditions. In verse 8 we read, “You have put all things in subjection under His feet. For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him.”
The author explains the seemingly contradictory nature between the statement that all things have been subjected to Jesus and what we see going on in our midst. If Jesus is in control of all things why are Christians in so many places throughout the world being killed and tortured for their faith? Why have false Christian groups been allowed to rise up and in power and domination misrepresent the Gospel. If Jesus is in control of all things why does it seem that sometimes our prayers go unanswered and loved ones remain unsaved and in defiance of the Gospel?
It is a matter of perception. The author says, “We do not yet see all things subjected to Him.” All things, to be sure, have been subjected to Him, but we cannot yet see it. Jesus is in control of this earth. But He is waiting for the right time to completely quell evil. He is still waiting because of His wisdom. He could stop Satan right now. All authority is in His hands. Yet we have inherited a fallen world, plagued by sin though God has set the limits on this evil. He will allow it to go only so far. And His ultimate purpose (as the Apostle Paul says) in allowing it to proceed from bad to worse is so people will understand they need God desperately and can do nothing without Him.
God has given us every possible condition on earth to show us that we need Him. He gave us initially a world that was innocent. But Adam and Eve tried things apart from God and were sent from the garden. He then gave us a world in which He would rule people’s lives through a Holy Spirit given conscience. But the people rejected and the world was destroyed by deluge. Then God gave us a world that was to be ruled by government, family monarchies, so God’s purpose of multiplying and filling the earth would be accomplished. Instead the people said, “We will stay in one place so as not be separated and fill the earth. Therefore God confused the people’s languages and scattered them. Then He gave them His law to rule them. But they refused to internalize it and live by it. Then God gave the church to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. But the church seeks to live in comfort instead of stretching itself for the spread of the Gospel. And one day Christ will rule and reign visibly on the earth in a perfect environment only to have most of its inhabitants reject the King personally.
Each of these circumstances God has used to show us that apart from Him we will fail. But man has continued to say that if we only had the perfect environment, better education, or more powerful science we will overcome our evil. But though we might send spacecraft and astronauts into outer space people are completely incapable of taming their inner space.
And so He allows this evil to continue, though all things are subject to Him, to bring people to a point where they understand that only in God, and not a god of their making but only in the God of the Bible, can they truly be free. Only by submitting themselves to Him can they find the life for which they were created by Him. He continues to free people so that they may come under His rule. But until the time that He comes and restores all things to be the way they should, evil will continue. So what we understand is that “we do not YET SEE all things subjected to Him.”
II. The Purpose for His Humbling
The second aspect of truth we glean from this passage is the purpose for His humbling. We see this in verse 9. Here the author says, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
The author is clear about the central purpose of Jesus humbling Himself to come to earth: He came to suffer death. Notice three important facts concerning Jesus’ death. First, Jesus’ death took place by the grace of God. What this means is Jesus did not deserve to die but WE did. The fact that Jesus died was not because we deserved for Him to die for us. We deserved the wrath of God but He tasted it in our place. This is God’s grace. Jesus didn’t die because He had to. There was no defect in Him. Jesus didn’t die because God couldn’t stand the thought of every person going to hell so He would be left all alone. Jesus died because of the grace of God. God’s justice demanded our death but His love for us was the impetus, the motivation that caused Him to die in our place. This is what so many familiar passages of Scripture say. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Or “In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Sin separates every person from God. Death is the proper title of this separation. It is the death of a relationship with God. And death is the penalty of sin. This brings us to the second important fact of the death of Jesus. He died so that he could taste death for us. He took our sin upon Himself so He could transfer His perfect righteousness to us. The best way to describe what happened would be through the word, “substitution.” Substitution is the exchange of one thing for another. To enter heaven we need to be completely free of sin and filled with perfect righteousness. Jesus’ death allowed for this exchange to take place.
Can we stop and think about this? We cannot pass over something so awesome as this. I am overwhelmed at the thought that I had a burden of sin upon me, weighing me down, and this sin would someday plummet me into an abyss from which I would never escape. And the eternal torment that I would suffer would be commensurate to my sin. And yet Jesus took this upon Himself for me? Jesus lived and died for me? He willingly bore my sin in His body on the cross so that I might die to sin and live to righteousness. And now I am free! How can so great a salvation be mine? Here is eternal life. I could never have earned it and yet it is mine. God has provided it for me not on the basis of my life or my works but on His grace. Can we take this for granted? Shouldn’t this be a cause for ongoing praise? But too often we allow the difficulties of life to crowd out the wonder of the undeserved salvation God has given to us. Perhaps you have never received this salvation. Perhaps you have never called out to Christ to pardon you of your sin and give you eternal life. You can do that today.
The final fact concerning Jesus’ death is that He died for all. This is how he ends the verse. “So that . . . He might taste death for everyone.” God’s love is universal in the fact that He has left no one with an excuse for their own condemnation. God has provided a means by which they might be rescued. As the author is going to describe later, there is a rest for those who believe. Not all who followed Moses entered that rest but only those who believed.
Think about the awesome nature of Christ’s death. It took place by the grace of God as a substitution available to everyone who believes.
III. The Implications for Our Life Now
The third aspect of truth we glean from this passage is the implications for our life now. This passage has vital repercussions for every one of us here. I think we can discern at three implications.
A. Humble Yourself
The first implication for your life is to humble yourself. The only way that you will find the forgiveness of all your sin is if you stop striving to make yourself presentable to God. The only response God accepts is one of resignation from our own effort and full trust in the death of His Son on our behalf. Many do not understand this. You ask them if they have become a Christian and they say, “I’ve always believed” or “I was raised as a Christian” or “I’ve always known about God.” The reason they don’t get it is they are not willing to humble themselves enough to admit that they are totally unacceptable to God. People want to think they contribute something to their salvation. They want to believe that somehow they were better than the next person instead of just as corrupt and vile before God. They have an “I’m bad but not that bad” mentality. In other words they are unable to humble themselves completely because they do not want to admit the truth. The truth is we were born as children of the devil. We were born separated from God. And until a person recognizes this and humbles himself to call out to Christ to save him he is lost. The hymn writer puts it best, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Your cross I cling.”
What is the truth of the passage teach us? Jesus humbled Himself in taking on humanity to suffer and die. You must humble yourself to admit you are in total need of His death on your behalf. If He died to taste death for you then you need His sacrifice you are dead. And if you will not humble yourself to receive it freely, without any conditions on your part, He will save you. He will give you eternal life through the forgiveness of your sin.
B. Expect persecution
The second implication for your life is to expect persecution. If you have placed your trust in Christ then the devil is going to seek to do everything he can to cause you to be ineffective for Christ. Remember we do not YET see all things subject to Christ. We may still be devastated by the principalities of darkness. We may experience intense suffering now. We must remember Peter’s words concerning the fact we no longer seek drunkenness and immorality. He says those who were our former friends, “are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they [slander] you.”
We can expect persecution now from those who are hostile to Christ. And if your faith in Christ is genuine persecution that takes place in your life will draw you closer to Him. Because we realize in Paul’s words, “those who desire to be godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” If you want to live for Christ, Satan and his minions are going to actively oppose you. And they will oppose you through friends and relatives and coworkers. They will tell you not to go too far with this Christianity stuff. They will say that religion is nice but don’t waste your life with it. When those words will not work they will criticize and slander you.
The very fact that Christ humbled Himself and suffered, summons us to recognize we were called to follow in His steps to entrust ourselves to a faithful Creator in doing what is right. But allow this one truth to encourage you in the midst of difficulty and persecution: As Jesus was humbled for a little while so too the time of our difficulty and persecution will be for a little while. Even Peter notes this at the end of his first letter, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
C. Fix your heart on reality
The final implication for your life is to fix your heart on reality. There is a current humility with a future exaltation. This world is not our home. The author says this in verse 5. He declares that reality is “the world to come” of which we speak. We are not preparing ourselves with this life. Our goals need to be past this life. We are not seeking to make this life as cozy as possible. So let us not lose sight of this fact. If we put our eggs into the basket of this life we will be sorely disappointed.
There is a reality that we do not yet see and it is not reality TV. Reality TV is furthest from reality. The world to come, this is reality. It is the world to come of which we speak and upon which we must place our hope. Perhaps you have seen the bumper sticker, “He who dies with the most toys, still dies!” And when Rockefeller, the richest man in the world, died there was a cartoon that was printed about him. A person queried his accountant asking, “How much did he leave?” And he responded by saying, “All of it.” He left all of it because the reality is of the world to come and not this one. Let me mention three features of this world as I close.
First, this world is fleeting. That is our time is short. How long do we have? The Lord could return at any time. But even if we do not live until the coming of the Lord how long do we have? You might think you have another 40 years but you may only have another 40 days. And youth holds no promise of longevity. I remember in college I began sharing the Gospel with this girl. She was brought up in a religious home but had no pretensions of being a Christian herself. She began to show interest in reading the Bible and as I shared the Gospel with her I didn’t feel any compelling need to hurry to do so. There would be next semester. Unfortunately as she went home for Christmas break she died in a car accident. Youth holds no promise of longevity. This world is fleeting. Where are you laying up your treasure, in heaven or in this fleeting world?
The second feature of this world is that this world is fading. Everything is decaying. Everything is becoming old and decrepit. All we have is fading. Why do we seek to amass stuff that wears out? Why do we treasure stuff that needs constant upkeep? This world is fading. This is the not reality. The creation groans in decay. Why would you fix your heart on the decaying things of this world instead of the unfading, unchanging beauty of heaven? You see, if we fix our hearts on this decaying universe then eternal corruption and decay await us in the next. This world is fading. It is the world to come of which we speak. Fix your heart on reality not on that which is fleeting and fading.
The third feature of this world is that this world is fabricated. What you see is not what you get. This world is covered with plastic. It has a veneer that coats it. And those who do not pay close enough attention to the truth of its fabrication are fooled by it. What seems valuable to people is worthless in God’s sight. God said long ago, “Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.” Why do you think there is so much attention given today to super models? These girls and guys that put so much into making their outside look good but have no inner beauty. It is a fabrication by the God of this world to keep our eyes off reality. This world is fabricated. And unfortunately too many people are fooled by the thin coating of the mendacity, the characteristic of deceptiveness, of this world. And when they realize the truth about this world it will be too late.
Perhaps you’ve heard about the man who wanted to take all his wealth with him to heaven. He made a plan and converted all his wealth into gold bullion. And when he died he carried it to the gates of heaven in a sack. The man asked Peter to allow him to carry this into heaven. Peter said, “You know the rules, you can only bring yourself.” But the man begged Peter vociferously telling him how important it was to him so Peter said, “Ok what’s in the bag.” As the man opened the bag and showed him, Peter remarked, “You want to bring in pavement?
That may seem humorous but too many people consider valuable what God considers worthless and consider worthless what God considers valuable. In the first chapter of his first letter Peter says, “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” The gold and silver people think of as precious God calls perishable. And what people think of as corruptible God sees as precious, the blood of His Son, shed to redeem people from the curse of the law.
Are you fixing your heart upon the reality of the world to come? Or are you fixated by the fleeting, fading, fabricated world that we see around us? It is the world to come of which we speak. Let those words ring through your mind as you take stock of where you are with Christ.