Hebrews 2:5-9

Summary retelling of Hebrews 2:5-9

The author reminds us that angels were never given the promise of reigning.  Then the author quotes Psalm 8:4-6 and reminds us that human beings were created a little lower than God with the purpose of setting everything under our feet.  We are reminded that God has not put anything outside of our ability, yet we do not see the reality of humanity being able to control creation.  However, we do see Jesus who came to earth and was able to control creation while also bringing us salvation.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

We often think of angels as the most powerful beings out there {besides God, of course}.  We think of angels as being able to do anything, be anywhere, even to know the mind of God.  Indeed, they are very special beings and they have an incredible track record for consistently being able to do the will of God {Better than humanity, that’s for sure}.  But the author of Hebrews is making a strong point here.  God never put the world under the dominion of the angels.  The angels are God’s servants.  They do not reign with God, they serve God.

How can this passage help us understand the primary differences between angels and human beings?  What are those differences?  Does understanding these differences help you also understand why it is dangerous to teach little children that when we die we go to heaven to be angels? 

Second Thought:

The author quotes Psalm 8:4-6.  Although mankind was put in control over creation, the reality is that we do not yet have control.  We cannot even control ourselves much less creation around us!  We cannot control the beasts, the plants, the weather, etc.  We can guide it and force it along a certain path for a while.  But we certainly cannot control it as we were supposed to according to God’s mandate in Genesis {and repeated in Psalm 8}.

Why do you think we cannot control creation as God intended? 

Third Thought:

Although we cannot control creation, God sent to us the first fruit of salvation: Jesus Christ.  In Him we see the perfect human {although don’t forget, He is fully human and fully divine}.  In Jesus we see someone who could control creation.  As His disciples and others said at more than one occasion, “Even the wind obeys Him!”  He was even the master over death.  We see that although we cannot rise to the state that God intended for us, God made Jesus a little “lower” for a time in order to show us His plan.  As we often pray on Sunday mornings, God sent Jesus to bring salvation and to be a model for what God truly desires of us.  He is the completion of what we cannot be in our sinful nature.

Have you ever thought about Jesus’ ability to do things like controlling the wind as a fulfillment of God’s charge to humanity at the time of creation?  How great was Jesus that He truly could control creation?  What does it say about those who rejected Him when He was alive and they could see for themselves what Jesus could do?  What does it say about people now who hear about what He could do and still reject Him?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 2:10-13