Where Does He Stand? Hebrew 2:5-9

In order to symbolize status and capture a person’s position of power, portraits are often drawn up and photos taken of individuals and others standing in any number of positions. In the famous painting of “Washington Crossing the Delaware” our first president is shown standing tall above everyone else in the center of the portrait, demonstrating his central role in the revolutionary war and his authority over the troops around him. In this picture the profile of Washington is witnessed as he looks toward the left of the painting, resolutely focused on his goal of crossing to the other side of the river. Portraits of royal families also demonstrate status and power in the way they configure different members of the family in different ways depending on the occasion and their connection to the throne. Where one stands in any number of these portraits says a lot. However, as we have already come to realize in our study of this incredible book, our subject for consideration is far greater than any president or royal, He is God, He is Jesus Christ. No single portrait or photo could ever capture His status in connection with the myriad of roles He satisfies. However, the preacher of Hebrews believes that he can capture something of Jesus’ rank by painting word pictures in Hebrews 2:5-9. In this passage we will witness two places in which Jesus stands that speak of His matchless glory and superior rank.

Jesus Stands Above the World to Come-2:5 & 8b-c

In returning to his original Christological program, the preacher sets out to describe two places where Jesus stands over and above the angels. He does so by first describing how Jesus stands above the world to come saying, “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking…” (2:5). “Ancient Judaism held to the belief that angels had been placed by God over the nations of the world” (Guthrie, 97). This was based largely on an interpretation of Deuteronomy 32:8 in which it is said that God set up boundaries for the nations according to the number of God’s angels and Daniel 10 & 12 where angels are given assignments over specific nation states. This theme of rule over the nations extends to fallen angels in passages like Eph. 6:12 which describes the evil work of principalities over governing bodies. However, according to this passage, neither good nor bad angels will stand in position over the government that will be established in the “world to come.”

This will happen in large part because the whole world will be “subject” to Him as Ruler. This act of submission describes a yielding to the perspective or position of another. As reiterated in other places in the New Testament, all of the powers of the universe, either willingly or unwillingly, will and must submit to Christ (1 Cor.. 15:27-28; Eph. 1:22; Phil. 2:10-11; 3:21; 1 Pet. 3:22).

Psalm 110 (from which these ideas are drawn), seems to suggest that this will happen in the future, (“The Lord says to my Lord; ‘Sit at my right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet’”). However, Heb. 2:8b seems to suggest that his has already occurred, “for in subjective all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him” (2:8b). The idea presented here is that Jesus already rules it all because there is nothing left that is not already under His control!

The last part of verse 8 helps us understand how this not yet, yet present juxtaposition can be satisfied when it says, “but now we do not yet see all things subject to him…”(2:8c). In other words, Jesus has rule over all and stands in authority above the world (past, present, and future); people just cannot perceive this yet.

Jesus Stands Like and Above Men -2:6-8a, 9

The next position Jesus is described as standing in is like and above men. In order to make this case, the preacher draws from a very important song, Psalm 8. Psalm 8 interrupts the laments heard in Psalm 3-7 with “a beautiful praise-filled counterpoint” to the grievous remarks made earlier in the songbook. Attributed to David, this psalm is an informed reflection on Genesis 1. In it, the king of Israel praises God for His matchless glory as evidenced both in creation and in elevating human beings to the glory and honor of vice-regency over other creatures.

This interpretation is reached after carefully examining the Psalm’s content. In the song David marvels at the exalted position God bestowed on mankind when He appointed humans to “rule over the works of Your hands” and “put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas” (vv.4-8). Alluding to Gen. 1:26-28, David celebrates the fact that the Creator gave dominion over all animal life to Adam and his descendants in the current world. Therefore, the quote that is used in Hebrews 2 is, in part, an allusion to an even earlier literary work--Genesis.

Because of this, it is important understand the context of Genesis 1-2. In these first chapters of Scripture the crescendo of God’s creative work finally reaches its fortissimo in Genesis 1:26-28 (the exact verses to which David alludes). These important verses establish humanity as the crown jewel of God’s creative order. From the dawn of history, the Creator, who powerfully ordered the cosmos and now sustains it, decreed that the first humans and their descendants were to serve as the Lord’s vice-regents over everything that exists in the world. Once made in God’s image, mankind is commanded to subdue the earth, rule over it, and to be fruitful in it. In essence, Adam as the first man is given a sort of kingship over the earth—a kingship that David, king of Israel, celebrates with humble appreciation.

The superiority of mankind in God’s creative order is a theme Psalm 8 endorses. In David’s lyrical bars, he indicates that the all-glorious Lord has bestowed unparalleled dignity on human beings (“…You have made him a little lower than God, and you crown him with glory and majesty!”). However, the poet also admits that people are mere mortals who seem especially tiny and frivolous against the backdrop of the vast and mysterious universe (“What is man that You take thought of him…?”). Psalm 8:3-8, from which the quote in Hebrews 2 is derived, demonstrates a reverent wonder in response to these ideas and expresses a great deal of appreciation for God’s dealings with humanity and the special role man has been given in the creative order. This Psalm and its context demonstrate David’s understanding of humanity’s place as a little lower in rank than the angels and the governing authority over the non-human realm and other natural forces upon the earth that God has bestowed. As a king himself, David considers the kingship every man enjoys by considering the first human king along with his entirely different kind of kingdom—Adam in the garden of Eden. In light of all God has done for humanity and the authority he gave them over the world in this way, it is appropriate for mankind to express continuous thanks to the Creator.” This is exactly what Psalm 8 seeks to do following several songs of lament in its own Old Testament context.

Men have been given a special place in God’s creative order as rulers of this world who have special dignity. However, there is one who is above mankind, Jesus Christ Himself. Originally, God intended for men to rule as kings over the world, placing everything in perfect subjugation and glorifying God in this uniquely appointed role.

However, this did not happen. Psalm 8 (quoted here by the preacher) requires fulfilling because the perfect and original kingdom of Adam at the beginning of time that was celebrated by David was lost in sin. Not everything is subject to humanity as was originally intended. Enter Jesus Christ. Verse 9 of Hebrews 2 says,  “But we do see Him who was make for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus,…” (2:9). Like mankind, Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, not in rank, but in position on earth, to walk and live as a man on the physical plane of this planet. In this way, Jesus stands like one of us.

This verse highlights the doctrine of the incarnation. In his usage of Psalm 8, the writer of Hebrews is not only interested in the psalm for what it says about humanity’s rule in the past; he is also interested in the inaugurated rule of the “son of Man” that began in his incarnation and will one day culminate in the world to come. At a crucial moment in the book of Hebrews where Jesus’ glory is juxtaposed alongside His identification with humanity (in the transition marked between Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 2), the psalm employed is able to celebrate both the divinity and humanity of Christ. As Christ is at the same time divine and human, the author means to say is that it is only Christ as the true representative of humanity [the second Adam] who can fulfill this psalm in the eschaton --when the paradise that was experienced in Genesis under Adam will be restored.

Through the eyes of faith made possible in Christ, believers can understand how Jesus fulfilled the theological ideal the psalmist described in Psalm 8 perfectly and in response anticipate a future when everything will be subject to Him.  In Hebrews 2, Jesus is portrayed as the last (or second) Adam.. To fulfill this ideal, Jesus, though divine, had to become a real human being (like other people, Jesus was make lower than the angels for a little while). As the God-Man, Jesus did not sin; rather, He obeyed the Creator even to the extent of dying for the sins of humanity. For the Son’s obedience, the Father “crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5).

While Jesus stands with us, He also stands above us, “because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (2:9b). The glory and honor ascribed to Him here is not the same that was mentioned of mankind in Psalm 8. Instead, the preacher stretches this to means something far greater.

Christ, the true and perfect representative of humanity, fulfills the psalm in the most perfect way 

essentially at present and practically in the future when He will rule as was intended in Genesis and remembered in Psalm 8. Jesus alone is capable of enjoying this rule because in His humiliation, God exalted Him, giving Jesus the name that is above every name. This is reiterated by Paul in Philippians.

Philippians 2:8-9-“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the pint of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

This passage summarizes the ideas covered in our message today. Though Jesus stands above the world, He was willing to humble Himself by standing like a man in this world. However, in His sacrifice of death, Jesus showed Himself to be the one true king over all creation, a creation that was lost and never ruled well because of sin. For this reason, Jesus stands above men, while a man, as the one who alone possesses the name above all names.

So What?

In this passage, we have taken a long look at where Jesus stands in connection with the world to come and with mankind. He stands above the future kingdom and like and above men. These considerations immediately demand of us to ask a simple question, where does Jesus stand in my life’s portrait? Is Jesus prominently figured in the way that you live, standing resolute and taller than all others in your vessel? Or have you painted Him in the distance, directly behind you, or is He even there? Is Jesus in the center of your family portrait and you as close to Him as possible? Or is there distance between the two of you communicating tension and/or an internal struggle for power? Whether it is true yet or not in our lives at present, one day Jesus will take His rightful place above your world and above you. Why not situate Him there now? Then and only then will we be able to cross river of this life to the other side with any success. Then and only then will our family leave a legacy that others are inspired by. Then and only then will we be able to stand against the pressures and persecutions of this world. Knowing where Jesus stands and where we stand in relationship to Him allows us to live a life that stands for God’s glory. This is the preacher’s message to the church in Rome and it is this preacher’s message to our church today.