5  Recovery of  Man’s Lost Destiny  (2:5-9)

For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that Thou rememberest him? Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him? Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast 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. But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. (2:5-9)

After his urgent appeal in 2:1-4 for men not to neglect salvation, the writer briefly returns to his discussion of angels—as an introduction to his teaching about man’s destiny. First, he presents another amazing truth about the angels’ rank or position in relation to Christ: For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. God alone will be Sovereign of the world to come, another indication of His superiority to angels. If angels are next below God, and Jesus is superior to angels, Jesus is obviously God.

In addition to continuing the argument about the superiority of Christ above angels, this passage deals with man’s destiny. Man today is lost, totally lost. In losing his right relationship to God, he also lost the meaning of his existence. These verses teach us what man’s intended destiny is, how and why it was lost, and how it can be recovered in the exalted Savior.

MAN’S DESTINY REVEALED BY GOD

First, we see man’s destiny revealed by God. For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. God never intended to give angels rule over the world to come. Rather, angels are to minister to those who will be heirs of salvation (1:14). In the world to come, angels will be servants, not rulers.

Subject translates the Greek hupotass, primarily a term that referred to arranging soldiers in order under a commander. It also came to be used for any system of administration. God will not turn over the administration of the world to come to angels. This will be the great and glorious world, the world of perfection. Whoever reigns in that world will be glorious indeed. But it will not be angels. Their present superiority over men is temporary.

The Greek word translated world in verse 5 is not the general term kosmos, which means “system,” or ain, meaning “the ages.” The word used here is very specific; it is oikoumen, “the inhabited earth.” There will be, therefore, an inhabited earth to come. Amillennialists maintain that there is no future earthly kingdom. But this verse plainly says that such an earth is to come. It cannot be referring to this present earth, because it is going to be significantly changed (Zech. 14:9-11). Many signs, in fact, seem to indicate that the change is near.

There must, therefore, be another inhabited earth to come. What is it? It is the great millennial Kingdom. The earth itself will be different and all its inhabitants will be different. The animals will be different, and some of the people will be different—redeemed and glorified (cf. Isa. 11: 35). But the point being made in verse 5 is simply that this new world will not be ruled by angels.

To get the whole issue in perspective, however, we should understand that this present world, our present inhabited earth, is ruled by angels. The chief fallen angel is Satan, who is also prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30). We also know from Ephesians that this world is under tremendous demonic influence. Demons are fallen angels and they are called rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness (Eph. 6:12). Not only do Satan and his fallen angels have some rule in this world, but even the holy angels now have a kind of sovereignty. Daniel 10 tells of Michael and another holy angel fighting against powerful fallen angels who were influencing the rulers of Persia and Greece. The rule of this earth, therefore, is now in the hands of both fallen and holy angels. Needless to say, this “joint” rulership involves extreme conflict.

Man, however, was created as the king of the earth, and in God’s final destiny for him, man will one day be the sovereign that his Creator designed him to be. So it makes no sense to argue that Christ cannot be better than angels because He became a man, for man is lower than the angels only for a little while. He will one day again be above them and will, in fact, even judge the angels who have fallen (1 Cor. 6:3).

But one has testified somewhere, saying, “What is man, that Thou rememberest him? Or the son of man, that Thou art concerned about him? Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.” (2:6-8)

The writer’s saying, But one has testified somewhere does not indicate that he was either ignorant or forgetful of Scripture. He obviously knew the passage well, since he quotes it perfectly (from the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament). And Psalm 8, from which he quotes, names David as its composer. Throughout the book of Hebrews, however, no human author is mentioned by name. The writer is so concerned that his Jewish readers understand who really wrote the Old Testament that he ascribes it to no one but God. It is the voice of the Holy Spirit that concerns him; the human author is incidental.

These quoted verses from Psalm 8 refer to mankind, not to the Messiah, who is not mentioned in the Hebrews passage until verse 9. In verses 6-8 we see God’s planned destiny for mankind in general. Again the writer beautifully makes his point by using the Old Testament.

David had wondered, “God, you’ve done this. But why? What is man that you have done so much for him?” When we look at the vast, seemingly endless universe and then think about the little dot that we call earth in the middle of it all, we, too, cannot but ask, “What is man? What right do we have to be so much in the mind of God?” The psalmist goes on to answer his own question. “Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels, ... crowned him with glory and honor, . . . appointed him over the works of Thy hands, . . . put all things in subjection under his feet.” God made man to be king. Such is man’s destiny.

No doubt both David and the writer of Hebrews were thinking of the first chapter of Genesis.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. (Gen. 1:26-31)

Let us look at Hebrews 2:6-8 part by part. What is man . . . or the son of man? Some take the son of man as a reference to Christ, but I think it is simply a parallel to man. “Son of man” is often used in the Old Testament to mean mankind. Several times, for example, Ezekiel is called “the son of man,” indicating only that he was a human being, a part of mankind.

The word concerned in Greek has to do with looking toward someone with a view to benefiting him. It is much more than simply a wish or desire for the person’s welfare. It involves active caring. The word is used twice in Luke 1 to describe God’s visiting His people Israel to redeem them (vv. 68, 78). The King James text of Hebrews 2:6, in fact, uses “visitest.” God has an involved, active concern for humanity.

Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels. When God created man, He made him in one way lower than angels. It is not that he is lower than angels spiritually, or is less loved by God. Nor is he lower than angels in importance to God. Man is lower than angels only in that he is physical and they are spiritual. What does this mean? Just this: angels are heavenly creatures, while man is earth-bound. Obviously this is a limiting and major difference, and man is therefore now of a lower rank. But there is a time limit for this inferiority. The present chain of command is temporary. God has a destiny for man that will elevate him to king, when he will be on at least an equal basis with angels.

Man is confined to the earth and to relatively nearby space. Angels, on the other hand, are not confined to the spiritual. They are able to come to earth at will, and have supernatural power and strength that even sinless man did not have. Not only that, but man’s only direct communion with God has been that which he had with Jesus while He was on earth. Angels have continual access to the throne of God. Angels are spirit beings; man is made out of the dust of the earth. After Satan rebelled, the faithful angels were secured in holiness forever; after Adam rebelled, all men were cursed with him. In Adam, all died (1 Cor. 15:22). At the time of the creation, angels were perfect; man was only innocent. Even in his innocence, man had the choice to sin. Still more importantly, angels were never subject to death as man was. God’s first words to Adam in the garden of Eden were, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).

In the coming new earth, things will be much different. Then “the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.. .. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him” (Dan. 7:18, 27). Redeemed men not only will inherit a perfect kingdom but an eternal kingdom, in which they, not angels, will rule. Revelation 3:21 says believers will sit with Christ on His throne and rule with Him. Ephesians 1:20 says He will reign over principalities and powers, that is, angels. Therefore if Christ reigns over angels in the kingdom and we sit on His throne with Him, we, too, will reign over angels. Only for a little while are men lower than the angels. The whole earth will be redeemed and man will be crowned in Christ. That is the promise for the future.

Now notice the second half of Hebrews 2:7, Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands. Crown is stephanos, the crown of honor. When God made Adam pure and innocent, He gave him honor and glory. Someday, He will restore it.

“Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. (2:8a)

The king’s throne was always elevated, and everyone who came into his presence bowed down before him and sometimes even kissed his feet. His subjects, therefore, were often spoken of as being under his feet. When man is one day given the right to rule the earth, all God’s creation will be put under man’s feet. That is the revelation of man’s destiny.

MAN’S DESTINY RESTRICTED BY SIN

But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. (2:8b)

Something drastic happened. Man’s revealed destiny was restricted by Adam’s and Eve’s sin. To Eve God said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children; yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). The pain of childbirth and the subjection of a wife to her husband are direct results of the Fall. To Adam God said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (3:17-19). Then man was put out of the garden. “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’—therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken” (3:22-23). When Adam sinned, the earth was corrupted and he immediately lost his kingdom and his crown.

Because all mankind fell in Adam, because he lost his kingdom and his crown, we do not now see the earth subject to man. The earth originally was subject to man, and it supplied all his needs without his having to do anything. He had only to accept and enjoy the earth as it provided for him. Then, tempted by Satan, man sinned, and his tempter usurped the crown. There you see the change in the chain of command. Man fell to the bottom, and the earth, under the evil one, now rules man. If you pay much attention to ecology, you know that we do not rule this world; it rules us. With all our modern technology, we must constantly fight against the earth for our survival.

What else happened to Adam after he had sinned? First, there was murder within his own family. Then there was polygamy. In the next few chapters of Genesis we read of death. By the time we come to chapter 6, God is sending a flood to destroy all mankind but one family. Man indeed had lost his crown. The prince of the earth, of the system of the world, now is Satan. “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). He rules the cursed earth, which in turn rules sinful man. When man lost his crown, he also lost mastery of himself as well as of the earth. He was totally sinful and became a slave to sin.

Not only that, but the animal kingdom was now subservient to man only out of fear, no longer out of affection. Much of the animal kingdom was no longer able to be tamed at all. The ground originally produced good things naturally and abundantly for man to have for the taking. Now it produces thorns, weeds, and other harmful things naturally and abundantly. Whatever good things man now gets from the earth come only by tiresome effort. Extremes of heat and cold, poisonous plants and reptiles, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, disease, war—all these were released upon man after the Fall. Virtually everything God had given for man’s good and blessing became his enemy, and man has been fighting a losing battle ever since. For millennia, he himself has been dying. Now he is finding out that the earth is dying with him.

Amazingly, the earth itself knows its condition. “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it” (Rom. 8:19-20). God subjected the earth to this curse in order that man might continually have trouble. Man had to know that God was aware of his sin, and he had to suffer the consequences, in part, by fighting against the very earth that was designed to be his servant. But when the new kingdom begins, “the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (vv. 21-22). The earth, aware of its curse that came with Adam’s fall, is groaning for the day that the sons of God are manifest in the kingdom, for the earth knows that it, too, will be liberated from corruption.

In the meantime, man is subject to the earth. He plants but he is not sure who will reap. He builds cities and houses and dams and monuments—but they are all subject to destruction by lightning or earthquake or flood or fire or erosion or simply aging. Man lives in jeopardy every hour. Just at the height of professional achievement, his brain may develop a tumor, and he becomes an imbecile. Just at the brink of athletic fame, he may be injured and become a helpless paralytic. He fights himself, he fights his fellowman, and he fights his earth. Every day we read and hear of the distress of nations, of the impossibility of agreement between statesmen in a world that languishes in political and social conflict—not to mention economic hardship, health hazards, and military threats. We hear the whine of pain from dumb animals and even see the struggle of trees and crops against disease and insects. Our many hospitals, doctors, medicines, pesticides, insurance companies, fire and police departments, funeral homes—all bear testimony to the cursed earth.

No wonder the creation groans. But God did not intend it to be this way; and it will continue this way only for a little while, in God’s timetable. Someday, in the world to come, when the kingdom comes, hospitals will be closed, doctors will be out of business, and the ravenous nature of wild animals (and of human beings) will be changed. The crops and the trees will no longer be infested. The game of politics will be over and wars will cease. Man—redeemed man—will reign. “And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war” (Isa. 2:4). A day is coming when, in the wonderful plan of God, the dominion that man lost will be given to him again. God’s redeemed ones, His children, will never again be subject to death. They will be like the angels (Luke 20:36). In the kingdom they will, in fact, reign over the angels.

MAN’S DESTINY RECOVERED BY CHRIST

But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. (Heb. 2:9)

That brings us to the third point. Man’s revealed destiny, restricted by sin, has been recovered by Christ.

The ultimate curse of man’s lost destiny is death. Warning Adam about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God said, “For in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). The cross conquered the curse. The kingdom will be restored and man will be given the crown again.

But how can it happen? If we are all sinners, how can we become sinless? The only payment for sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The only way man can ever be a king again is to have the curse removed. The only way the curse can be removed is for the penalty to be paid. If man is to be restored to reign as a king, he must die—and be resurrected a new man with sovereign qualities.

But we still ask, “How?” We know, even without God’s revelation, that we could not do this ourselves. Paul explains. Speaking of Christ, he writes:

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 6:5-11)

I died years ago. I am perfectly healthy now, but I died a long time ago. I died the death that Paul describes in Galatians: “I have been crucified with Christ” (2:20). The moment that I put my faith in Jesus Christ, at that moment I was identified with Christ. I died with Him on the cross. For John MacArthur the curse is removed. I am now a king. I have not inherited my dominion yet, but the crown has been restored. And for every one of you who knows and loves Jesus Christ, the moment you received Him, you were identified with Him. You were crucified with Him and were buried with Him, and He has raised you up to a new life. It is life with the curse removed.

In Christ we are kings. We do not have our kingdom yet, but it is certain to be ours. To the saints of the Most High belongs the kingdom. Our old bodies are going to fall off someday, but we are not going to die. Our bodies will die, but even they will one day be resurrected in a new and eternal form. We will be immediately liberated to go into the presence of Jesus. Or, if He comes again before that happens to us, He will take us with Him into the kingdom.

To accomplish this great work on our behalf, Jesus had to become a man. He Himself had to be made for a little while lower than the angels. To regain man’s dominion He had to taste death for man. If a man dies for his own sin, he is doomed forever to hell. But Christ came to die for us, because in His dying He could conquer death.

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Thou has made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” (Rev. 5:9-10)

As you and I identify ourselves with Jesus Christ in His death, as we receive Him as Savior, the curse is removed, and we become joint heirs with Him in the eternal kingdom.

Obviously, if we are going to reign on earth as kings, there will have to be a kingdom.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:4)

Who will be on those thrones? We who are the kings. We will be kings with our great King, the King of kings. The Redeemer King will rule with His redeemed saints over the redeemed earth.

Man will be changed:

Now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war. (Isa. 2:2-4)

The animals will be changed:

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. . . . And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isa. 2:2-4; 11:6, 8-9)

Even the plants will be changed:

The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. (Isa. 35:1-2)

Christ tasted death for you and for me. He did it to recover our lost destiny. If you have been groping around, trying to figure out why you exist, I hope you know the reason now. There is no reason for us to be slaves. There is no reason for us to be paupers. There is only reason for us to be kings.

Men today still ask, “What is man?” The idolator and the animist says, “Man is inferior to birds and animals, even to creeping things, stones, and sticks.” And he bows down and worships the snake. The materialist says, “Man is obviously higher than any of the other animals, but he is still only the product of chance, the result of evolutionary natural selection.” Most people believe such ideas or ones equally as foolish. But God says, “Man was created to be king of the earth. Only for a little time he has been made lower than the angels.” Someday he will sit on the throne of Jesus Christ and reign with Him in His kingdom.

I trust that you will be there reigning with Christ.