Why? To Fulfill God's Original Intention

Well, after singing like that, I'm about ready to go home. It's been great worship this morning. Let's pray together, shall we, before we look into God's Word. Father, now as we come to this text of Scripture, we pray that it would be more than just words written on a page, that Your Spirit would drive home the point that we need to learn this day. We pray, Father, that you would be pleased to change us, change our thinking, change how we relate to each other and to the world.

God, help us, we pray now, that your name would be glorified in our lives as a result of the preaching of your word as we consider Jesus. We pray this in his name. Amen. Amen. Why? Probably the most common and most important question that we ask today.

Everybody asks that question. Daddy, why is the sky blue and not green? Ask your daughter. Why should I waste my time learning biology? Ask the student. Why is peace so hard to accomplish in the Middle East?

Ask the diplomat. Why is the world in such a mess? Asks just about everybody. Every question from child to adult, or every person from child to adult asks the question why, because we all want reasons. Well, beginning with this Sunday, with many churches along with us, we'll be celebrating the Advent season. Advent occupies the four Sundays before Christmas, and Advent gives us the opportunity to ask the question why.

Why did God the Son become man? Why did Jesus come to live among us, to suffer with us, to die for us, to experience the resurrection? Why the Incarnation? This Advent season, we're going to mine the riches of Hebrews chapter 2, verses 5 through 18, to hear God's answer to that question, why the Incarnation? So take your Bibles this morning, and let's turn to Hebrews chapter 2.

Now, in the next four Sundays, we'll be looking at verses 5 through 18, but I going to start reading in verse 1 so we get a feeling for the context and so that we see the whole picture here before we look at verses 5 through 9 Therefore, on the basis of what he just said in chapter 1, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. He said, By the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people For because he himself has suffered when tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted Now let's begin by getting a feel for the context of this passage, verses 5 through 9. Jewish Christians were beginning to compromise their commitment to Christ.

They were beginning to compromise that commitment because the price was getting too high to pay. They were being persecuted. They were being disowned. And so they thought, well, Jesus is good, but let's just go back to the Old Testament ways because that is what our people do, and it will take the pressure off of us. And besides, it all came from God, did it not?

But the writer in this book warns them not to do that. Because by going back to the Old Testament, they would be going back to something that was inferior and powerless. He argues, you cannot go back now. It's impossible. Jesus is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament. And so he is both the final answer to the problem of our sin and superior to everything else found in the Old Testament.

And that is why he says to them, you cannot compromise without great cost to yourselves. Now last week, you heard Larry ably expound that Jesus is the final word from God, the final, more powerful revelation. The writer then goes on to show in chapter 1, after he says that Jesus is the final word from God, Then he goes on in chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, that Jesus is vastly superior to angels.

He argues that Jesus is greater than the angels by focusing on his person. In verses 5 through 14, he's superior because he is the Son. And he makes the point, as the Son, he is actually God. And the angels are nothing more than ministering spirits, simply creatures that minister. And then after warning his readers not to neglect the salvation of that son in chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 he argues that Jesus is superior to angels because of his work First he superior because of his person Now he's saying he is superior because of his work.

Jesus does the work that no angel could ever do. And as he argues that point in verses 5 through 18, you see that the central concern of him is the incarnation. Why did Jesus come and take flesh and blood? He came and was the incarnate Son of God for the purpose of accomplishing something that angels could never do. And thus he is superior. Now in verses 5 through 9, let's review those again.

This is where we're going to spend our time this morning. Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking, it has been testified somewhere. What is man that you're mindful of him? Or the son of man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels. namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.

Why the incarnation? Here's the first reason we find in verses 5 through 9. Because Jesus fulfills God's original intention for mankind. Why did Jesus take on flesh? someone had to fulfill God's original intention for humanity. Now he says in verse 5, there is yet a world to come. And the writer has already mentioned that.

He says, look at verse 5. Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking. Well, where does he speak about that? We'll jump up to chapter 1, verses 13 and 14. And to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

So here is the world he's talking about. The world that's yet to come where all the enemies... of God are conquered. Now, one thing to notice is that when he talks about this world, now it was not to angels that God subjected the world. He doesn't use the normal world term for world there. He uses the term that means the inhabited world, okay? The inhabited world.

It's actually almost the exact same word as ecumenical that we use. And that's where we get that term ecumenical, from this Greek term. It's not the typical word for world, cosmos, or cosmos as we would say it. It's a different word, and it means the inhabited world. And he says to us, do not think that the reality you see now, the world you inhabit, is all there is or all there ever will be.

There is a future world of humanity where its ruler has conquered all our enemies. It is yet to come. You see, Jesus far surpasses these powerful creatures called angels because God did not give angels authority even over the world that is yet to come. Remember, when he talks about angels, he's not talking about these little cherubic, cute little fat babies with wings on.

He's talking about these incredibly powerful creatures. They're immensely powerful. Right? And so he's talking about these kind. Even these powerful beings will not rule the world yet to come. Powerful as they are, they have not been given the task of ruling the created order.

They have not been given the authority to rule in the world to come. Rather, why not? Verse 14. Because they're ministering spirits. That's why. They're not ruling created beings.

They're ministering spirits who minister to us. To us human beings. They minister for the sake of those who will inherit this salvation. They minister for this world to come. This salvation that we're yet to inherit. They're ministering to us. well then who will this new world be subject to if powerful angels will not rule this future created order who will who will rule it Well if it the world where human beings live then it must be a man And so the writer turns to a passage that mentions the relationship of men to angels and begins to quote it in verse 6.

What is man that you're mindful of him, or the son of men that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You've crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now, in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. Now, he doesn't help us here. He says somewhere in the scripture it says this.

So where in the world is he talking? He's quoting from Psalm 8. So let's turn to Psalm 8. Psalm 8. Here's what we read. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

You have set Your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babies and infants You have established strength because of Your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have set in place, what is man that you're mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor you have given him dominion over all the works over the works of your hands you have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. So this is where he's quoting from. And here's what happens. As the psalmist looks at the sky in the night, he is overwhelmed by the glory of God. He sees the moon, and no doubt in a world where there's no electrical lights, he looks up in the sky and he sees billions of stars stars crosses the field of his vision.

And he says, Wow look at that And all this is because God just went like this and there they were billions of stars all in their place and the moon beginning to shine and he's overwhelmed at that point by a sense of his own insignificance have you ever felt that way? have you ever looked up in the sky and seen those stars and seen the moon and said I'm nothing but a speck of dust on a speck of dust. Isn't that right? And that's exactly how the psalmist feels.

As I look at these innumerable stars I feel like a speck of dust. Why would the God who snapped them into existence why would He even care about me? Why would He even care about man? He looks at the created order and he sees that man is much less powerful than even the angels. Well, does that mean then that the angels are superior to man and have been given authority to rule?

No, he says in Psalm, the 8th Psalm. For God has what? Crowned man with glory and honor. He's crowned him with glory and honor. And what is that glory and honor? It is his authority to rule over the created order.

That is His glory and honor. He's the apex of creation. He's the pinnacle of all that God has done. He rules over the creation, and angels do not. This is His crown. This is His glory.

That everything in all creation has been subjected to Him. Nothing was left outside of His control. That's what He says here in Psalm 8. And that's what the writer of the Hebrews says as he quotes it. Everything's been put under, there's nothing outside of his control. Everything has been put under his authority.

Man is the king of creation. He is the king of creation. God's original intention was for man to rule creation for the glory of God. Imagine that for a moment. Imagine if sin had never entered. Imagine ruling creation for the glory of God.

Wouldn't that be amazing? No sin a speck of sin anywhere And developing things and developing culture and cultivating the earth in such a way that God is glorified in it all. I mean, we can't even conceive of that. And he answers to God alone, not any other being, not even the angels. But, we see something has happened. and the writer of the Hebrews makes that point something happened and we don't see everything in subjection to man it doesn't look like that at all the curse of sin has entered and so creation resists our efforts to rule have you ever thought about that because of the curse because of sin and the curse that God put upon us and the earth, the creation that we rule resists our rule.

Isn't that amazing? You think about that. We resist the rule of God, do we not? Yeah, we do. And that which God gave us authority over resists our rule as well. I love what John Calvin said, ferocious beasts attack us and animals that should be awed by our presence are dreaded by us.

Isn't that amazing when you think about that? My dear wife has a nightmare. It's one of those things that happens. It happens all the time. Not all the time, but it's a recurring nightmare. It's where she's stuck out in the pasture with the Hereford Bull.

Okay? Now, male cows, if you will, should be subject to us. But they aren't, are they? They resist it. They don't like it. The earth does not give us what we work so hard to attain.

Right? Ask Greg about that. You just kind of throw some seed out there and it grows and you get all kinds of crops you just go out and take it and make all kinds of money right? man no you gotta put tons of money in to get that and man it's hard work it resists us the sky, the air, the sea everything in creation is adverse to us and to top it all off when you go to work every day it can be I love what one theologian said, instead of putting the creation under our feet and serving as God's kingly stewards, it eventually puts us six feet under.

It doesn't look like everything is subjected to man. Even though God did it, the writer says it doesn't look like that. The curse of sin has entered, not only corrupting the creation, so that it resists us, but corrupting our understanding of and relationship to creation. Ever thought about that? On one hand, we're told, on this hand, we're told, we are no more than part of nature and its processes.

Just leave it alone. You're nothing but an intrusive species. And in this view, nature rules and defeats us. We merely die as part of the whole process. On the other hand, instead of nature ruling and defeating us, we will tyrannize and destroy nature. We will exploit it.

We will do whatever we want for money or for ease or for power, from flattening mountaintops, blowing them clear, to wasting the resources that God has given us. You know, it's interesting to me, what God originally declared very good, we say, no, it's only good insofar as it enriches me. That's good. Otherwise, eh. And that's not right either. It's not right that nature rules and that nature rules and conquers, but neither is it right that we tyrannize and destroy.

You see, it's not subject to man in the way that God intended. And so he says, you see the failure of man to accomplish God's original intention. The writer says, no, man has failed in fulfilling God's original intention. He can't do it because of the curse. Well if man cannot fulfill God original intention for him then is there any hope for one who will come to rule the world yet to come If it is the nature of reality that nothing is subject to us that it doesn look like it's subject to us in the right way, if that's the way it is, then how is it that someone will rule this world yet to come?

And his answer is found in verse 8. I'm sorry, verse 9. And here you see Jesus fulfill God's original intention. Man can't do it. Man has failed. But Jesus has fulfilled it.

He says, look at Jesus and what do you see? First, you see that like other men, he was made a little lower than the angels. Just like you. Just like me. He faces the same challenges with the same weaknesses, if you will, as any other human being. He's lived on this earth as a human being.

He has faced the challenges that we have faced. He knows what it's like because he is human. Never forget the fact that Jesus took on his humanity forever. You ever think about that? When the second person of the Trinity came to earth, took on human nature, human flesh, he took it on for the rest of eternity. He will always be the God-man.

He will always be man. But something else happened that shows his humanity? What else happened? He says, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus. We see him crowned with glory and honor. Now don't miss this.

He's not just saying Jesus has got this great glorious place. He's saying he has fulfilled what God always intended. God crowned us with glory and honor that is the authority to rule. And now we see in the light of the fact that it doesn't look like that, we do see a man who's been crowned with glory and honor. He has fulfilled God's original intention He rules now in the way that God wants man to rule He been crowned with glory and or what man was intended to accomplish but lost Jesus has regained How so Jesus was resurrected.

He was exalted. He ascended. And as we see in chapter 1, He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He has been crowned with glory and honor. Jesus rules as supreme over all creation. Although he is God, he is God as the first chapter asserts.

He is also man as the second chapter clearly tells us. And as a man, he is the king of creation. He fulfills God's original intention. He is over creation in the way that man always was intended to be. And so, he will rule the world to come. For nothing will escape his authority.

Nothing in all creation will. I don't know about you, that gives me hope. Right? to think that there is one of us who's done what God told us to do. He's accomplished it. He's won it for us. He's the representative human.

He is what we are supposed to be. And I know that in the world to come, I will be what God always intended me to be. Fulfilling my humanity in a way that is untainted by sin. I don't know about you, but that's like, what in the world is that like? Because I don't have any other conception but humanity and sin. What is it like to be truly, I want you to think about this, what is it like to be truly human?

Right? That's what it's about. but how did he accomplish that how did that happen how was it that he was crowned with glory and honor it says two things by his death and by the grace of God by death by death and notice how the writer puts it notice how the writer puts it crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Now, we've just gotten off the major taste holiday, haven't we?

We've tasted all kinds of things. There's something about tasting where you're like, that's an experience, right? Like, we had a Thanksgiving dinner that, to me, this year, to my family, I need to say this, that was the best Thanksgiving dinner I ever had in my entire life. Okay? I mean, we had everything. It was like, there's nothing not represented here.

And we all entered into this tasting of it, right? You all know what I'm talking about. There's, oh, the taste. But listen, Jesus tasted death. Let me ask you, what does death feel like? What does death feel like?

What is it like to die? Guess what? No one in this place knows that. You've sat with people who have died. But you don't have a clue. As to what death is like.

Do. None of us do. But there's one man who does. Jesus. He tasted death. He knows what death is like.

He's felt the entire weight of the curse of sin. You haven't yet. We lived in a sin-cursed world. But none of us here has felt the crushing weight of the entire curse. But Jesus has. He has felt the entire curse of God.

Even that curse upon nature, he's felt it. But isn't this amazing? The ultimate expression of God's curse. Now think of this. the ultimate expression of the curse becomes the vehicle that defeats the curse and restores us to the place of honor and glory. Have you thought that thought? Isn't that amazing?

The greatest weight of the curse is death. And that very death that Jesus died delivers us from the curse. So that there's a world to come where we will be human in a way that we've never been human before because the representative human has achieved it for us. And he fulfilled God's original intention for us by the grace of God. Jesus tasted death by the grace of God.

That is to say, Jesus tasted the bitterness of death because God was gracious to you. God said, I will kill my son. He will feel the weight so that you can be delivered and live in a world to come that is beyond your imagination. It wasn't as if God said, hey, hey, look, they're doing better. Let's help them along. I don't know.

I think most of us would probably concur with the opinion that it doesn look like things are getting better Okay In fact some of us may wonder you know the question is not the question is not why do good, why do bad things happen to people if God is love? That's the wrong question to ask. The question to ask is, why are we even alive given the God of justice?

Why aren't, why aren't our lives nothing but misery and heartache and trial and tribulation. Why is it that God lets most babies live? You see, God is gracious. And he sent his son to taste death for us and to win back for us what we lost in Adam. In grace, Jesus took on our humanity to live under the curse and to win for us the place of glory and honor by his death So why the incarnation Here one reason So that a man would fulfill God intention for us as human beings Jesus came from the human race, but unlike Adam, He obeys even unto death and wins for us the world to come and all that is associated with the dawning of a new creation.

Jesus succeeds where the rest of humanity has failed. In this way, Jesus is the true human being. The one who genuinely lived the kind of life that humans were intended to live. In Jesus, we have been restored. By tasting death, he defeated death. He defeated the curse.

That stranger to our humanity. He defeated it. by suffering he won the victory over the sin that keeps us from being truly human that is created to live and to rule for the glory of God Father, thank you for your word. Father, we look at the incarnation, we're overwhelmed with all that you accomplish with Jesus. Father, we look to your grace this morning and realize that Jesus is the true human being.

And that we, we Lord, in the world to come, because of his death and because of your grace, will live as you always intended us to live. Because a man has been crowned with glory and honor. and so father we anticipate the day when we will live and rule with jesus we pray this in thanksgiving to you by his name amen