Our text today is going to briefly take us back to the previous chapter as the writer of Hebrews reconnects his thought concerning the order of authority and rule in God's Kingdom. The end of that chapter is HEB 1:13 "To which of the angels did God ever say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?(Psa 110:1) 14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"

As we've seen in the past, angels play an important role in that they are created spirit beings who Jesus uses to minister to His people on earth. They are subject to the Son of God, whom the Father has placed at His right hand, until His enemies are made a footstool at His feet.

But when we talk about this subjection of all things to Christ's rule how does man play into all of this? Since man is flesh and blood, as well as spirit, wouldn't he take a second role to those spirit beings who are obviously higher in power and stature?

Wouldn't the angels have a more important role in the Kingdom of God as they are used by the Lord? This is where the writer of Hebrews is going with his letter at this time. He is bringing the Kingdom of God into focus and beginning to reveal some things about Christ's will concerning man and his relationship with our Lord's eternal Kingdom.

The other thing which is shown here is that it reveals once more that the God-man, Christ Jesus, is infinitely superior to the angelic beings in His charge. And so we pick up in HEB 2:5 "It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking."

A couple of things we should notice here. 1) A definitive answer regarding the angels and their participation in the rule of Christ's kingdom to come now appears to take shape.
2) The issue about which the writer of Hebrews has been speaking and will continue to speak on is "the coming world".

What ever this coming world is the angels are not the ones God will use to administer Christ's rule. Let's talk about this coming world. The words "world" in the Greek are numerous depending on what is meant in the context.

The common word in the Greek for world is kosmos and it includes the idea of a world system and the people in it. By world system we mean any system devised of man which excludes the one true God and salvation found only in Christ.

We see the use of this word kosmos in JOH 3:16 "For God so loved the world (kosmos: the people, even in their system of belief, which excludes the one true God) that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The other word for world is aion and it includes the idea of ages or a period of time when God was working in a particular way for a particular reason. And so we read in HEB 11:3 "By faith we understand that the (aion) universe (or world) was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."

Here we understand world to mean all things visible or invisible in the age of God's creative work which would have included people, angels, stars, the planets, animals and so on.

But when we come back to our text in verse 5 which addresses the "world to come", we have a different word being used for world for a specific reason; the Greek word oiko-u-mene which signifies a habitable place. In other words a a specific habitation which can be identified with a specific location; in this case a specific place where the rule of Christ can be seen and experienced by people.

This word is used in the letter to the Hebrews early on in HEB 1:6 "And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world (oiko-u-mene) he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." This is referring to Christ's coming into a habitable place where people will see Him and experience Him. But it's not limited to His first coming. In fact many commentators believe that the term firstborn here refers to Christ being the firstborn from the dead.

And so what could be referred to here is Christ's second coming into the oiko-u-mene, or habitable place called earth, where those inhabiting this world will see Him and experience His rule. This rule on the earth when Christ returns in the same way in which He left, according to ACT 1:11, is the same rule spoken of in REV 20:6 "Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years."

And so when we come back to our text we have a clearer picture of what the writer of Hebrews is speaking of when he says in HEB 2:5 "It is not to angels that he has subjected the world (oiko-u-mene) to come, about which we are speaking."

This world to come is a real, habitable place where Christ will rule and reign. This is not some cute story to entertain ourselves with. This is real and it is sure, and as our writer says, it is not subjected to angels to be ruling in this world to come.

When we think of salvation we have a tendency to think one dimensionally: My sins are forgiven. As true as that is our salvation includes many things. It includes our sins being forgiven, but it also includes things like our future reigning with Christ. It includes also our sanctification today as well as fellowship with Christ today.

It includes a role we play in the world as we bring the Gospel to people. It includes the role of then discipling these converts. It includes talking with God and Him talking to us through His word as His Spirit illumines our hearts and minds, but it also includes the hope of talking with Him face to face and being given specific tasks in His Kingdom to come.

Our salvation has an eternal value and it will be filled with a myriad of blessings that will never grow old or tired or boring.

And what the writer of Hebrews is trying to put into perspective is that, as important as Christ's future reign on earth will be, the angels; those glorious, awesome spirit beings who have great authority and power, will not be the ones who will primarily rule in that Kingdom with Christ.

Well, then who will? Well, there's one other category of beings who are given the privilege to fellowship with God, and that is man, but man is so sinful and rebellious, unlike the chosen angels who have never sinned. Surely, it is not man who will rule and reign with Christ.

The writer of Hebrews says in HEB 2:6 "But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him."

Let me give you an overview of what is being said here and then we'll take each verse separately. Keep in mind that angels have been discussed, the Kingdom to come has been discussed and that Jesus who is above all, rules this Kingdom.

Verses 6-8 are reminiscent of the time when God created the universe and all things in it, including man, whom He set up in this world to rule over creation. GEN 1:26 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

It was always God's intention to set man up to rule and to accomplish His will in the earth. Of course man failed and one would think man is pretty useless now and should be discarded as nothing more than trash since he chose Satan instead of God back there in the Garden.

In fact that's how verse 6 could be taken. HEB 2:6 "But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

That place is Psalm eight and the psalmist is considering the Almighty Creator and he says in PSA 8:3 "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

There is a sense in which we may see ourselves as insignificant compared to the glory of all that God has done in His creation. James touches on this in his epistle. JAM 4:13 "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."
14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

We read in JOB 7:7 "Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again."

PSA 39:5 "You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath."

Now if we stopped there we might conclude: boy that's something to get excited about. My life is as nothing. I always thought that there seemed to be little to get excited about in this life and now you've confirmed it. Thanks for bummin' me out even more.

No, that's not what Job had in mind, nor David nor even James. The point is we are finite creatures in this flesh and though we may have grand plans for the flesh it will one day die. We don't put our dependence or confidence in the flesh. We hope in God.

But this doesn't mean that while we're in the flesh we have no grand purpose for God or that it doesn't make any difference what we do. In fact that's the whole point here in our text.

HEB 2:7 "You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor
8 and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him."

Now keep in mind that man is being spoken of here, but this isn't limited to you and me. Because you see, we know that Jesus became a man and came into this world. But we'll come back to that point a little later. Let's concentrate on you and me in God's masterplan for a moment.

How can it be that you and I have been made a little lower than the angels and yet crowned with glory and honor?, which by the way begins to dig us out of that 6th verse which alludes to the idea that man shouldn't even be considered by God.

Let's take a look. When we think of the nature of man there's the tendency to think only of his fleshly existence; temporal sort of creatures. And yet that's not really true. You and I are immortal creatures. Not immortal as God, who has always existed and will always exist, but immortal only now that we've been created and will henceforth live forever.

Llike the angels, we are on equal footing here. Addressing the Sadduccees as they tried to trick Jesus by asking a leading question about life after death Jesus said in LUK 20:36 "and (we) can no longer die; for (we) are like the angels. (We) are God's children, since (we) are children of the resurrection."

Like the angels we will live forever. But for a season we have been made lower than the angels because we are temporarily confined to these physical bodies. But like the angels we are immortal and in this sense we have been "crowned with glory and honor".

We have been made in the image of God and now that we are redeemed through faith in Christ we have been reunited to our heavenly Father and have gained, once more, the original intent in the Garden; to reign with Christ in glory and honor as He has bestowed that on us.

On so we read in HEB 2:8 "and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him." Here again we see that God had and still has every intention of allowing man to share in His glory in a way where we reign with Him, as all glory goes to Him for the work He's done in our lives.

Everything that belongs to Christ now belongs to us, who have embraced Him by faith. This is part of our inheritance which our Lord Jesus Christ has secured for us in Himself. There are many portions of scripture which speak of our inheritance. Here's two.

EPH 1:13 "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory."

1PE 1:3 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

So, as believers in Christ we've got all of these great things going for us. We've got a great salvation which is eternally rich and we've got promise after promise of an inheritance with our Lord; we've got the hope of reigning with Christ. And as we read in HEB 2:8 "and put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him." It doesn't get any better than this. Life is good!

And then we come to the end of verse 8 ..... "Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him." Revelation of revelation. 'Lord I have such great promises set before me and such great things to glory in and yet Lord I look around me and wonder why life is so tough and why I don't have all the victories I think I should have in this world. Where have I failed?

It's not necessarily a matter of failing. It's a matter of understanding the age in which we live. Yes, we all fail at times because the flesh is weak, but in Christ we possess the power of the Spirit to walk in this world to His honor and glory and yet even there the promises of total dominion with Him is not a reality. "Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him."

But as Paul Harvey puts it, there's more, it's called the rest of the story. You and I were born into this world with what Theologians refer to as the Adamic nature. That simply means that when Adam was representing all mankind in the Garden he had the choice of obeying or rebelling. Whatever he chose would be conferred to the rest of humanity. He chose death.

As a result you and I are born with a nature which, if pursued, will result in death; not just physical, but spiritual, in that we will be separated from our Creator forever. This is our sin nature. But the second Adam came into this world. This representative didn't fail and never sinned. This second Adam is Jesus Christ. And as we place our faith in Him and His redemptive work on our behalf we are given a new nature.

Just as real is our sin nature, because of Adams choice, so is our new nature because of Christ's obedience. And just as real is the outcome of Adams choice being death if we don't look to Christ, is the new life we have when we do.

This is not a game with God. He has accomplished what Adam didn't. He has restored what Adam destroyed. We have everything in Christ that was promised to Him by the Father. We share in that eternal inheritance. And yet we don't possess it in full today.

Andrew Murray in his commentary on Hebrews puts it this way when addressing this reality that at this time not all things are subject to man. He say's, "how exactly this expresses the disappointment and failure which is often the experience of the believer when his first joy and hope begin to pass away. He finds that sin is stronger than he knew; that the power of the world and the flesh and self are not yet made subject to him as he had hoped.......

At times it is as if he feels that the promises of God, and the expectations they raised in his heart, are vain. Or else, if he acknowledge that God is indeed faithful to fulfill them, the way for one who is as weak as he is, and in his circumstances, to obtain these promises is too hard.......

The promises of God, to put all things in subjection to us and make us more than conquerors, are indeed most precious, but, alas, ever again the bitter experience comes --- man sees not yet all things subject to him."

We can approach this reality in one of two ways. We can either be bummed out because we have to deal with this life and the trials and temptations which the old nature is subject to and be ineffectual in trying to serve Christ, or we can rejoice that we have a new life and live in the power of that life everyday as we give glory to God.

The apostle Paul speaks of this conflict with the old nature in Adam and the new nature we have in Christ and puts into perspective how we should view this sin-filled world, which wants to drag us down with it, and contrasts it with the new life in Christ we have and the responsibilities and privileges that go along with this new life.

ROM 8:5 "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7 the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it."

The writer of Hebrews is telling us that it's true that this life is not our hope, it is not our final place of residence, nor is it our ultimate goal of reigning with Christ, but that shouldn't discourage us because we do have one who has changed all that. Though you and I do not at "present see everything subject to us" there is one who has all things subject to Him ultimately.

And this is the point of HEB 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

It may be true that our lives get bogged down at times with life, but we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. We don't see at this time all things subjected to man, but we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor. This is where we should be drawing our hope and joy. Man was created by God to fellowship with Him and reign with Him. No man was able to do that except one. The God-man Christ Jesus.

The God-man Christ Jesus has secured our salvation. The God-man Christ Jesus suffered what all men must and that is death, but the God-man Christ Jesus rose from the dead and He is crowned with glory and honor.

What this tells us is that just as Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, all men who trust in Christ will one day realize that all things will be subjected to us in Christ. He has gone before us and has arrived on the other side and says, 'I have accomplished all things for your inheritance just as I said I would, and in Me you will fully enjoy this inheritance one day. Follow Me as I lead you home and trust that all that I possess you too will possess. Don't lose hope, for in my resurrection is found the reality of your resurrection.'

You know, sometimes we neglect to get a handle on this aspect of our salvation because it seems so obvious. Angels are not the ones who will rule and reign with Christ in the coming world. You and I in Christ will. You and I are human beings. Think about it. If angels were the ones to reign with God then Jesus would have come as an angel. He would be seated at the right hand of the Father as an angel. But he's not.

Are you and I important to Jesus as human beings? The Son of God became man. He lived as a man, He died as a perfect man, He rose from the dead as a man and He now sits at the right hand of the Father as the Son of man with a glorified human body which He will have for all eternity. You and I will one day receive our glorified bodies like our Lord.

Is mankind sort of special in the sight of God? Does He have special plans for you and me today as well as for eternity? I guess so! It was Christ's death which shows so clearly that Jesus entered into our humanity because it is death which we must all face. But what Jesus wants us to see is that death is not final for the believer because He overcame the grave and now tells us that in Him we will too. There is life with Him.

What the writer of Hebrews wants us to see is that our God is mindful of the man who knows Him through faith in Christ and He is mindful of all men everywhere in that He wants all men to come to His Son for life. That's the way it was always intended to be and there is our hope.

We may not possess it all today as we will in eternity, but Jesus does and one day you and I will reign with Him in the world to come. The question for you and me today is, how does that effect me today?

HEB 11:8 "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

Jesus knows that this life can be tough. They murdered Him. But He never wants us to forget the hope He's given us. He wants us to live in that promise knowing that nothing will keep Christ from fulfilling that promise in our lives. We are heirs of His promise and we are looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Paul tells us in 2Tim.2:10-12a, "For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him:..."

Again, Paul says in Rom.8:16-17, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him."

Our future reign with Christ is certain. Not only will we share in the reign with our Lord for a thousand years in this earth, as we're told in Revelation 20:6, but we will also reign with our Lord in the new heavens and the new earth, which is reserved for those who have a new life, which only comes from our Lord who has given us a new hope found only in Him.

REV 22:1 "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
6 The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
7 "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."

HEB 2:5 "It is not to angels that he has subjected the world (oiko-u-mene) to come, about which we are speaking." You and I may be a little lower than the angels today, but what God has in store for us is far beyond our wildest dreams and expectations. But how do we show ourselves thankful? By living unto Him today, not glorying simply in a future reign, but in a future reign with the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is Jesus we should be glorying in everyday of our lives knowing that this world is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven. May we live in a way that shows the world that our life is found in our King, whose Kingdom is eternal. And may we give them the hope we possess as we give them Jesus and His truth and His Gospel.

God has a future for us with Him, but He also has the present for us that He may be glorified through us, and that same God is with us today strengthening us for the work we have in this world. 2CO 4:6 "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

May we seek His face and the power of His Spirit to glorify Him today and for all of eternity. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!