MADE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, as I read today, touch me in new ways to appreciate the reality of what you gave up and suffered for me.
Read HEBREWS 2:1–9
Warning to Pay Attention
2 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Jesus Made Fully Human
5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
a son of man that you care for him?
7 You made them a little[a] lower than the angels;
you crowned them with glory and honor
8 and put everything under their feet.”[b][c]
In putting everything under them,[d] God left nothing that is not subject to them.[e] Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.[f] 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 2:7 Or them for a little while
- Hebrews 2:8 Psalm 8:4-6
- Hebrews 2:8 Or 7 You made him a little lower than the angels;/ you crowned him with glory and honor/ 8 and put everything under his feet.”
- Hebrews 2:8 Or him
- Hebrews 2:8 Or him
- Hebrews 2:8 Or him
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Look back to Thursday’s reading and ask Jesus to make you curious and to stretch your understanding of him a bit more (v. 9).I’ve always liked Psalm 8, because of the dignity God has given to human beings, just ‘a little lower than the angels … [to be] rulers over the works of your [God’s] hands’ (Psalm 8:5, 6). We, like the readers of Hebrews, might wonder why the writer quoted from Psalm 8. In effect, the timeline pattern of 1:1–4 was being repeated.
God commanded Adam and Eve to be stewards of his world (Psalm 8:6–8; Genesis 1:26–28). They failed. The place of humans in creation is one of fallen failure, as global conflicts constantly remind us. We do not yet see human beings as they were meant to be (v. 8). But we will. It is a glorious hope.
That does not prevent us from seeing Jesus. In becoming human, he became lower than the angels. It was this that enabled him to taste death for everyone. Jesus has now gone higher, crowned with glory and honor, seated at God’s right hand, waiting for the end of time when his enemies will be placed beneath his feet (1:13; see Psalm 110:1).
Apply
We focus on Christ, not angels. Pause to ‘see’ Jesus in all his glory— having tasted death, now crowned, seated beside his Father, reigning, and sustaining his world. Maybe you’ll need to breathe in deeply as you tentatively grasp the impossible.
Closing prayer
You came to us as the Lamb of God, Jesus, and now you reign for us as King of Kings. I come to you in awe, with thanksgiving, and with praise. Help me, that who I am will testify to the wonder of who you are.
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