But We Do See Jesus

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? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.” Hebrews 2:6-8a

The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8, where the psalmist stands in awe of the idea that God places so much value on mere mortals. In a sense, we are insignificant. We live for a short time, and then we return to the ground we came from.

We are but a breath, His word says, and we all carry with us the scars which remind us that it’s true.

At the same time, God places a high dignity on human beings. He values us above the rest of His creation.

God’s plans for us are to be crowned with glory and honor, above all the rest of His creatures.

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. Hebrews 2:8b

Things are not as they should be. We are not there yet, and the shoulds accumulate day after day, burning us up from within.

Do you feel the pain of things in this world not being as they should be?

We all do, at least in times when we slow down and consider our lives. We feel the pain when things turn upside down, when we aren’t sure how to climb out of our current mess.

But the very next verse leads us back to our great hope in Jesus.

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. Hebrews 2:9

But we do see Jesus, it says. Things in this life are not right, they aren’t.

But we do see Jesus, and He will eventually restore our dominion over the earth and then, everything will be as it should be.

Jesus was made fully human for a short time, in order to die for us. In order to taste death for all of us. Not only to taste death, but also utter humiliation.

Jesus went from heaven, to a manger in Bethlehem, to traveling town to town, ministering to the beings He created. He went to Golgotha, to the cross, to the tomb, tasting death and humiliation for us. He came up out of the tomb, when He was raised by the power of the Spirit, and later raised back up to heaven, where He now sits at God’s right hand.

Jesus went from lower than the angels to crowned with glory and honor.

And so I hope we do not soon forget the phrase, “But we do see Jesus,” because He changes everything.

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

 

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