True Salvation
Here in this chapter we receive likely confirmation that the
author is referring to the Hebrew tradition of the angels being a part of the
Law-giving process. The message given by
the angels was absolutely proven reliable.
Human beings are guilty of sin.
We cannot obey the Law. We
deserve condemnation. There is nobody
who is righteous on his own merit.
However, the message that the angels gave about the coming of the
Messiah was also true. One would come
and bring salvation to the world – to those who will receive it. One would come and distribute the Holy Spirit
to the people so that the Law of the Lord would be written on the hearts of
mankind.
Therefore, if the witness of the angels was true and Christ is
superior to the angels, then we must be absolutely diligent to not miss the
witness of Christ! We must not drift
away from this superior message. We must
not drift back into former things before we received this superior message.
Reinterpreting a Psalm
Do you remember when we were studying Isaiah and I spoke often
about double or even triple interpretation of a prophetic passage? We get to see a writer in the New Testament
do that very thing here.
You see, verses 6-8 are a quotation from Psalm 8:4-6. In that psalm, David is marveling at God’s
incredible grace bestowed upon humanity.
Human beings are created a little lower than the angels. Yet, in the Garden of Eden God gave dominion
over creation to mankind. To what angel
has God ever given dominion over creation?
However, the author of Hebrews notices a problem. Human beings do not truly have dominion over
creation. Who among us can command the
rain to fall or the wind to cease? Who
among mankind can create food out of nothing?
Who among mankind can force disease and illness out of a living being?
Thus, the author of Hebrews does a second interpretation of the
psalm. It is in Christ that we see the
complete and utter understanding of this psalm.
Creation is under the dominion of Christ – and it was completely under
Him even while He walked upon this earth.
Christ can command the wind, the
rain, disease, sickness, and even make food out of nothing. In Christ, everything is subject beneath Him.
Suffering
Yet, we search for the reason why.
Why would God need to do this?
Was not creation brought about through Christ? If creation was made through Christ, why did
it need to be subject under Him as a living breathing human being?
The answer is that in Christ’s humanity creation is brought into
redemption. Through His suffering,
mankind is restored. Through the fall of
Adam we were lost; through the death of Christ we are gained. In fact, it is through His suffering that we
can know that we have been united with Him.
He suffered for our sake; now we live for Him. In this the work of God is made complete
through Christ.
High Priest
In Christ’s suffering, He disarmed Satan. Through Christ’s suffering, He took away the
power of death. Through Christ’s
suffering, He removed the power that death has over life: fear. Through Christ’s suffering, we can know the
promise of life eternal on the other side of death.
We need no longer to be slaves to death. We need no longer to fear death. We need not live in fear of that moment. We can live for God knowing that whenever the
moment of death should come that God can overcome it! Death has lost its sting. The power of the Devil has been vastly
neutered.
Thus we can see that it is not the angels that Christ helps, for
God’s Messiah did not become like an angel.
The angels either serve God or fall completely from Him. Rather, Christ became as a human beings so
that we might become more like God. He
came so that we might know salvation and strive towards a faithful response to
the salvation that comes through Him.
Of course, we know that we as human beings are not perfect. We get things wrong. Even after we come into relationship with
Christ we get things wrong. We are
tempted. The power of the Devil is not
annihilated, simply neutered. For
now. One day it shall be annihilated
completely.
Thanks be to God that Christ is there to help us in the midst of
our temptation. He is faithful and
merciful. He is the only priest that we shall
ever need. We have a priest who not only
knows what it is like to be tempted, He knows what it is like to succeed!
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