Men, Angels and the Christ in Prophecy, Part 9 of 9

The author of Hebrews concludes that the purpose of angels is to serve those who will inherit eternal life, Heb 1:14. Then he turns to the subject of men in chapter two. He quotes part of Psalm 8 by David about “man,” and “the world to come,” Heb 2:5.

“6 … “What is man, that you think of him?
Or 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 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” …”
Heb 2:6-8a WEB

This is man made in the very image of God, for now a little lower than the angels, and ordained for great things.

So mankind is SUPPOSED TO HAVE dominance
over ALL.

Then comes those things which we all run into in prophecy. Those things which seem odd or out of place. The author notes it appears nothing is left out of man’s control.

“… For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. …”
Heb 2:8b WEB

Indeed this is the fabric of much of our lives here on earth. We work at this function or that function in managing this earth, and bringing to usefulness its many resources. Those functions may range from killing flies in the kitchen, to managing water resources, to making useful tools and machines for using these resources.

But then there is that part which just does not fit the facts.

“But now we don’t see all things subjected to him, yet.”
Heb 2:8c

Man does not yet have all of this power. There are things missing. There are holes in man’s dominance. We would like to have control of this or that, but, frustratingly, despite great progress in many arenas, much remains outside our control, just as Heb 2:8c says so clearly!

As my books note, such gaps between what is often prophesied, and what is seen in reality, is often the sign of symbolism in the prophecy, of a “type” or a “prototype”.

So man does not have the mastery he should have, yet.

“But we see him who has been made a little
lower than the angels, Jesus,

“because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone. ”
Heb 2:9 WEB

So Hebrews sees man’s dominance as always to be accomplished through Jesus! Through Jesus man recovers his position before God, and achieves his rightful position over creation. So it is not Satan and his angels, or even angels overall, who will dominate the world to come. It is man.

“Don’t you know that we will judge angels?” 1Cor 6:3.

Permanent punishment is prepared for those that oppose God, whether in heaven or in earth.

“Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;”
Mtt 25:14 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

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